Avery's P.O.VMy phone alarm wakes me up the next morning. It pulls me out of my dream. I was little, with my parents on a vacation. It was just a simple vacation. We had gone to the beach, but those brief memories are what I hold close to my heart.I stretch out my arms and yawn before reaching over to my nightstand and grabbing my phone to check the time. Nine am. That's not too bad. I figured I'd sleep later than that. I scroll through my notifications and see that Anna's texted me three times. Oops.Anna - You made it home?Anna – If you don't text me, I'm going to call my brother. Did he piss you off? Whatever he did, it's not my fault Aves.Anna – You better call me when you wake up. I'm worried.Crap. Now I feel bad. I was supposed to message her when I made it back home, but dealing with Cedric took all my energy out, and oh shit. I completely forgot that he slept over last night. I wonder if he is still here. I quickly type Anna a message as I climb out the bed.Me – I'm sor
A few minutes later, after Cedric finished the dishes, he told me that he needed to head home to shower and that he would see me later on at his parent's house. Now I'm once again alone in my home, sipping on a delicious cup of Carmel coffee and thinking about that missing woman. Is that what could have happened to me? Now I'm starting to believe what I had originally thought. Someone broke in. That someone could have hurt me or kidnapped me like that poor lady. If I'm being honest with myself, I am kind of scared to sleep alone now. But I'm a big girl. I'll make sure I secured all my windows and doors before heading to bed. I'll keep my bedroom door locked. That will give me a little time to at least wake up and run into my bathroom again.I just hoped it worked a second time if anything happened again. Maybe I was wrong about Cedric. Might not be such an asshole as I originally thought. He didn't have to sleep over last night. He could have dropped me off and left me alone, but h
I'm now standing on the front porch. I have raised and put my hand down three times. Butterflies swarm around my belly as I try to gather the courage to knock on the door. Sure, I could have called Anna to let her know I was pulling up, but I didn't. I wanted to knock like the big girl I am. My body doesn't think I'm a good girl though, because it's a struggle to knock.I saw Cedric's truck outside along with Anna's' car, so I see they are both inside. I don't know what I'm going to say to Cedric, and I realize that's the reason my belly feels like it's flipping inside of me. It was nothing I know, he just stayed over to make sure I was safe. I appreciate he did that so much, even if I gave him a little attitude about it.The warm pan I have the cookies sitting in weighs heavily inside my hands as I bite my bottom lip, balance the pan with one hand, and knock.Please don't let Cedric be the one to answer the door.The door swung open a minute later, and the breath that I didn't reali
I'm pulling into my driveway hours later. I had a great time today with Anna and her family. Apparently her family was big on family things. Family things like board games. Yes, we played board games, and let's just say I'm a sore loser. I liked to win and when Cedric and his dad kept beating us women at every game, Anna and I gave attitude.First, we played monopoly. Cedric and Mr. Glenn won.Second, we played scrabble. They won again.Last we played Jenga and you guess it. They won. Again.“You both are cheating.” Anna snapped when we got done with the last game, looking ready to throw the little jenga pieces around the living room.“Now pumpkin, you know I don't let y'all win. Earn it.” Mumbled Mr. Glenn, who looked very much used to his daughter's little tantrums. “We didn't win a single game, Glenn.” Huffed Helen as she took a big gulp out of her wineglass.Even though my team kept losing, I just had an awesome time. Cedric let me be after our little talk in the pool. I suspect
Later that night, I'm sitting in the police station. Cedric and Lucas called it in, and soon I had law enforcement cars filling up my driveway. They had roped off my kitchen. Which is a shame because when I'm stressed, I like to bake, and I'm extremely stressed, and I would like nothing more than to be in my kitchen right now baking up a storm.Sadly, I'm not in my kitchen. I'm sitting in a cold room. In front of a mirror that i know is a two-way mirror. Grey bricks surrounding the room. Cedric had another officer named Williams drive me here. He said it would be safe for me. Safe while he looked around my home. Before I left, I had seen forensic guys combing over my little kitchen. Hopefully, they cleaned up my counter, I couldn't help but think.I'll need about three containers of bleach before it will satisfy me that my kitchen is once again baking worthy. I use my counter to roll my dough. So, I require it to be cleaned. Before I got into the police station, Cedric had grabbed my
A few minutes later, I'm still waiting for Cedric. I tried opening the door, but apparently, they kept the interrogation rooms locked on the inside. Smart move, not that I appreciated that at the moment. My strategy was to sneak out and try my best to find a cab. I know I could have tried that app. Someone local could have picked me up, but that's not very safe. Who would want to get inside a vehicle with a stranger? Not me. So, instead of keeping with my plan, which wasn't much to go start with, I decided waiting for Cedric was my only actual option. I could call Anna, but then knowing her what little I know of her, at least, she would have come charging in. Her doing that would have gotten me in trouble with Cedric, and it just wasn't worth it. Soon, the door squeaked open. I looked up to see Cedric's tired facing look down at me. “Ready to go?” He asked.I nearly fell as I jumped out of my seat quickly. “Been ready.” I cracked. I didn't mean to, but as I got up from the chair, m
We are finally pulling into his driveway minutes later. I have to admit, I'm a bit blown away. It's beautiful here. He lives on the edge of a lake. My eyes slowly scan the surrounding area, and for a moment, I'm stunned. I'm just enjoying looking into the water. Birds flying around his square shaped dock.“This is it.” He says as he turns his truck off. “We can go fishing anytime you want. I have extra poles in the shed.” He added with a shrug.“I don't know how” I whispered, a little embarrassed to admit that. My father wasn't really an outdoors man. Instead, we would play board games and work on puzzles together.“Never?” He asked, shock clear in his tone.I didn't need to look over towards him to know whether he was looking at me or not. I could feel him. His eyes digging into me.“Nope.” I mumbled while quickly opening the door and stepping out. “Nice place.” I added when my feet hit the grass.“Thanks. I love it here. No neighbors. Just peace and the occasional fishers passing by
I wasn't happy with the decision to stay here. I tried talking Cedric into taking me to a hotel a few more times last night, and each attempt failed miserably, which led to a slight argument every time.I swear, the man stays getting under my skin and I just want to dig him out. We ate our pizza in silence while sitting in the living room while watching a football game. I'm definitely not a sport following type of girl, but Cedric said he watched the game every week, so I just gave in.It wasn't like I was even in the mood to enjoy a good movie. I think Cedric is overreacting a little bit. Just because that woman was kidnapped and has the same color hair as me doesn't mean anything, honestly. I am woman enough to admit that I am a bit frightened.That box I had received was creepy. Who would send someone that unless you're deranged in the head? That also doesn't mean I'm in any more danger. Once I had finished eating my two slices of pizza, I told Cedric I was going to bed. I coul