Execution (Off Balance 2)

Dad's worried footsteps drew closer, my heart ached in tune with my head, trying to put it all together. Avery wouldn't do this to me. She was the only real person I had left in my life. She'd never go behind my back like this.

Her forehead dropped to Xavier's chest and I stared in shock, not really processing it. She wrapped her arms around his back. "You make my blood boil," she said softly. "I want to junk punch you."

"And you make mine burn for you; even after everything you did, I still ache for you." He dropped a kiss to the top of her head.

I blinked long and quietly stepped away. It was too much to fathom and I really couldn't even process the scene in front of me. My mind was playing a cruel joke on me. This was a bombshell of a secret that couldn’t be true. It just couldn't be…

"Adrianna," Dad said tenderly as he came up behind me. I turned around. Something inside me broke at the sound of his voice. He opened his arms to me, his eyes softened with sympathy, guilt written all over his face that it physically hurt me to look at him like this. I'd never been hit in my life, and it shocked me down to the marrow in my bones.

"Don't worry, you're not going anywhere. I promise."

I fell into his arms and cried until I couldn't open my eyes or think any longer, blocking out everything that had happened and praying it was all a terrible dream.

Chapter Fifty-Three

I steered clear of my mom, and everyone, for the next few days. She hadn't mad

e an effort to apologize, and neither had I.

And I wouldn't. I refused. Not after she had hit me and left me with a swollen, fat lip not even the best concealer in the world could hide. Even with all that my brother has done to shed a negative light on this family, not once did she ever put her hands on him. Yet, for the first time in my life I stood my ground, and her world went up in flames. It made no sense.

And she wondered why I loved gymnastics so much. With gymnastics, I could be who I wanted to be, not what she wanted me to be.

The tension between my parents since that awful day had been tangible. I wasn't stupid. I knew it was because of me. At night when I couldn't sleep, I could hear them arguing downstairs. Doors slammed, curse words were thrown around, and I could hear the crystal of Dad’s decanter opening and closing. Mom wanted me punished, but my dad objected, saying they'd never disciplined Xavier for the far worse offenses he’d committed. Like when he was part of the lawsuit filed against his fraternity that took the life of a student. A deadly hazing that he'd been part of yet miraculously got out of.

In public, they put on a good show, but the skeletons in their personal closets were mounting.

But today, I wouldn't be able to avoid her. Today was Easter Sunday, and we always had a very intimate, very extravagant family dinner for the four of us in a dining room that typically collected dust three hundred and sixty-four days out of the year. The same dining room where I discovered my brother’s and my best friend’s little secret.

My stomach was in knots, and the thought of being forced to sit across from the same woman who scrutinized everything I put on my plate and into my mouth made me nauseous. I was stressing out big time having to be in the same room with her. Especially since I knew she was still reeling with resentment.

As much as I was originally excited to be home, now I couldn't wait to go back to the West Coast.

Since my parents hired help to handle the prep work and serve the food, I wasn't needed until right before. Thankfully.

Even though I knew she was keeping things from me, I decided to spend my free hours with Avery, who'd only gotten out of school yesterday for the holiday break. We hadn't spoke about the day she hung up on me or why she’d had such an attitude. I let it go because I missed her and wanted to spend as much time as I could with her before I had to leave.

We were in her massive walk-in closet, where she was trying on different outfits as I sat on her custom floral love seat. Rows and rows of clothes, drawers filled with accessories and fine jewelry, purses and designer shoes, all perfectly placed with a dramatic chandelier in the center.

"Ria," she said in a horribly fake Russian accent, distracting me from my thoughts. Every so often she used Kova’s nickname for me to get my attention. I laughed. "I have a rash on the back of my head. It is really bad and I do not know what to do about it."

My brows pinched together as I studied her, trying not to laugh at her terrible imitation and lack of contractions.

"Is this you being serious? Or are you being an asshole?"

Avery was staring at herself in the mirror, head slanted while she debated if she liked the tenth outfit she'd tried on. "I am being serious."

"Okay…so go to the doctor."

She turned around and walked toward me. Before I knew it, she was sitting next to me with her bleach blonde hair held up and a view of the back of her head just centimeters from my face. I pulled back.

"Will you look at it for me?" She leaned into me, and I put a hand on her back to stop her.

"Do I have a choice?"

"No."

We both laughed.