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“The door’s locked. No one will be able to come in unannounced or overhear anything. Say whatever you need to say.”
“I really appreciate you three making sure that at least one of you has been with Leo and me at night since the first batch of flowers came, but I know that can’t possibly be comfortable or convenient for you. You don’t have to keep doing it. You three have so much more going on than I do. I’m sure it would be better for you to be in your own beds. I don’t want your work to suffer because of all this.”
“Your safety is important. Don’t you understand that we care about what happens to you?” I say.
“But I’m not any safer with you there. I’m on the third floor, so even if he wanted to, he’s not going to be able to break in that way. You can’t even get access to the condo without having a key to the front door. Yes, someone else can buzz him in, but I always keep my door locked and Dad installed a second deadbolt on my door a few days ago.
“The only thing your sleeping there will do is give me peace of mind and make it a little easier for me to fall asleep. I can manage that by myself. I don’t need you sitting up with me like I’m a child who’s afraid of the dark. It’s not worth it.”
“When are you going to understand that you are worth it?”
Avery flinches at the tone of his voice.
“Wesley, maybe you should take a breath and calm down a little?” I suggest.
“No, I will not calm down. This bastard made her feel like she’s nothing and now he’s back because she’s what? Trying to make a better life for herself? This is bullshit. He needs to be stopped.”
“We’re trying to do that,” Phillip says in his therapist voice. “You know that the proper channels take time. We just have to trust the justice system.”
“The same justice system that gave me a harsher punishment than the man who assaulted Suzanne because they decided she was dressed provocatively? She was wearing her fucking work uniform. How about the justice system that let Amira’s ex-boyfriend out after a year for good behavior even though he almost beat her to death? Or do you mean the justice system that should have put Avery’s husband behind bars but gave him barely more than a slap on the wrist because his family had money? I’ve seen this happen too many times to my co-workers and then my employees, and now, our girlfriend. I’m not going to let this happen to her again.”
“I understand, but if you go after this guy, I don’t think you’ll get off with just a misdemeanor and a fine again—not with the kind of reach his family has.”
“Wait, you have a criminal record? Why didn’t you tell me?”
The hurt in Avery’s voice stabs me in the gut. Going by the look on Wesley’s face, he feels the same way.
“You need to tell her,” Phillip says gently.
Wesley sighs and flops down next to Avery on the small couch in the corner of the room.
“I know you’re aware that I have a temper, but especially when I was younger, I’d punch first and ask questions later.”
She digs her nails into her palms. “Have you—have you ever put your hands on a woman?”
“Never have. Never will,” he says seriously.
“So, what happened that got you charged with a misdemeanor? I’m assuming it had to do with what happened to Suzanne and Amira.”
“It does. When I was saving to launch Fantasy Flavors, I worked at Cowboy’s Steakhouse. Their gimmick was a mechanical bull and waitresses dressed like sexy cowgirls.
“Too many customers took that as an invitation to put their hands on them. Even before what happened to Suzanne happened, I had tossed my fair share of creeps out. When I found Suzanne that day, I knew something more had happened than someone pinching her bum. I was so angry I couldn’t see straight. It took four people to pull me off him.
“Amira’s one of my staff as well, and her ex decided to crash a catering event and harass her the day he got out of prison. I’d been doing really well with my anger management techniques, and all I did was grab him by the arm and escort him off the property with one of my other staff. Then he made some nasty accusations about her and took a swing at me. I ended up breaking his arm. If there hadn’t been a few witnesses who told the police he’d swung first, I would have gotten far worse than a misdemeanor.”
A tear slips down Avery’s cheek.
“That’s what you were so worried about telling me? You were all dramatic with your ‘you don’t know what I’m capable of when I’m angry’ stuff, and this is what you were keeping from me?”
Then she shocks us all by laughing.
“Wesley, you should be getting a knighthood. From what you’re telling me, you’ve only ever harmed someone when they’ve mistreated a woman. I wish someone like you had been around when… well, you know.”
“That doesn’t bother you?” he asks, sitting up a little straighter.
“No. If anything, it makes me care for you even more.”
I’ve been trying to get him to understand this for years. It warms my heart to see someone finally getting through to him.
