[B.S. #1] Tied Up in Knotts

by Dale Cadeau

  “Just spit it out James—no more bullshit.” Avery’s eyes had turned frosty and her mouth was set in a straight line. “I can take it, I’ve been lied to most of my life, so I’m not going to fall to pieces.” Avery snatched her hands from James and crossed them over her chest.

  “Well first of all it wasn’t all ‘bullshit’ as you put it. We do not work for Carlos and are not running drugs.”

  Avery made a move to leave the sofa and James grabbed her hands again. “Avery, listen, I know you’re hurt, but please give me a minute to explain. That all I ask and if you want to leave after, I will make sure that you have a safe place to go to.” James’s blue eyes pleaded with her to give him a chance.

  Avery settled back down. “We also don’t work for the Feds, we are independent covert investigators. We are looking into the missing drugs. People have asked us to look into the situation and see what we could find. Now this is the hard part. We moved into the area because we wanted to get close to you and also keep you safe at the same time. We thought this was the best way. Your job at the diner was dangerous. You were on your own in a bad part of town, your apartment was full of street people. We knew it was just a matter of time until Carlos came after you. We had to get you away from the diner and your apartment. Look how easy it was for Danny and his gang to overtake you. We were just trying to keep you safe while finding out what happened. Please believe me, baby, if we could have thought of any other way…but you seem to be the key to it all.” James’s voice begged her to believe him. He was putting his all into it, hoping that she would understand.

  “Stop calling me baby. I’m not your baby, right now I don’t even think I like you. You didn’t have to romance me to ask questions. It was all lies, you’re just like the rest. It’s always about the drugs. Can’t you all believe me, when I say I don’t know anything? I didn’t see anything, I don’t know where the drugs are and I don’t care if they ever find them. My father was the criminal, not me, but everyone is still treating me like one. Maybe your methods were nicer, but it still was a gilded cage, that you built. I was to stay in it until you got what you wanted. Well it ends now.”

  Avery pushed him back after twisting her hand out of his grasp. “I’m leaving, let me up. I just want to dress and get out of her. What an idiot I was, now I can see straight. New business, job handed to me on a plate, a guy wining and dining me. Looking around, I can now see that you can afford it. God I was so concerned that you were spending all your money on me. You weren’t trying to impress me, you were just trying to soften me up. Make the stupid girl think you’re interested and she will take you into her confidence.

  “Well it almost worked, but the joke’s on you and the guys. All the work was for nothing. I couldn’t tell you something I don’t know myself. My father never let on he was a drug runner. I don’t know why? Maybe it was frowned upon in our neighborhood. My parents to me were loving parents like everyone else’s. Now let me go.” Avery batted James’s hands away when he tried to take hers again.

  Pulling his hands back, James stood and let Avery move away from the sofa. She stood in the middle of the living room, both hands across her stomach, as if the hurt she felt couldn’t be handled. Avery’s eyes, when they looked at him, were shadowed, as if the light in her had been extinguished, he knew he had to take the blame for the hurt that she felt.

  “I can’t let you go, Avery. Can you really ask that of me, after what we went through tonight? You’re not safe. No way are you leaving here.” James stood with his hand on his hips and a stern look on his face that booked no arguments. “Please be reasonable. If you help us we can probably sort this whole mess out and then you will be able to leave. Until then—you stay.”

  “So in other word, until you have what you want, I am a prisoner. You say you’re not the Feds or Carlos, but you sure act the same way. Your way is the only one that counts, right? No difference,” Avery said in defiance.

  James face took on a hard expression, he didn’t like this any more than she did. She was right, but it had to be this way. He would give anything not to have to do this to her. Maybe she didn’t agree with his methods, but James was determined to keep her safe. Even at the expense of her freedom.

  Avery let her hand fall to her side, defeated. She knew she didn’t have any choice but to accept James terms. Until he believed her and found nothing out, she was stuck here.

  “OK, we’ll play it your way, but at least let me have a say as to who my jailer is. Right now I really don’t want to see you. If you care for me even a little bit, let Clay look after me. I’ll talk to him. Not that I have anything new to add to the questions the Feds already asked that I’m sure you know about.”

  “You really hate me that much?” James asked, his chest feeling tight.

  “Yes, James, right now I do. Clay did not try to get me in bed, to get me to talk. He didn’t try to wine and dine me. He didn’t try to charm me with lies. I know the investment job was a lie, but Clay and I seemed to find a friendship of sorts, that I don’t think he was putting on. So If I have to stay here, at least let me have Clay as my jailer.” Avery looked at the floor.

  James nails were biting into his palms as he listened to Avery. He stood stock still and couldn’t believe the hurt he felt at her words. Turning on his heel, he strove to the front door. Taking one last looking back at her, James quickly slipped through the door. He couldn’t stay a minute longer. His chest hurt. She wanted Clay. James let his hands unclench and walked to the elevator and pushed the button for the office below. He knew Avery would be safe in the apartment. No one could get up into the building, the elevator only worked when known index fingerprints were scanned into its system. Not something that anyone knew about, only his and the guys’ fingerprints worked. Avery was not going anyplace.

  James stood in the elevator after the doors opened on the office floor. He had to take a minute and get himself together. This was a business, he couldn’t take it personally until the job was done. He would let her have her way until she was out of danger, and then all bets were off. He wasn’t letting her go. No, he had already staked his claim and she would just have to get used to it.

  Stepping out of the elevator, James straightened his shoulders and bristly walked to the office front door. He hoped the guys had found something. Opening the door, James walked past the front desk into the small meeting room that he could hear their voices coming from.

  Clay watched James enter the room. He could tell that James was hurting, they had been together too long and in too many situation for James to completely cover it from him. He knew James was in deep, but this looked even more serious than what he had thought. Clay took a look at the other guys around the table, only Angel seemed to have picked up on James’s mood. Angel always seem more in touch that the rest of them.

  “Well did we find anything?” James asked, taking his seat at the top of the table his face revealing none of the emotions churning inside him.

  “Don’t you think we should talk about what went on upstairs first?” Clay didn’t want to butt in on James’s personal agenda, but Avery was the key to this whole job.

  James looked at Clay, his face a blank mask. He tried to pull off the nothing-is-the-matter look. Clay wanted to say more, but held his tongue when he saw the hollow look in James’s blue eyes.

  “She wants you to be her guard, Clay. I tried to get through to her, but the only one she wants to talk to is you. So after this meeting, I would like you to go up and stay in the apartment until she is ready to talk.” James had a hard time talking to his friend. Avery was his and even though he knew he could trust Clay. He didn’t want him around her. It didn’t make sense with all their history, but James couldn’t stop himself from being unreasonable about it.

  “Where are you going to stay?” Clay tried to keep his tone neutral as he knew James was close to exploding.

  “I’m going to stay in the office. I kind of got use to sleeping on the sofa this last month,” James tried
to joke. “Now let’s get down to business, shall we.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Avery looked around the quiet apartment after James had left. She really didn’t hate him, no, her problem was she cared too much. She knew part of her heart was already his, and to have him admit that it was all lies was just too much. How much more could she take? Her parents had lied to her, and now James and the men that she had befriended.

  Walking through the bedroom into the bathroom, she washed her hands of James’s soot and walked back out and crawled under the covers of the bed. It even smelled of James, She thought of getting up and finding another bed, but the smell seemed to calm her, as she drifted off to sleep remembering the wonderful evening they had spent together before it had turned to hell.

  Clay woke her the next morning with a steaming cup of coffee. He had to have been up a while, as his brown hair was still wet from a shower.

  “Well you sure stirred some shit with James last night. He looked like he lost his puppy.” Handing her the cup, he sat on the corner of the bed. Clay wanted her to know that he didn’t approve of her treatment of James.

  “Well the way I see, I lost all of the puppies. Not only one. It looks like you all had me fooled. I hope you all had a great time while you were doing it.” Avery turned it around on him. She wasn’t the one at fault over this. They were.

  Clay reached and patted her foot in a fatherly way. He had to defuse the situation, they wouldn’t get anyplace if Avery had her back up. “Avery, we all didn’t lie. We were doing our job and I know James didn’t have to ask you out. He wanted to. I should think by now you know James only does what he wants.”

  He carried on when he saw that he had her attention. “Why don’t you look at the good thing for a change. You were able to move out of the rat-infested apartment of yours, away from your friend Danny. You had a better job than slinging hash and having your ass pinched. You got to go to the opera. What more could you ask for, all the while under our safe guidance.” Clay tried to make light of her situation.

  Clay had always seemed to be straight with her, so Avery took a few minutes to think. It was easy to be sarcastic, but she really liked Clay and knew he could supply some answers.

  “You’re right with what you say, but it still was all a deception. Put on for me so you all could get close and find out any secrets that I might have,” Avery declared in a tired voice. She hadn’t slept well with her mind racing over all the events since she had laid eyes on James for the first time.

  Avery pushed up in bed, one hand keeping the coffee cup steady, the other brushing back the hair falling into her eyes.

  Clay’s eyes zeroed in on the charm bracelet on her arm that she had failed to remove in the night before crawling into bed.

  Reaching out, Clay touched the small charms surrounding the bracelet.

  “Was this one of the mementos from your family? I know you lost most of them in the fire. This is very pretty, is it yours or something that was your mother’s?” Clay asked, his gray eyes scanning all the charms attached to it.

  “I’m sure you’re not interested in my bracelet…OK, if you want me to talk, we’ll start there. It’s my bracelet, my parents gave it to me on my sixteenth birthday. It was originally my mother’s, she added charms whenever something she thought was important to remember happened.” Avery put her cup down on the bedside table and started to go through the charms, touching them one by one. “This one is when I was born”—she held up a small baby charm—“next is the cross for my first Communion. This one is books, for my first day of school.” Turning the bracelet around, she told Clay the story each charm held.

  Clay noticed one that didn’t seem to fit well with the others. Reaching out he pointed out the small key between the books and the small graduation cap. The key was gold like the rest of the charms, but some of the gold had started to wear off, and silver was showing through some parts.

  “What’s this for?” Clay tried to sound casual, but Avery noticed the change in his tone.

  “This one?” Avery picked up the key between her fingers. “I really don’t know. It was there when my mother gave it to me. I never thought to ask her about it, and well now it’s too late. I’m sure it means something to her. She only put what she thought was important on this bracelet,” Avery explained to Clay again.

  Clay rose from the bed, trying to not startle Avery with his abrupt movement. “I think it might be very important. I’ll be right back.” Clay moved swiftly from the room into the hall and pulled out his cell phone.

  James answered on the first ring, as if he was waiting for the call.

  “James, can you and Angel come up here right now? I have something I want you both to look at.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Does she want to see me?” James had been pacing in his office waiting for Clay to call and give him an update. He was having a hard time staying away from Avery, especially after he had went back last night and watched her sleep in his bed. He had wanted to climb in with her and cuddle all night. God she really had him by the balls.

  “James,” Clay spoke into the cell again, trying to get James’s head in the game. “This is important, more important than Avery’s not wanting to see you. Get your ass up here now. And that’s an order from your pretend boss. I think I like giving you orders, let’s do this on the next job, OK.” Not waiting for James to respond, Clay closed his cell and walked back into the bedroom.

  “I think you should get up and dressed. We are going to have company soon.”

  Avery flipped the covers of the bed back, and slip her legs out, “Who’s coming? I don’t want to see James yet. I’m still mad at him,” she said as she walked to the bathroom.

  “Well I hate to give you bad news, but James is one of the two coming. I know you’re mad at him right now, but give the guy a break. He really put a lot of effort into this job so you would feel comfortable. He didn’t grab you, tie you to a chair, and force the information out of you. No, James gave you a job and apartment and if I’m not mistaken, some romance, as you ladies like to call it.”

  Avery blushed as she closed the bathroom door. Clay saw too much with his knowing gray eyes. He knew that she and James had gotten closer than just dating.

  Clay sat on the couch and poured two cups of coffee for James and Angel shortly after they arrived and sat down across from him in the living room.

  Angel just took the coffee and leaned back in his seat, not saying anything. James grabbed his cup of coffee and started in on asking Clay for an explanation right away. James didn’t look like he had slept much and was on edge, as he didn’t sit back and relax into the couch.

  Clay picked up his cup. “This morning, I brought Avery her coffee in bed,” he started.

  “What right do you have to be in her bedroom, I just asked you to watch her. Not seduce her when she sleeping.” James jumped up, almost spilling his coffee with his abrupt move. He was being unreasonable, he knew it, but couldn’t take back his words.

  Clay stood up to his full height, “That crosses the line, James. I wasn’t going in to seduce her. We’ve been in this job long enough to know that when a person first wakes up they don’t think about lying. I was just getting an early start on the questions. And before you say it. I know Avery is off limits and that you staked your claim. We all know.”

  James looked a little ashamed as he sat back down and waved for Clay to take his seat. “Sorry, I’m just on edge. I knew Carlos was after her, but never thought he would try to kill her. After last night, I had to rethink the whole thing. I’m just on my last nerve here, give me a break and take what I spew out with a grain of salt. I really don’t think you’re after Avery. I know you too well, forgive me.”

  Clay sat back down, not looking at James. Addressing himself to Angel, he wanted his opinion of last night. “Do you think last night was a hit on Avery? You seem to be a bit jumpy most of the day and we usually have our meetings in my office, not the kitchen. Did you f
eel something?”

  Angel placed his cup on the table, sitting up and moving his body from the relaxed position he had been in moments before. “I don’t think it was a hit on Avery, I think it was a hit on us. I don’t think Danny talked to Carlos. I think it was just Danny and his gang getting rid of any competition. From what I found around the area, when I went back after our meeting last night and the area was cleared of cops, it looks like a small time job. I don’t think Carlos would have tried to kill Avery, without knowing first where the drugs are. There is too much money at stake for him. I wouldn’t doubt that Danny is now regretting his decision, if Carlos got wind of Avery living in the building. With all his resources I think he probably knew or learned this morning shortly after the report came out in the papers.”

  James looked impatiently at Clay, “You called. We can talk about the fire afterward. What was so important that we come up here right away? And where’s Avery?”

  Avery stepped into the living room, her hair was still wet, telling James she had been in the shower. She was wearing another of James’s T-shirts and had one of his good ties wrapped around her waist to make a belt. She looked good in his clothes. He wished she had used another of his ties, as the one currently around her waist had cost two hundred dollars and was a gift from Chase. But it sure looked better on her than on him. He wanted to go to her in the worst way, but by the look in her stormy green eyes that she turned on him, he knew she hadn’t forgiven him yet. She made a point of taking one of the arm chairs besides Clay and as far away from him as she could.