“Why?” I wondered.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I just… I feel like it’s peaceful. That the man/woman is finally at peace. Finally away from this world of such uncertainty.”
I didn’t know what to say to that.
It was a bit morbid, but also kind of sweet.
“What’s your second favorite?” I asked.
“Babies,” she explained. “They’re just so innocent and unused to the cruelness of the world. They have no idea what’s in store for them. And they’re so trusting of everyone. They have no idea the harm that can be done to them.”
That I agreed with.
I’d seen a lot over my years in the military, and even more over the last six months of being a cop for the KPD. Children were so trusting. Babies especially.
I turned down the street that would lead to Avery’s place and started searching for her house.
“Why is it so dark?” I asked as I tried to see into the darkness.
“The streetlight is out,” she answered. “Been out for a couple of weeks now.”
I grunted out a wordless reply and finally found the entrance to her driveway.
“That’s not very safe, Avery,” I said. “You should call the city and have them…”
“Don’t you think that I’m doing enough?!” she suddenly yelled. “I’ve been doing the best I fucking can! But Jesus Christ. It’s a streetlight. I have fucking shit water in my dad’s bathroom right now. I had to call a plumber out at three in the morning. Then I had to pay over eight hundred dollars to get it fixed only for him to tell me that it was only a matter of time before all of the plumbing underneath the house would need to be replaced.” She threw her hands up in the air. “And then, I’m getting ready to go to your sister’s wedding, and my car barely starts. But then I get all the way there only to find out that the battery is bad when I try to come home. How much is that going to cost?” She blew out a breath. “And tomorrow are my SATs, and I haven’t studied or anything. I’m barely passing my classes right now as it is because I can’t seem to find the fucking time, Derek! Having a photographic memory is useless when you can’t spare an hour to read the chapter. Or study for that matter.”
I didn’t know what to say to that.
I had no idea.
“And to make matters worse,” she continued. “I have three clients that haven’t paid me yet. That’s over eight hundred dollars that I desperately need. Yet, they’re ‘friends’ so they think it’s okay to wait. Because ‘I don’t need it.’”
Avery immediately got out, but I stopped her retreat by calling her name before she could slam the truck door closed.
I bailed out right after her, barely getting the truck into park before I was moving.
As I met her around the front of my truck, I was about to tell her something, anything to get her to stay and talk to me just a little bit longer, when I heard a scrape of gravel in front of us.
“You’re the fucking reason that I don’t have a million dollars right now!”
Both Avery and I whipped around to see a man step into the halo my headlights made on the house.
It took me all of a half second to process what was going on. There was a man standing with a shotgun in his hand, and it was pointed loosely at the woman at my side.
“Avery,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm. “Back behind me.”
She snorted, and not delicately.
“Avery,” I whispered. “Please.”
Avery didn’t move. She only stared at the man in front of her, eyes wide and surprised.
Angry. God, she was so angry, too.
I could see it in the way she held herself, and the way her jaw was clenched tight.
“I could’ve had a million dollars,” he continued. “But you. You had to go and talk to my father. Tell him that you didn’t think I was responsible enough yet.”
There was a long, silent pause as Avery and I processed that news.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Avery finally said.
He shook the shotgun at her and laughed maniacally.
“You don’t. Not yet. But you will,” he replied cryptically. “You’ve ruined my life, and now I’m going to ruin yours.”
That’s when I realized that before, Avery hadn’t been angry.
She’d been upset, yes. But I hadn’t quite seen her angry.
“You’ve got to be joking,” Avery said with exceptional calm.
“I’m not joking about shit,” the man hissed. “I was going to be a millionaire. We had it all planned out. We met your mom and dad, and life worked so well. Then my wife and I had this great idea. It was going to be perfect. We were going to get a million dollars when they each died. The plan wasn’t in place yet, so it all fell apart with your mom. Then we doubled our efforts with your dad. You owe me!”