Noah
The floor had been quiet all day, which seemed unusual, but under the circumstances probably made perfect sense. I wandered downstairs and checked the mail.
“How’s it going, Winston?”
“Can’t complain,” the doorman nodded his usual greeting.
“Quiet here today.”
Winston cocked his head. “Seems like a normal Saturday.”
“Maybe it’s just my floor.”
“Ah, well that’s probably due to Ms. Johansson running out of here early this morning.”
Bingo. “Huh. Probably. Did she say where she was heading?”
Winston raised a brow. I didn’t think he got a copy of Avery’s itinerary, but I understood he wouldn’t share those details even if he knew where she went.
“Right. Okay then. Guess I’ll just head back upstairs and watch some TV.”
“You do that. Seeing as she took a bus and not a fancy car, I imagine she was traveling someplace far.”
I turned and grinned. “Thanks, Winston.”
He nodded as if no thanks was necessary, but I was grateful for the information. My stomach was grateful.
If Avery took a bus, she probably wasn’t out with that asshole or some other asshole. And she wasn’t on campus. So where was she?
I had time to kill before any big decisions needed to be made. Thank God, because I wasn’t ready to face her yet. Maybe I’d never be. Last night she chose him over me.
“Fuck that guy,” I grumbled, picking up the remote.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. I was supposed to defend her honor and knock him out, but the fucking ox had me on my back in two seconds flat.
Bullshit.
I checked my phone. Still no texts from Avery.
What did she have to be angry about? No one punched her. Her life was still the same revolving door of insignificant men it had always been. And here I was, the fool wearing a black eye for a girl who chose the other man. What was wrong with this picture?
I was getting a little sick and tired of calling my sister. I was on cloud nine, then I was down in the dumps. Then everything was great again, and then I was icing a black eye. She was getting whiplash from my social life, and hers wasn’t much better.
How much longer did I intend to let this go on? This woman was derailing my life, and I was letting it happen. I was the fucking frog, and she was the fucking scorpion. She’d probably never change.
That jerkoff kissed her, and she let him. She was kidding herself if she thought she’d graduate and leave this part of her life behind. Life didn’t work like that. People’s pasts didn’t just disappear.
And I wasn’t a fucking idiot. That guy's intentions were clear. He was looking for more than her company. Why couldn’t she see that? Or maybe she did and just wanted to keep her options open.
It couldn’t be a money thing. I had enough to live more than comfortably. Was she attracted to the guy? Could that be it? There had to be something more than work keeping her loyal to him.
I growled and tossed the remote away. “Fuck!”
Scrubbing my hands over my face, I winced as I applied too much pressure, forgetting about my black eye. “What’s he offering her that I’m not?”
If I knew his full name, I could look into his situation. Lucy was great at research. She could get me his social security number and blood type by five if I just knew his last name. Maybe she didn’t need a last name. Micah wasn’t too common of a first name. Maybe that was enough of a start.
I dialed my assistant, completely overlooking the fact that it was the weekend.
“Noah?”
“Lucy, hey. I need you to do me a favor.”
“Sure. Is everything all right?”
“Where are you?”
“At my nephew’s first birthday, but I can leave if you need something.”
Children’s voices registered in the background, and I couldn’t think.
“Noah? Do you need me to run to the office or drop something off to you at home?”
What was I doing? She was with her family, and I was behaving like a lunatic. “No. Everything’s fine, Lucy. Enjoy your day with your nephew.”
“Are you sure? I don’t mind—”
“Positive. I’ll see you on Monday.” I hung up the phone and threw it out of reach.
The concern in Lucy’s voice was the wake-up call I needed. Shoving off the couch, I went to my room, stripped my bed, and carried the sheets down to the laundry facility in the basement. I needed every trace of her gone. I couldn’t do this anymore.
While I waited for the wash, I toyed with my phone settings and put a block on Avery’s number. If she didn’t have the guts to face this thing head on she didn’t have what it takes to be in a relationship. I needed a mature woman, not a child.
If she wanted the same things I wanted, she’d be here. But she wasn’t. She was God knew where doing God knew what and I needed to let her go.
35
Avery
As the service van pulled away, I stood in the cold, holding a receipt for my last good deed. My mother’s trailer wasn’t clean, but it was in much better shape than it had been that morning.
I checked my phone for the time, and an unwelcome pain cinched around my heart when I also noticed Noah hadn’t called or texted. My finger pressed against his number and after half a ring it dumped—purposely—into voicemail.
“Hey. It’s me. I … wanted to check if you were okay. I’m not home right now, but I’m thinking about you.”
A pathetic laugh slipped past my lips.
“I’m always thinking about you when I shouldn’t be.” I stared into the wind, and a tear gathered in the corner of my eye. “You must think I’m horrible for going with him last night. It’s complicated. Life has gotten so much more complicated. Anyway… I just wanted to say I’m sorry.”
I ended the call. I couldn’t think about him in this place. I couldn’t think of anything beyond getting the fuck out of here and washing the residue of grime away. I needed to get back to the train station by dusk, or I’d end up sleeping here, something I swore I’d never do again.
Lingering on the front lawn, I stared at the empty road. My feet carried me down familiar paths, and I was rounding the block before having the sense to grab my coat.
Everything looked the same or worse. The pen where the mean old pit-bull lived was now empty. A metal chain and empty bowl sat in a collection of fallen leaves. I hated that dog, as it tried to bite me on more than a few occasions, but I was sad to think he was dead. What a sorry life, trapped in a pen in Blackwater with nothing but sorry lives to bark at.
Even the dogs here deserved better. The people here could at least try to leave, but most chose to settle for shit. That dog didn’t have a choice. Poor thing.
I knew where I was heading, but I wasn’t prepared to find the rusted shell of my past sitting untouched, eerie, as if I was just here yesterday. I’d assumed Gavin’s lot would have been sold to someone else by now, but there his home sat, frozen in time, a forgotten husk of life corroded by seasons and memories no one cared about enough to put away.