Page 89 of Against The Tide

“You should be asleep,” I answer, trying to keep my worry from my voice.

“Is everything all right?”

Contemplating how to reply, I take a moment too long, and it’s obvious she knows something is up.

“Rhett?”

I’ve never lied to Avery. I never want to be that guy with her, and even though I want to protect her, the best thing to do is be straight right now.

“I don’t know, but Rowan and I are figuring it out, okay?”

An audible hitch of her breath tells me that she’s already looking for a reason to blame herself for something she doesn’t know anything about. I hate that. I hate that someone has made her feel like she’s responsible for every goddamn wrong.

Right on cue, she asks, “Do you think it’s⁠—”

“Sweetheart…” I pause, hearing the waver in her breath. “I promise we’re going to fix everything. You hear me?”

There’s no reply; the only sound is her silenced sob.

“Avery.”

“Mhmm…”

“I’m heading back to the ranch as soon as Rowan and I are done here.” The heaviness bears down on my shoulders as I hang up and focus on Rowan, perched on the island counter. “What are the chances that this is just a coincidence and I’m being overzealous…paranoid about it? I mean, houses get broken into all the time.”

“Now’s not the time to second-guess yourself. In my experience, gut feelings are very rarely wrong, and if you don’t act on it and something happens…” He sucks in a breath before he continues. “You’ll never forgive yourself.”

“We’re at an impasse here. Avery’s waiting on the court order, and it seems like nothing is being done. We’re stuck in limbo, and it doesn’t matter that I’m doing everything I can to try and make her happy because I know that she’s constantly worried about what’s coming.”

Rowan’s looking at me in a way I don’t think he’s ever looked at me. For once there’s respect staring back at me, and I feel guilty that I’m still being a selfish bastard.

“I don’t want to share Avery with some asshole that’s still trying to hurt her. It kills me that he has a claim on her that I don’t, and she doesn’t even love him. Fuck, Avery hates the bastard.”

A one-sided grin cuts his face while he remains quietly watching me lose my mind over a matter I have no say over. Something I can’t actually fix like I’ve promised her, at least not on my own.

“I don’t want to let her down, Rowan, and there is no one else that I can trust to help me find a solution for this. Avery deserves to be happy and not live worrying about what will happen tomorrow. Those girls deserve a good life, and I’ll give it to them. I’ll give them everything I can.”

“Okay.” He nods.

“Okay?”

“Okay, you got me. I can’t exactly say no after that speech.” Standing, he pulls out his phone and starts tapping away. “Besides, Callie’s not letting this go, and for what it’s worth, your gut feeling isn’t wrong. Even if whoever broke in got spooked by the alarm, there would be a mess. Things would be turned over in a grab-and-run attempt.”

“I was hoping I’m being paranoid.”

“No, this is was a message.”

“You think it’s Carl?”

“I haven’t heard from Adrian, and I’ve made sure he knows to stay on his ass. It’s unlikely, unless he’s got someone doing his dirty work for him, but given what’s going on with the investigation…I don’t think he’s stupid enough to pull a stunt like this.”

While he continues running through all the information we do know and everything that’s happened, I pack myself a couple of days’ worth of clothes as he paces around the bedroom.

“You know what I still don’t get? And it’s what’s throwing me off.” Rowan pauses when I turn to look at him. “The fed made a point of telling Avery that Carl was the last person they think saw Robert before he died.”

“I had a look at the coroner’s report, and it was a straight up heart attack. Right ventricular infarction.”

“Wait, why were you looking at the coroner’s report?”