Deeper (The Deeper Chronicles #1) (22 page)

“Avi,” he growled. “I need to make arrangements.”

She pitched an eyebrow at him. “And I need answers.”

Their exchange was reminiscent of the night they had met, though now their words were caustic, lacking charm and flirtation.

“And I need to make some calls. Now, hand it over,” he said with his palms turning upward.

Avi’s hand tingled to make his jaw red like she’d done a few weeks ago at Sofie’s birthday. She wanted to shake off his high-handedness that implied that she was his to command. “Mr. Adams, I don’t scare easily.”

His phone blared from nearby.

“Sorry, I have to take this.” His look plainly said he wasn’t sorry. “I need—”

Avi snatched the silver phone from his loose grip.

“What the fuck?” he yelled, looking at her as if she were a madwoman.

“And I said I need answers,” Avi responded, emphasizing each word, then clicking the end button on his sleek phone.

She placed both phones between them, daring him to answer them as they pinged and rang. Eventually, whoever was on the other end gave up. Up front, Ro’s phone began chiming.

“Who was that back there?” Avi asked now that she had Noah’s attention.

He leaned his head back on the headrest and closed his eyes just as she’d done a few minutes ago. “Who was who, Avi?”

She snapped her fingers at him. No way was he going to block her out when he was willing to give all his attention to mysterious callers. His head popped up. His eyes bulged then narrowed at her. His nostrils flared.

“Don’t play with me.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Do I have ‘stupid’ written on my face?” she asked, motioning an index finger across her forehead. “Who was that man back there?”

“Robert Plummer.” He leaned backward again as if that was the end of the conversation.

She pushed into his side. The flesh was unyielding. Just for good measure, to ensure he heard her, and to feel his toned frame, she poked him again.

“Damn it. Stop poking me, woman.”

“Tell me who Robert Plummer is, and how did you know where I was?”

“He’s your lawyer.”

“I don’t have a lawyer.”

“Yes, you do. His name is Robert Plummer. He’s the best.” Noah paused. “Now, may I close my eyes?”

His words replayed themselves in her head. “How did you know where I was, Noah?”

“I have eyes all over, Avi.”

“What the hell does that even mean?” she shouted before turning away from him to look out her window.
He has eyes all over?
Where were these eyes when she needed him outside the restaurant?

She sucked in a breath, hoping to mask the tears pricking the corners of her eyes and tightening her throat. Her sight dropped to her fisted hands as they opened and closed almost on their own. Her gaze was transfixed on the way Harry’s dried blood cracked and crinkled on her skin. The tears dripped from her eyes, blotting away the blood. Not ready to let the last part of the man she never knew leave her, Avi swung her hands from her body. Her body bent at the waist as she alternated between dry heaves and hiccups.

“Avi. Avi,” he shouted.

There Harry was, smiling and waving at her...welcoming her.

And then he wasn’t, her hope for answers gone in the blink of an eye.

“I-I...” Avi began, but closed her mouth as her stomach roiled.

“Pull over now, Zach.”

She heard the desperation in Noah’s raised voice and felt the care in the gentleness of his hand rubbing her lower back. But his comfort couldn’t stop her shivering body or the keening sounds coming from a part of her she never knew existed: the child in her who had one day hoped to learn where she came from.

That innocent hope was ripped from her hands with two precise shots.

Just as the car stopped, the door was flung open. With her lower half still inside the car, she leaned over the side and expelled the food she had allowed to pass her lips that day.

Her sight was hazy. The cool breeze didn’t help to soothe her. Once she threw up again, her seat belt was tugged free, and then she was captured in strong arms. She burrowed her face into the safety of Noah’s neck as her breathing struggled to return to normality.

“Here, take this,” he said.

Her lips opened, and he placed two pills on her tongue, then she sipped the water he fed her.

“Breathe, Avi, breathe. I’ve got you,” Noah chanted.

She concentrated on his words. She used the beats of his heart to time her breathing.

Soon, she was floating away, and it felt nice not to feel anything at all.

A pair of trim legs and defined calf muscles carried their owner to the dresser, where a blaring phone rested. A smile pulled up the thin lips on a face that was forgettable at best, yet there was a charm that fascinated many. It rang a few more times and then stopped as if the caller had given up their quest.

Ring.

Ring.

“Yes.” Desire wrapped itself around the three-letter word.

“Answer the phone when I call.” Ire was front and center and cut through the caller’s accent.

They waited each other out. Yet they also knew who’d succumb first to the cat-and-mouse game they both enjoyed.

“How did phase one go?” he asked.

“You tell me.” A slim finger trailed the edge of the dresser.

“You made me proud. It’s all over the evening news.” There was a deliberate pause. “One down, another left to go.”

A pleased smile revealed white teeth. “Why don’t you come over for a celebratory fuck?”

“Open the door.”

They both shared similar predatory grins. Greed for him and revenge for the other began the duo’s partnership. Much later, they bonded over their specific sexual appetites, which cemented their alliance.

She woke with a start and pressed her hand against her erratically beating heart.

Avi pulled the covers tight against her body. Instead of the fleece that should have grazed her fingertips, she was met with soft cotton. Avi realized she was in an entirely different place when her cautious eyes flitted around the dark space.

Flipping the top sheet away from her body, Avi’s sight dropped to the lounge shorts she wore. The fabric felt too expensive for her monthly budget, even though the style appealed to her. She dared another look around and still didn’t recognize anything around her.

A knock at the closed door pulled her attention to her right.

The person walked toward her in the darkness. Avi backed away, her hand fisting the sheet in fear.

“Hey, are you okay?’ Sofie asked. Her warm hand encased one of Avi’s.

Avi released the breath she held. “I-I...” She cleared her throat.

Her chest rose and fell as she contemplated Sofie’s easy question that should have prompted an easier response. Avi’s face wilted as the day’s events hit her anew. Leftover emotions from the almost meeting with Harry, attempting to save his life, then to being inside the police station rose to the surface. They stalled any coherent words she planned to share. Tears that came from the hard realization that Harry, the man who could’ve answered decades-old questions, lay stiff and cold in a morgue somewhere.

Tears soaked her cheeks.

Sofie pulled her friend’s face into the crook of her neck and eased Avi’s limp arms around her shoulders.

“Oh, Avi. I know. I know it hurts. I’m here for you.”

The friends stayed cocooned in each other’s comfort and spoke through their tears of the heartache that could only be articulated by one who had lost a parent. Separating, they concentrated on getting their breathing under control. Sofie shifted to the left toward the nightstand, producing a box of tissues.

“I’m really sorry,” she said softly, wiping her cheeks.

Avi blew her nose. “Yeah, me too. Hell if I know why I’m sitting here, boo-hoo crying over a man I didn’t even know.” A few more tears rolled down despite her harsh words. It was easier to deal with and process anger.

Anger she knew. That emotion and she had been friends since she was pulled over in Ellie’s car three years ago.

But grief, missing a man she didn’t know she wanted or needed, the growing ache in her chest over a father she was told was dead, but was alive only to watch him really die—that was too much, and she did the only thing available in her coping arsenal; she refused to deal with it.

“He was your dad.”

Avi’s indifferent eyes met Sofie’s empathetic ones.

“Damn Ellie for lying to me,” Avi fumed. “And damn Harry for dying on the sidewalk.” She blew out a tired breath. “Where am I anyway?”

“We’re at Noe’s.” Sympathy and concern coated her words. “Don’t you remember?”

Avi pushed her hand through her hair and searched her cluttered mind.

A
vi followed Sofie toward the door.

“Are you sure you’ll be all right?” Sofie asked.

She wasn’t sure of anything, only that she needed answers. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me,” she said just to appease her friend.

Avi intended to find Noah, get him to tell her what happened in his truck, and get the hell out of his house.

“Hey, thanks again for...” Avi lifted her clean hands, glad Harry’s blood was gone.

“No problem.” Sofie stopped by the open door. “Um, I know you’ll do what you want, but maybe you should give Noe some breathing room...just for tonight.”