September Rain Bk 2, Savor The Days Series (43 page)

A smirk perked up one side of her
mouth. “He’s playing hard to get, I guess. I have my own room, but
not at this shithole and I drank too much to consider
driving.”

Avery shook her head,
unsympathetically noting the guitarists wobble. “I got a headache.
A real bad one.”

Angelica’s shoulders dropped. “Fuck
it. Guess I’ll just go pass out in my car.”

“Well, I took some pain reliever.
Probably come back in about an hour?”

Angelica smiled, “Maybe I can hold out
a little longer. Feel better.”

Avery closed the door, aiming to
change out of her wet clothes. She was just slipping into a dry set
when another knock sounded. This time, it was louder and
immediately irritated her. She wasn’t expecting anyone and she
wanted to keep the noise to a minimum to avoid waking
Angel.

“Just a second,” she whisper-yelled at
the door and ripped her dry shorts up the rest of the
way.

Jake was standing outside. His arms
were crossed and he wasn’t smiling. Avery rolled her eyes. She
could never take mild-mannered Jake seriously when he tried to look
angry. It just didn’t work with mellow demeanor.

“Keep your voice down.” She mouthed,
setting a finger over her lips.

“Why are you whispering?”

“Because I have to, Jake.”

He tilted his head to one side.
“Headache?”

Avery nodded.

“Convenient.” Jake walked inside and
sat on the bed, leaning up against the headboard. “You know,” he
kept his voice low, “I’ve got a couple things I need to talk
about.”

“Like what?”

“Heavy stuff. Like something Andrew
said to me this morning.” His eyes met hers and something flashed
in them. “We never talked about when you broke the news to Deanna,
either. I know it’s not the best time . . .” His voice trailed off,
but his gaze was sharp.

“Perfect.” Avery snapped, the hair at
the back of her neck straightening with the mention of the Foster.
“Let’s have a deep conversation.” Her words gave off that perfect
sarcasm she employed as she turned to face Jake with her legs
folded. Face to face, both sitting on the bed.

“First: Andrew said he saw you groping
two guys from Anemic Psychos.”

Avery put up a hand, stopping him.
“They did it to me first. It was a revenge grope.”

Jake sighed, nodding. “I heard the
same from them. But . . .”

“Spit it out, Jake.”

“It pisses me off that you would do
that. You’re my girlfriend. You should fucking act like it.” He met
her gaze, a muscle in his clenched jaw twitched. “Andrew also told
me he saw you in town a while back.”

Avery knew when Jake
said
town
it
meant the larger of the two; Eager, not Carlisle.

“Well, isn’t Andrew full of
useful information? I can see how that might bug you.” Jake
scowled, but Avery didn’t care. “See, I have this little thing
called free will and sometimes I use it to go into
town
.”

“He said you were walking
into that abortion clinic down on Cactus Street.” The hard look in
Jakes’ eyes faltered. “I told him he was crazy, that you might do
crazy stuff sometimes, but you wouldn’t do that. I didn’t tell him
about how you can’t have kids. That’s not his business. Besides, if
something like
that
ever happened you would tell me.”

Avery kept her eyes down, wondering
how to handle this. Could she sweep it under the rug? Keep it from
Angel in the long run?

“Right?” Jake asked, his voice rising.
“You would tell me if I . . . if you were . . . Right? Normally, I
wouldn’t even ask, but you’ve been acting really weird, lately.
More weird than usual. But I told Andrew that he was wrong.” He
paused again. And then carried on, “You would never do that to me.
He’s wrong. Isn’t he?”

Avery shrugged, deciding on the fly to
roll with the punches. He’d already promised to marry Angel, there
had to be some security in that. “I might have been
there.”

Suddenly, Jake shot up from the bed.
His hazel eyes turned black as he stared down at her. “Getting a .
. . ?”

She crossed her arms.

“But—but I thought . . . how? You
were?”

“
Yes.” She didn’t even have
the courtesy to look ashamed.

“Damn it!” Jake raised his hands over
his head, raking his fingers down his face. “I am so sick of
defending you all the time. You fucking lied? What the
hell?”

“I didn’t think I could get pregnant.
I was wrong and I took care of it.”

“Without telling me!”

“Why would I tell you?”

“Why
?” Jake scoffed. “Because I deserve more respect than a
fucking dog. It was part of me, too.”

His words were forceful. He was pissed
and Avery eagerly fed on that rage like a cat lapping up
cream.

“No, it wasn’t.”

The acid in her voice ate right
through Jakes’ heart. She could tell by the way he jerked back as
if he’d been sucker-punched. His whole body deflated.

She felt a little guilty, but part of
her was also interested. Angry Jake was a curious thing, an anomaly
she was unfamiliar with. Usually, when Jakes upset met her
indifference, he dropped it, or caved into her demands. But here he
was, looking for a fight and that got Avery curious. Of course, she
knew she should apologize, but what if she didn’t?

The room became deathly
quiet as Avery wondered.
What would Jake
do then?

Jakes’ mouth opened, but no sound came
out. He ran his hands up and over his stubby, velvet hair and took
a deep breath. “I know that sometimes you say things you don’t
mean. So I need an explanation before I get righteously
pissed.”

Avery stood, stepping away from the
side of the bed, but said nothing.

Jakes patience withdrew,
leaving only rising anger. His mouth cracked into a grimace.
“Not
my
baby?”

“Jake.” Avery walked backwards towards
the dresser where Angels’ purse was set. She knew Angel kept a
pocket knife in there. She did not know what Jake might do next,
but she wanted to find out. She wanted to be ready for
anything.

“What the fuck did you mean?” Jake
pressed, pointing a finger in her direction.

Avery felt the smooth
handle of the pocket knife against her palm and a ripple of anxiety
as she answered. “It was not
your
baby. Not
ours
.”

“Really?” Everything inside him seemed
to break at once. His breath hitched and back bowed, his head fell
into his hands. When he looked at Avery a moment later, the
impossible happened; Jake was fuming. And it was not funny at all.
He looked so disgusted, so disappointed, it made Avery’s
self-hatred swell. She knew that Angel would hate her for it, too.
But she didn’t want to back down. As a matter of fact, she shoved
her chin out.

Jake lunged at her, taking her by both
shoulders and shaking. “Who was it?”

Avery remained resolutely
quiet.

Jake repeated his question, “Who?
Who?” Tightening his grasp on her arms, his face went
red.

It was always very simple for Avery to
shift the hate she felt for herself onto others. It was as easy as
changing the direction of a loaded cannon. The fuse was always lit
and all she had to do was pivot the giant weapon, shift her hateful
aim. She didn’t like the way he looked and touched her. His fingers
were a vice around each arm. She’s was already on edge, thinking
too, of the euphoric cloud that had engulfed after she let loose on
Deanna.

Avery focused, going for a
direct hit. Aimed and fired. “Troy Bleecher dropped me off. He was
the one I called because he was the one who was involved.
Not
you
.”

Jakes’ breathing was harsh as he
stood, hands ringed tightly around Avery’s arms. He loosed his grip
on her with such force, Avery’s back kissed the dresser and it
shook. At that moment—the second she was sure Jake was more angry
than he had ever been—was the same moment Avery realized the depth
of what she was doing.

The irreparable harm she was causing
Angel.

“What the fuck are you doing to me?”
Jake was shaking. Stuttering, he pointed at her. “I knew it! Troy
Bleecher?” He came closer, pushing her against the dresser,
pinching her face in his enormous hand. “You little fucking—” he
stopped, his face almost purple. “I do everything for you and
this—you give what’s mine to someone else and tell me, like you’re
so fucking proud of yourself?”

Jake’s breathing slowed, his tight
angry scowl loosened. He dropped his hand from her face took
several steps back. “You’re not gonna make me lose my shit. I
shouldn’t have put my hands on you. Just know: there is no coming
back from this. We are over. Done.”

Shit,
Avery thought. She had always known things between Angel and
Jake wouldn’t work in the long term but she couldn’t be the one to
break them, at least not in such a direct way. Angel would never
forgive her.

Avery took a conciliatory step forward
and said his name in the same soft way that Angel always did. But
Jake stepped back with both hands up as if Avery was made of some
contaminating substance. The gesture was plain: he wanted nothing
more to do with her.

“I’m not wasting another second on
you. Which brings me to our next discussion: You are a fucking liar
and Deanna’s on her way to get you.”

Avery felt her jaw go slack. Jake had
to be lying. Avery had hit Deanna hard. Really hard. And laid her
in her room, on her bed, as if she were asleep. She’d even taken
the time to place some aspirin and a glass of water on her bedside
table, to make it look like she didn’t feel well, hoping to buy
them time to get away. She wasn’t supposed to wake up.

Jake’s posture straightened, as if he
were proud—or pissed—while Avery’s shrank.

“Oh, I talked to her.” He gloated, “I
called to thank her for her generosity in letting you come with me.
Imagine how surprised I was to learn that you didn’t. That you just
fucking ran off!”

“You had no right checking up on me!”
Avery backed away and steadied herself against the dresser, keeping
the folded pocket knife in her grasp. Was he lying? Did he really
talk to Deanna? If by some miracle he did, had Deanna told Jake
what happened? Was that the real reason he was so angry?

“Because you’re so trustworthy.” His
hands rolled into fists. “You can tell Deanna all about how shitty
I am when she gets here in a few minutes.”

Jake shrugged, as if the news was
nothing. As if Angels plans, as if her life, didn’t matter at all.
That was unacceptable.

Avery couldn’t flinch, now. The
situation was beyond hesitation, beyond the point of return. She
couldn’t take back what she’d said to Jake. Or what he’d said to
Deanna. Angel would suffer, either way. So there was no point in
trying to settle anything, was there?

All that was left was the
unanswered question:
what if?
Avery was too curious to stop pushing. Her
compulsion was born of a wonderment that would not be satisfied
until the confrontation reached crescendo and completion. Avery had
to know what Jake would do next. She had to.

“I’m not leaving with
Deanna.”

“I’m not going to jail for you. I
asked you to move in with me. To marry me!” He nearly screamed at
her.

“
You can’t make me
leave.”

And then, the impossible happened
again. Angry Jake got more angry. So angry, that he laughed. He got
very close—closer—stepping on Avery’s bare toes with his big boot,
and whispering in her ear.

“If I have to stuff you in the damn
trunk myself, I will. And there is nothing you can do about it. You
are a fucking liar and I don’t want you here. Maybe you should call
Troy, tell him how proud you are. You’re his problem,
now.”

Avery knew his words were actually
threats and reacted.

The first two times the blade stuck
him between his ribs, Avery expected a big reaction. But it was as
if he didn’t feel it. Jake simply lumbered back, gazing at her as
if she were speaking some unknown language.

His hand moved up over his abdomen.
The rippling anger that made him laugh and threaten her pulled back
like receding water. It was sucked too far out to sea, exposing too
much beach. Jake broke his gaze, looking down at his
hand.

“Angel?” He saw the red on his palm
and stopped. He got that look on his face again, like she was an
alien creature. “What did you do?”

If this were a normal conversation,
Avery would have laughed. It was such a stupid thing to say. It
seemed that Jake was in shock, but only for a second.

He went for the phone.
Maybe because it was closer than the door. Avery’s hand shot out to
stop him. She was still holding the knife, moving it quickly,
wherever she could find flesh. She got his back when he turned, his
leg when he tried to jump over the bed and fell. It seemed he
didn’t want to fight with her and that made her want to keep
going.
How far would she have to go to
make Jake defend himself?