by Amity Hope
Ava didn’t burst into tears. Instead, she let loose with the most intriguing, eloquent, vibrant cascade of cuss words Gabe had ever had the pleasure of hearing. They flowed from those lovely full lips of hers with the beautiful, powerful audacity of a big hair band lead singer letting loose on a ballad.
He was stunned. He was awed. He was…more than a little bit turned on. Ava was standing with her fists ground into her slender hips. Her heeled boots making her legs look insanely long. Her hair had come loose and was framing her face in a sexy, tousled sort of way. Her eyes glittered with anger and her cheeks were rosy with fury. She looked…unbelievably hot.
He needed to stop staring.
“Huh,” he managed as he struggled for a coherent thought. “Are you allowed to do that?”
“What?” Ava asked as she sliced her eyes to him. “Allowed to do what?”
“Swear like that? Isn’t it against your religion or something?”
Her chest was still heaving in righteous indignation. “You show me where, exactly, it states in the Ten Commandments that cussing is a sin,” she hotly retorted. “You will never hear me take the Lord’s name in vain. But nowhere does it say I can’t call that creep a lousy, cowardly, lame-ass bastard!”
Gabe realized then that he found Ava more than tolerable. He actually liked her.
“That guy had a knife to my throat and you’re going to chastise me for swearing?!” she asked in disbelief. She raised her hand to her neck again, swiping the tissue across it once more. Frantically, she began to pat herself down.
“No! Oh my gosh!” The past indignation had leaked out of her voice leaving behind a frantic whisper that consisted of a string of, “Nononono-s,” in its wake.
“What’s wrong?” Gabe asked feeling oddly alarmed. Was she hurt worse than they’d thought? Was she just realizing it now that the adrenaline rush was fading?
“My necklace! It’s gone! Oh my gosh!” she cried again as she wheeled around to scan the sidewalk. “It’s gone!”
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“I’m really sorry it’s gone. But can’t you just get a new one?” he asked after they decided it was just not going to be found.
“No, it was special. I should’ve just let him have my purse,” she moaned.
“Why? Was it expensive or something? An original piece?”
“No. I don’t know. I mean, I don’t think so. I have no idea! It was just special to me!” she told him, dangerously close to sobbing. “My grandpa was an Army Chaplain in Vietnam. It belonged to him but he gave it to my grandma when he went over. She wore it all through the war. She gave it to me before she passed away. I’ve never taken it off.”
She scrubbed her hands across her forehead, taking deep breaths. Gabe was suddenly terrified she was going to pass out from shock.
Or a broken heart.
“If it wasn’t one of a kind can’t you just look for a new one? At a pawn shop or antique store? The internet?” he suggested.
“Gabe! It had sentimental value! You can’t buy that!” she said, looking shocked at the suggestion.
“Can’t you get one just like it and pretend or something?” he asked, trying again.
She looked at him like he’d just sprouted horns. He was surprisingly displeased with how that made him feel.
“No,” she said softly, “I can’t just pretend. Hasn’t anyone ever given you something you treasure? Your mom? Your dad?” He looked at her blankly. “No one?” she asked in mild disbelief.
His parents had certainly given him something. Wretched, painful, ugly scars that would never heal. He did know enough to understand this wasn’t what Ava meant.
“No,” he finally answered.
***
Instead of fading on the way home, Gabe’s fury simply grew. He had every intention of busting Rafe’s nose again. Or better yet, finding the knife he’d used on Ava and slitting his throat with it. But when he walked into the main house, Rafe was lying on the couch moaning. His legs were spread, a five pound bag of ice taken dire hie takenctly out of the freezer placed between them.
Gabe looked from Rafe’s ashen face, which was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, to the bag of ice and back again. His expression asked the unspoken question.
“Ava,” Rafe ground out. “That piece of trash kicked the little dudes so far north I’m not sure they’re ever going to come back down.”
Gabe laughed so hard his sides hurt. The fact that a delicate looking girl, a human girl at that, had knocked his big, bad, very non-human brother flat on his back was outright priceless. He only wished he’d been paying attention when it had happened.
It almost made the events of the night worth it. Worth Ava losing her necklace and him losing his mystical, yet powerful restraint. One that he was counting on. He was not happy to see it gone. He didn’t know what he was going to do now. With that cross around her neck, he couldn’t touch her. With it gone, he wasn’t sure he could stop himself from touching her. Because the feeling he was getting from her was that she very much wanted him to. It could lead to problems. Big problems.
He was suddenly dreading his next time out with Ava.
He didn’t trust himself and she shouldn’t trust him either.
“Good for her! I’d like to do worse than that to you. Don’t ever pull crap like that on me again,” he threatened, all laughter gone from his voice. “Thanks to you I spent nearly an hour at the police department over in Granville filing a report. The only thing you did right was to not mess up my face or we would’ve been totally screwed. Luckily, I convinced Ava you were too much of a cowardly lame-ass bastard to get a decent punch in.”
Rafe had gotten a decent punch in alright. Several, in fact, but Gabe would rather drink hot lava than admit that to him. He’d done nothing to his face, nothing that would heal in front of Ava, so really, that was all that mattered.
“Why are you so pissed? Because I didn’t get prior approval or because I had my hands on your girl?” Rafe sneered. “That little knick on her neck was nothing. I could’ve done a whole lot worse. I didn’t want to jeopardize her dating privileges by making her outings too dangerous.”
“She’s not my girl. We’re not dating and you know it. What did you do with her necklace? You know I need her to be wearing it.”
“It’s gone. I threw it. You were right. Touching that thing is like taking hold of live wires. I whipped it as fast and hard as I could.”
“You shouldn’t have done that.”
“Don’t whine. I did you a favor and you know it! You got to play the hero and now you can put your hands all over her any time you want. You’re welcome!” Rafe barked after him.
Gabe as usual, ignored him and left the main house. He started laughing again when he thought of Ava. He was picturing those awesome boots she was wearing. He decided he more than simply liked the girl, he actually admired her.
He stopped laughing.
Feeling like that could be a real problem.
Chapter 8
“Ava,” Leah St. Clair scolded yet again, “I don’t understand why you are making such an ordeal out of this.”
“Because it doesn’t make sense!” She knew she was whining and hated herself for it. Her parents wanted to meet Gabe. She had knownp> it was just a matter of time. However, the fact that they were just friends, the fact that he was older and probably had not had to get parental approval maybe ever before had her feeling panicked. She was afraid he’d balk at the idea and refuse. If he did, she didn’t like what that would mean for them. She wouldn’t be allowed to see him. But if he was the type of person that refused to meet her parents, he wasn’t the type of person she should want to spend time with anyway.
An obnoxious little voice in the back of her mind kept whispering that Gabe was not going to agree. She hated
that little voice because it reminded her that if he failed this test, he would not only be failing in the eyes of her parents but her eyes as well. She wasn’t ready to let that happen.
“We have a right to meet your friends!” her mother told her yet again. “It’s that simple. Get over it, or stay home.” Her voice was soft but firm.
“I’m seriously contemplating staying home,” Ava pouted as she plucked the last glass out of the dishwasher and put it into the cupboard. “I just don’t want him to think that I think there’s more going on with us than there is. Most girls don’t have to bring boys that they are not dating home!”
“Ava, you’ve been spending almost as much time with this boy as you are with Julia and Molly since…” she paused to think. “I don’t even know when. It seems like quite a while. It’s time to meet him.”
“Mom, I’m going to be eighteen in less than two months!” She knew she shouldn’t push it. After how upset her parents had been last night when she called to tell them she would be late and why, she knew she should feel lucky they were even letting her out of the house. Not that what had happened had been her fault but that didn’t stop them from being upset. She had been upset as well. She had clung to Gabe as they walked the rest of the way to the car, telling him over and over how grateful she was that he had been there. She couldn’t forget the furious look on his face or the icy way he had threatened the man. As if it weren’t a threat but an actual promise.
“You’re not eighteen yet and you’re still living under our roof. It’s important to your father and me to know who you’re with, especially after what happened last night.”
Ava shook her head and started to leave the kitchen.
“So are we meeting him or are you staying home?” Leah asked.
“I’m deciding!” Ava called as she marched up the stairs. She went into her room, shut the door and swiped her cell phone off her bed. She decided it was now or never. Either Gabe would do this for her or he wouldn’t.
He answered on the fourth ring.
She knew her voice was strained and hesitant. “I’m sorry to throw this at you at the last minute but my parents have this thing about meeting everyone I spend time with and…”
“Yeah, okay,” he said without making her finish. “I was surprised I haven’t had to meet them before now.” Ava breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m actually just pulling up to the curb. Do you want to meet me at the door?”
“See you in a sec.” Ava flounced down the stairs, calling for her parents as she went.
Leah poked her head out of the kitchen and Daniel came ambling out of his home office.
“What?” they both asked.
“Gabe’s here,” Ava said as she swung the door open. He smiled at her but looked hesitant as he took a step inside. Ava couldn’t blame him since he’d had all of a thirty second warning.
“It’s so nice to finally meet you,” Leah said as she reached out her hand.
Gabe gingerly shook it and then turned to Ava’s father. He seemed to be appraising them both. They were oddly alike in their looks. Neither was as tall as Ava, both were on the portly side. Leah had auburn hair that obviously came out of a box. Daniel’s, what little he had left, was a dull brown streaked with gray. They were a rather plain couple with no trace of the flair or spunk that Ava had.
Gabe threw Ava a questioning look as he turned to shake Pastor St. Clair’s hand.
“I’m glad to finally meet you as well,” Daniel said.
Gabe reached out to take his hand but only shook it briefly before he jerked it away to cough into his fist. “Sorry about that. Scratchy throat, please excuse me.” He covered his mouth again, coughed and cleared his throat. “But it is nice to meet both of you,” he said as he stuffed his hands safely into his pockets. “I appreciate you letting Ava spend so much time showing me around. It’s been a real pleasure.”
“She seems to enjoy your company as well,” Leah said, making Ava blush furiously.
“So Ava tells us your family just bought out the radio station over in Granville?” Daniel added.
“Yes, sir,” Gabe replied. He told Daniel about it, going into enough minor details to appease Ava’s parents while she slipped into her sandals.
“I’m glad you were able to stop in,” Leah told Gabe once he had finished. Her voice turned slightly wobbly when she added, “I’d like to thank you for watching over Ava last night.”
“We appreciate you going with her to file the report. And for keeping her safe,” Daniel said with a great amount of feeling. “I hate to think what would’ve happened if she’d been alone.”
“No need to think that way,” Ava said as she put a calming hand on her mother’s shoulder. “I wasn’t alone. I’m fine. Now…can we go?” she asked hopefully.
Leah sighed. “You can go. Just be careful.”
“Mom, it’s the middle of the day. I’ll be fine. See you later,” she told her parents as she ushered Gabe back out the door. “I’m so sorry about that,” she said on the way to the car as her blush continued to color her face. “I’ve told them over and over you’re just a friend.”
“So how does this work?” Gabe wondered. “Do I have to visit with them every time now, or is once good?”
“Once is good, I think,” Ava said giving him a curious look. “Haven’t you ever had to meet a girl’s parents before?”
“Never,” Gabe admitted as they got into his car.
“Wow,” Ava said as she slumped in her seat. “Now I feel like a real freak. We’re not even dating and you had to meet my parents.” She hoped he would comment on the dating aspect but he didn’t.
Gabe shrugged. “I wasn’t sure what to expect but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”
“Consider yourself lucky it happened so fast. If I’d given Mom any more of a warning she’d probably have made you stay for iced tea and scones.”
“They weren’t what I expected,” Gabe told her.
“What do you mean?” Ava asked. “Were you afraid they were going to tie you to a chair and torment you with four hundred personal questions?”
“No,” he said with a laugh. “That’s not what I meant. You just don’t look like them. Either of them. At all.”
“Oh, right,” Ava said as though she just remembered something. “I guess I’ve never told you that I’m adopted.”
“No,” Gabe said as he shot an inquisitive look her way. “You haven’t.”
Ava shrugged. “Oh. Well, I am. I guess I just didn’t think of it. Most people from town already know because it was kind of a big deal,” Ava said as she felt color rise to her cheeks again. She thought maybe it should just settle in there. It seemed she couldn’t stop blushing when she was around Gabe. “I don’t remember the last time I actually had reason to tell anyone. But yeah, there you have it.”
“Why was it a big deal?” Gabe wondered. “I mean, other than the obvious reason. Was there something else?”
“It’s kind of a peculiar story, actually. Daniel and Leah, my parents, had been trying to have a baby for years. They finally decided to adopt, had all of their paperwork in order, they were just waiting.” Ava shrugged. “Nothing unusual about that. Wher>
Gabe threw an incredulous look her way. “Your birthday is in June. When is Easter?”
Ava threw an incredulous look back. “In the springtime.” She briefly wondered how he could not know that. But then from what she’d heard about his family she doubted holidays were ever celebrated. Holidays were so important to her and her own family. Her heart twisted in her chest at the thought of Gabe growing up in a household where holiday traditions and meals were never acknowledged. “Either March or April. That year it was March.”
“So your mom gave you up when you were nine months old. Isn’t that kind of…?”
“I was almost two, actually,” she admitted. “And yes, it’s very unusual.” Ava was watching Gabe, surprised by the way his face had tensed and suddenly paled. “Are you okay?”
Ava put a tentative hand on his bicep, noticing immediately that he didn’t tense the way he normally did when she bothered to touch him. “It’s okay. I mean, it’s the only life I’ve ever known. I love my parents, they love me. If my birth mom couldn’t care for me then she definitely did me a favor because I’ve had a great life.”
“You’re really okay with it?” Gabe asked, perplexed.
“I am,” Ava told him. “I wish I knew what my birth mother’s name was. Or what my name had been, that kind of thing but overall, I couldn’t be happier to be a St. Clair.”
They drove in silence for a while. Gabe seemed to be mulling something over but Ava had no idea what. Maybe he thought it was odd that she was adopted. Or that she hadn’t mentioned it but truly, it just hadn’t come up before. Or maybe he was wondering why her mother had waited so long to give her up. Or what had happened to make her give her up.
She’d wondered too but had no answers as there were no answers to be found. The police had searched for any clues but came up with nothing. If they came up with nothing, she didn’t have much hope of ever coming up with anything either. About the best they could do was to confirm that she hadn’t been kidnapped and dropped off on a doorstep.
She hardly thought about it at all anymore. Unless a conversation like this oedi like tne brought it up. She loved her adoptive parents. She couldn’t love them more if they were her birth parents. They were the kindest, most caring people she had ever met. When Grier had shown up in her father’s office a few years ago, explaining her home situation, which Ava was not privy to, he and Leah had hardly hesitated before taking her in.
Ava wished Grier would’ve been home. She wanted Gabe to have a chance to meet her. How he treated her sister would go a long way toward what Ava thought of him. But Grier had not been home. She was prone to disappearing while taking long walks. At first this had worried her parents but now they accepted it as part of who she was. He would have to meet her next time, assuming there was a next time. Ava just hoped he treated her sister with enough respect to pass the test. Because most people didn’t.