Page 107 of Against The Tide

“You’re the only thing that matters in all this. You want answers? We’ll find them. You want to walk away? We’ll leave right now.” Tracing down the bridge of her nose with the tip of my finger, I stroke all the way down to her chin, holding it between my thumb and forefinger as I take in the confusion in her eyes. The war between the past, the present, and the future. “I say you call the shots, sweetheart. So what do you want?”

Avery presses impossibly closer as her hands round from the flat of my back to my hips. Without deviating her stare from mine, she replies, “The truth.”

Right there and then, my gut tells me it’s going to hurt. I just wish I knew how.

CHAPTER 29

AVERY

Of course, Kayla gives us nothing concrete. I’ve known her all my life, and I’ve never seen her this scared or paranoid. A part of me feels for her, but then she speaks and that dark lipstick taunts me. Turning my focus to Dr. Haas, I ignore the throbbing of my hand, still pulsing from when I slapped Kayla.

I feel like an idiot for letting my feelings get the better of me. The truth is that I don’t even care about her affair with Carl. In a way she was doing me a favor because every time he fucked her, he left me alone. What bothers me is that our friendship clearly meant so little to her. It’s an absurd catch-22.

“Look,” Haas says as he putts a little too heavily, sending the ball way past the hole. “The only thing I can tell you is that Robert wasn’t sick. For a man his age, your father was incredibly fit.”

“Then why avoid my calls?” Rhett snaps.

“Because when you’re a physician to some of the nation’s most important people, you do not simply discuss medical records with a cardiologist in Virginia. We have protocols here.”

“Pompous asshole,” Rhett grits out under his breath when Haas walks away to find his ball. “What I find most interesting is that for a man with a clean bill of health, you are the only ones questioning the postmortem.”

With my heart dropping to the pit of my stomach, I try to take in a deep breath before asking him, “So you think it’s wrong?”

Haas takes another putt half-heartedly before looking up at me. With a soft smile, he wanders over to his ball, closer to where we’re standing. Pausing to take measure of the distance to the hole, he leans over his club.

“No, I don’t think the postmortem is wrong.” Coming closer, he adds, “I did find the news somewhat distressing. I saw him a couple of days before he died. He was looking forward to retiring—in fact, all he could talk about was how he was going to make up for all the lost time with his girls.”

Tears fill my eyes because it was something he would tell me all the time, even when things between us got tense. Rhett steps closer to me, brushing the back of his hand over mine. Where most people would smother you with affection, he knows me well enough to understand that it will only serve to break me. And right now, I need to be strong.

“So what do you know that makes you think there’s more to it?” Rowan asks. His arms are folded over his chest, bulging through his long-sleeved Henley.

“Because there is more, isn’t there?” Callie glares between him and Kayla. “It’s why you’re here too, right?”

“No.” Kayla shakes her head, teary gaze flashing to mine before she stares down at her feet and continues. “I’m not here about Robert. He started this even though he knew the fallout it would have.”

“I don’t know where Mr. Henderson is. No matter how many times you ask me, my answer will be the same. He came to my office two weeks ago, and I did not speak to him, but I did watch him leave. Yes, he was in one physical piece,” he adds as Kayla opens her mouth to speak. “But Miss Sloane, I’ve been a doctor for over twenty-five years, and I can tell you that he was not altogether all right here,” he says, gesturing to his temple. “Apart from that, I can’t help you.”

Tugging at the hem of her navy sweater, she looks up at me. “Avery…”

Heavy tears roll down her cheeks, and stupidly, I pity her. For a moment, I see the girl that bawled her eyes out when her prom date ditched her last minute for the tipped prom queen. Her tears were so heavy that night that I canceled my own date so we could go together. Except she already had a backup plan, and I was the fool that ended up alone.

And I won’t let her use me again. I should’ve learned my lesson that time and all the others where she dropped me for something better.

“What, Kayla? We’re not friends anymore, and if you can’t help me, you are of no use to me.”

Straightening, she glowers at me, icy stare daggering into mine with that tick of her jaw that tells me it’s taking every ounce of her energy to stop herself from falling apart. Just as I had to use mine that day she met me at the pool after my father died and she accused me of being paranoid over Carl’s cheating.

“You know, Carl’s had a real tough time lately. He must be so stressed, and we both know how he likes to find new amusements to take his mind off things. Perhaps he’s grown as bored of you as he did of me?”

“The bad guys are always closer to home than you know,” she spits, taking a step back after she pushes past me. “Robert had it coming, and I hope he’s burning in hell for all the lives he’s ruined.”

If they didn’t confirm the fact that she’s out of her depth, the words would sting, but instead, they roll right off my back as I watch her walk away. I don’t care what she says, I know who my father was, and there is nothing anyone can say to change it.

“What a bitch,” Callie mutters as she turns her attention back to Dr. Haas, but before she says anything, he looks at Rhett.

“You’re the heart specialist here, Dr. Reynolds, but I can only think of one way a perfectly healthy man would drop dead of a heart attack.” Haas takes a step toward him. “There is nothing wrong with my records. Nothing more I can tell you or help you with. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Rhett steels beside me, some kind of cryptic understanding settling between them.