Recovery

Chapter 27

When the trail ride ended, I took Diesel back to his stall and then started to go after Avery. I didn't know what I was going to say, just that I needed to find him.

But he wasn't anywhere to be found. He just disappeared. Again.

And that's what I'm doing now- walking up and down the many hallways of this house looking for him.

"Avery," I whisper-shout, peeking into a room.

A strange feeling that I'm being watched comes over me, but I push it away. Just my usual paranoia.

"Av-" my voice is cut off by a hand that clamps over my mouth. Two arms wrap around my waist, and another covers my eyes. There are at least two people here.

I start screaming, though my voice is muffled and almost nonexistent. I violently thrash around, kicking and punching the people who I can't see.

"God Grace, calm down," a familiar voice snaps. A female voice.

Ivy?

They pull me into one of the empty guest rooms, and slam the door shut, letting me go. The lights flick on.

Finally able to face whoever pulled me in, I turn around ready to lunge.

"Laurel? Ivy?" I say breathlessly. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Au contrair, my friend," Laurel replies, tapping her finger to her temple. "The question is what the hell are you doing."

"What do you mean?" I bluntly snap.

"Calm down," Ivy laughs. "We're not attacking you. It's just-"

"You've been keeping a lot of stuff from us lately," Laurel butts in. "And don't say you're not! Because we can tell. You're always sneaking off- at all hourse of the day- and I don't think it's just because of Trigger."

"We saw you- walking off with Avery today when everyone was out with the horses. You guys were gone for almost half an hour," Ivy states.

Shit.

I think my brain just broke. I don't know how to react.

'Lie,' is all I can think. It should be an instinct. I've been doing it as long as I can remember.

Lie.

"Yeah- apparently he saw me going out to work with Trigger last night and he was just warning me. He said I should stop or he'd have to tell his Mom," I coolly reply, rolling my eyes. "He's an ass."

They exchange glances, and simultaneously breath a sigh of relief.

"Thank God," Ivy laughs. "We were worried there was something going on between you two."

"Yeah, and trust us, that guy has too much baggage. Probably more than any of us," Laurel sighs, shaking her head.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"Doesn't matter," Ivy warns, shooting a small glare at Laurel.

"Yeah- um, let's go," Laurel quickly adds.

I sigh, and nod. "Okay."

They walk ahead of me as we leave the room.

"Grace- you'd tell us if there was something going on, right?" Laurel asks.

I feel bad lying right now. These are my friends, and part of me wants to spill. It's killing me keeping all of this inside.

But I can't. I know I can't.