Fast-Tracked

by Tracy Rozzlynn

  “Avery,” Hayden calmly responded – but Avery was looking at Byron, not Hayden. Byron didn’t say anything, but the look he gave Avery was murderous.

  Avery was too frazzled to respond. His mind was probably making the same leaps mine had to reach the final conclusion of what he was seeing. A malicious smile spread across Avery’s face as he collected himself. “So, Hayden, you finally decided to show your true nature and adopt a pet for yourself?” Avery sneered.

  “You may be able to look down your nose at your fellow human beings, but I don’t,” Hayden calmly responded as he took a step towards Avery. It turned out to be a frightening gesture. The step brought him face to face with Avery, and he was a good head taller and his shoulders were quite a bit wider than Avery’s.

  “You’re seriously going to try you’re high and mighty crap on me?” He sneered again, then shoved past Hayden and reached out to me. “Come on, Zandria, we’re leaving.

  I was more than glad to follow. Anything to get me out of this situation and pretend it never happened – but as I passed by Byron, he grabbed my hand.

  “Lexi, wait.” His frightened look made me pause. “I don’t care what you think about me. Hate me if you want to, but please, please, please, don’t go with him. Anyone but him.” His eyes held me with their terrible pain. Tears started to well in the corners. I couldn’t bear to see him cry. I started to reach out to him, but I was suddenly jarred sideways.

  “Leave her alone!” Avery had knocked me aside as he lunged after Byron.

  “Don’t! Stop!” I cried.

  Avery had his fist drawn back ready to swing – then Hayden grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around. Before Avery had a chance to respond, Hayden had planted his fist in the middle of his face.

  “You don’t touch him, look at him or even think about him without having to go through me first, got it?” Hayden’s calm demeanor had turned into possessive fury. He drew his fist back for another swing, but I latched onto his arm before he could.

  “Enough!” I screeched with my feet dangling in the air. Hayden slowly lowered his arm until my feet touched the ground. The four of us just stood staring at each other. I reached across Byron and grabbed a handful of tissues. “Let’s go.” I thrust the tissue into Avery’s hand, and led him out the door.

  Autumn looked absolutely shocked when she caught sight of us – but then again, knowing Autumn, it could have just been excitement over hearing a potentially exciting story.

  Avery barked at her, “Pay the bill. Get me a bag of ice and meet us outside.” He was in no mood to extend his humiliation longer than necessary. He pulled me along by the hand until we were outdoors.

  I was so upset that not even the cold fall air could cool me down.

  “What the hell do you see in that perverted loser?” Avery suddenly barked.

  “Don’t you dare yell at me!” I pointed my finger directly in his face. I didn’t care how upset Avery was; I was madder. “This is all your father’s fault. If he hadn’t put Byron in this situation, he would have never felt he had to… to…” The thought was enough to make me start retching again. There was nothing left, so I just doubled over and gagged, waiting for it to subside.

  “I’m sorry. I should have realized how hard this would be on you.” Avery pulled back my hair and tried to cradle me with just one arm until I could stand again.

  “Since when does the sight of blood make you lose it?” Autumn skipped over and handed Avery his baggie of ice.

  “Shove it, Autumn.” With his arm still around me, Avery pushed right past her and headed toward the tram. Unbelievably, Autumn didn’t make a peep the entire walk there and then rode quietly until we were ready to tell her what had happened.

  Of course once the silence was broken, Autumn was right back to her usual self, greedily devouring every detail of the story we were willing to give her.

  With the bleeding stopped I was able to get a better look at Avery’s face. Fortunately nothing looked broken, but Autumn and I still didn’t think he should be left alone, just in case he had a concussion or something. I sent a message to Wendy so she wouldn’t worry and took him home. As soon as we entered his house, the emotional drain of the night hit us both. We barely managed to make it to his bedroom, before we both passed out, fully clothed on his bed.

  Chapter 20

  I awoke the next morning to the sensation of my neck being nuzzled. At first I incorporated it into my dream, and it was Byron nuzzling my neck as we watched leaves float by in our little stream in our woods. But then I woke up and I remembered when and where I was. All the pain from last night slammed back into me.

  Avery knew I was awake. He whispered in my ear, “Morning, sleepyhead.” I rolled over on my back to face him. He took advantage of the position and let his hands begin to wander and explore. His hands felt good on me – normal, and natural. All this time I had been fighting the feelings he stirred in me, but right now I couldn’t exactly figure out why.

  Byron obviously didn’t care for me. Otherwise he would have never betrayed me for Hayden. He would have trusted me and let me protect and help him. I had been a fool trying to hold onto the memory of Byron. He had been mean and nasty to me ever since he got the letter. The only reason he had suddenly turned nice again was because he needed my help – at least until a better offer came along.

  Avery stroked my cheek and whispered sweet nothings into my ear. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the warm touch of his fingers on my skin as they slowly trailed downward.

  I reached up and cradled his head in my hand. Gently I pulled him towards me. He smiled when he realized what I was after, and brought his lips down to meet mine. I closed my eyes and explored his body with my own hands; the distinctive contours of his shoulder and back muscles. He let out a soft moan. Avery began kissing me on the ear, down the neck, across my shoulder bone. Then I felt one of his hands reach under my shirt and caress my breast. I gasped from the sensation.

  “Avery, we can’t. Avery, we need to stop,” I panted. He let out a soft moan of pleasure and buried his face against my stomach. “I’m sorry, Avery, but I mean it.” I pushed on his shoulders and managed to wiggle myself away from him.

  This time the groan that escaped him was one of frustration and pain. “Why? Why do we have to stop? You’re the only one I ever wanted, the only one I want to be with. So why shouldn’t we be together?” He reached around my waist and attempted to pull me back to him.

  “I shouldn’t have let myself get carried away. I’m not that kind of girl. I want to be married first.” The marriage line was just a knee-jerk reaction. In truth, I really had no idea just what kind of girl I was. I was so confused. Byron had hurt me more than I thought was possible. But, the very first chance I got, I ran back to Avery. What did that say about me?

  In a voice still raspy with desire, Avery finally said, “Okay, fine. I get it. I’ll behave – not that you make that at all easy, mind you.” He rolled off the bed. “I’m going to take a long, cold shower. Why don’t you head downstairs and have them start breakfast for us?” He pulled his shirt off as he headed toward his bathroom.

  “Nah, I think I’m going to head home and find out how the rest of last night went. But I can let them know what you want for breakfast, if you want,” I offered as I located my shoes and shoved them on.

  “Unfortunately what I really want has been taken off the menu.” Avery gave me a long meaningful look.

  “Boys really do have a one-track mind,” I said, pretending to be offended before I laughed and headed out the door. I needed to talk to Wendy about a lot more than just the club.

  “Well, look what the cat dragged in,” Wendy teased as I let myself into the apartment. “You and the high and mighty one didn’t do anything that I’m going to regret, did you?” She narrowed her eyes on me.

  “Well last night was a hell of a night, but I can assure you all Avery and I did was sleep.” I grabbed the orange juice and poured myself a glass.

  �
�Must have been. I expected the first words out of your mouth to be about the club. Heck, I expected you calling me at some ungodly hour last night just to find out. I would have thought nothing short of an act of God would have kept you from finding out.” Wendy planted her hands on her hips and eyed me suspiciously.

  “I found Byron last night,” I said flatly before the tears took over.

  “Oh, honey.” Wendy wrapped her arms around me, assuming my tears meant the worst had happened and he was dead. When I finally calmed myself back down, I told her the entire story while she made me breakfast.

  “Maybe you should try to talk to him, or at least to Hayden. Maybe their relationship isn’t what you’re thinking. Byron said it wasn’t what you thought.” Wendy flopped a fresh pancake onto my plate and pushed the syrup towards me.

  “It’s not like I had said what I was thinking. He probably thought I had assumed he had been restored,” I argued as I drowned my pancake in syrup.

  “Well before you completely write him out of your heart you should at least confirm your suspicions.”

  “I can’t. It’s just too painful to deal with right now. Maybe eventually, but not right now.” Without saying any more or bothering to take a bite of my breakfast, I pushed the soggy pancake away from me and headed to the shower.

  Chapter 21

  Wendy didn’t push me again to confront Byron or Hayden. In fact she avoided the topic of them all together, and allowed me to bury myself in my work. Avery, on the other hand, seemed to be encouraged by our little morning make-out session. Which wasn’t surprising, really. He wanted me to spend every free moment I had with him. I patiently explained that I was busy, but promised we’d spend Friday night together.

  The only problem was that I wasn’t busy. The Rivers continued to be a success without my presence and Irina and Clive were so efficient that there was nothing left for me to do at The Bookworm. So after three days of scrounging around for something to do, I finally decided to stay home and review security footage. I had been putting it off for a while and it had managed to build up on me again.

  I had two freshly swapped out trinkets sitting by my desktop tablet, so I decided to start with them. The first trinket was from the museum; it was dry and monotonous and in the end contained nothing of value. I made a mental note not to replace the trinket the next time I collected it. There was a limit to how many pretentious people I could listen to as they pretended to know something about art. Besides, from the recordings I had determined it just wasn’t a secluded enough area to get any real dirt on anyone.

  The second trinket was from Avery’s house. I had forgotten I had collected it. I never planned to put a trinket in his house. But I had a fresh one on me when he told me about the party he was throwing. I couldn’t resist the opportunity. I had planted it in his office. All night at the party people had been in and out of that room, so there was bound to be something interesting on it.

  I just had no idea how interesting it would prove to be.

  I fast forwarded through the very first part. It was the Sunday before the big party, the day I had planted the trinket. The footage just consisted of Avery and I discussing the party.

  I forwarded through the next few days as well: all it showed was Avery working on his tablet. Occasionally a servant would come in, but I really didn’t need to listen to those conversations. After all, it wasn’t Avery I was trying to spy on, but his party guests.

  But when someone other than a servant came into the room, curiosity got the better of me. The way he was standing I couldn’t tell who it was. So stopped to listen for a clue to his identity.

  Avery said, “So is everything all set for Friday?” He leaned back in his chair as he waited for his guest to respond.

  “Yah, everything’s been arranged,” the guest mumbled. Great, he keeps that up and there’s no hope of identifying him on voice alone.

  “Nine o’clock. Not a minute sooner,” Avery warned. Standing up and crossing the room, he added, “Timing is vital. There can’t be any doubt to my location.”

  “Don’t worry. I got everything taken care of.” The man turned to face Avery. “I might not understand why you and your crew are giving up your piece of the fun, but I’m more than happy to step up and take care of it.” Jared Trentersmith clasped his hand on Avery’s shoulder before walking out of the room.

  I stared as the recorded image of Avery sat back down with a smug and satisfied look on his face. The liar. Not only did he know about what was going to happen to Trisha, but he’d helped plan it all. I rewound and watched the scene over and over. I kept searching desperately for some clue that I was completely misinterpreting everything. I didn’t want to believe Avery could so casually plan a girl’s murder.

  Wait a minute. During the fight between Jared and Avery, Jared claimed to have only humiliated her with false directions. Maybe that was all the plan was for. But even if that was the case, it didn’t explain the fight. Avery had acted like all of it had been a surprise to him, not just the outcome. Was the entire fight staged just for my benefit?

  I was beside myself with anger and dismay. Just what else had he been lying about to me? I continued to watch through the footage. This time I didn’t fast forward through any of his conversations with the servants. I hadn’t intended on spying on him, but now that was exactly what I wanted to do.

  I spent the entire morning reviewing the recordings before I reached the end of the party. There had been nothing else even remotely shocking or out of the ordinary. The party portions of the recordings had been a total wash.

  All the muscles in my body were beginning to ache. So I took a break and brought Lariet outside for a walk. He was his usual joyful ball of fur, just happy to be alive, and even happier to be outside where he could charge after leaves as they drifted down to the ground. Watching him play I could almost forget to be hurt and angry at Byron and at Avery. Almost. But then Hayden Winthrop had to rear his ugly face.

  “Can we talk?” he asked as he quickly strode towards me.

  “I have nothing to say to you,” I snapped. I scooped Lariet up into my arms and started to storm off toward the college.

  “Can you at least listen to what I have to say then?” he pleaded. When I didn’t stop, he called, “Lexi, please.”

  I stopped dead in my tracks. “Don’t you call me that. Don’t you dare ever call me that.” I stormed back over to him and pushed him right in the chest. It was by no means that hard a shove, but he stumbled back in surprise. “That girl doesn’t exist anymore; she disappeared a long time ago,” I growled. Then I turned and ran back to my apartment.

  Hearing him use Byron’s nickname for me made me feel dirty. His use of the name felt like the final corruption of everything I once thought I knew about Byron. Byron had always been so strong and resilient in my eyes. He was the one person I thought could survive anything and come out better for it without ever compromising his morals. But I was wrong: everyone has their limits. I wasn’t really mad at Byron. I was mad at this world for being so corrupt and twisted. I was mad at Avery’s dad for being so vengeful. I was mad at Hayden for taking advantage of the situation. And most of all, I was mad at myself for not protecting him better, for letting him get to the point where he was willing to debase himself.

  Lariet gave a playful bark and brought my attention back to reality. As upset as I was with the situation, there wasn’t anything I could do about it at the moment. So I did what I always do when I’m feeling helpless and upset: I escaped. This time I did it by diving back into the recordings.

  Grabbing my tablet and sitting on the couch so Lariet could curl up in my lap, I continued to review Avery’s footage. There was nothing of interest for a long time, and I felt myself beginning to nod, when the recording showed Avery and Autumn enter the room. Whatever was going on, Avery looked upset. I rewound the tape a step.

  Avery’s whining entered the room before he did. “Can you believe after all I’ve done for her that she’d treat m
e like this, like I’m lower than that good-for-nothing brown level poser?” Once he came into view, he walked over to his seat and plopped himself down.

  Autumn draped herself over Avery and cooed in his ear, “You need to relax.” She started slowly rubbing his shoulders. With any other girl, I might have thought something was up, but well, Autumn was just Autumn.

  Avery pushed her hands off of him. “Don’t you tell me to calm down. I’ve done absolutely everything for her. I got her that nice apartment, nice clothes, and a social status that protects her. But does she seem grateful for any of it? No! Hell, most of the time she acts like my making her a fast-tracker is a burden. And on top of it all she’s always throwing that boy back in my face. I’m going to lose it if I have to hear her prattle on about her poor Byron again.” Avery stood up and began pacing the floor.

  Autumn draped herself in his unoccupied chair. “Well you only have yourself to blame for the Byron situation. If you hadn’t sunk him so low, she wouldn’t feel so guilty and torn up about it.” Autumn explored the contents of his desk while she chided him.

  Avery stopped and turned towards Autumn. “You know damn well that wasn’t my choice. I just wanted him dropped to the worker level so there couldn’t be any chance of a romantic entanglement between them. My dad’s the one who decided to drop him further after his dad started causing trouble at the plant.” His angry glare was lost on Autumn.

  “I know: poor me, boohoo. I’ve loved her since I was a boy and first laid eyes on her at my daddy’s plant. But poor me, things never go my way.” She shot him a hateful glare. Avery cringed. “Save me the sob story. You’ve made your mess; now you need to suck it up and do the best with it. Because you know damn well if you don’t get little Miss Perfect, our parents are going to insist we marry. So you need to suck it up and listen to me.”

  Autumn’s counter tirade seemed to have snapped Avery out of his. He threw himself into another chair. “So what do I do now?”