The Escape Clause Read online

  He poured the water into the machine, placed the filter in the bucket, and filled it with coffee. It was going to need to be strong coffee. He was extremely tired.

  That brought a smile to his face. He should be tired. It was nearly three in the morning before they’d fallen asleep with their lips swollen from kisses.

  There was no need to rush anything, he thought as he pushed the button on the coffee maker. There was time to win her over.

  He walked to the refrigerator and pulled open the door. Scrambled eggs were his specialty. Maybe he could win Jill over with some breakfast, wrapped up in a blanket on the couch.

  The backdoor opened as he loaded up his hands with eggs. “I’m making breakfast. I hope you like scrambled eggs.”

  “Pete.”

  He froze bent over in the refrigerator.

  Putting everything back on the shelf, he rose slowly taking in the moment.

  When he turned, she was there. “Avery.”

  “Oh, Pete!” She ran to him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

  It was instinct to pull her in and hold her, to smell her, to feel her.

  “I’ve missed you. Oh, I’ve missed you so much.”

  He stroked a hand down her hair. “I’ve missed you too. Oh, how I’ve missed you,” his voice was just a whisper.

  Then he heard the unmistakable gasp from beyond them and his world spun into place as he looked up and saw Jill, still in her Wonder Woman T-shirt and shorts, her long, beautiful hair pulled back and a look of absolute horror on her face.

  “Jill.” He moved from Avery. “I thought—I was going to make breakfast. I…”

  Avery’s eyes had gone wide. “Oh. I’m so sorry.” Tears welled in her eyes and she pursed her lips.

  Jill formed a tight smile on her lips. “You must be Avery. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

  Avery stood there and Pete knew she was too choked up to talk. This was a moment he’d never envisioned.

  “Jill, I didn’t know that…”

  She shook her head. “Don’t. I should let you two be alone.”

  Jill turned to go back to her place, but Pete stopped her. His heart was exploding in his chest. How could he have such conflicted feelings right now?

  “No. I should leave,” Avery said as she bore a stare right into him. “I didn’t realize…”

  “Now stop.” He held his hands on both sides of his head to keep the world from spinning. “Just stop.”

  How was he going to handle this? Two women who had two very different effects on his heart were standing there and only one of them was suppose to be there. He wasn’t sure which one and he’d never been so conflicted.

  Pete turned to Jill and took her hands in his kissing her knuckles. “Can you give us a few minutes?” Gazing into her eyes he hoped he conveyed what he wanted to. A need to just talk to her.

  She nodded. “Okay.” As she turned, she looked toward Avery. “It was nice to meet you.”

  Avery’s eyes were even wider and she bit down on her lower, pouty lip as Jill descended the steps. “I’m so sorry Pete. I didn’t even…I didn’t…”

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m back. I had to leave. It wasn’t what I’d thought. I didn’t know that…”

  He moved to her as her wall crumbled around her and she began to sob. “Breathe.”

  She shook against him and sucked in a breath. “You’re sleeping with your neighbor,” she said softly into his chest.

  “I’m trying to. We woke up together, that’s all.” He felt as though he needed to make that clear.

  “She’s lovely.”

  “She is. Where is your new man? I know you’re involved Avery.” The words were sharp and the sting in them bit him as much as he assumed it did to her when he felt her stiffen.

  She looked up at him. Her dark eyes were bloodshot and sad. “I made the biggest mistake of my life leaving that day. And then I was just mad because you didn’t come…”

  “Is that what you think? You think I didn’t come for you?” He pushed back and paced the kitchen. “You’re so wrong and so full of yourself to think that I’d just let you go.”

  “You didn’t come, Pete. You let me go.”

  That was the final straw. “I came, damnit. I ran like hell to get to that damn plane. They wouldn’t call you back to the gate and they wouldn’t let me on. I wasn’t going to let everything I’d wanted for my whole life just go away like that. Yes, I was mad. Yes, you broke my heart. But, Avery, I was there.”

  Her tears streamed down her cheeks, but he refused to pull her back in. She needed to know what heartache she had caused. “I needed you to be here for me and my family. My father went through surgery and you weren’t there, but because of you he’s alive. My mother is in chemo and she’s scared to death. I’m trying to keep strong for her, but you’re not here to keep me strong.”

  “The girl downstairs?”

  “Yeah. She’s here. She makes me laugh, Avery. She makes me happy.”

  She batted her eyes and wiped at her cheeks as tears fell.

  “I’m so sorry, Pete. I needed to go. I needed to know what was there for me. I made a mistake.” She looked down at the floor. “I made a lot of mistakes.”

  Her voice trembled and it hurt him. He had to move to her.

  “What can I do?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing. I’ve lost you.”

  The doorbell rang and Pete stomped his foot. “God, I hope that’s not the mailman with a jury duty summons. That would make this day a total loss.”

  He huffed toward the door and pulled it open.

  A man in a black suit stood just beyond the threshold.

  “Mr. Grant?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I am looking for Avery Keller. I am sure you know where I might find her.”

  The accent gave him away and Pete grit his teeth. “Oh, yeah. I know where she is.”

  Pete turned to look back at the kitchen and she was gone.

  “Avery? Avery!” He moved to find her, but there was no sign of her. “Your guess is as good as mine,” he said just as the man punched him right in the jaw and he fell to the floor.

  “What in the hell?” Pete held his jaw.

  “Find her.”

  Pete struggled to his feet. “Are you kidding me? I wouldn’t turn her over to you if it was the last thing I did.”

  Marcus moved in closer to him and Pete put up his fists. “Fine, I know what you’re made of now. Hit me when I’m ready.”

  Marcus stopped. “I want to speak to my fiancée. I know she came here and I’ll wait for her all day if I have to.”

  Fiancée.

  The very word made Pete nearly ill and the throbbing in his jaw worsen.

  “I swear if you’ve ever touched her violently I’ll kill you.”

  “A threat, Mr. Grant? No wonder she left you.”

  Pete would have made a move to strike the man, but just beyond Marcus Pete could see a police car driving slowly down the street, pausing briefly in front of the house.

  Marcus looked over his shoulder. “I will be back for her. Mark my words.”

  “She’ll never be here.”

  Marcus gave Pete a curt nod and walked back out the front door. Pete quickly shut it and locked it as he watched the man give a nod to the police officer and then drive away in a rented black car.

  “Avery!” Pete shouted. “Avery!”

  Jill hurried through the kitchen, her face pale. “She’s downstairs. She came running when she heard him.”

  “She’s okay?”

  Jill nodded. “She’s scared, Pete. She had me call the police.”

  “They drove by.”

  She studied him. “Your cheek. What happened to you?”

  “Don’t worry about me. Where is she?”

  “Hiding in my bedroom. I don’t know what’s going on, but she’s scared of that man.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Pete hurried down the steps to Ji
ll’s apartment.

  “She’s in the bedroom. I’m going to get her some water.”

  He nodded and then turned to her gathering her in his arms. “Thank you for helping her.”

  “Go. She’s scared.”

  “Don’t give up on me,” he whispered.

  “Pete, she needs you. I’ll be in in a moment.”

  He kissed her softly and went to Avery.

  She was curled up in a ball against the wall on the floor. Her hair hung over her face as if it were a shield.

  “He’s gone,” Pete said as he sat down on the ground next to her.

  Immediately she clung to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her face into his shoulder. All he could do was hold on to her.

  “Here,” Jill said as she walked toward them, handing Pete the glass of water. “I brought you some Advil too.”

  Avery looked up at her through ragged strands of hair. “Thank you. You don’t have to be nice to me.”

  Pete chuckled as he brushed her hair back. “She doesn’t know any different,” he said smiling up at Jill.

  “You guys take your time. I’m going to go up to your place and get that coffee. You have your privacy, but if you need me to call the police again…”

  “I’m fine. Thank you,” Avery said.

  Jill nodded and quietly walked away.

  Avery rested her head on his shoulder. “I see why you love her.”

  “I like her a lot. I didn’t say I loved her.”

  “I love her. She could have sent me back up there. She could have told him I was here.”

  Pete moved so he could look at Avery. “I’ll kill him if he hurt you.”

  She shook her head. “Just my pride.” Her eyes moved so that she looked right at him and at that moment he knew she’d seen the mark he’d left on him. “He hit you.”

  “Superficial.”

  “Pete,” she sobbed, clinging to him tighter. “It was all a business arrangement. My grandfather wants me to marry him. Marcus told me that there was no decision. We were just to be married.”

  “This isn’t the turn of the century, Avery. He can’t just do that.”

  She thought about how kind and sweet he’d been to her when she’d met him. Then, how it all changed on the yacht when his words became more seductive.

  She closed her eyes when she thought about him making the advances to her. The bottles of wine and champagne they’d consumed—she nearly choked on her breath. He’d forced her guard down and she’d become a victim to him because of her own pride.

  “I never should have left. I should have stayed here and married you. I made a mistake.”

  His heart was so conflicted. No one, absolutely no one, would get away with hurting Avery. And at the very same time she’d hurt him so much he wanted to leave her there crying in Jill’s bedroom.

  “Your parents know you’re home?”

  She nodded. “Uncle Zach arranged it for me.”

  And yet another blow to his ego, he thought. She’d called someone else to help her. Well, he’d give her that one. He wasn’t very cordial on the phone when they’d spoken and she’d ended the call with I love you.

  Pete moved and rose to his feet, pulling her up with him. “Let’s go upstairs and get some coffee. Let’s clear our heads and formulate a plan. We need to keep you safe and get that moron sent back to France.”

  Pete walked a step behind her up the stairs. Avery needed the comfort of his touch, but he was distant. There was no mistaking why. In the nearly two months she’d been gone she’d nearly ruined her life and she’d lost the love of the only man she truly ever wanted.

  Jill sat at the kitchen table with a mug of coffee, wrapped in a blanket to cover her pajama clad body.

  Pete pulled a chair out for Avery. “Sit down. I can’t doctor your coffee as much as you’d like, but…”

  “Black is fine. I’ll be fine without any fussing. Thank you.”

  He narrowed his eyes and went about pouring her coffee.

  Avery finally looked up at Jill.

  “Thank you.”

  “Me?” Jill rested her hand on her chest.

  Avery nodded. “You didn’t have to help me. I certainly didn’t mean to walk in and ruin your morning. I know it was intimate and here I am.”

  Jill set her mug on the table and kept her hands wrapped around it. “You didn’t ruin anything. Pete would have dropped everything had he thought you needed help.”

  She had to wrap her mind around that. From that statement alone she knew that Jill knew a lot about her and here she knew nothing about the woman who had moved into the basement.

  Pete set a mug down in front of Avery then made a very grand point to walk around Jill, touching her shoulders as he did so, then sitting down next to her.

  It was silly for Avery to get so worked up about it.

  They’d been friends most of their lives and the time they’d actually been lovers was very short in comparison. She’d been on double dates with him. She’d set him up on dates. How many times had they been double dating with boyfriends and girlfriends? There was no reason this should be so strange—except that she still loved him so deeply.

  Oh, she knew she’d tried to move on and she’d done it in the worst way ever. France was a mistake. Marcus was a mistake. Sitting there while Pete rested his hand on Jill’s was a mistake.

  She looked down into her mug. “I’d like you to follow me home. From there I can have my dad and Uncle Zach work out something to keep Marcus from me. Uncle Zach still has connections to my grandfather. My mother alone will…”

  “Avery, we’ll get you home safe. There isn’t anyone in your family that’s going to let you get hurt.”

  He winced when he said it and she wasn’t even sure he knew he touched his raw cheek.

  “I’ve inconvenienced you both enough. I should get going.” She pushed her mug back and stood.

  Jill stood next, the blanket falling to the chair. “Don’t run off. Avery, you need help and we’re here to help you. I know he wouldn’t let anyone hurt you and the minute you leave he’s going to be pacing the floor worrying about you. Let him follow you home and talk to your family.”

  “You don’t have to do this,” Avery said. “You’re involved and I’m the old girlfriend. I shouldn’t have come.”

  “Are you kidding?” Jill moved toward her. “First of all, this is new for both of us and we’re feeling it out. Second, I’ve spent nearly two months hearing him talk about you.”

  “Jill, that’s not true,” Pete argued.

  She laughed. “Have you been here? Pete, everything in your life is about Avery. I just happened into the middle of it.”

  “You don’t have to say that because she’s standing here. She’s the one who ran off and slept with some French guy.”

  Avery scoffed. “And you moved on right away too.”

  Jill shook her head. “Eh, not as quickly as you think. I’m not easy to get.”

  “And you think I am?” Avery argued.

  Jill held up her hands. “Now the two of you need to have this argument. Not me. I’m saying, Pete, you need to follow her home and make sure she’s safe. Avery, you need to get your shit together and press charges against this maniac who is chasing you down and beating up Pete.”

  Avery looked at Pete, who shook his head and then to Jill who stood before her with her hands on her hips.

  “I’m parked out back,” Avery said softly.

  Pete dropped his shoulders. “I have to get dressed.” He turned and walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

  Jill nodded. “I’m going to take my coffee and go back to my place.” She started for the stairs. “Welcome home, Avery. Everyone has missed you and was worried about you.”

  As Jill disappeared down the stairs, Avery wondered how she would know how everyone felt. Who all had she met?

  Pete followed Avery to her parents’ house and followed her inside when they collectively climbed from their cars. />
  Simone sat at the kitchen table with a legal pad in front of her and notes jotted down on it in French.

  When she saw Pete follow Avery into the room she rose and moved to him.

  “She came home to us,” she whispered in his ear. “She came home.”

  In the last month he’d hugged Simone Keller more than he’d held his own mother. Avery didn’t need to know just how much they’d bonded over missing her.

  Simone stepped back. “Avery, is everything all right? You look terrified.”

  Avery exchanged looks with Pete and he gave her a nod.

  “Mom, Marcus followed me here. He followed me, or found me at Pete’s.”

  “He didn’t find you,” he corrected. “He only came looking.”

  Simone studied Pete. “Did he hit you?”

  “Cheap shot. He won’t ever do it again, that’s for sure.”

  He watched as tears formed in Simone’s eyes. “Avery, you should have never gone.”

  “Too late, Mom. And I can’t regret it more.”

  Simone turned back to the table and picked up the notepad. “A former associate to my father called looking for you.”

  “I’m not going back.”

  Simone nodded. “It seems as though my father purchased the vineyard and other property with investment money from the Bavard family.”

  “So.”

  “So, Marcus’s need to marry you seems to be a business deal.”

  “I knew that. My own grandfather sold me out.”

  Simone nodded. “He tried to do that with me. Luckily, I fell in love and, well, I had you.”

  “So this is payback? Grandfather failed at the biggest merger ever because of me?” Her tone was sharp.

  Simone shook her head. “Because of my choices. And, Avery, I’d always choose you first.”

  “So what does me marrying Marcus gain him?

  Simone studied her notes. “Monsieur Bravard’s ego is even bigger than my father’s. Together they’d nearly monopolize many different industries. If you had provided them an heir…”

  “It would be a solid deal and one person would inherit it all.”

  Simone shrugged her shoulders. “It cannot be that easy, but yes. Legally if they partnered they couldn’t monopolize, legally. But an heir receiving it all, well…” She stopped and sucked in a breath. “Avery, I am so sorry that he did this to you.”