by L. A. Fiore
She cared, really cared about the people that worked with her. Some would feel threatened, even going so far as to hold back what they knew so the student didn’t become the master, but not Avery. She not only led with her heart and went all in but from what I’d seen, that philosophy carried into every facet of her life. “They’re lucky they have a boss like you.”
She looked adorably confused. “Why?”
“You care.”
“I do, that’s true. It’s easy, though, because they’re great.”
Humble too. “I’ve made some spaghetti and meatballs and a salad. Are you hungry?”
“Starving.”
“It’s done, so whenever you’re ready.”
“I’m ready now.”
Taking her bag from her, I reached for her hand. “Then let’s feed you.”
Dropping her bag in the mudroom, I moved to the cabinets for the plates.
“There’s wine in the rack if you want some.”
“I’d love a glass.”
“Get me one too?”
“Okay.” She surveyed my wine, selecting a hearty burgundy before washing her hands and uncorking the bottle. While she poured the wine, I plated our food. Settling across the island from her, she held her glass up to me. “To dinner, finally.”
She really was a goof. Her first mouthful of spaghetti had her eyes rolling into the back of her head. “You made this?”
“Yeah.”
“I didn’t know you could cook.”
“I can only make a few things.”
“Maybe so but you make them really freaking well.”
It hadn’t passed my notice that the woman didn’t curse. Even when she was pissed, she refrained—another facet of her that I found adorable. “You don’t curse.”
“I try not to. Not that there aren’t a few curse words that really say it all, but I do well enough without them. Nat, on the other, curses like a sailor.”
“Does it bother you that I curse?”
“No.” She twirled her spaghetti around her fork, her expression changing a bit. “What happened with the cops? Did they find anything?”
“No.” Studying her, I couldn’t decide what was causing the seriousness of her expression, concern or fear or a little of both.
I didn’t wonder for long because when her head lifted, there was temper burning in her gaze. “It is such a violation. Do you think it was Melody?”
“I did, but I went to see her today and now I’m not so sure.”
“What do you mean?”
“She’s a bitch, but a terrible actress. Her surprise over someone trying to break in wasn’t feigned.”
“So if it wasn’t her, then it’s likely about your dad?”
“Probably.”
“Should we be worried?”
“Smart, careful, watchful, but let me do the worrying.”
“What do you think they’re after?”
“I honestly don’t know, but you’re safe here Avery. The alarm system is state of the art.”
“I know that.” Concern still clouded her expression when she asked, “So what happened with Melody?”
“I told her if she didn’t leave you alone, I’d make it so she was banned from all the social outlets she loves. I don’t think she’ll bother you again.”
Incredulous was how she looked now. “Are you serious? That’s all you had to do? She acts like you’re her other half, but a threat against her social life and she’s cured?”
“I’m not her other half, she’s pissed I ended it not her. But she’s a social being who needs to see and been seen. Threatening to take that away is hitting her where she lives.”
“And you could do that, ban her?”
“Between Trace and Lucien, yeah.”
She moved her spaghetti around her plate. “I think I’d like to see her denied access. To watch as her face turned all blotchy with temper.”
“You’re a bit cutthroat.”
“When it comes to her, yes I am. Thinking about her is causing me to lose my appetite. What else did you do today?”
“Started sketching out a new project.”
“Oh, yeah. For what?”
“It’s for you, so I’m not sharing.”
“Me?”
“Yep”
“But you won’t tell me what you’re making?”
“Nope.”
“And there’s nothing I could do to persuade you to share?”
“You can certainly try. I’d thoroughly enjoy your efforts. In fact, let’s finish dinner so you can get started on that.”
“Wicked man.”
But she was grinning at me like the cat that just ate the canary.
Driving my fingers through her hair, protecting her head from the headboard, I slammed into her as my mouth sought her breast. The sexy sound that came from the back of her throat, when I twirled my tongue around her nipple, had my hips moving faster. Her nails scratched down my back, over my ass where they settled as her hips lifted, meeting me thrust for thrust. She was close; I felt her body begin to spasm around me, my cock driving even deeper. And then she screamed my name as she crested and it was the single sexiest sound I’d ever heard. She was still riding the orgasm, when I seated myself deep and felt the explosion of pleasure that had a growl burning up my throat. I pressed a kiss on her mouth before climbing from the bed to handle the condom. When I returned, Avery was fast asleep. Checking the house one more time, Loki followed me back to the bedroom and jumped up on the bed. Turning off the lights, I settled in next to Avery and pulled her close.
I was sliding headlong into love and that scared the shit out of me. I had learned early that life could change on a dime, people you love could up and leave. It was part of the reason why I lived as I did, keeping most people at a distance. But Avery had slipped through and I could be honest enough with myself to admit that her leaving would hurt in a way I’d likely never recover from. Reconciling the fact that I needed her like air while at the same time struggling with the reality that I had let her get that close, kept me up most of the night.
Sitting at a local café, sharing a meal with my dad, I needed to fill him in on the break in, wanted to know if anyone had approached him, but before doing so I asked, “Have you found a job?”
“Yeah, my parole officer helped me get work at a local garage. The owner is also an ex-con, so he doesn’t have a problem with my past.” He leaned up, placing his elbows on the table. “The Internet is fucking incredible, all that information right there for the picking. I know you’ve got a PI looking into the owner of the box Lucas wanted access to, Jeremy Paddington, but I’ve been doing some digging on my own and found out Jeremy worked for Morton Shipping.”
“Josh learned that too, but it still doesn’t give us much.”
Dad looked odd, almost conflicted. “Morton shipping is owned by your mother’s family.”
Since I was unaccustomed to the idea of a mother, it took me a minute to understand his comment. I can’t remember a time when we ever discussed her. But when I realized where his thoughts were going, anger replaced confusion. “My mother? You’re thinking the robbery and your involvement wasn’t a coincidence.”
“Yeah.”
“I got to tell ya, that really pisses me off. I don’t know the woman, but what I know I’m not liking.”
“There’s more to the story, son.”
“Maybe, but from my point of view, I find her seriously lacking.”
Anger swept his face, anger directed at me. I was tempted to make an issue, but then had someone been talking shit about Avery I’d have slammed his fucking head into the bar. And that’s when I realized my dad was still in love with her.
“You’re still in love with her.”
He didn’t even attempt to deny it. “Yeah.”
Feeling as I did for Avery, I got it. That didn’t make it suck any less for him.
“Someone tried breaking into my place the other night. I had thought it was my ex, but aft
er confronting her I know it wasn’t.”
“Shit. Are you serious?”
“Yeah and if it wasn’t Melody, I’m guessing whoever it was it’s related to you.”
“Fuck. I’m sorry.”
“We’re family, your shit is my shit. I’m not telling you this because I want you to be sorry, but the more I know the better I can keep safe what’s mine. What happened with Mom? Why do you think there could be a link?”
He rubbed a hand over his head; his gaze lowering but I caught the pain. Even now, all these years later, it still hurt. My own gut twisted.
“I met her through a mutual friend. We were really young, she was only sixteen, me seventeen, but it hit us both. Like getting struck by lightning. When we found out she was pregnant, I asked her to marry me. Her father, however, wasn’t having that. He all but locked her up in a glass tower. The only time I was allowed to see her was the day he made her hand you over. It broke my fucking heart, the pain he put her through, but he said she either handed you to me or he’d make it so neither of us would ever see you. I tried to keep in touch, sent photos, but the mail was always returned. I didn’t stop trying to reach out until I learned she was getting married. That was five years after you were born.”
For a woman I didn’t know, I felt gutted. What kind of monster was her father to force her to give up her child? And what kind of person had she become that she never sought me out? She’d be in her fifties now and still she stayed away. “You never saw her again?”
“No.”
Sitting in that café, understanding dawned on why Dad had gone into that bank with a gun. “My school. You went into that bank so you had money for my school. Honoring what you knew would have been her wishes too.”
“Yeah.”
I battled regret and anger because what a fucking stupid thing he did to both of us. “Goddamn it, Dad. I would have preferred having the past twenty-five years with you.”
“I didn’t think, knew as I stood in that bank that I had made a mistake. I was surrendering, but Lucas killed the guard and my life went to Hell. I can’t tell you how many times in the past twenty-five years I have regretted that decision, regretted losing my boy.”
Another emotion moved through me, a much darker emotion. “I get it now, you not thinking it was a coincidence with Jeremy as the target and you getting selected for the job.”
“Your mother, Alexandra, her father, Brynn Morton is a powerful prick. His anger over Alexandra getting pregnant was only because it threw a curveball in his plans for her. He had her life all planned out and then she gets knocked up from some no name blue-collared boy, which fucked up his plans. The man seems the type to hold a grudge, so I don’t think it was coincidence at all. Especially since I’m convinced Lucas intended to turn me in from the beginning, the fuck was probably paid to do exactly what he had planned all along. Unfortunately for him, I beat him to it.”
“So what happened to Lucas and Jackson?”
“No idea. But if they were paid to get something from that security box and came back empty-handed, maybe their employer wasn’t pleased.”
“What do you think Jeremy had in his box?”
“Something worth going to all that trouble to retrieve, it’s got to be something that could cause someone a hell of a lot of grief if it got out.”
“Which might explain why Jeremy died in a mugging shortly before his security box was broken into. Someone was cleaning house. Hell, the person who took out Jeremy could have taken out Lucas and Jackson, tying up loose ends.”
“Yeah, puts suspicion on Brynn Morton.” Dad wasn’t wrong.
“It sure does.” This information changed things; particularly since whoever was pulling the strings had dragged Avery and me into it when they attempted to break in to my place. Figuring out why just moved up on my list of things to do. I’d need to pay a visit to Josh, but for now I put it aside because Dad and I had been denied moments like this by these pricks for long enough. “Do you want to come to dinner?”
“I’d really like that, like it even more if Avery bakes the dessert.”
“Like I could stop her.” I signaled the waitress. “Would you have a problem if I have my PI look into Mom?”
“No. I asked some friends to look into her, but they kept hitting a wall.”
“My guy’s really good. Let’s see what he can find out.”
Watching Avery on the dance floor at Allegro, shaking it with Ember and Darcy, was seriously making me uncomfortable. The woman did not know the meaning of half measure. She tackled life with a carefree exuberance that was breath stealing to watch. Currently, she was jumping around in circles, shaking that ass and laughing like a loon, having the time of her life. Did nothing get to her? Her effervescence never seemed to dull.
“She isn’t going to vanish.” Trace said, humor lacing through his words.
Lucien had excused himself a little while ago to handle a problem and Kyle was using the excuse of dancing with the ladies to keep his fans from descending. His band had played earlier and as it so often happened, the women hunted him down after the show. It was just Trace and me at the table. And though his comment was harmless, there was more to it. “What?”
“You’re staring at Avery like she’s going to disappear.”
“Just enjoying the show.”
“Yep, that’s what you’re doing.”
Shifting my focus from Avery, which annoyed me since I really was enjoying the show, I studied Trace. “Have you got something on your mind?”
“Only that I hope you appreciate what you’ve got there.”
“Meaning?”
“Having been in your shoes, captivated by someone to the point of worship. I just hope you appreciate what you’ve found.”
Oh I appreciated Avery, had been one lucky bastard the day she drove up my drive, but the more I thought on Dad and my conversation, the more I realized being with me put her in danger. And as much as I hated to admit it, even to myself, her being with me put me in danger—likely far greater than the threat I posed. “I know exactly what I’ve found, just not sure I can keep it.”
Trace understood, better than anyone, the conflict I felt since he had felt similarly with Ember. “Not sure you have a choice, my friend.”
There was always a choice.
Trace placed his bottle down, his focus still on me. “I get where your head is at. Trouble’s brewing, you don’t know all the players and so you can’t guarantee her safety. Plus she’s gotten under your skin and for guys like us, that’s uncomfortable. I get it, but learn from my mistake. You fuck that up with her, you may not get a second chance. And I got to tell you, Rafe, Ember’s the best fucking thing that ever happened to me. She and Faith, the fucking air I breathe.”
Trace didn’t say much, but when he did the man made a hell of a lot of sense. And he was right. A coward would run; I wasn’t a fucking coward. “Thanks brother.”
Satisfied that I’d heard his words, he reached for his beer and grinned. “And so it begins.”
Before I could ask what the hell that meant, the women and Kyle returned; Avery’s face was flushed, her eyes sparkled. I had never seen her looking more beautiful.
She settled next to me, reached for her beer and took a healthy pull, before she asked, “Are you getting out on the dance floor?”
“No.”
“You don’t dance?
“No.”
“Why not? Kyle was dancing.”
“Kyle’s hiding.”
Her brows furrowed, a line creasing the area between her eyes. I wanted to kiss her there. “Hiding from who?”
I jerked my head to the crowd standing behind our table, napkins and pens in hand, staring at Kyle like he was the second coming. “His adoring fans.”
Twisting around to Kyle’s fan club, she turned laughing eyes on him. “That’s quite the following.”
In response, Kyle blushed as his head lowered and he studied his beer as if it was the most fascinating beer in
the world. “It can be a bit overwhelming.”
Understanding moved over Avery’s face. Her thoughts very transparent, not knowing if the women were interested in Kyle or the person he was on stage. Instead of whatever she had intended to say, she simply said. “I bet. I get the groupies though. Your band is incredible. You have such a grass root, organic sound and I love that you feature the acoustic guitar in most of your songs.”
Kyle was now studying Avery like she was the most fascinating thing in the world and despite myself I actually got a bit annoyed. Stupid, Kyle was a friend, but it didn’t matter.
Returning home, I let Loki out while Avery showered. I walked the perimeter of the yard, checked all the buildings for signs of forced entry. I was acting paranoid, but there was a threat and with Avery living here, any threat was unacceptable. I wanted to pack up her things and send her away for her own safety, but Trace had been right. Fucking things up with Avery wasn’t something I was willing to risk.
My thoughts turned to what Dad had shared—the likely link between Mom’s family and the robbery. What was that shit? The woman lost her kid and her man and then stood quietly by as her father took even more from us, likely being behind Dad going to prison and me into the system. How does a mother sit back and allow that to happen? Did she know? Why hadn’t she made any attempt to warn Dad? Especially knowing how much of a prick her father was. Dad did his time and instead of getting his feet back under him, the past was coming back to knock him down again. Not if I could help it.
After the scan of my property, I waited for Avery in the kitchen, leaning against the counter drinking a beer. She’d be over after her shower; it was kind of an unspoken thing, her sleeping in my bed. Fucking loved waking up with her hair on my pillow and her scent on my sheets.
I should have realized my fate had been set seeing her in the market that day, swinging her celery and knocking tea boxes from the shelf. Instead of wondering what the hell I had gotten myself into, I had been congratulating myself on what I had gotten myself into.
“What’s put that look on your face?”
So lost in the memory, I hadn’t heard Avery enter the kitchen. “You.”
