Trust in Me

She looked at me and then quickly glanced away, but not quick enough. I saw the sudden sheen in her eyes. Shit. Shit. Shit.

“I don’t want to go home. There’s no one there and I . . .”

That spot in my chest throbbed. “I’ll come over later and we’ll talk, okay? But go home. Please, just go home.”

Her mouth opened and then snapped shut. “Okay.”

The ache grew. “Avery . . .”

“It’s totally okay.” She smiled, but it wasn’t real and it was full of hurt—hurt I knew I put there. She turned and shuffled to her door, and with a low curse, I went back into my apartment.

“Everything okay?” Jase asked as I headed into the kitchen for another beer. Or three.

“No.” I screwed off the lid and tossed it in the trash.

His dark brows rose. “Are you not okay because she was here or because she left?”

“I made her leave.”

Jase glanced over as Ollie entered the kitchen. I took one look at the pothead. “I should kick you in the balls.”

Ollie didn’t laugh it off. He stared at me with a level look. “Did you just make that poor girl leave?”

“Poor girl?” I sputtered.

“Yeah, you know, the girl you’ve been obsessed with since August? She finally came over and you kick her out of the apartment.”

I stared at him as I took off my hat, tossing it onto the counter. “Are you high? You have no idea what has been going on between us.”

“Ollie,” Jase warned.

“You’re right. I don’t know what’s going on, but—”

“Shut up, Ollie.” I brushed past him and headed for the living room.

The main fight was about to start. I stopped near the door, realizing I’d left my beer in the kitchen. I started to go back, but I didn’t move. I had been serious when I told Avery I would come over and talk to her, but I planned on waiting until tomorrow, when she was sober, for one thing, and I wasn’t so fucking pissed off about everything. But as I stood there, all I could see were the tears building in her eyes. Tomorrow wasn’t too far away, but . . .

“Go,” I heard Jase say from behind me.

I was already out the door.





Twenty

Part of me wasn’t surprised when I opened her apartment door after banging on it and discovered she wasn’t there. Expecting Avery to listen to me just once would obviously be asking too much.

Having no idea where she could’ve gone, I walked over to the living room window and peered down.

“What the fuck?”

There was a slight form sitting on the curb, hunched over in the cold. What in the hell was Shortcake doing? I hurried outside, wincing as the wind lifted my hair right off my forehead.

“Avery!” I shouted. She started, dropping her beer bottle. It rolled under a nearby car as she twisted toward me. The glassy look, which I couldn’t completely blame on the beer, tore up my insides. “What in the fuck are you doing out here?”

She blinked and her damp lashes lifted. “I . . . I’m looking at the stars.”

“What?” I knelt down beside her. “Avery, it’s like thirty degrees outside. You’re going to get sick again.”

One shoulder lifted as she looked away. “What are you doing out here?”

“I was looking for you, you little dumbass.”

She looked at me sharply. “Excuse me? You’re out here, so you’re a dumbass, too, you dumbass.”

I fought a grin. “I told you I was coming over to talk to you. I checked your apartment first. I knocked and you didn’t answer. The door was unlocked and I went inside.”

“You went inside my apartment? That’s kind of rude.”

“Yeah, I saw you sitting down here from your window.”

There was a pause and then she asked, “Is the fight over?”

Since it didn’t look like she was getting up anytime soon, I sat beside her. The cold of the cement froze my ass in a nanosecond. “No. The main fight just began.”

“You’re missing it.”

Running a hand through my hair, I let out a long breath. “God, Avery . . .” I struggled with what to say. The reaction to seeing her was still too raw, too confusing. “Seeing you tonight? I was fucking surprised.”

“Because of Steph?”

“What?” I looked at her. “No. Jase invited her.”

“Looks like she was there for you.”

“Maybe she was, but I don’t give a fuck.” Twisting toward her, I dropped my hands onto my knees. “Avery, I haven’t messed around with Steph since I met you. I haven’t messed around with anyone since I met you.”

She inhaled deeply. “Okay.”

“Okay?” I almost laughed and then the shit just unloaded. “See, you don’t get it. You never fucking got it. You’ve avoided me since Thanksgiving break. Dropped the goddamn class and I know that was because of me, and every time I tried to talk to you, you fucking ran from me.”

“You didn’t want to talk to me the day I thanked you for helping me out.”