I bent my head and kissed her softly, comfortingly. I rubbed my lips across her still-swollen ones and let my tongue trace the cute little dip in her top lip. She needed someone to take care with her, and while I didn’t think I had any care in me left to give, I was surprising the both of us by doling it out like it was in endless supply.
“Your story doesn’t change how I see you, Avett, but it does change how tolerant I’m going to be with your bad decision making because, sadly, your story is one that belongs to a lot of young women. Some even have the same tragic ending as your friend. Your story and her story are not singular and it kills me to tell you that I see similar stories with similar outcomes pass in and out of court all the time. Those stories all have one thing in common—guilt and blame, too often placed on the incorrect person. There is no need for you to be looking for some kind of cosmic punishment—you didn’t do anything wrong.”
At least, she hadn’t that night. Doing nothing wasn’t the right choice for either of the girls to make, but sadly, it was the choice too many young women that were victimized made when they found themselves in that situation. Too often the responsibility was taken on by the victim, instead of staying placed on the attacker where it belonged, and that blame did horrific things, like make her friend feel like there was no way out of everything she was suffering through besides ending her own life, and it clearly led Avett to believe she was the one responsible for the actions of those depraved and damaged boys.
She didn’t respond, so I pushed back from the door once again and decided it was time for me to go. I had no more wisdom or guidance left to impart on her tonight. Plus, I needed a few minutes to myself to fully comprehend how complicated and deep the waters that ran inside this complex young women were. She fascinated me and captured my attention in a way that was alarming. I’d been focused on work and on moving on from my disastrous marriage so single-mindedly that to have all of that suddenly sidelined by an intriguing pink-haired temptress was enough to give a man whiplash.
“I’m going to see about the patrol unit, but you need to call your dad so that you aren’t here the rest of the night alone.”
She balked immediately at the order and took a step towards me. “I told you, I didn’t want to pull him away from my mom.”
I knew that was going to be her answer, so I shook my head before she got all of the words out.
“Call him, because I’m going to be on the phone with him in twenty minutes after I call DPD and ask them about a patrol. If I’m the one that wakes him up and pulls him away from a warm bed and a willing woman, it won’t go over as well as if you do it.” None of this was the way I typically talked to anyone, let alone a woman I desperately wanted to get naked and nasty with, but all my typical norms and behaviors seemed to have dried up and been replaced with this new incarnation of myself that was a haphazard mishmash of where I had been and where I was now. I let her go and pulled open the door. “This time, actually stay away from the goddamn windows. Whoever was driving that car nearly ran me over, so there is no telling what they would do to you if they get a clear shot.”
She shivered a little and grabbed the edge of the door as I exited through it. “Aye-aye, captain.” The sarcasm was heavy in her voice and in her actions as she lifted her fingers to her forehead and gave me a little salute.
“Seriously, Avett. You told me you never do the right thing even when it’s the only thing to do, so this is me not giving you a choice. Call your dad and keep your head down until we know what in the hell is going on.”
She frowned at my harsh tone but relented and gave me a little nod. “All right. I’ll call him and stay away from the windows and the doors.” Her timid tone halted me when I reached the bottom of the steps. “Quaid.” I turned to look up at her and almost ran back up the front steps of the house when I saw how adorable and rumpled she looked propped up in the doorway. To hell with respect and rationale.
“Yeah?”
“Thank you for giving me your number. Thank you for answering my call. Thank you for showing up to make sure I was all right.” She paused to catch her breath as the words tumbled out each faster than the other. “Thank you for being here and staying even after I gave you my story. Now you know exactly who I am, and you are so much more than nobody to me, Quaid.”
I opened my mouth and let it close. I hefted the helmet up and fitted it over my tousled hair. Before I pulled it down to cover the rest of my face, I told her, matter-of-factly, “I wouldn’t have done any of those things if you were anyone else, Avett. Your story doesn’t change who you are or how I feel about you. Now, go inside and call your dad.”
She gave a jerky nod and then disappeared back inside the house. I walked to where I left the bike parked in front of the house and waited for a few minutes to make sure none of the curtains or blinds twitched. I wanted to make sure that she was doing as she was told. When I was satisfied she had hunkered down and would indeed call Brite, I swung my leg over the bike and cranked the engine on. I decided I would cruise by the closest station house and ask them to send a cruiser through the neighborhood.
It was much harder to deny me what I wanted when I was there to argue my case in person.
CHAPTER 9
Avett
I don’t need a babysitter. It’s almost been a week and the creepy guys in the car haven’t been back. I’m starting to think they were there to take out the bitchy neighbor across the street that won’t lay off her poor boyfriend. If I was him, I wouldn’t hesitate to order a hit on her mouthy ass. That seems like it would be way less painful than actually marrying someone like her.”