by CJ Azevedo
“Does this mean that you’ll stay friends with me even though my life is chaotic and I’m a mom?” I ask this beautiful boy that just made me float with his kiss.
“No, Ava. This means that you’re mine and nobody else’s. This means that you’re going to introduce me to your daughter and we will never again go a day without some sort of communication. You can forget going another full week. I won’t let it happen again. Got it?”
“Yes, but Dec, now that you know, it’s going to be different. Having a child is completely consuming. It’s exhausting and there’s no time for fun.”
“Sunshine, if you can take on the role of parenthood while working full time and getting your PhD, I can be your partner in crime. No more arguing about it. It’s done,” he says with finality.
Relief washes over me and tears threaten to spill over before his face turns hard once again and he continues, pointing a stern finger at me.
“One more thing—no more fucking kissing Jackson the best friend. We clear on that, Ava?”
I probably shouldn’t find this funny, but I do. I manage to tap down the bubble of laughter looming inside my chest but I can’t hide the smile on my face from his sudden, fierce possessiveness. I’ve seen it a few times in the last three months. His tone would change during certain discussions on the phone or when Jerry would cross a line at the bar, I would see a little bit of his possessive side come out, even with his friends, but this was much more than I’ve seen before and the silly girl inside me melted from it.
I still feel unsure about the whole situation. I can’t be positive that he’ll be able to handle my hectic schedule, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and handle the outcome later.
“You ready to go inside?” he asks in a much softer tone.
I nod my answer and he takes my hand. “I just need to freshen up real quick before anyone sees me like this. I’m a mess.” I look up to Declan and find him smiling down at me with such happiness in his eyes that I almost start crying all over again.
“You look beautiful, but I’ll take you to the restroom before we head out back.”
“Why are you dressed like that, by the way?” I ask. “I hardly recognized you.”
He chuckles a little. “Uhh, you’ll see in a minute.” He pulls on my hand and I try not to freak out over that vague answer. What could possibly be in the back that would rid Declan of his piercings, messy hair and street clothes?
We walk inside and are greeted with a two-story foyer with a curved staircase on either side. The floor is dark hardwood and it runs all the way up the staircase. The bannister is made up of a rich wood and intricate wrought iron detail. It’s stunning.
Declan pulls my hand to have me follow him upstairs. He looks back down at me and the happiness has mostly vanished—he looks peeved. “It’s just a house, Ava.”
“Um no, it’s not, Declan. This place is…”
“Don’t. It’s just a house.”
I’m not sure why he’s acting this way. I can’t put my finger on his mood exactly. If this were my place, I’m pretty sure I would have dragged him through every room already. I would be so proud of it. Instead, he almost looks embarrassed.
“I was just going to say that it’s beautiful. It doesn’t suit your personality, but I still love it.”
“Yeah?” he asks, relaxing a little as we start to walk down a short hallway before approaching a set of double doors.
“Yeah.”
He leans down and kisses me chastely. “Well, wait ‘til you see my room.” He pushes open the door to the right and gestures for me to go in. It’s like a different world in here. There’s plush beige carpet across the expansive room and a huge bed with plain brown bedding sits off to the right. It looks so comfortable I just want to crawl up in it and take a nap. There’s a chair and a side table next to doors that open up to a balcony.
On the left is a living area with a couple recliners and a sofa surrounding a huge flat screen TV. On either side of the TV are framed posters of fighters. There are several shelves that hold framed magazine and newspaper articles, along with a lot of trophies and colored belts from a karate GI.
“Now this is more of what I had imagined.” I chance a look up at him and he’s smiling again. This is room he’s proud of. He’s obviously happy to have me in here and I couldn’t be happier to be here.
“This is the only room I was able to keep Macie out of,” he explains as he leads me into the ginormous bathroom. I mean seriously, what does one need with all of this space in their bathroom? “She’s infatuated with my shower, so she showers in here when she stays over. She keeps her own drawers stocked full, I’m sure I can find you some of those makeup wipe things.” Declan digs through some very full drawers before he fishes the wipes out of the last drawer. He walks back over to me and I can’t take my eyes off of him. Everything about him is so beautiful. He pulls a wipe out of the case and starts to gently wipe the running mascara from my eyes. He dips down and kisses me under my left ear.
I suck in a deep breath and hear him groan.
“You look wildly sexy with your new hair. I miss the long, out of control waves, but I love this look on you, Sunshine.” Declan kisses along my ear as he whispers to me. Up until now I had completely forgotten that I cut off all of my hair.
I don’t want him to stop. I run my hands up his chest and over his shoulders until my fingers find their way up into his styled hair. His lips leave my ear and run along my jaw up to my lips. His tongue once again pushes its way to find mine. It’s not much of a task, since my lips are on sensory mode and open automatically to him. He lifts me up onto the counter and wraps my legs around his waist, pulling me as close as he can, gripping my hips tightly with his fingers. I bring my hands back down to his chest and search out the buttons. Just as I get the top one undone he stops kissing me and presses his forehead to mine.
“Fuuuuck,” he says in a long, drawn out whisper, “you don’t know how bad I’m wishing we didn’t have a house full of people here. I want you so bad, Ava, but not like this.” His breathing is labored as he takes a deep breath and kisses me again. “I need to get back out there.”
I can’t find my words. I’m feeling unreasonably upset that he’s not taking me on the counter of his bathroom with a ton of people just downstairs. What the heck is wrong with me?
“Just use whatever you need and then meet me down there, ‘kay?”
I nod my head a couple times and regain my control. “Yes. Will I be able to find you?”
He gives me an annoyed look and I suppress a laugh. “Go through the dining room, which is to the left of the bottom of the staircase. Then go out the door farthest to the right on the back wall of the family room. We’ll just be on the back patio.”
“Is there a treasure map to go along with those directions?”
Declan laughs and shakes his head. “Shut up, Ava.”
I giggle along with him as he turns around and walks out of the master bath where I remain seated on the vanity. Declan has me feeling a kind of happy that I don’t think I’ve ever experienced. Not even as a small child.
After a minute of digging through Macie’s drawers, I find a tube of new mascara and open it up to reapply what I cried off earlier. With a mildly nervous stomach, I descend the staircase and easily find the dining room. A beautiful woman is sitting at the far end of the elaborate dark wood table. She doesn’t look much older than I am; late twenties maybe.
She’s working on her laptop and talking on her cell phone. She’s completely engrossed in whatever she’s working on, but her phone is on speaker and I can hear the woman on the other end. I try hard not to eavesdrop, but let’s face it, that’s impossible when they’re the only other ones in the room holding a conversation.
“Spill, Bay,” the voice from the phone urges. “Is he as hot as his cousin? I know is he, he has to be. Definitely doable, right? I really need to Google this guy already! I can’t believe you’re staying with him tonight. Are you
going to be able to keep from sneaking in his room? I probably wouldn’t, screw the contract….”
“Drea, I need to go.” The lovely and now completely infuriating brunette cuts off her friend and hangs up as she sees me walking toward her. “You must be Ava.”
She sounds kind enough and she even looks a little happy to see me, which is odd since I have no clue who she is, what she’s doing staying with Declan tonight, or why she’s having a conversation about sleeping with my boyfriend.
She stands in front of me and thrusts her pretty little hand toward my stomach. I’m still reeling from the phone conversation I was obviously not meant to hear. “I’m Bailey. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”
Finally my brain leaves the phone conversation behind and kicks into gear. “Yes, I’m Ava. I’m sorry, I’m not aware of who you are.”
“Oh, God. Then that conversation you just heard sounded terrible to you, I’m sure.” Bailey uses her hands to smooth her skirt down before looking back up at me. Clearly the woman must work for Declan in some way and unfortunately I’m getting the feeling that they’re close in some way also.
“I think I should probably go find Dec.” I take a small step to move around her but she places her hand on the inside of my elbow to keep me from walking away. It has been so long since I’ve had a boyfriend that I don’t know the correct protocol for this kind of situation. What I do know is how I’m feeling and it’s a terrible ugly ball of fury in the pit of my stomach. Rachel putting her hand on Declan’s neck pales in comparison to the thought of this woman staying the night in this house.
“Wait,” she says urgently. “I’m Declan’s publicist.” Her golden eyes are round and expectant, as though that should just clear everything up. It doesn’t. She smiles kindly as she slowly shakes her head back and forth a few times. “He never mentioned me?” She sighs and narrows her eyes as she obviously considers this option for the first time.
“No.”
She takes a deep breath and releases my arm but still stands firmly in front of me. “I met him in November when he came out to New Jersey for a fight.”
I remember when he when out to that fight. That’s when he sent me dinner and we exchanged phone numbers when he returned home. He had come straight from the airport to the bar to see me…and he had been with her just before that. Before I realize it, I’m cutting her off with my mumbling. “Of course you did.” I will not cry, I will not cry.
“No Ava, not like that. You see, I’m sort of what one would call obsessed, or maybe infatuated, with his cousin, Talon.” She grimaces as she says the words but she’s still smiling while thinking of what I assume to be fond memories. “I met Declan while staying at his cousin’s home in the Hamptons. Declan and the guys spent a few nights with us and we kind of hit it off in a brotherly/sisterly manner. Anyway, when he flew out to New York last week he asked me to help him out with the Public Relations aspect of his fights. That’s why I’m here tonight, so he can sign his final papers for me.”
That explanation is most definitely not what I was expecting and I feel bad for thinking she was just some slut trying to scam on my boyfriend. Bailey was so sweet when she corrected my assumption; I can see why Declan would strike up a friendly relationship with her. I feel all the weight lift from my shoulders and as much as I like talking to her now, I can’t get past the fact that he needs someone to handle his Public Relations for his fighting. What does that even mean? Plus, the woman on the phone said she needed to Google Declan. Really? He’s Googleable?
“Declan needs a publicist?” is all I manage to get out.
There’s that kind smile again. I feel like she should be looking at me like the clueless chick that I am, but she’s not.
“Yeah.” She laughs a little. “He should’ve had a publicist a while ago, but he was in denial. Anyway, it really is great to meet you, Ava. You should probably go find your man. I’m sure he’s anxiously waiting for you.” She gives me a friendly hug, but before she pulls back that phone conversation pops back into my brain.
“Um, that conversation I walked in on…” I don’t really know what I want to know from her, I just feel like it should be brought up.
“Oh yeah. Please don’t look too far into that. That was my coworker and very single best friend. I just block her out when she gets in those modes. I would have shut her up had I known you were coming in here. Sorry about that,” Bailey explains sheepishly.
“Well then it’s nice meeting you too, Bailey.” I told her I was going to go find Declan and she told me she had more emails to send before she could finish up and join us in the back.
As I find my way to Declan, I tell myself that I really am okay with Bailey and her staying the night in Dec’s house. However, a new unwelcome thought of strange women Googling him and deciding whether or not he’s doable is now front and center in my mind and it doesn’t seem as if Ill be able to shake these thoughts anytime soon. If his career is as intense as Bailey makes it sound, then this issue of mine will only get worse with time. I should definitely speak to Declan about all of this.
Chapter Nine
Declan
I was being stubborn when I refused to call Ava for the last seven days, but it worked, and almost exactly the way I wanted it to. The only thing that didn’t go as planned was the time frame. I was hoping she would cave and call me maybe a day or two later, not seven. I was beginning to think that I was going to have to come up with a different plan.
At the time, I wanted to kill Jackson for holding and kissing Ava. I wanted to bring Rachel back into the bar and let her do her worst to me to show Ava exactly how it felt. I’m glad I didn’t. Distancing myself from Ava for a week allowed something to happen that she clearly wasn’t going to let happen previously; she realized that I meant more to her than she was aware of. There was no way I could have convinced her that we would be good together if she didn’t have the time and space to come to that conclusion on her own. I gave her all of my attention whenever I wasn’t fighting or training over the last couple of months, built a great friendship with her (albeit with a few lies on her end), and I knew that she felt for me what I felt for her. The difference was that I was ready to explore the next level of our relationship and she was too scared.
Over the last week, I tried to tell myself that Harper was maybe her pet. I hate to say it, but I kept picturing a little dog even though I knew it was her daughter and that’s why she wouldn’t move forward with me. I’m not naïve enough to think that dating a girl who has a kid is going to be no big deal. I’m pretty sure it’s a huge deal, but I’m also certain that I won’t be able to walk away from her anytime soon. Having a kid in the picture is just going to change the plans I had for us.
After I leave Ava in my bathroom, I go back outside to find everyone staring up at me with curiosity written all over their faces. My sister is the first one to speak up when I don’t ease their inquisitiveness quickly enough.
“Where is she?” Macie asks, sounding a little angry, like all of this has been my fault and I just did something to make to make it worse. She and my mom have been telling me since last weekend that I needed to be the one to call her and when I refused, they would hang up on me.
I move to sit down at the patio table and everyone’s eyes follow me. I’ll agree this is pretty big news, since I haven’t exactly been friendly this last week. They were all hoping we would ride off into the sunset, or some shit like that, instead of me reappearing alone.
“She’s fixing her makeup,” I say shortly. “She’ll be out in a minute.”
“Fixing her makeup? Did you make her cry, Declan?” my mom scolds.
“I didn’t make her do anything. I actually didn’t say anything at all when she started crying,” I tell her nonchalantly as I relax back in my chair and fold my arms behind my head.
“But she’s fine now?” Macie asks, concerned. She’s really taken a liking to Ava, and I know exactly how she feels.
“Yes, she’s fine now
.”
Everybody gives a bunch of exasperated “Oh, thank God” and “Geez, it’s about time” sighs. They thought they had it bad—they should have tried to put themselves in my shoes.
Just then, I see Ava walk out of the dining room through the large windows in the family room that look out onto the back patio.
“Oh honey, she’s beautiful,” my mom whispers in her loving motherly voice.
I walk over to the back door and close it behind me just as I step inside the family room, and right before she reaches me. I know that everyone can see us and they’re all taking advantage of that by watching us closely, but I don’t care. “Hey, Sunshine, did you meet Bailey?” I ask as I wrap her up in my arms and hold her.
“Yes, she’s lovely, although you should have told me you’re crazy famous and need a publicist.” She pulls her head back to look me in the eye, her own eyes twinkling with humor.
“I’m not crazy famous, but I have been getting certain requests that I just don’t know how to deal with, so when Talon told me about Bailey, I figured it probably wasn’t a bad idea. And are you sure you want to start the whole ‘you should have told me’ game?” I realize that was low, but I needed to get it out of the way so we don’t have anything heavy between us anymore. It worked, since she gave me her loud extremely happy laugh.
“I want to kiss you. Can I just kiss you when I feel like it now?”
God, she’s cute. I press my lips firmly to hers, still completely ignoring the fact that we have an audience on the other side of the glass door. “You can kiss me even when you don’t feel like it, Sunshine.” I smirk and wink as I reach for her hand.
“Oh good! I was hoping that would be allowed,” Ava teases and rolls her eyes.
“Here we go, Sunshine, brace yourself.” A quick glance tells me I just made her nervous, but I’m already stepping outside by the time I notice.
“Oh shit, Ave!! You look hot as hell!” Greyden calls.
My free hand clinches with automatic irritation at his observation to Ava’s new look. And “Ave”? What’s that all about? I cut my eyes over to him, trying to rein in the ferocity, but I don’t have to worry about taking care of it on my own.