Page 54 of Bullseye
“Damn it, Avery! What kind of danger?”
“I have some guys looking for me, okay? And they know about her. But she doesn’t know about them. And now she’s gone…” Fear settles on me, spiking my adrenaline.
“Guys? What guys? From where or when? From that year after college you spent in Europe with that girl you liked so much?”
“Harry, there was never any girl.”
“Of course there was. You were gone…” A flicker of understanding lights up his eyes. “Where were you?”
“I have to go.”
“Avery? Where. Were. You. That year after college?”
“I was in trouble, Harry. Real trouble. And now I may be in even worse trouble. And she’ll be the one to pay if I can’t get to her in time.”
“In jail?”
Sighing, I nod.
“What the fuck, Avery!” Harry steps away and then back to me. “You know what? Now, it all makes sense. Why I never got one phone call. One lousy text. But why wouldn’t you tell me?”
“Because it was ugly. And there’s so much about my life you don’t need to know.”
“You know everything there is to know about me. My damned alcoholic, abusive mother. The cop and attorney who fucked me over. The reason I can’t trust women. You know it all. We trusted each other. And now, I find out my best friend since college did time for… How long?”
“Six months.”
“Six months and I didn’t know? What the hell, Avery?”
“I was protecting you, Harry.”
“I don’t need your protection! Save it for your girl. Damn it! This is not how a brotherhood is built, Avery.”
“I know.”
“Do you? You know what? I don’t think you know the first thing about brotherhood.” He points to my jacket on the seat next to me. “Give me your jacket.”
“What? Why?”
“Because you don’t know what brotherhood means, and you don’t deserve to be a Knight. Give me the fucking jacket.”
“We pledged together. You can’t do this. I’m an officer.”
“Give me the jacket before I beat the crap out of you for it.”
Reaching over, I grab the jacket off of the seat next to me and hand it to him through the open window.
“Harry, man. Don’t do this.”
“I’m not doing anything, Avery. You are.”
“At least let me keep the fucking thing for warmth. I’m heading northeast. It’ll be cold. I’ll send it back to you once I get a new jacket.”
“Don’t think so. Maybe this way you’ll get an idea of what it’s like to be left out in the cold.”
“Harry…”
Mumbling, he walks off and climbs into his truck. Revving the engine, he peels out and they’re gone.
