Pack Secrets || WLW

We Don't Work

 "Oh my gosh, I love this bracelet. Where'd you get it from?" I force curiosity into my tone even though I want to reach across the divider and punch Avery in the face.

She glances at the gear shift and shrugs. "Didn't know it was there to be honest. Probably belongs to someone I slept with. They must have left it behind."

"Can I take it?" I've been thinking over different ways to word the question but haven't been able to come up with anything good so I just ask, hoping it doesn't come off as needy or weird. Although I shouldn't care what Avery thinks of me at all. "Since you don't know who it belongs to and..." I take her wrist in my hand and turn it over. "It doesn't look like something you'll ever wear?"

Avery's lips pull into a smile but she doesn't look at me. "You trying to hex the other women I'm sleeping with or something?"

"Obviously," I joke and she pulls the bracelet off the gear shift and holds it out to me. Once I can see the entire thing, any bit of uncertainty vanishes. It's got a few charms that I definitely recognize as Angela's. A little letter A she's been wearing since we were children and a tiny stethoscope her mom gifted to her when she decided she wanted to go into the medical field are among them.

"Be my guest," she says. "If someone asks you where you got it, don't rat me out though, okay? Don't need that kinda drama." She finishes the sentence with a laugh but I wonder if it's just a show to cover up her nerves.

We say our goodbyes and, once I'm in the safety of my own car, driving well over the speed limit on the highway back to Glassboro, I can't stop replaying the interaction in my head. Avery seemed genuinely confused by the presence of the bracelet. No, not confused but calm. She seemed way too calm for someone who just got caught with a missing person's bracelet in her vehicle. Unless she's telling the truth and... Angela would never hookup with someone from Cape May. And there's no way she would do it without telling me either.

A mixture of curiosity and a hint of betrayal creep into my stomach. Something isn't right and I can't place my finger on what exactly it is. As I pull into the parking lot outside of the sheriff's office, I breathe a sigh of relief because June's truck is in the spot next to me and I know we'll figure this out together. Maybe I just need someone to bounce ideas off of.

She pulls me into a hug when I walk through the double glass doors and even though I don't admit it to myself, I love the way it feels. The way her muscular arms slide around my back and pull me close, nearly lift me off the ground so she can bury her head in my shoulder and breathe me in.

"I was worried about you." Her words are muffled against my neck. "Every second you were gone, I was worried."

I don't know what to say to her so I pull back and hold the charm bracelet up. "I found this in Avery's car. It belongs to Angela."

The next moments go by in a blur. June's wide eyes, the sheriff's admission that he didn't think I'd actually find anything, him ushering us into his office to avoid the eyes of the other officers in the building.

"Is this enough to call for an investigation?" June asks once Sheriff Gray's door is closed behind us.

He's sitting at his desk, glasses propped on the end of his nose, examining the bracelet between both hands.

"It depends." He leans back and takes his glasses off to talk with us. "Where did you find it?"

Guilt presses on my stomach for some reason. I tell myself I'm doing this for Angela and it doesn't matter how friendly Avery is to me.

"In Avery's car," I answer.

"How did she respond when you found it?" he continues.

I shrug, the same way Avery had when I asked about the charm bracelet. "She said it was probably left behind by someone she was sleeping with."