Avery (The Phoenix Club Girl Diaries #3) - Addison Jane Page 0,61
Holly and I shared, so every time the door opened or something moved behind me, my entire body tightened, the hairs on my arms standing on end. I simply wanted to get through this and get back to the clubhouse because I just wasn’t sure I was ready to deal with anything else.
“Avery!”
I’d almost made it back to my car.
“Hey, sorry I bailed early this morning,” she explained happily as she jogged over. “Some of the girls demanded bonding time, so we went fo—”
“Stop!”
Her brow pulled together for a brief second before she let out a sigh. “I’m sorry I slept with Slate. It just happened. You know my attraction to his type, and he’s a major flir—”
“That’s not it… and you know it.”
Her usual casual attitude came to an earth-shattering halt, her eyes growing wide like a deer stuck in headlights.
“You gave him dru—”
“He took them from my pocket! I would never offer them to a club member. Do you think I’m that stupid?” she protested loudly before suddenly realizing there were people walking around us, dipping and dodging on their way home from class. Holly stepped in closer, lowering her voice, “He said if I tried to offer them to anyone at the club, that he’d end me. You know me, I wouldn’t—”
I cut in, and I wasn’t so cautious with my tone. The only thing keeping me at a slightly normal level, the fact that my angry breathing was drying out my throat and making it horse. “It doesn’t fucking matter if you would or not. It’s the fact that you are.”
Her bottom lip trembled.
And so did my heart.
I’d spent so much time worrying about letting people walk out on me, I hadn’t even considered who I was letting walk in. This wasn’t the Holly I knew. This wasn’t the woman who had dropped everything to be with me when I needed her. This wasn’t the woman who I’d looked up to like a bright beacon, who had drawn me in and made me feel a little bit of life again.
Who I swore I’d never give up on.
Who I swore I would always answer when she called.
“What the hell happened to you?” I whispered, trying to keep my voice strong, to keep it from breaking like it felt my heart was. “You’re just carrying pills around now? Like a local dealer?"
“A-Avery…” she whispered, her voice cracking, breaking under the pressure.
“Tell me.”
“I can’t.”
“Let me help you then—”
“Holly!” a deep voice shouted from across the parking lot, the both of us snapping our attention that way. “Let’s go,” Cooper called, a sharpness in his tone and on his face that I wasn’t sure I’d seen before. His remarks had always been playful, arrogant, and he hid everything else well. But I could see the shadows, the darkness in his gaze, and how it instantly made Holly curl in on herself.
“What the hell have you done to her,” I screamed, taking at least three steps toward him before Holly grabbed my arm and jerked me back, almost sending me tumbling to the ground. I fought against her, the sneer that curled Cooper’s top lip letting me know things were more serious, that he wasn’t happy with me figuring things out.
“I swear to God, you little shi—”
“Avery,” Holly warned, pushing me further and further back. “Just leave it.”
There was something wrong.
“I can help,” I pleaded, my anger quickly dissipating, and that piece of my heart I thought was broken suddenly beating again, screaming at me to protect her.
“You can’t,” she hissed, shaking her head and turning on her heel then making a run for it.
I watched Cooper bundle her into some fancy BMW, the tires screeching as they pulled out of the parking lot, leaving me standing there.
Confused.
Heartbroken.
Angry.
But positive about one fucking thing—my Holly was in there somewhere, and I wasn’t ready to give up on her.
Not just yet.
AVERY
“You look like someone kicked your puppy,” Slate teased as he took a seat at the bar while I stacked the shelves with fresh sparkling glasses from the dishwasher. He wiped at his hands, though the towel he was using was so dirty and greasy I wasn’t sure if he was cleaning them or merely wiping more grease on.
I let out a huff of laughter and shook my head. “You were right, you know,” I told him, pushing one glass after another up onto the shelf. “I don’t want to put Shotgun in a position where he has to make that choice again.”