I can’t believe she thinks I would willingly associate myself with such a monster, the hurt in her accusation cutting me worse than the betrayal of her escape did. I open my mouth to bite back when the door at the top of the stairs flies open. There’s a scuffle of multiple pairs of feet speeding down the steps so I jump out of the way. Two burly guards have a greying man held tightly in their grip: his busted lip almost concealed by the long beard hanging from his chin. Baggy shorts and a boldly printed shirt have me dismissing him, until a pair of icy blue eyes glance up at me. Holy shit.
“Dad?”
Huxley
“What do you mean she’s missing?” Dax seethes, bumping chests with me. Garrett and Axel descend the stairs, sleepy eyed and leaning on each other after I tossed them out of bed. A pound of my fist on Dax’s door had been enough to draw him out and meet me down in the central hallway.
“I’ve searched everywhere, I can’t find her. And then I realized…my car’s gone.” I breathe out a sigh, bracing myself for the onslaught of shouts that never comes. Instead, everyone’s wide eyes dart around in silence as if Avery will pop up and say ‘Psych’. I hadn’t thought much of Avery not being in the bed when I woke as she usually hits the gym first thing, but when she wasn’t in there or the kitchen or anywhere else I looked, a sense of dread filled me.
“Well it’s obvious where she’ll have gone, we’re in Georgia for fuck’s sake.” Dax runs a hand down his face roughly before pointing at me. “Find that butler, get him to bring a car around and we’ll meet back- “
“She’s here,” Axel gestures to the orange blur racing past the frosted glass panels on the front door. The tyres screech to a halt as we race forward to open the door, Dax and I bumping shoulders to be the first to give her hell. I rip the door open, a harsh scold dying on my tongue as a blur of blonde runs straight into Dax’s body. He’s forced back a step, bracing his arms around her as she cries. I pry my keys from her grip, locking my car in its slanted position with a curve of skid marks trailing behind on the driveway.
Garrett and Axel close in either side of Dax, crushing Avery between them all in a group hug. Her sobs lessen while I stand awkwardly on the outside. Fuck it, I shove my way in behind her and wind my arms around her waist, Garrett and Axel drawing me in with their hands on my back. The lime scent of our shower gel fills my nose as I nuzzle into her neck, her body trembling beneath us as she focuses on breathing deeply.
“They’ve taken Nixon,” she eventually murmurs. Dax kisses her forehead, his hair tickling my face and Axel whimpers softly into my ear like a wounded animal. “He was at the house, grabbing fake passports to run and I don’t think he ever planned on coming back. But then some men came and I hid- “she hiccups, her choked sobs beginning to return. Dax draws her from the cage of our bodies, leading her into the living room while we follow as if an invisible tether is pulling us along. Tugging her down onto his lap on the sofa, I veer into the kitchen to make her an overly sweet tea.
Returning with the steaming mug in my hands, I find Avery curled into Axel’s side with Garrett staring into space on his other side. Placing the cup onto a glass coffee table, I slide in beside her and take her hand in mine.
“Where’s Dax?” I ask, only receiving a shake of the head from Axel as he mouths ‘don’t ask.’ I roll my eyes, knowing Avery came to her senses and sent him away like usual. Those two need locking in a room until they’ve solved their petty arguments and I’m half the mind to do it. A blind man could sense the overriding tension between them, and that level of friction can only form between two people with a real connection, something worth fighting for.
Garret re-joins us in the room, turning his head as if he’s only just noticed I’m here. He doesn’t hide his scowl at seeing Axel stroke Avery’s hair and I could believe he was jealous if he were capable of such emotion. Garrett doesn’t do jealously because he doesn’t give a shit about anything or anyone enough, he glides through life with no strings to tie him down and I almost hate him for it. How freeing it must be to only care about yourself.
Leaning forward, he lifts the cup and transfers it into Avery’s hands, so she’s forced to sit upright, before grabbing the tv remote and switches on the large screen opposite us. Axel retracts his arm from Avery’s shoulders so she can sit back fully, which gives Garrett a green light to pull him into his own body protectively. A rerun of Fresh Prince of Bel Air has started, filling the silence with Will Smith’s fictionalized self-taunting his cousins.
I feel the
