AllFreeNovel
Share Us
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'd 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."
