Spark: Book 1 (The Heat Series)

by MJ Masucci

  At the end of the first week, Ava’s father Jason went back to Georgia. She was feeling much better and didn’t want to keep him from his work. She barely talked to Xander during her time home. He was in a lot of pain from his injuries, a fact that made her continue to feel responsible. Rachel and Sam took turns staying with her over the weekend. She didn’t want to be alone.

  On Monday she and Sam left her apartment together to go to work. When they arrived in the building lobby, she couldn’t help but look around for Liam. It would be a force of habit for awhile. She went to her desk on sixteen and found several cards on her desk from well-wishers. She and Xander’s relationship was now outed. The incident had been widely reported on the news. There would be no hiding it and they would have to be very careful during the work day not to have contact. There were too many prying eyes.

  She read each of the cards and wrote the names to send thank you notes to each person who was kind enough to personally give her one. The office had sent a large arrangement of flowers from everyone, but not all the staff signed the card.

  She went to Victoria’s office and the woman smiled at her. “Ava, I’m so glad to see you up and around. I’m sorry that Xander was so badly injured. How is he?”

  Ava felt her sentiment was disingenuous, but recognized that she was cordial. “Thank you, Ms. Carter. He is getting better by the day and should be back in the office in the next few weeks.”

  Of course, she wasn’t sure about how he would feel. His ribs were still painful, and it was hard for him to get around. She wanted him with her, but it was better he stayed at his parent’s home where his mother was around all the time. Victoria was backlogged with work because Ava had been out all last week. She eyed her as she stacked a pile of folders in her arms. Ava felt self-conscious because the cut on her cheek was still quite visible. It was deep and now had a thick scab on it. The doctor said it could take a few months for the mark to disappear totally. At least the bruise had lightened to shades of yellow and green. She was able to hide most of it with some makeup. She made light of the cut.

  “Looks worse than it is.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “The cut, it looks worse than it is.”

  “Oh.”

  Ava turned to go. Maybe it was her imagination about Victoria staring at her scar. She made her way to her desk. The research room would have been a better substitute for all the work she had, but she didn’t want to be in there alone. Every little noise would make her jump, and that was no way to work. She already had anxiety about being home alone tonight. She didn’t want to inconvenience anyone else by asking them to stay with her. She could stay with her aunt and uncle, but she didn’t want to seem like a frightened child. She was supposed to be an independent woman.

  When she got home that night, she flipped through the mail and found an envelope from an address in White Plains. Her heart started pounding as she tore at the paper. She opened the letter she found inside.

  Miss Keene,

  You don’t know me, but I used to date, Liam Chapman. I read about what he did to you and your boyfriend in the paper. I felt I should reach out to you and apologize. Maybe if I had done what I should have, he never would have hurt you. He abused me, too, and I dropped the charges. If I had not, he probably would have been in jail, and you would never have met him. Be glad that you are alive. If you want to call me to discuss 914-555-7458.

  Jayne Danner

  Ava felt a chill go through her as she read the line, “Be glad to be alive.” What sick thing had he done to this woman? She leaned against the counter pondering whether she should call the woman. Then she picked up her cell and dialed.

  “Hello?”

  “Is this Jayne?”

  “Yes, who is this?”

  “This is Ava Keene. I got your letter and was wondering if you could elaborate.”

  The woman told Ava her entire dating history with Liam. Their relationship started off much like hers had. Liam was kind and sweet. He bought Jayne little gifts and waited to have sex with her. He wined and dined her. As their relationship went forward, Liam had become more possessive and demanding. He refused to allow her to see her family and started to abuse her verbally. Eventually, the abuse turned physical and one night he choked her until she passed out.

  Ava was horrified. She asked what Jayne thought triggered his change. She said the only thing that changed in their relationship was that Jayne had received a modest inheritance from her brother after he unexpectedly passed away. It was about that time that Liam’s attitude towards her changed. He was always checking her phone and forced her to give him her bank login so he could check her balance. He terrorized her. He beat her and choked her until she was unconscious several more times before she ended it. She broke up with him, and she thought he was stalking her. She filed a complaint, and they were never able to find evidence that it was him. So they had let him go.

  Jayne said he must have fixated on someone else because she never heard from him again. Ava thanked her for the information. She hung up thinking she and Xander had been very lucky. He would have murdered them in that parking garage but not before he raped her. This was a conversation she was not going to share with Xander. Even though Liam was in jail, he would worry about her, even more, when she was not with him.

  Xander woke up uncomfortable. His mother had forgotten to close the drapes all the way and the light from the window bothered him. He was tired from a partly sleepless night from the pain in his ribs. He was incredibly grouchy. He hadn’t shaved in a full week, and his beard was thick. At least the bandage on his arm was no longer needed. The gunshot wound had started to heal, and his triceps weren’t as sore as they had been. It was just an angry looking scab now. His mother was on him to get out of bed and try to sit up, but he felt better lying down. He wasn’t eating much except for when he took his medication. In a word, he was just miserable.

  He knew that Ava was back at work, and he was worried about her. He knew that he had no reason to be. Liam was in Riker’s Island with no bail. He wouldn’t be getting out anytime soon. Mike had called to give him that little tidbit of information. Though his father and Brian were able to get it also from contacts, they had in the court system. Liam was probably going away for a long time.

  He spent most his day watching TV. The mind numbing crap they broadcasted almost bored him to death. Aside from that and sleeping there really wasn’t much he could or wanted to do. Early in the evening, he was sulking in bed when he got a knock on his bedroom door.

  “What, Mom?”

  The door opened, and there was Ava. She took his breath away, and he felt that love at first sight feeling again. Like the day he first saw her in his office many weeks ago. She was dressed conservatively in a white sleeveless blouse and beige slacks, but she was sexy no matter what she wore.

  “Sweetheart, I’m so happy to see you.”

  Ava went to him. He looked horrible. He had dark circles under his eyes. The bruise on his face was still black and blue and had extended under his eye to his nose. It still looked slightly swollen. A deep bruise was still noticeable on his ribs which stood out on his pale shirtless flesh. At least the wound on his left arm was healing well. She sat on the bed and gently kissed his face. She pulled back quickly being careful not to hurt him.

  “Ava, my lips weren’t hurt. Now kiss me.”

  She kissed him, and he hungrily stuck his tongue in her mouth. He ran his hand through her hair and stroked her face softly tracing the scab on her cheek with his thumb.

  “I miss you so much,” Ava mumbled through their lips.

  He broke the kiss and looked into her eyes.

  “You have no idea how much I miss you, too. At least if you were lying in bed next to me, it wouldn’t be so bad.”

  He grasped her hand and noticed the ring now on her left finger. “You switched hands?”

  She blushed, “I just needed to feel you closer to my heart.” She searched his hands for his ring, but none wa
s found.

  “Where is your ring?”

  “I took it off because my fingers are swollen a bit, see?” He held his hands up, and the fingers looked slightly swollen. “And they wanted to cut the ring off my finger in the ER because my hand was so bad, but I told them no. One of the docs tried something that he saw on YouTube with a string, and they got it off intact. It’s in my wallet.”

  He didn’t want to tell her that it had been caked in blood. Though he was in tremendous pain, he stood at the sink to scrub it clean a few days ago. Whether it had been his blood or Liam’s, it didn’t matter.

  “You are growing a beard now.” She said as she ran her fingers through the thick scruff on his face.

  “It’s more out of decision than necessity.”

  Ava looked puzzled. “What decision?”

  “The decision of not standing at the mirror and suffering in pain. My ribs make it hard to stand, and I won’t even mention moving. They hurt less now than last week but still hurt a lot.” She picked up a bottle of medication from his nightstand; it was half full.

  “It doesn’t look like you took too much of this. It says you can take it every six hours so why haven’t you?”

  “I don’t want to get too dependent on it. I have been taking the over the counter stuff, and it works okay.” Ava put the bottle down and pushed a lock of his hair off his forehead. She stood up and began straightening the papers, magazines and other materials he had strewn on the bed. “Ava you don’t have to do that. It’s okay. Mom has tried, but I chased her away.”

  “You’re sleeping with all this crap on your bed?”

  “I wouldn’t call what I do sleeping. I would call it taking a nap every so often. I would love to get a full night’s sleep. The worst part is when I have to go to the bathroom or shower.”

  Ava leaned in and pretended to sniff him. “When was the last time you took a shower?”

  “I’ll have you know I went in yesterday. I was going to go shower when dad got home. Mom doesn’t like me showering on my own, and I am not about to let her see me naked. That would be mortifying, to say the least.”

  “I’m here if you want to shower. I can help you. I admit that I have seen you naked,” Ava said, blushing

  Xander grinned. “That you have, as well as many other states of undress.”

  Ava stood up, and Xander slowly moved his body until his legs were firmly on the floor. He winced in pain as his ribs sang crescendo as he moved.

  “Sweetheart, can you turn on the shower? The quicker I get in there, the better it will be. Before I get up out of bed, can you tell my mom what I am doing?”

  “Oh, I forgot to tell you, she isn’t here.”

  “What do you mean she isn’t here?”

  “I had a conversation this morning with your father. I asked him to take your mother out to dinner, and I would babysit.”

  “So she left?”

  “As soon as I got here she did.”

  Xander felt a hunger for Ava that had been building for over a week. Though he still had much pain, he felt the burning down into his loins. She had turned on the shower and when she came to assist him his arousal was quite obvious.

  “No, Xander!! You can barely move, and you want to have sex?”

  “I can’t help it. You’re all I dream about when I can sleep. I see your face, your body, hear your voice. Please don’t deny me.”

  She ignored his request and helped him into the large double shower. She still felt ashamed for allowing Liam to touch her. She watched as he tried to wash. It was a futile effort because he couldn’t comfortably raise both arms.

  He kept the arm on the right side where the rib injury was down while he used his left arm to do most of the work. Ava reached in to help him as much as she could, but she ended up getting wet. It was a repeat of the first time they had showered together when he had vomited all over himself. She gave up and stripped out of her now wet clothing. She stepped into the steamy shower and put a dollop of shampoo on her hand.

  “Sit down.”

  He sat on one of the large tiled seats. It was the only way she was going to be able to wash his hair since he was a full foot taller than her. She soaped his hair, and he wrapped his arm around her waist pulling her close. He kissed her wet breasts moving his mouth to her nipples, sucking them. She melted at his touch. His beard brushed against her heavy breasts arousing her more. A hot flush started to creep over her and deposit deep in her belly. Not having Xander for over a week was harder than she had admitted. He cupped her mound and began sliding his fingers into her. She could see with each motion he flinched.

  “Stop. You’re hurting. Don’t lie. I can see it on your face.”

  “I don’t care; I want this so much. Want you so much. I would walk through fire to get to you, don’t you understand that?”

  “We can wait. I want this too but not at the expense of your suffering.”

  He looked up at her with gritted teeth. “Please…”

  She was silent, pushing his hand away from her she spread her legs wide. Arching her hips over him, she grasped his erection and positioned him at her entrance. Liquid heat spread through her as she slid onto him. He reached for her, but she gently pushed his arms away.

  “Just feel. Let me do the work.”

  “You’re so hot, Ava.”

  Her legs burned as she squatted over him using the wall behind his head to stabilize her. Xander didn’t last long but neither did she. His seemingly endless orgasm filled her and spurred on her own. When it was over, she quickly lifted herself off him. He wouldn’t admit it, but she knew he was in pain. His jaw muscle was tight and his forehead furrowed. She kissed his cheek.

  “Ava, I don’t want to be away from you one more night. I can’t be away from you.”

  She gently washed him running her fingers lightly over the large bruise on his ribs.

  “I don’t want to be alone anymore either, but how can we make this work? I need to work, and you need to have someone take care of you when I am not there.” She turned the shower off after she washed and wrapped a towel around him, then herself.

  “I can get around by myself. It’s painful, yes, but I don’t need my mom waiting on me hand and foot. I can manage during the day while you are at work.”

  Ava was skeptical of his mobility based on what she had seen. She was selfish by wanting him to stay with her. He needed someone to care for him during the day, and she couldn’t do that until the weekend.

  “Maybe we can move you to your apartment this weekend?”

  “NO!! Tonight. I don’t want to spend another minute here. I love my parents, but I need to be back with you. I don’t care if it’s your place, my place. I just need to be near you.”

  She could hear the frustration in his voice. She tried to be firm and rational with him.

  “I want you to be with me as much as you want it, but it’s late. Why don’t we try to plan for tomorrow? I have to work, but I can come over right after and get you settled. How would that be?” She kept silent waiting for his answer.

  “I will wait for tomorrow then. But you promise to come over right after work?”

  “When have I not followed through on my promises? Now, let’s get some clothes on you. I have no idea what I’m going to wear to go home.” He pointed to a bag on the floor, and she dug through it until she found a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. “These will have to do because I can’t wear my soaked clothes.”

  She handed him a pair of shorts and helped him pull them up. He got settled into bed, and she kissed him.

  “So we have to decide where you are staying? Do you want to go to my apartment or should I stay in yours? If we stay in yours, I have to move the boys over there.”

  “Do you mind staying in mine?”

  “Not at all. I have to go because I have work tomorrow, and I want to pack. Your dad said they would be home by nine, and it’s almost that now. I need to get all the way downtown so I better leave.” Her phone rang, and she
saw it was Michael.

  “Let me take this.” She left his bedroom, and he heard her yelling. She rushed back in to tell Xander that she had just become an aunt. “Michael and Alicia just had the twins. A few weeks early but they are healthy. A boy, Michael Jonathan and a girl, Elizabeth Marie.”

  “That’s great sweetheart. I’m so happy for you.”

  A knock at the door cut the conversation short. “Alexander, are you okay?”

  “Yes, Mom, you can come in.” Gabby Wilder poked her head in to see the two of them sitting on Xander’s bed.

  “You look much better than when I left you. Ava must have perked you up.”

  You have no idea how much she perked me up mother, Xander thought.

  “I’m glad you got back; I have to go Mrs. Wilder.”

  “Thank you for stopping by to see Alexander. He has been asking for you.”

  “Mom, enough. She has to go, and I need to speak to you about something.”

  Ava made a quick retreat because she didn’t want Gabby to question why she was wearing his clothes. She had rolled the sweatpants several times so she wouldn’t trip over them. She ran into Peter in the hall.

  “Ava, how was your visit with Alexander?”

  “It was so good to see him. I miss him. By the way, Michael wanted me to tell you that the twins were born this evening. A boy, Michael Jonathan, and a girl, Elizabeth Marie. Daddy is thrilled to have one of each.”