Chapter 14: Just A Friend

Carson, once again, saw how her facial expression changed from sad to angry. He didn’t know why she would look at him like that. He looked around the small house to see if he just missed the photo somewhere. But then he remembered that she never mentioned anything about him either.

She took a deep breath. “I don’t where he is but I do hope he’s dead.” He couldn’t say anything. He grew up from a household where everyone loved each other deeply. Never did he imagine that he would get mad at his dad to the point he would wish him dead.

She turned to him. “I’m done here. I want to go home.”

He didn’t say anything and just followed her. To Carson, Avery was a unique adventure he has yet to explore. She had a lot of scars that rich women don’t. Being with her made him feel normal. “Avery”

The sound of her heels stopped the moment he called her name. She turned to him. “Let’s go somewhere first.”

He grabbed her wrist and led her to the car. Her movements are heavy. It felt like she was just dragging her body to the car. Once they arrived at his car, Avery let go of his arm and hopped in.

“Where are we going?”

He smiled as he drove, “To my favorite place in this world.”

Avery watched as Carson drove. She couldn’t understand what is happening. Why he suddenly so nice? Could it be that he already fell for her? This early? She smirked and looked away.

“Why are you doing all of these?”

He seemed to be surprised as his grip on the steering wheel tightened. It took a while before he responded. “To be honest, I don’t know. This is the first time I saw someone looked so angry like that.”

She took a deep breath. “You came from a happy family. You wouldn’t understand.” He did not respond and stopped by an antique house. Avery moved her body forward to look at it.

He unbuckled his seatbelt and looked at her. “My grandparents used to live here. When they died, we renovated the place and made it a coffee shop.” She smiled and turned to him.

“The place looks awesome.”

The two entered the house. Avery has never been to this kind of house before. The whole house was made of polished wood. They went up the stairs where the living room is. The furniture is made of wood as well. She noticed that there are a lot of photographs around the room.

“So where’s the coffee shop?”

He did not respond and started walking to one of the rooms. She followed him and he opened the door. Inside, there are 3 tables witch 2 chairs each. There are customers inside and there was only one table available. The ambiance of the room was not different from the others but the smell of coffee was all over the place.

A nice-looking lady, probably older than both of them, was by the counter. Carson went to her with a big smile on his face. She must be someone he knew.

“Hi, Dolores!” He greeted. She immediately smiled upon hearing him. She held his hand as if showing how close they are. She then turned to Avery who stood beside Carson.

“Ah, Avery, this is Dolores. She took care of me when I was young. My parents were both busy at that time so they hired Dolores to help raise me. After I grew up, Dolores took care of my grandparents, and then she was now in charge of the shop.”

Avery smiled to the stranger, “Nice to meet you.” Dolores seemed to like her as she smiled back or maybe it was common courtesy. She turned to Carson, “you never brought anyone here, even that fancy girlfriend of yours.”

Carson held his nape and chuckled. “She’s no longer my girlfriend and she wouldn’t like this place. Plus, Avery is a good friend of mine.”

That’s when it hit Avery. She thought Carson already treated her special by doing all of these but he was kind because he treated her as a friend. She smiled, but she was not sure if they noticed that it was fake. Dolores nodded in understanding.

“I can make you my specialty. Wait there” She then pointed the available table. The customers were looking at them but they don’t seem to be surprised to see Carson. They didn’t look like elites based on their clothes.

Avery followed Carson. He even moved the chair to let her sit. When they are comfy on their seats, he smiled at her. She can’t believe that she almost thought she had him. She can’t proceed to her next plan if he considered her as a friend. But was that the only reason she was disappointed?

“So, did this make your mood lighten?”

“It actually did. Thank you. This was nice of you.” She then looked around. Maybe she can find something she can use later on. But she knew that a part of her didn’t want to continue her evil plan.

“I didn’t mean to make you bad earlier. I just asked out of curiosity.” She watched as he explained. She wanted to see something from him. Something evil that she usually saw on her targets. John might seem like a good man but he wasn’t. He was always thinking of a way to corrupt money from his employees.

Just then, Dolores came with 2 cups of coffee, “Here you go.” The smell was great. It differs from the instant coffee that Avery takes every morning. Carson thanked the woman and started drinking while Avery just stared at her drink.

She was about to take a sip when her phone. It was Jane. Her friend knew she was at work so the call might be an emergency. The moment Avery answered the phone, she heard Jane crying.

“I’m at the hospital. I need you.”