A Simple Life: Chapter 220

I step around Pepper and hurry to the door to the bays. Blissfully clueless as to the seriousness of the emotions stirring inside me the playful Rottie trots along at my side raring to play. I step through into the garage to see what I’d been praying I wouldn’t see.

Lauren looked small as she stood framed by the big bay door. Her head was low and her arm hugged to her body in a pose familiar to anybody who’d been abused. You didn’t need to read the clues of the way she stood or her tone of voice to figure out what had happened though. Anybody with eyes could see the fat and still bloody bottom lip, the bruised cheek, and the swollen darkened left eye that even the over-sized shades she was wearing could do little to hide. To the other side of David and Grace’s Porsche that sat high on the lift Winona and Amos looked at this stranger with grim and sympathetic expressions.

“Oh Lauren.” I say as I hurry to her.

“Avery!” The moment she sees me she begins to cry. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I…didn’t know where else to go.” A great sob escapes her as she slumps into my arms.

“You c-came to the r-right place.” I soothe her softly. “It’s okay. It’s okay.”

Winona’s eyes widen as the name ‘Lauren’ clicks in her head. “This is Jack’s wife?”

I give her a nod. Putting my arm around my weeping sister-in-law I lead her back through the office and into our suite. Behind me there is a bit of excitement as Pepper meets Brutus but thankfully Amos sorts it out while I sit Lauren down at our table and get her some water. Gratefully she accepts the drink, clutching it in both her shaking hands.

Her eyes closed as she tries to pick up the pieces of her shattered nerves she whispers again. “I didn’t know where else to go.”

“You’re safe here.” I roll the computer chair next to hers to sit with her. “You d-d-did right.” Gently I lay a hand on her shoulder.

“You….understand.” She says in a quavering voice. Looking up Lauren tries to put on a brave face. “You must be Winona. And her dad.”

“Good to meet ya.” Amos, who had just closed Pepper out into the office, nods.

“Thank you.” Lauren sniffles. “This is no way to meet someone. I’m sorry.”

“You came to family.” Amos steps closer, his larger than life physicality and fatherly tone helped to ease her fears. “This is exactly where you oughta be.”

Still back by the door Winona stood staring at my in-law. As concerning to me as Lauren’s pain was Winona’s blank expression. From everything that I knew of her I would have expected either warmth and concern or fire and fury, but instead her hazel eyes were ice cold and strangely placid. I had to talk to her but right now Lauren needed me more.

Lauren turns her attention back to me then, after a few deep breaths, completely falls apart.

I snatch the glass of water from her hands before it could slip to the floor. Placing it on the table I roll close and pull her into a hug. The soul-wreching way that she wept brought back so many memories. I knew the pain, the betrayal, the confusion and that parasitic worm devouring her insides as she wondered if it was all somehow her fault. “It’s okay, Lauren. He c-can’t get you here.” With a tissue I very gingerly daub a bit of the blood from her lip. “You’re s-safe. We’re here. It’s not your f-fault. You’re going to be okay.””

“I don’t even know what I did!” She sobs into my shoulder. “I don’t know even know what I said!”

“I know. I know.” I say honestly. I knew well that way my brother had of going from a smile on his face to flying off the handle after most innocuous trigger. When she could speak again I ask. “What h-happened, Lauren?”

“I don’t know. He came home for lunch early. He was acting funny.” She gasps through heaving breaths. “I think…I think he was expecting to find someone? I don’t know!”

“It’s okay.” Amos kneels down to her other side. “Take your time.”

From across the room comes a voice as hard as tempered steel. “Where is Jack now, Lauren?”

“W-Winona…” I start to say before Lauren cuts in.

“Getting a drink knowing him.” She answers. “To drown the guilt. Probably buy me something on the way home.”

“A drink?” Winona says. “That narrows it down.”

“Winnie.” Amos chides his daughter but finds himself talking to the door that was closing behind her. “Damn it.” He is up and following her before the door even clicks shut.

“What’s going on?” Lauren asks through her tears.

“W-Winona’s going after Jack.” I say, my hushed voice unable to hide the fear. Flashing in my mind’s eye are various potential future’s where Winona finds her quarry. None of them ended well. Winona was strong for a woman and I knew she was fierce but Jack was hard man, an experienced brawler, a dirty fighter and he had the home island advantage. For all of her warrior spirit all I could imagine was him standing over her in the end. NO!

“Going after Jack? Avery!”

“I know, I kn-know.”

“He won’t be drinking alone, even this time of day.”

“I know!” I pat her hand and rise. “W-Wait here.”

I dash for the door. As I sprint through the customer service office Pepper, excited by the action, is barking and bounding along beside me in hopes of play time. In the garage I find Amos trying to talk sense to his daughter who wasn’t listening to a word he said. She had a crowbar, the same crowbar I’d used to destroy that grill Jack gave me, in her right hand and her phone to her ear with her left.

“Cain.” Winona’s voice snaps like the crack of whip. “That thing we talked about. … It’s happenin. … Yes now! Whatcha up to? … Be there soon. Fill ya in when I get there. I fuckin owe ya one, man.” Cain!? She was bringing Cain into this?

“W-Winona?”

My voice draws her attention past her father who continued to try to talk her down. She marches up to me, grabs me by the back of the head, then plants a hard kiss to my lips.

I gaze into her eyes. “D-Don’t…”

She presses her thumb to my lips and shakes her head no, just once. “Look after her. Stay safe. I won’t be gone long.”

“There’s g-gotta be an-nother way. W-We should c-c-call the police.”

“You do that.” She says. “You do what’s right for you, baby. I gotta do what’s right for me.”

“Winona. No.” I whisper. “He’ll h-hurt you t-t-too.”

With a soft smile she gently brushes a bang from my face, her eyes roaming over my face. “Jack’s not hurtin nobody, Sprout.” With the tip of her middle finger she touches the eye where Jack had left that bruise and her smile fades. “Not anymore.”

“Winona.” I plead. “D-D-Don’t go. Please.”

She kisses me again then pushes off to stride for her truck. As I watch her go I find myself stuck in quicksand. I needed to think…but my brain was paralyzed! This was happening so fast!

Amos presses his car keys into my hand and tells me. “Don’t stay here alone. Take her to Cher, Avery. She’ll know what to do.”

“Cher.” I say. “Yeah. Ok-kay. Amos!”

Placing his huge hand on my shoulder he grips it and looks down at me. “You can’t change this, Avery. Nobody can. This is part of who she is. That’s the woman you’re marrying.” With the same grim expression but with a twinkle of pride in his eyes he says. “That’s the woman I raised.” With a firm pat of my shoulder he spin and chases after Winona. “Don’t you think you’re leavin without me!”

Before my brain had fully caught up to what was happening I hear the roar of the truck’s engine and a moment later Winona and Amos were roaring for town in a cloud of dust. With Pepper nuzzling at my hand I watch them speed down the highway for Haven Point. “No.” I whisper. “Nooo!” If Jack hurt Winona… “Hah!” I gasp as a bolt of crackling fear shoots through my body like lightning. This time, for maybe the first time in my life, the fear isn’t urging me to run away…but to fight! “NO!”

The following minutes are a blur. I remember corralling Pepper into Amos’ SUV. I remember comforting Lauren and taking her to Cher. I remember Cher yelling at me to stop. Then the next thing I knew I was back at the garage.

As I zip up my leather jacket and pull on my motorcycle helmet my mind is chaotic even though my purpose was singular. All I could see was Lauren’s battered face…and then Winona’s looking the same way. No! No! NO! He couldn’t hurt her! He couldn’t! I wouldn’t let him! I WOULDN’T LET HIM! Winona and Amos would be outnumbered, even with Cain in tow, and it was up to me to even the odds. The police were no help last time, why would this time be any different? No. Winona’s way was the right way. Family deals with family. And she was right about something else too. Jack wasn’t going to hurt anybody anymore. Not me, not Lauren, nobody. Least of all Winona! I had to be there! I had to find him first so I could be there when they showed up. She and her dad had a big head start but I’d be quicker on my bike and I knew that they had to take some time to meet with Cain first. Besides, they didn’t know Jack like I knew Jack.

The chaos in my head goes silent as I open the door to the storage room. I stand and wait for the florescent lights to flicker to life though my eyes are already locked on the back corner of the room where Winona and Amos’ gun locker stood.

Chapter 221