Unintended Consequences

Chapter 38 - Archer's POV

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    "Jesus Sweetheart, what did you put in this bag? Bricks?" I grumbled as I dragged our suitcases to the taxi. I squinted in the mid-morning light and adjusted my ball cap lower over my eyes.

    "Whistler is 28 degrees Fahrenheit right now! I had to pack all of my heaviest clothes! I don't like the cold." Charlotte checked her purse for the 50th time to make sure she had everything we needed. I'd heard her mumbling the list to herself all morning. Passports. Plane tickets. Phone charger. Wallet. She had even insisted I give her all my stuff so there was no way I could forget them.

    I was pretty sure a lot of her anxiety was actually because we were going to spend a week with our families as an official couple. Hell, I was nervous about that too. So I just let her focus her energy on packing and hoped that everything would go okay.

    The last time I had seen Mr. Avery played on repeat in my mind. Charlotte said he was going to give us a chance but I couldn't help but feel like nothing I could do would change his mind about me.

    I threw our bags into the trunk and opened the back door for Charlotte to climb in, still mumbling under her breath. Once I'd given the driver our departure gate for LAX I pulled Charlotte into my side and kissed her temple.

    "We're going to have a good week, Sweetheart. Just relax."

    My phone buzzed in my pocket so I gave her one more quick kiss and checked it. Anger prickled my skin when I saw that it was my dad. The dickhead had taken to calling me pretty regularly since New Years, but I never answered. I couldn't give two fucks what he wanted to say to me. From what my mom has said, the divorce proceedings have not gone well. My dad's lawyers are considering her offer on the house but they are still dicking her around. If I talked to him right now I wouldn't be able to control my anger and I was not about to act like that with my sweet girl resting in my arms.

    We arrived at the airport two-and-a-half hours early, just like Charlotte had planned. By the time we got checked in and through security we had an hour to kill before our flight left. We would be the last to arrive in Whistler since everyone else flew out really early this morning from Bellmere.

    I had originally thought my family would have to pull out of this trip because we couldn't afford the flights anymore, but my mom insisted that Mr. Avery's bid had included air-fair. Something in me tingled that that probably wasn't true and that the Avery's were footing more of a bill than they let on. I made a mental note to pay them back once I started making money.

    "Oh shit," I pulled up short on our way to the gate, making Charlotte stop too. I smiled sheepishly when she raised her eyebrows at me. "We actually did forget something."

    "What! No way. I checked everything so many times! What did we forget? Do we have to go back?" Charlotte talked really fast while she twisted on her fingers.

    "No, we just have to go in here," I said as I grabbed her hand and pulled her into the small airport store. I peered around the aisles until I found my target then led Charlotte to the back corner of the store.

    "You have got to be kidding me," Charlotte deadpanned, making me chuckle.

    "No? I really forget to pack them," I said casually as I perused the shelves.

    Her little fists went to her waist as she cocked out one hip. "Why the heck do we need condoms anyway? This is a family trip, our parents will never leave us alone."