Page 76 of Against The Tide

“Fuck off, Carl.”

“You even sound like a cheap, two-bit whore.”

Rhett doesn’t waste a single beat as he presses past me straight at Carl. The only thing that matters is that Carl still has his gun in his hand. My heart plummets to my feet with a sharp stab that robs me of my breath.

Jesse manages to stop him on the top step, exchanging something that I can’t make out over the rain and my thundering pulse. I’m so relieved when Rhett turns back to me that I practically leap to him.

“That’s what you want to be?” Carl calls as we go inside.

“Yeah,” I reply with more certainty than ever, meeting his glare as I close the door. “I would rather be his whore than your wife.”

I don’t give him a chance to hit back at me. Instead, I head straight to check on Jo in her room, pulling my phone from my pocket to find missed calls from Callie on it.

Jo’s snoring lightly when I open the door, and all four dogs peer up at me from the floor by her bed.

“She must have taken the sleeping pills,” Rhett tells me, closing her door quietly as I call Callie back.

Answering on the first ring, she blusters, “We’ve been trying to call you and Rhett for the last hour!”

“Is Iris okay?” She’s my only concern.

Iris has been my rainbow through my never-ending storm, and I’ll be damned if I fail her again.

“Of course. The girls were out pretty much after I sent you the last photo.”

“Good.” I pause at the bottom of the stairs, and sensing it, Rhett turns back to me.

“Adrian called to let us know Carl was heading our way when they hit the I-95. Rowan tried to call Rhett, but his phone was off, and you didn’t pick up.”

“I’m so sorry, I feel terrible. I should’ve checked my phone earlier. I…I…”

I should’ve been better.

Rhett takes my phone from me and places it on loudspeaker, telling me, “No one is hurt, Avery, and Iris is safe.”

“In fact, it’s a blessing in disguise that she was here.” Callie takes a deep audible breath, listening to whatever Rowan is telling her. “Jesse’s got Carl handled for tonight.”

“I’m not going anywhere either.”

I look at Rhett, who’s watching me carefully. He’s completely soaked through to the point that his shirt is translucent and stuck to his body, while his normally messily coiffed hair is slicked back. Warm fingertips stroke over the back of my hand as it hangs at my side, and all he does is smile.

While the world is falling away around me, he is the one thing I can hold on to. He’s my axis in this moment, keeping me tethered even when I’m spinning out of control.

“It’s going to be all right,” he mouths as Callie growls, “Wait, Carl had a fucking gun?”

“Yeah.”

“You need to do something about him, get an injunction that will force guardianship and possibly the divorce to be pushed through.”

“Callie…” Rhett cuts off her tirade, sensing that my headspace can’t deal with more.

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”

“All right.”

“Try not to worry about it tonight.”

“Okay.” I nod to myself.