He smiled at her. “How did he even get out? The library was burnt to the ground.”
Avery lazily shrugged. “Why does it matter? All I know is that you didn’t win, you’ll never win.”
Elijah barked out a loud laugh and shook his head at her. “Don’t you get it by now? You belong to me. Shoot me,” he said, stepping closer to her, arms opened wide, inviting.
Avery faltered but kept the scowl on her face, her hands never leaving their tense strait. She didn’t talk but Elijah moved slowly toward her, tilting his head to the side, looking into the deep depths of their past and it seemed to me as if he was already plotting for the future.
“You can’t do it, can you?” he said again with a little laugh. “You shot them without qualms and now you’re quaking in fear?”
Avery’s jaw ticked but she said nothing. I felt as if my feet were cemented to the ground, I couldn’t move an inch. I wasn’t sure what to do, what to think.
“You are even weaker than I thought,” he mused, looking at her with a smirk, provoking her in a cynical tone. “You are the same little girl I met those years ago, eager to prove herself but never quite making that wish come true.”
Avery shook her head and grounded her teeth together. “I was the best and you know it.”
I wish she wouldn’t play into his game and realize what this was. Ultimately, distracting her would result in both of our demises and regardless of the morbid thoughts I had the habit of having, I’d very much hate one of them to be the end of me.
“Were you though?” Elijah quipped, raising a brow. “You couldn’t even beat me.”
“You didn’t fight fair.”
“I’m here now, let’s fight fair.”
Avery faltered for a moment and Elijah took another step forward, almost close enough to grab the gun. I watched with abated breath, knowing that any sudden movements would result in me being shot, an outcome I’d very much prefer avoiding at all costs. She looked at him squarely in the eye, her ocher gaze practically blazing before pointing the gun levelly at him once more, whilst taking a small step backward.
“I would fight you,” she admitted, nodding in confirmation. “You’d lose of course. But I can’t. That’s not who I am anymore.”
Elijah’s eyebrows shot up and he looked at her in confusion, obviously due to his surprise at her words. After all that had happened tonight it was ironic that she said that. “So… you’re giving up?”
“No,” Avery replied slowly, almost calculating.
Elijah opened his mouth to reply but as soon as he did, the gun went off with a loud resounding bang that echoed in the warehouse and left an eerie chill coating my bones without remorse.
I watched as Elijah crumpled to the floor and Avery’s hand dropped.
She shot him.
Chapter
XXXVII
It was dead silent for a few moments before his agonizing screams bounced off the walls and almost deafened me. He writhed in pain as he reached for his foot. Instead of dealing a fatal blow like I had assumed she would, Avery chose to shoot him in the foot instead. She lowered the gun and looked at him sadly, shaking her head.
“I couldn’t do it,” she whispered, her voice all but drowned by his wails.
For a hardened criminal, I didn’t quite expect this reaction from him. It was odd seeing him grab his ankle, seething in pain, all but rolling on the ground. It was humiliating, which I’ll admit was better than having him die at our feet. I watched as Avery pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number rapidly. She crouched and held her head in her hand while the other held the phone.
Almost inaudibly she reeled off the address to the operator on the other end. I noticed the slight tremor of her hand as she gripped the phone. I didn’t know how to move, or even if I could move. After all that she had said to me, I was uncertain about everything that we had gone through, about everything she had said to me before tonight. It was hard to fathom the implications of this one night, to process what exactly had happened just now. I couldn’t stand to hear Elijah’s groans either. All that talk about Avery’s weakness and he was the weak one.
There was one thing I didn’t doubt though and it was the fact that I doubt he would’ve killed her. The way he moved, his actions seemed to be directed at me, at terminating me. I was the target. She was right, he said he owned her, but I realized it was the other way around. Avery had that effect on people; it was easy to feel as if you needed her, possibly feeling the effects of almost going crazy if she wasn’t near. That was a spell she put on both of us, but I felt certain the effects on me were waning.
Elijah quieted down eventually, enough to speak almost coherently, and focused his gaze on Avery. “It would’ve been better if you had just finished me off,” he said in a strained, breathless whisper.
Avery raised her eyes to look at him, red-rimmed but dry. “I’m not a killer.”
Elijah’s brows furrowed and he looked at her peculiarly. “You just shot them.”
Avery nodded. “They aren’t dead.”
Elijah gaped at her. “You’re just like me. You like to make people suffer.”
“No, no I’m not. It was life or death in this case, you know that,” she said solemnly, meeting his eyes. Odd, the exchange was still too cordial for me to fathom, almost as if what had just happened didn’t heighten their awareness of their own mortality—I’m certain it did for me.
He didn’t answer; he just closed his eyes and tightened his grip on his ankle, gingerly pulling it toward him. I was pretty sure my face looked like that of a trauma victim, so much so that Avery only looked at me with her lips pressed together. Her eyes were unreadable, although thinking about it now, I was unsure if I was ever able to read her.
In a span of time I was not able to decipher, the police came with sirens blaring, pulling me from my stupor. Avery slowly stood and turned to face the entrance. The officers entered the room slowly and cautiously, guns drawn. They took a look at Avery and I and at Elijah on the floor, along with the guys behind us who seemed to have passed out, and made their way over to us.
Instinctively, my hands were placed in a position where they could see them. The seconds ticked by and the shouted instructions to each other, about five police officers entered the room. When they led us out, I didn’t miss the look of surprise on their faces when they saw Elijah incapacitated on the ground. They shared similar looks of recognition. Relief.
Outside had police cars haphazardly parked around Marc’s and Elijah’s. The blue flashing lights illuminated the walls on either side of us and the people who were slowly walking up looked at us curiously, possibly wondering what we could possibly have done to warrant police intervention; I mean sure they most likely heard the bangs but we didn’t exactly fit the profile.
It was all a blur, being treated like a criminal in an ongoing investigation apparently did that to you. Before I knew it, we were being escorted to the precinct. They made it clear that I was not under arrest but of course, I had to make a statement. There were three persons shot after all. The entire ride down I reminisced on what it was like just a few days ago, making almost the same journey when my father was targeted. And I mean, I probably should’ve been grateful that the person(s) who did it were apprehended, but the wave of emotions I was feeling didn’t leave room for even that.
Of course, we were questioned separately and at different times. Avery’s parents though got to the precinct in record time with their lawyers, ready to protect their daughter by any means necessary. There was no story to stick to, only the truth at this juncture. I explained everything I knew, which I’ll admit was quite equal to word vomit. They listened patiently, not seeming surprised at the words that made me flinch slightly. When I was finished, they merely nodded and told me that if they had any other questions they would be in contact. Much like I expected. I wasn’t a person of interest because I did nothing.
Imagine my surprise though, when I exited the room and saw Avery sitting on
the array of bright orange plastic chairs looking pensive but not at all distraught. She met my gaze as I exited the room and quickly looked back down before slowly standing. I attempted to wipe the confusion off my face but I could tell it wasn’t successful at all. She nodded at the officers behind me before heading towards the main doors. Her parents spoke in clipped tones to the lawyer a few feet away, not paying the slightest attention to us. It was in the wee hours of the morning and the cold air nipped at my hands as we stepped outside.
“You’re wondering why I’m not behind bars at this point.” It wasn’t a question.
I looked at her, willing myself to feel the same fire I felt a few hours ago but now it was a subtle simmer that made my heartache as it slowly fizzled out. “That’s one thing I’m wondering.”
Avery stopped at the curb and looked at me, her eyes totally filled and a gigantic smile. “I should be behind bars. I deserve it.” I didn’t say anything. “I told them everything that happened. I didn’t leave out anything. The library fire, the gang fights—everything. And still, they let me go.”
I didn’t want her to assume that I wanted her behind bars, but I wanted to know why she wouldn’t be.
“When I—When I told them about what happened today, they told me what Elijah said to them. He told them he shot those guys. He told them he did it to show us he wouldn’t be afraid to do it to us.”
“And they believed that?” I asked dubiously.
Avery shrugged. “He told them I would say I did it because I’d want to protect him. Because I still love him. Of course, my lawyer jumped on that as it only solidified his immunity deal.”
“Elijah covered for you?” I asked with my eyebrows almost touching my hairline, I’m sure.
Avery looked at me with a wry smile. “Sure looks like it,” she paused and sat on the curb, pulling her knees up to her chest and resting her chin on it. “I’m sure this isn’t over though.”
“What do you mean?”
She shrugged. “Knowing his family history, I’m pretty sure they were just happy to have him confessing to a crime without being ‘coerced.’”
I nodded and stared off into the distance, wondering what was happening back home, wondering just how panicked and irate my mother was at that very moment. I silently wished that I had a back-up phone or something to let her know I was okay.
“I’m sorry, you know,” Avery said in a tinny voice.
I laughed without humor and looked up at the dark sky, knowing that morning was just a little while away but still not feeling comforted by the prospects of sunshine a new day would bring. “Sorry about what exactly?”
“All of it,” she admitted. “What I said in there.”
I turned around and finally met her gaze, opening my expression so she could see exactly how I felt. “I’ve always wondered how it’s possible to kill someone without actually physically killing them.”
Avery flinched but nodded. “I’m sor—”
“It’s worst for me,” I admitted, cutting her off, “because I always had a little part of me that wondered if maybe you falling for me was something that I wanted to happen so bad that when it actually did I didn’t look at all the implications.”
“I wasn’t being serious,” she whispered.
“I never knew you were that good of an actress,” I mused with a slight laugh.
Avery shook her head. “I’m not.”
“You had us quite fooled though, me especially.”
Avery clamped her eyes shut. “Jason please…” She opened her eyes and I could saw the pain flittering across her iris in gleams. “I did it to protect us.”
I nodded, agreeing. “I know you did. But you have to admit to yourself that at least some of what you said is true.”
“Back at my parent’s I asked if you trusted me but it’s clear that you didn’t,” she said.
I scoffed and took a step back with furrowed brows. “You could’ve told me what you were planning.”
“You wouldn’t have gone with it,” she stated simply.
“Yes!” I exclaimed. “Exactly, we could’ve died tonight. That stunt nearly cost three people their lives, it could’ve very easily been us.”
“I just wanted you to trust me,” she said with a small shake of the head.
I scuffed my shoes against the pavement and stuck my hand into my pockets. “Kind of the exact opposite response, right?” I paused and stared at the little stones on the ground, ones that seemed more like ash the more I stared at them. “When you said all those other girls I’d hurt…”
“They would talk,” she admitted, her mouth in a straight line. “They adored you, but you were never interested in them.”
“You still compare me to Elijah.” It wasn’t a question. “We don’t look alike, we don’t act alike and we definitely don’t have the same past. But you still remember him whenever you see me and that’s because of how people perceive me.
“All along, there was still some resentment, right?” I asked rhetorically.
“I never resented you,” she said. “I resented myself for falling for you. But you—you did everything right. And I know I didn’t deserve it.”
I thought about what she said for a while. “You do realize that I’m now questioning everything you told me. For example, Jonathan, when you told me about him, you made it seem like he was dead even though you knew all this time he wasn’t.”
She nodded, not denying anything. “I only realized how much I cared about him when he was gone. But, by then, it was like I was dead to him. Sure, he came to see me but that was a final warning. He wanted nothing more to do with me.”
I stared at her for a moment, trying to see behind her defenses, I remembered that she had asked me if I trusted her. I automatically said yes, though I was aware of the gnawing feeling at the back of my mind that the prospect of wholly trusting her was one that wasn’t close to my grasp. Then I pictured when she told me she trusted me so readily. Without a doubt. She told me yes, she did, she trusted me; but it was different for me. I barely trusted myself, even worst because I almost failed the promise I made to myself to protect her. My mind was racing.
“Elijah knows so much about my past,” she mused, balling her hands into fists.
I took a step forward and stared down at her. “Is that why you’re sure he’d fall for your plan?”
“Yes, I guess,” she whispered. “He was so happy that I had called him, he really thought I hated you, when now—when I could hardly think of something so far from the truth.”
I ran a hand over my face and averted my gaze, but she continued. “I had to do this because it was my mess. I got your family involved, your father got shot, your best friend was about to face someone he had no idea about, your entire world was turned upside down because of me. I wanted to make it better. For once, I just wanted to do something right.”
I nodded and blinked rapidly. “I won’t lie to you and say I understand, because I don’t. But I’m trying to.”
Avery swiped at her eyes and stood abruptly, taking quick strides to stand in front of me. She looked up at me and I noticed her glistening eyes of unshed tears. I felt much the same, but my emotions were under wraps quite tightly. She gave me a smile, one that was bittersweet.
“Jason I—” she stared but shook her head slowly, possibly to clear it. “You are undoubtedly one of the best things that have happened to me.”
I looked at her for a long moment. “You gave me so many experiences.”
She laughed at the deflection and I watched as a tear rolled down her cheek. “I cannot imagine not being with you.”
Popularity Rules Page 32