AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We’ll talk about it,” he answers lightly. “We’ll talk everything through. Isobel’s going to take your gun first, Avery.”
“No.” Avery shakes her head, emphatic, eyes dark. “No. I need it. You don’t understand.” She takes three big steps back and hits the edge of my bed. She’s right beside me now, so close I can see the panic raging in her eyes, the slight shake in her hands.
I shouldn’t touch her but I can’t help it. I catch her before she falls, placing my palm in the small of her back to steady her.
“Aves.” She looks sidelong at me and I see it all laid bare in her eyes. Grief. Pain. Madness. Those three things might never go away. The only thing that can change is this situation. The longer it goes on, the more dangerous it is for her. “Give them the gun, Aves. It’ll be all right.”
She chews at her lip. “I don’t think it will.”
“It will. Trust me. Isobel’s going to come take the gun, and then you’ll be okay.” As I’m saying the words I push her arms down gently, until the gun is pointed at the floor.
Isobel steps forward, right on cue, and plucks the gun from Avery’s hands. The thick tension in the room dissipates like a spent raincloud. Elliot lowers his gun, holstering it quickly. I don’t know if Avery sees or not, but I sure as hell do—the shift in his face from negotiator to pissed-off pawn.
“You got some clothes?” Isobel asks Avery softly. Avery won’t answer her - or can’t. She’s staring down at her empty hands, the ones that were holding a loaded gun just moments ago. I gesture to the bathroom. “In there.”
Isobel enters the steamed-up bathroom, emerging a few moments later with Avery’s dress and panties. She hands them to me wordlessly. The dress is one that buttons down the front, which is lucky, since I ripped it from her body before I screwed her on this very bed. Elliot gives Isobel a pointed look before he turns around to face the other way, allowing Avery a shred of dignity. Isobel keeps a close watch as I slide the dress over Avery’s bare shoulders, buttoning it as quickly as I can, letting the towel around her midsection fall to the floor. The three top buttons have popped off, and I can’t locate her bra. I finish buttoning the dress and then slide one of my clean black t-shirts over Avery’s head to keep her tits from falling out of the top of her dress. It swims on her until I gather the front section and tie a loose knot in it. The girl would look good in a potato sack, but in my t-shirt and the dress I just ripped off of her body, she looks like a fucking wet dream. If there weren’t two cops breathing down my neck, I’d be hard again already.
Finally, I crouch down, hooking Avery’s panties around her right foot, then her left, bringing them up her calves, over her thighs, settling them at her hips before smoothing the dress down.
“There.”
“Thank you,” she says, her eyes finally meeting mine. She looks remorseful.
“Let’s go down to the station for a talk,” Isobel says, the gentle negotiator tone gone from her voice. Now, she’s all business. Elliot turns back to face us, his expression grim.
“Cuff her,” he says to Isobel.
“What?” My mouth drops open. “Are you serious? You can’t—”
But it’s too late. Isobel turns Avery around and slaps the cuffs on her wrists. Avery doesn’t resist. It’s as if the last ounce of fight has drained out of her, and left her limp.
“Yeah, actually, I can,” thunders Elliot. “Your little girlfriend here committed armed robbery in that clinic. She mademeher getaway driver. There’s not much I can do to save her now.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
AVERY
My uncle Enzo has never looked so pissed off.
He’s dressed up for the occasion. His suit looks too nice for the holding cell at the police station, and honestly, his face looks too red. The lawyer he brought with him is getting concerned about it. The lawyer, a young guy who’s busy sweating through his shirt, should be concerned. What happened at the firm today that they sent this poor guy on a family assignment like this one? Maybe an important staff birthday party. Some kind of team-building outing.
It’s hard to listen to all the yelling. Nathan leans against the wall, his arms folded, watching Enzo stalk back and forth. I’m only half-listening to what he says, and he must notice, because he stops talking mid-rant.
Enzo gets in my face. “Are you hearing me?”
“Of course I’m hearing you.” I lean my head back against the wall. “Everyone in this building can hear you.”
He takes a deep breath, stabbing the air with his index finger.
“I need the message to get across, Avery. This is not how a member of this family is supposed to conduct herself. You, of all people. You know this. Don’t act like you’ve suddenly forgotten how your behavior affects all of us.”
“It doesn’t, really,” I say absently. “Aside from that lady at the clinic and a bunch of embryos who will never know how fucked-up all of this has become. I’ll pay her a settlement for her troubles and give her an apology myself.”
He looks like he could slap me. “Do you think I give a shit about some receptionist? I give a shit about this family, about our name. Shareholders in the Capulet corporation are pissing their pants, my dear niece. The stock price has fucking plummeted. If we don’t save the family image soon, this company is going to be screwed. It’s going to be fucked.” His voice rises and rises, battering the ceiling in the room. “And that’s on your shoulders.”
“Stop, Dad. God.” Nathan rubs at his forehead. “She just got kidnapped and raped for what, six weeks? Ease off.”
I cringe at how casually he mentions what happened to me. I know he’s trying to defend me, but Jesus Christ, it burns.
