Page 55 of Letters From Avery
“Oh, okay!” Avery smiled and closed the door, waiting patiently for me to get out and walk ‘round to his side. “Why, thank you,” he said around a sweet little laugh as he took my extended hand and exited the car.
The place was busy, but wasn’t packed. The radio was blasting some kind of country/rock mashup I’d never heard, and it was a little too loud, but the place smelled fucking amazing.
The hostess grabbed two larger-than-life laminated menus, and we followed along behind her to a nice booth towards the edge of the seating area.
Avery caught me staring at him as he set his menu down flat on the table. He half-smiled, keeping his eyes low. “Do I have something on my face?”
“Yep!” I reached out my index finger and gently tapped the end of his nose. “You’ve got some adorable here…” I moved my hand to brush his cheek, “And some sexy here… and it looks like you are just completely covered in pretty.”
“You never told me you were such a sappy romantic.”
“Do you want me to stop?”
“Fuck, no,” he replied, finally meeting my eyes.
I laughed at his candor, and the waitress arrived with our drinks. After she’d scribbled our dinner orders down and grabbed our menus, Avery’s smile fell.
“What, baby?” I asked, concerned.
Avery shook his head. “It’s nothin’. I don’t want to ruin our date by talking about shitty things.”
“Unless you’re planning on breaking up with me, Ithink I can handle it.”
Avery sighed. “Did he…”
“Yes, David showed up at the shop.”
“What did he say?”
“That he’s a worthless piece of shit who could never treat you the way you deserve to be treated. And then, he thanked me for agreeing to take such good care of you.”
“My mom used to say that you go to Hell for lying.”
“No offense, but your mother says a lot of things I wish she didn’t,” I muttered.
“I can’t stop thinking about the way she responded when I told her about David. She excused the abuse because he’s a cop andhas a stressful job.Do… do you think that means that my father…”
Avery’s lip quivered, and I reached out across the table to take his hand. “I don’t know, sweetheart. That would be a logical connection, as awful as that prospect is. I know the only way to prove that I’llneverhurt you is to never do it, but I swear to god, Avery… I’ll never hurt you. I’m sorry that conversation went so badly, but we’re gonna figure it all out. I promise.”
Avery’s smile began to bloom again as the waitress set our plates down in front of us.
The medium-rare rib eye took up nearly the entireplate. My mouth was watering so badly, I was concerned I’d start actually drooling.
Avery cut a few small pieces of his steak and took a bite before speaking again. “So, what did David actually say?”
“That he’ll lock down the shop with the entire police force and find a way to send me back to prison if I don’tgive you backby tomorrow.”
“Jesus Christ.”
I shrugged and shoved a bite of steak into my mouth. An involuntary moan escaped as I chewed.
Fuck, it was almost better than sex!
Losing my resolve a bit, I stuffed two more pieces in my mouth at the same time and poked my fork into the mac and cheese as I chewed.
“So, I imagine you’ll be skipping work tomorrow?” he asked.
I shook my head. “There are a few things you learn in prison. One of the biggest things is to never run from a fight. People see you cower one time, and it’s over. David is no different than any of the other thugs I encountered in lockup. If we flinch now, we’ll never be free. I don't want us living our lives always looking over our shoulders for David’s eventual revenge. We deserve peace.”
