GAVIN’S ROOM WAS A mess as he searched every nook and cranny for his travel documents Archer had claimed to have mailed to him.
Travelling had never been a big deal to him but he really needed to get out of the country before he went nuts. In more direct words, he needed to get away from Avery.
” Are you sure you mailed the freaking documents to my home?” Gabriel asked Archer exasparatedly over the phone.
” Yes, boss. You could as Alexa, it confirmed the mail was received.”
Gavin straightened. It then beckoned on him that he shared a house with a mad woman.
He ended the call and walked to Avery’s room. Without knocking, he checked in his thumbprint and entered the room just to see Avery sitting on the bed with a cigar in her mouth and his travel documents in ashes on the floor.
Gavin blinked, making sure what he was seeing wasn’t real.
Avery noticed him by the door and smiled disdainfully, ” Join me for a smoke, you look like you need it.”
Control. Control.
Gavin held his waist with one hand and rubbed his temple, then inquired, ” What’s that on the floor?”
” Chocolates and candy. What does it look like to you?!”
Gavin reckoned she must either be drunk or high on some cheap drugs.
” Are those my travel documents?” He said in a voice warning her to deny it.
Avery got up and stood in front of him challengingly, showing him her true colors. There was nothing she needed to pretend about again, it was time to frustrate the hell out of him.
She was excited to break the good news to him.
Avery took a puff of the cigar and exhaled it on his face.
” Travel documents, yeah. Anything that would make you run away from your responsibility is on the ground right now and in ashes.”
She watched as his face reddened with anger and she burst into laughter.
” I think you should punish me for what I did. Physically, anyhow you’d like. I know you want to, come on, you know you want to hit me.” She urged.
Gavin mustered all his tolerance not to give in to her words. She was carrying a child and he knew she was only trying to make him hit it so she could make charges against him.
He asserted through gritted teeth, ” I don’t have time for this.”
He turned to leave, but she spoke, putting him on pause. ” But I’m not done yet. You didn’t even let me tell you the favor I did for you.”
” What are you driving on?”
” I helped you seal your divorce with Sydney. I saw the documents lying lazily on your office desk and I thought it’d be nice to send it to your attorney on your behalf.” She grinned evilly.
The muscles on Gavin’s cheek bulged. He didn’t have any intention of finalizing the divorce any time soon, and Avery just claimed she did him a favor by finalizing it!
He grabbed her shoulder fiercely and pushed her against the wall. All he could see was red and Avery’s smiling face wasn’t helping matters.
” I haven’t even told you the main gist and you are already getting physical. I’m not surprised, I can see the reason Sydney had to run away from you. ”
” Don’t dare bring Sydney into this. ” Gavin hissed.
” Why? Are you still affected by her? Of course, you are. I mean, look at you. Unshaven, disheveled. Unwonted. Sad she’s in love with another man; they must be having a wild, steamy night together. Remember one of those? ”
When Avery saw her words were eating him deep, she continued brutally.
” Well, I don’t blame her, what woman can resist a man who gives her all the attention in the world? You should be ashamed of yourself, Gavin; you married her for over ten years, yet, you didn’t understand a single goddamn thing about her. ”
” You didn’t care to watch over your wife and give her the attention she needed and I saw that. The perfect opportunity to strike.” She made gun hands to his face and laughed.
” Pow! Pow! Pow! Straight in the center and it all fell apart. Boom! It was so easy, no stress; why would there be anyway when you both are too self-absorbed to care about each other.”
” You are wrong, I cared for her,” Gavin interjected in a weak tone.
Avery scoffed, ” Of course you did.”
She walked to her table and took out a sheet of paper; with a sly grin, she placed it on his cold shaky hand.
” Enjoy the news. I really need to get a good meal and don’t think of locking me out. Don’t forget I’m still carrying your child.”
As soon as she left the room, she took out her phone and sent a message to her father.
– The document plan didn’t go as planned, don’t worry, I have a better idea. Send me the Snipers’ phone numbers. –
Still, in Avery’s room, Gavin couldn’t feel his legs. He sat down before he would collapse. Avery’s words hit him like a stray bullet.
He wondered what she had done or said to Sydney. Whatever it was, it was his fault what Avery did got to her.
His phone rang, driving him out of his thoughts. He threw the paper Avery had given him aside and took out his phone from his pocket.
He smiled grimly seeing the caller’s ID.
He answered the call.
” I’m kind of tired to read you to sleep tonight.”
He guessed it was Emily calling to ask for the regular.
Silence greeted him.
He looked at his phone to see if the call was still ongoing.
” Emily, are you there?”
Again silence.
Gavin got up and switched the phone to his other ear. His heart began to race as he guessed who it must be.
” E- Ethan?”
” Ethan, you are the one right? Please talk to me. ” Gavin pushed, his voice breaking.
He’d hope everyday since they left that Ethan would call him or answer a call even if it was for a second. He missed his little boy a thousand more at this moment.
Ethan finally spoke, ” I don’t want to talk to you, I want to shout at you!”
Gavin smiled and shook his head, relieved. “All right, shout at me as much as you want; I deserve it.”
And Ethan did shout. For a whole thirty minutes, he did. He poured out his heart to his father without hiding a single thing.
By the time he was done, he was already crying, ” I don’t want to ever see you again.”
” I was thinking it’d be nice if we had hamburger and milkshake together, just you and I.”
Ethan sniffed, ” Emily wouldn’t rest till she came with.”
” I’d try and convince her.” He blinked back tears.
Gavin wanted to spend time with Ethan and convince him he still cared for him. Saying sorry over the phone wouldn’t change Ethan’s perception.
” Emily’s spelling bee contest is next week and I’m learning how to fish on Sunday.”
Gavin’s brow furrowed. There were a lot of things he didn’t know about.
” I’ll pick you up from school on Friday then.”
” Sure.”
Gavin sucked a breath and asked a question that disturbed his mind.
” Where’s your mommy?”
” She’s speaking with Gabriel.”
” Oh.”
His mind went back to what Avery had said. ‘Gabriel gives her attention.’
His jaw tightened.
He talked to Ethan for some minutes before he ended the call. He wanted to get up before he saw the paper Avery had given him.
He grabbed the paper and read through it causing him to nearly have a heart attack.