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Maybe on his own, Trent might have recovered enough to avoid complete and total capitulation. His two cronies, however, ensured that they were heavy enough anchors to keep that from happening.
“Come on, Trent, let’s just get out of here,” one of them whispered, shaking him by the shoulder.
The Alden Electronics scion started like his cohort’s hand was made from dry ice, but the consequences were set. Like a sponge, he absorbed his friends’ yearning to get off the battlefield before Avril potentially proved if she was capable of accomplishing her threat. He spared a glance back toward Avril, nearly blanched when he saw her still overflowing with nothing short of raw hate, and then he nodded to his companions.
“Yeah, let’s find something better to do than waste our time here.”
They didn’t say goodbye. They didn’t even look back over their shoulders as they beat a hasty retreat, which stopped them from seeing Avril flipping them off. Some of the other shoppers, people who’d been too distant to eavesdrop but close enough to see that there was no love lost between sides, did.
“Avril,” Liam whispered, glancing at the gawkers, one of whom, a mother, scowled and tried to keep her young daughter from seeing Avril’s improper display. “We should go too.”
The fury hadn’t fully evaporated as her attention swung to him. He didn’t blanch like Trent nearly had, but it was the first time someone had ever thrust such overwhelming vitriol toward him. Even if it wasn’tforhim, he still felt a twinge of hesitancy about what her response would be.
Thankfully, the wrath clouding her eyes dissipated enough for her to realize why he’d suggested what he had. Looking around, she spotted numerous onlookers staring at them.
“Repugnant pieces of shit,” she growled under her breath, hurling one more hateful look toward the distant retreating forms of Trent and his two friends.
She was good to go after that.
They didn’t speak much as they headed for the nearest escalator, nor as they took it back to the first floor. While Avril didn’t appear so rabid and ready to ball up her fists to take a swing by the time they stepped off it, she remained a powder keg he didn’t intend to tap. Because of that, the new horde of gawkers they marched by on their way to the entrance that they’d entered probably assumed she was royally pissed at him. He imagined they left quite a bit of gossip in their wake as Avril stormed out of the mall.
When they reintroduced their bodies to the cold, he was surprised that steam didn’t start burning off her head. She didn’t bother to put down the bags in her hands and throw her beanie back on, either. It wasn’t until they’d reached her car that she finally seemed to remember how cold it was. And based on her earlier shivering after they’d made it inside, she was particularly susceptible to it.
It'd also gotten colder. Even though it was only around four-thirty, the winter solstice was just two days behind them. Already, there was less than an hour left of sunlight in the day, and it’d gotten cloudy while they were shopping. Even hoofing it as they did, even if her blood was still pounding with fury, it took its toll on her.
“F-Fuck,” she hissed through chattering teeth, digging through her jacket pockets for her car’s fob. Once she found it, her lights flashed as she unlocked the doors.
Once they’d filled her back seats with chocolate, candle wax, electronics, and, unbeknownst to her, a Bandits jersey and hat, they quickly climbed into their seats up front. With the doors shut, the car’s heating hummed vigorously as Avril turned it to max settings. Teeth chattering, she rubbed her arms and seemed unable to stop shivering.
“Here,” he said, slipping out of his coat and passing it over to her. Neither of them had thrown on their seatbelts yet, and they wouldn’t be going anywhere until both vehicle and operator were a little warmer.
Draping it on her as if it were a blanket, Avril dipped her chin and continued shivering for the next few minutes. It was the only noise either of them made. He wasn’t sure if he should bring up what had gone down in the mall or not. Even after replaying the events in his head twice, he remained uncertain.
“I fucking hate that piece of shit,” Avril said. Still minorly afflicted with cold-induced quakes, she pierced him with an emerald stare.
“I definitely can see why, now,” he replied.
“Good. Now, make sure he never gets his grubby hands on Anna.”
“I’m going to do everything I can.” It was an easy promise to make; it’d been the truth even before he’d come across the arrogant, sneering man. “You scared them all witless.”
“Like they h-had fucking wits to lose,” Avril hissed, rubbing herself even faster under his coat. “I hope they break their necks on the escalator.”
While Liam wasn’t quite as ready to wish death upon them, he didn’t try to convince Avril to forgive and forget. It was plainly evident that there was a lot of bad blood between them, and he didn’t know more than a little bit about their history. While he suspected that the majority of it likely related to Anna, some of it clearly didn’t.
“I do have some good news to give. The snowplows made it into my neighborhood about an hour ago. That should mean the party tomorrow is easier to get to.”
Avril’s shivering slowly diminished. “Yeah, that’s good.” She pursed her lips. “Actually, that’s great. You have any wrapping paper at your house?”
“Yeah, plenty.” It was an assumption made because of years of history. His parents used every inch of wrapping paper on the roll, or it was saved and reused the following year.
“Cool. That’s where we’re going, then. I don’t want Anna to get any chances to sneak a peek at what I’ve gotten her.”
“Sure,” he said. “You can even leave the presents there if you want.”
Avril nodded, no longer seeming afflicted by boiling rage due to her run-in with Trent or gelid chill due to the weather. After returning his coat and pulling out of their parking spot, they began a journey that would lead to Avril’s first look inside his home—she’d seen it before, he’d soon be told, during a few visits she’d made to Tess’s house over the years.
It’d also lead to a first new experience for him, as well.
