Avery watched him go and then looked at me, confused. “Who was that?”
I sighed, shaking my head. “You don’t want to know.”
“Gibson,” she said, sounding worried, “tell me.”
“That man was from the mafia,” I said. “He wants me to throw a game for them or else he’s going to expose me and maybe break my knees. I don’t know. the threat was a little vague.”
“Gibson,” she said softly.
“I told him no,” I said. “I’m not getting involved with them anymore, Avery.”
“Do you have a choice? You can’t risk them exposing you.”
I smirked at her. “What happened to you wanting me to stay far away from them?”
“Of course that’s what I want, but I also don’t want you to lose your entire life because of me.”
“It’s fine,” I said to her, shaking my head. “I’m not doing it. I’ll figure something else out.”
She looked terrified, but I gently got her into the apartment. “We’ll talk more about it later,” I said softly to her. “I have to get going soon.”
She nodded and went through the routine with me. She wrote down her data in her notebook while Hynes cracked jokes.
She laughed with Hynes, but I could see the fear in her eyes. She was terrified of what I had gotten myself into, and I didn’t blame her.
I was in deep. The mafia clearly wasn’t going to let me go so easily.
I had to figure something out, and fast.
28
Avery
The look that man gave me as he left Gibson’s apartment building was burned into my mind. It was sly and cocky but full of malice. Frankly, he terrified me, and I knew instantly what kind of man he was.
Gibson didn’t try to deny it. I was happy that we were past trying to lie to each other, but I was terrified about the implications of that man’s visit. Gibson tried to downplay it, of course, but I knew what was going on.
As soon as he got involved with the mafia, they had him. They could do whatever they wanted with him, including blackmailing him, just because he had done that thing for them. They had nothing to lose by going public, and Gibson had everything at stake.
And that terrified me. He had made this life-changing decision, and now he was thrown into this horrible situation. I didn’t know what he was planning on doing about it, but I was afraid for him.
It was Tuesday morning and I was over at his apartment again, in a sleepy haze of no coffee and pregnancy aches. I took his vitals and said hello to Hynes before walking with him back to campus.
“What are you going to do with all this data anyway?” he asked me as we headed down a thin path between buildings.
“I’m not sure yet,” I admitted. “I need to get some control data, someone who isn’t a top athlete.”
He laughed and gestured. “Plenty of that around.”
“Good idea. I’ll just go up to random guys and ask if I can study them.”
“That’ll work, but not in the way they hope, I bet.”
“Oh I’m sure they’d want me to study them right in the middle of campus.”
“You’d be surprised. You’re a good-looking girl.”
I laughed, shaking my head. “Why do you think all guys only want to fuck me?”
“They do,” he said. “I mean, more or less. If you wanted to sleep with almost any guy on campus, you could probably make that happen, assuming they’re all single at least.”
“So I can have sex with any single guy I want?”
“Exactly.”
“That’s just dumb.”
He laughed and shrugged. “Yeah, probably. You should do a study about it.”
I rolled my eyes and he laughed again as we stopped at a fork in the path. He needed to go right, and I needed to go left. We split up at this point every day we walked together, and every day I wished I had a few more minutes with him.
Today, instead of nodding and grunting goodbye, he pulled me against him. I was so surprised, but I didn’t offer any resistance. He kissed my lips, and I was positive people were staring.
When he was done, I put my hands on his chest. “What was that for?”
“Marking my territory.”
I hit him gently, smiling. “Come on, seriously?”
“No, not seriously. But this is my territory, isn’t it?”
I shook my head. “Nope. I’m not a piece of land or something.”
“Fine.” He kissed my neck. “You’re not my territory. You’re just mine.”
“Okay,” I said. “That’s better.”
He kissed my lips again and then let me go. “See you after practice, science geek.”