Treachery

Luca

When I left Ta

Between what Ava had admitted to me and what I saw when they brought Damon and Shane home, I knew Ta

But as the day progressed and we spent it walking around the mall before having a late lunch, reality set in for me.

Nothing has changed since the time Ta

Although the guys had relaxed around me, and Ta

It would be easy to toss the information at them, collect my money and be done with it.

Everly made her own bed by messing with Jase, and it isn’t like she’s overly concerned for me after ru

I haven’t heard from her in years, which is partly my fault, but that doesn’t excuse her leaving me in the dark without the slightest warning they might come after me again.

I hate to do this to Ava, but I won’t be going back to Ta

It would be insanely stupid of me to think anything has changed. And I’ve made that mistake before. After sleeping with Ta

But then the hammer fell, and he showed his true colors again, proving that they’d let me believe I had the upper hand while they sat in the victory seat the entire time.

This has to be just another act.

Their plan to butter me up.

Make me believe they can be decent people.

Knock me so far off the defensive that I never see the end game coming.

I won’t fall for it again. Not now when there is so much to lose.

“We should probably head back,” Ava says as we walk through a small park that is near the restaurant where we had lunch. “Mason will start getting worried since I told him we’d only be gone an hour or two.”

She checks her phone. “We’ve been gone for five hours.”

It sucks that Ava is so close to the Inferno. She’s easy to be around, a genuinely good person, and I have very few people I can call a friend.

And while our conversation hasn’t returned to what she was telling me earlier this morning, we’ve never run out of topics to discuss, mostly about our interests and hobbies, about our memories of life in college or other random stuff.

I like her...a lot. But I’m not sure I can trust her because of her involvement with Mason and Ta

“Would you mind ru

My plan is simple, really. Get to the apartment, gather some clothes like I intend to walk out the door again, and slam the door behind her when she walks out ahead of me.

I’ll throw the lock and ignore any demands being shouted through the door when Ta

He won’t be able to stand out there forever, and in the meantime, I’ll decide what to do next to escape.

I do know that the first thing I need is to check on my car. No, I won’t be able to drive it, not after the amount of damage it took from the wreck. But possibly I can get a free rental car through my insurance while they process my claim that it was totaled.

“Yeah, I was actually going to suggest that,” Ava answers, her eyes tracking a family of ducks that are gliding smoothly through the water. “I happen to think it’s shitty of Ta

She doesn’t know the half of it.

Not knowing if she’s been assigned to me as a spy, I don’t want to say too much about what’s going on. Gabriel called her a friend, but that doesn’t mean much.

We walk back to the car and make the drive to my place.

As we pass the auto shop where Priest works, I glance over to notice my car is nowhere in sight. It makes me a little nervous, but I assume he moved it into one of their garages in order to hide the wreckage from view of his customers.

Ava turns into my parking lot and finds a spot near the front doors. It gives me a better idea on how I’ll ditch her.

“If you want, you can wait in the car while I run up.”

She glances at me, her lip pulling between her teeth, her words hesitant.

“I should probably go with you. I mean, if it’s okay with you. Sitting in the parking lot alone seems boring.”

Uh huh.

Sadly, that just confirmed Ava is, in fact, a babysitter. Not that she didn’t want to wait in the car, but more the way she answered me with guilt in her tone of voice.

Not everybody is as expert a liar as Gabriel.

What would she do if I took off at a dead run? Sadly, while I wish it were feasible for me to take off, the sloth like elevator in my building would prevent the escape.

We’re back to plan one.

Shut her out.

Lock the door.

Ignore the asshole who is bound to show up making demands I refuse to comply with.

“I don’t mind at all. Let’s go.”

As usual, the elevator takes its time climbing down seven floors while we wait in the lobby. Ava keeps checking her phone, I notice, her thumbs moving quickly to tap out a text.

“Is Mason freaking out that we’re not back yet?”

She looks at me, shakes her head.

“He’ll be fine. It’s not like I can stay over there again tonight. I have to be at work tomorrow. He just hates it when I have free time and it’s not spent with him.”

To be honest, it’s a little surprising to hear that. “I didn’t take him as the clingy type.”

Ava sighs. “He’s not. But with the wedding looming over us in the next two years, it just feels like a clock is ticking down, and we’re ru

Her expression falls, and I feel sorry for her. Those two appear to truly love each other, and their situation isn’t fair. It makes me feel like even more of an ass for what I’m about to do to her.

The elevator doors slide open with the sickening half buzzing sound I’ve grown used to.

Stepping into the car, we fall into an uncomfortable silence as we begin a slow crawl up to the seventh floor. The fluorescent lighting flashes above our heads, and I feel a small bit of embarrassment when it jostles at the fifth floor before groaning to continue climbing.

“Is this thing safe?” Ava glances up at the whining sound coming from the engine.

My cheeks heat even more from embarrassment. “It hasn’t killed me yet,” I answer, thinking that’s as good a response as I can give her.

“This place is all I can afford after Clayton left me. But hopefully I’ll be able to move out soon.”

Her head tilts. “I don’t mean to seem rude, but why in the hell did you marry Clayton Hughes?”

She’s not wrong to look so disgusted. Clayton was a mistake from the begi

“I barely dated him at Yale before I went home to Georgia, but we were still talking and my mom was dying. I think I lost it for a period of time. When he asked me to marry him, I thought maybe it could work. But, really, I just wanted my mom to live long enough to see me get married. I made a stupid decision.”