Indestructible: Reinforced

Chapter 70

Chapter Seventy

     October 2012

     Present Day

     “No, Jake.”

     “Avy-“

     “Come on!” I exclaimed and glared at my laptop screen. Jake was looking straight at his camera, so his emerald green eyes stared at me through my screen. No matter how hard I tried, I always ended up feeling stupid when I looked at the camera instead of his face. “If we use a strip club Pete told you about, then you guys will probably get raped by the strippers. I just don’t trust his judgment.”

     “Josh has been a saint for the past three years, Avy.” Jake said and looked back at his screen. I was careful not to sigh in relief, sometimes I forgot he could see me. Video-chatting was a nuisance, but it was free and we talked a lot. He couldn’t afford to spend a fortune on long-distance phone-calls with me. “He needs to go to a good club, and not the crap he’s been to a hundred times. This place is the best in Paris. I know Pete’s the last person to go to for most things, but he’s the guy for this. Trust me.”

     I groaned and shook my head. “I really don’t think this is a good choice.” I sighed. “Jake, come on. You must know a good enough place. Or maybe we could ask Josh about any good places.”

     “He doesn’t go to the truly good places.” Jake replied. “How about you and Pete go check out this place? Then you can see for yourself if it’s good or not.”

     “You want me to go to a strip club with Pete?” I asked incredulously. “Are you kidding me? It’s Pete!”

     Jake frowned at me. “He’s not that bad, Avy.” He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. “Besides, you used to love him. What happened? Why are you acting like he’s a disgusting pig all of a sudden?”

     “Probably because he is.”

     “Well, it never disgusted you before.” He paused. “And he doesn’t like it, you know. He still thinks of you as a friend.”

     I rolled my eyes at him. “Yes, I’m sure he’s heartbroken because we drifted apart.”

     “Just because Cynthia turned on you doesn’t mean they all did.” He said. “But things were difficult and they couldn’t just turn on her. They couldn’t abandon her and side with you when she and I…you know.” He cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable with having this discussion with me. Good, because I was probably as uncomfortable as he was. “It wasn’t easy, and he never meant to hurt you. He never sided with Cynthia when she tried to insult you or whatever.”

     “Jake, people drift apart.” I shrugged. “No big deal. I’m sure he’s not as torn up about it as you think he is. He’s Pete, Jake.”

     “He told me he hated how things were.” Jake sighed and looked guilty. Was he telling me something he shouldn’t be? “He told me he missed the days when everyone just got along. Things aren’t good for him right now, Avy, and he just misses the time when things were. And we were all good friends back then. And he told me that he hoped that by helping out with the stag parties and helping you run some errands that you might hate him less. Don’t be so hard on him.”

     I felt really bad in that moment. I didn’t like that I was the bad guy. And I didn’t like that I was hurting Pete. I found myself caring about him again. “Damn you, Jake. You just made me very sad right now.”

     He smiled reassuringly at me. “It’s good to have people around you, Avy.” He said. “It’s good to have friends. And it’s good to reconnect and be on good terms with old friends. Don’t forget that he was there for you during a very difficult time of your life. You told me that you felt comfortable around him and that he reminded you of Seth in a way when Seth wasn’t around. Don’t forget the good times, Avy.”