No Good Deed - Marie Sexton Page 0,99

says he doesn’t want to cause trouble, and that he wants to be your friend. Do you have any real reason to doubt him?”

Avery groaned but didn’t answer. He didn’t really need to.

“So, I say let’s give him a shot. And if at any point, he tries to mess things up for you, I promise you, I’ll be the very first passenger on the anti-Jonas bandwagon. If he tries to get Gray back, I’ll kick his ass for you, okay? Happily. I’m not exactly Chuck Norris, but unless he’s secretly a black belt, I’m pretty sure I can take him.” Avery smiled despite himself. “But for now, I think the only thing you can do is give him the benefit of the doubt. Because that’s what you’d want him to do for you.”

“You’re right,” Avery said, feeling like an idiot. “Jesus. You’re absolutely, totally, one hundred percent right, okay? And I’m sorry.”

“No need to apologize to me,” River said. “But you might want to apologize to Taylor.”

Avery opted to wait until he got home to call Taylor. He wanted to talk to Gray first, except Gray wasn’t there. Avery gathered his courage and dialed Taylor’s number.

No answer.

He waited five minutes and tried again. This time, Warren picked up. “What the fuck do you want?”

Avery gulped. “Can I talk to Taylor?”

“You better be calling to apologize. You ever upset him like that again, I’ll tear you apart. I don’t care who your boyfriend is.”

“Okay.” He thought Warren was blowing it out of proportion, but it wasn’t surprising. Warren was fiercely protective of Taylor. “I am calling to apologize, for what it’s worth.”

Warren sighed. “He can’t talk right now. Try tomorrow.”

“Is he okay?”

Warren made a low, angry sound. Avery could picture him scowling on the other end. “Talk to your piece-of-shit husband.”

The line went dead.

Avery tried calling Gray but ended up in his voicemail. Gray texted a moment later.

Can’t talk. Be home soon.

And so Avery waited.

He waited almost five hours.

Once Gray was home, it all spilled out. Taylor had gone home so upset, he’d found a razor blade, ready to make a few slices on his thigh to relieve the pressure. Avery had seen the scars on Taylor’s thighs but hadn’t realized cutting was still an issue for him. Luckily, Warren had caught him before he could do any damage. But from there, Warren had called in Phil, and they’d called both Gray and Charlie and asked them to meet at Warren’s house.

That intervention hadn’t gone well. Gray was still too pissed to forgive Charlie at that point. Avery’s unanswered call to Gray had come then, as he’d been leaving Warren’s house. But before he could get home, Jonas had called him, asking to meet. Avery wanted to be annoyed at that, but Jonas had only wanted to talk about Charlie. He’d convinced Gray to drive straight to Charlie’s house and make up with him.

After that, Gray had gone to his parents’ house to talk to Carmen about Charlie’s problems with the police, which was why it had taken so long for him to get home.

But the punchline of it all was Gray and Charlie, back together again, and suddenly Avery had to decide if he could really give Jonas the benefit of the doubt as he’d promised.

A few days later, Gray, Warren, and Phil went to the courthouse to surprise Charlie on his wedding day, and Taylor, River, and Avery met at the Tap House to help with the final preparations for the surprise reception.

Avery had already made up with Taylor over the phone, but he made a point of hugging him and apologizing again. Once the others arrived, he hunted down Warren too, who hung his head and apologized as well.

“I just don’t like when he’s upset,” Warren grumbled.

Avery couldn’t fault him for that. Sometimes he wished Gray would be that protective of him, but that wasn’t how their relationship worked. Gray trusted Avery to take care of himself.

Avery managed to suck up his pride enough to congratulate Charlie at the reception, but he steered clear of Jonas. He knew he was being childish, but he wasn’t ready. Jonas had said it had to start with them, and yet, as Jonas watched him happily talking and joking with Taylor and River, he couldn’t help but feel left out and betrayed.

Jonas and Gray only interacted once. It was brief, but ended with Gray pulling Jonas close, saying something into his ear. Jonas gave him a forced smile.

That was it. Avery told