But I’d wanted to see my dad. So I’d gone to where he was said to be.
I hadn’t had a clue what I was walking into when I went to that hospital.
Had no fucking clue that, by taking that first step onto the surgical wing, I’d be entering into a sixteen-year-old’s life.
Sure, it was on the periphery. But I was still in it, nonetheless.
Over the course of the next two years, I’d be doing my level best to stay away from her, yet she was always right there.
Her parents’ deaths. The funerals. Funerals of another officer not related to her. Once at my dad’s place when she was taking my sister’s college graduation photos. Then once more when she took Katy’s wedding photos.
And more so lately.
It was getting exhausting trying to stay away from her when fate kept throwing us together.
“Avery,” I said. “What happened?”
She pulled away, her hands going to her eyes as she tried to get herself under control.
“My parents were apparently in a lot of debt,” she said, voice shaky. “I guess I never realized that anything was even wrong. Both of their funerals were already paid for. Hell, they were even planned. They got some money for life insurance, and I paid off their cars and all their medical bills that accrued while sending a hefty lump sum in to cover the house for a couple of months while I got my head on straight. I kept getting notices in the mail, but I guess I figured that there was something going on with their estate, so I put it off because I just had so much other stuff to do… and they were notices that I was in foreclosure. I thought I was doing the right thing, paying off their medical bills. I had no clue that they were so far in debt, though. No clue.”
My stomach sank.
So on top of losing her parents, she was now losing the house that she’d grown up in.
“There’s too much to pay that I just don’t have. So I’m going to have to move out.” She looked away. “I’m going to have to go. I… thank you, Gordon.”
Gordon didn’t say you’re welcome.
Why would he say he was welcome for having to kick a nineteen-year-old girl out of her house who had just lost both of her parents?
He wouldn’t.
“Avery, wait,” I said, taking a step to follow her.
But I was stopped by the teller calling my name to give me my cash from the check.
When I turned around after gathering my money, it was to find Avery already pulling out of the parking lot.
I turned to Gordon.
“How bad are we talking here?” I asked curiously.
Gordon looked sick to his stomach.
“There were two liens out on the house. One reverse mortgage. It’s bad,” he said. “They owed about four times what they would’ve originally paid for it.”
I closed my eyes and felt tension rise in my shoulders.
“God, that girl just can’t catch a break,” I said, feeling like I’d just taken a sucker punch right to the stomach.
“She told me she had to skip school today to meet with me,” he said, eyes haunted. “She was already having to leave early to go to Huntsville, she said, to make me feel better. But I don’t feel better. That kid… I hate myself for what I had to tell her.”
I did, too.
I slapped him on the back and said what I would’ve told him if it were anybody else.
“You do what you have to do, Gordon,” I told him. “Nobody made her parents make that decision. You were not responsible for this.”
Avery wasn’t, either. Which was what sucked the most.
Gordon nodded once. “Have a good one, man. I need to go grab some lunch.”
I cursed and looked at my watch.
It was already too late to get over there.
Meaning I’d either have to drive into Longview to get what I needed or hope that I had enough time after my meeting today to make it over before they closed.
The moment I got out of the bank, I called my dad and told him what happened, down to the very last detail.
My father was silent for a long moment before he said, “That’s… that’s fucked up.”
I agreed.
“What’s in Huntsville?” he wondered.
“The only thing in Hunstville is the…”
“Oh, fuck,” Dad cursed.
I could hear him moving around as if he was standing from his desk chair and it slammed into the wall behind his desk.
“I’ll go,” I said. “Find her and keep her here.”
But when I got there, she was already gone.
I called my dad back.
“Guess I’m going to watch an execution after all.”
Chapter 5
Roses are red, violets are blue. I love queso and tacos, too.
-Avery’s secret thoughts
Avery
I’d never been to a prison before.
The sheer number of hoops that I’d had to jump through to even get into the prison itself was amazing.
Then I’d gotten into the viewing room to find it jam-packed, even an hour early.
I squeezed my way in, found a small sliver of a bench on the very front row, and sat down.
The older man at my side looked at me nastily, and I turned around and gave him a glare right back.
He opened his mouth to say something, probably to ask me to move, when I felt a warm hand press down on my shoulder.
I looked over and up to find Derek standing at my side, his massive body protecting me, and generating so much heat that I yearned to lean into him.
He looked good today.
He looked good every day, but today especially.
He wasn’t in anything special.
A white t-shirt that fit him not too tight, but not loose either. A pair of faded jeans and a brown pair of work boots.
And then there was the white baseball hat.
There was a bright red clover on it, and I loved the hat.
I wanted the hat.
So bad that I’d looked the hats up online, intending to buy one, but the damn things were thirty-five bucks, and I barely had enough money to buy food every week. Wasting thirty-five dollars on a hat was insane.
But it didn’t stop me from wanting it.
“What are you doing here?” I whispered.
He grabbed me by the wrist and hauled me to my feet, dragging me to the side of the room where there was a little more privacy.
“What are you doing here?” he countered.
I raised my brows. “I thought it was obvious.”
“How did you even know it was happening today?” he asked.
I shrugged. “People talk. I heard about it at school of all places. One of the other cop’s kids told me. He’s a freshman and doesn’t realize he’s supposed to hate me yet. The popular kids will remedy that by the end of the day.”
Derek snorted and shoved both of his hands into the pockets of his jeans.
“Are you sure about this?” he asked. “Watching someone die…”