Catching Avery

Chapter 19

Pride: Because I'll be goddamned.

Avery~

I propped my elbows on my knees, then hung my head in my hands, wondering if they were strong enough to remove my head from my neck, but I didn't think that they were. I heard some noises coming from the kitchen, and I thought my skull was going to shatter. I raised my head again to ask Iz if she would bring me a knife, so that I could end my miserable existence, but it wasn't Iz in the kitchen, it was Julian.

A hair-rumpled, fresh-out-of-bed, shirtless Julian Moretti.

Holy Mary, Mother of God.

It took me a few seconds to realize that he was walking towards me with a glass of water because, if a shirtless Julian wasn't enough to render a person stupid, a hair-rumpled, shirtless, pajama-pants-wearing, barefoot Julian sure was. The smirk on his face brought out one of his dimples, and I could swear that I heard an angel chorus in the background.

"Done staring, sweetie?"

"Nope." I shook my head for emphasis and instantly regretted it. "Motherfucker."

He grinned down at me in sympathy. "Here. Take these."

Julian handed me the water and a couple of aspirins, and as I was eyeing the tablets, he walked over to Quinn. The sight of his tattooed back and hard muscles rippling all over his body, working together to lift Q, was spectacular. The tattoo was also magnificent and telling, but as he handled Quinn, I noticed that he had scars all over his body, too. Now, while I was certain that there was a sad story behind most of them, they made him look even hotter than he already was.

"Why hasn't Iz locked you down with a ring and seven babies by now?" I blurted as he gently placed Quinn on the couch opposite side of me.

"Believe me, I'm working on it," he chuckled.

Julian made sure that Q was comfortable on the couch, and then he kissed the top of my head as he passed me on his way back to the bedroom. "Everything will be okay, sweetie," he called back, leaving me dumbfounded.

Quiet, serious, brooding, people-hating Julian kissed me on the top of my head in an effort to take care of me along with putting Q on the couch. Isabella better hurry up and get her head out of her ass and lock that man down.

God, and that body.

After coming to my senses again, I managed to make it to the bathroom to pee and brush my teeth. Luckily, we all three had our own bathroom drawers at each other's homes for nights like last night. I grabbed my phone from my purse on my way back to the couch and saw that I had several missed calls; a couple from my dad and some from Michael. However, nothing from Nicholas, not that I'd really been expecting any.

I also had a couple of text messages from Eric, and I still wasn't sure how I felt about this friendship weirdo thing that he was trying to push on me. Nevertheless, I did date the man for almost two years, and he'd made the effort to apologize. If I was being completely honest, we'd been pretty comfortable during our relationship, and we'd gotten along well. If it hadn't been for his cheating, we'd probably still be together, so maybe we'd actually make better friends than lovers. It was possible.

I fired off a quick text to Eric to let him know that I was at Izzy's, hungover, and that I'd talk to him later. I debated calling Michael back, but my head hurt so badly that I wasn't up for a fight. Looking over at Quinn in her peaceful slumber, I decided that was the route to take. So, I got comfortable, then tried to go back to sleep, but the pounding in my head wouldn't let me. The pills that Julian had given me had started taking the edge off, but I still had a hell of a headache.