Page 20 of No Perfect Love

7

CARTER

The goddamned menace in a dress standing in front of me has my blood boiling and my heart racing at the same time. Not only does she piss me off, but she turns me on, too.

While lying right to my face. The vodka made her do it? My ass.

Even seeing Avery at the funeral had burned her image into my brain. But seeing her here, her hair slightly disheveled from the day and her dress riding up on her thigh, almost destroys me. I’m done for, and I haven’t even had her. Yet.

And when I do have her? I don’t think I’ll be able to let her go.

“Why did you have to do it? Couldn’t you hold back at least for a day?” I try to put a cap on my emotions while I wait for the patrol officer to show up to escort Avery to jail. I fail right about the time I see her tears and the red handprint on her face. Not because I am a sucker for tears, but because I realize that I’d walked into the middle of something, yet again, without knowing the whole picture.

“She hit me,” Avery admits, sounding a lot like a child afraid of being punished. “I had to defend myself.”

“And after you defended yourself against her—” I look pointedly at the woman struggling to stand up after what appeared to have been Avery knocking her out. “You stuck your knee in your boyfriend’s balls, why?”

“Boyfriend?” Avery blinks, looking around. “I don’t have a boyfriend.” She dutifully ignores the man wheezing on the ground behind her as she stares back up at me innocently.

“Him.” I point at the biker currently nursing his sack on the ground behind her feet and grimace when I see how much pain he is still in. Avery definitely packed a punch, even with her knee.

Avery, who doesn’t even skip a beat as she meets my gaze and puts a hand on her hip defiantly. “Wheeler won’t press charges against me. He touched me, even though I don’t like being touched and he knows that. I told him to move his hand, and he was too drunk to do it. That’s not my fault. Technically, I’d say that’s self-defense too. Just ask him.” She steps aside so that I have a clear view.

The drunk man on the ground nods in agreement, still cupping his dick and trying to rub away the pain Avery had caused. “Waaa see said.”

“See?” Avery shrugs nonchalantly, but I can see the tension in her shoulders, even in the subpar light coming from the streetlights around us. “And he’s not my boyfriend,” she repeats herself.

Karen heaves herself up finally, full of rightful indignation and a snarl on her lips. While I watch her struggle without offering to help, one particular memory of her from high school hits me like a freight train.

“Isn’t she the one who lit your car on fire?” I put the cuffs back on my belt and keep both hands free because I know the answer to my question.

Karen Zucker is a bitch through and through. She always has been, especially when it comes to Avery James. I remember the month we graduated high school clear as day. Karen hadn’t warranted an invitation from Avery to Deacon’s graduation party. So, in retaliation, she’d torched Avery’s car.

“Yeah.” Avery steps away from Karen, doing her best to stay as far away from the other woman as she can.

I turn so that Avery can slink behind me and I glare at Karen. “Did you slap her?”

“What?” Karen sputters. “No. No, I didn’t.”

“Yes, she did.” Avery’s voice is so quiet I almost don’t hear her. “But you’re not going to believe me.”

After the day I’ve had, hearing tiny little Avery James question whether or not I’ll believe her guts me. Something about her wakes up every protective instinct I had, even if she drives me absolutely batty at the same time.

“Leave,” I bark at Karen, unable to hold back any longer. “Before I arrest you for public intoxication.”

Karen sputters some more, but I’m not paying attention to her. Nor do I look at her ass as she practically flashes me while she walks away.

Before I can say anything to Avery about what just happened, the door to the bar opens again. Out comes Bria, her brother, and a guy I vaguely remember from school. Immediately after them is Casey, along with the bartender who’d served us.

“Your brother’s makin’ a scene,” the bartender explains when Casey huffs loudly. “Because his wife was dancing with Liam here.”

“Thanks, Sissy. We’ll make sure he gets home okay.” Liam kisses the purple-haired woman on her cheek and pulls her into a tight hug. “I’ll see you soon?”

Sissy smiles up at him and shakes her head. “Give your mother my love, and don’t let this one go again.” She nods her head toward Chris.

I’m definitely missing part of the story. Then Sissy turns and sees Wheeler propped on the wall, still holding his dick.

“Gods, Wheeler. What did you do to piss Avery off now?”

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