by S. J. Bishop
"Back to that house," he spat. "With those people. With him. Ava, they just want to laugh at you some more. I would never laugh at you."
"I know that, Myron," I said, hoping I sounded calm and collected. It was like talking to a rabid dog. A twig snapped under my weight and seemed to snap Myron out of his trance. He moved towards me quickly. I turned to run. Myron caught my shoulder and spun me back around. Our faces were only inches apart.
"Listen to me Ava," he pleaded now. "I love you. I’ve loved you from the first moment I saw you. More than Carter ever could. If you only understood how much... the things I’ve done for you, you’d love me too. I know you would."
"Myron, I’m sorry. I can’t. I just—"
Then Myron was pressing himself against me, pulling me tightly against him. I tried to push away but he was surprisingly strong. His hands reached out and groped me, touching my breasts. I shuddered as I pushed them away but he persisted, putting them back over me. I brought my foot down hard on his foot and he jerked away.
"Ow!" he screeched. I kicked him as hard as I could in the leg. It wasn’t hard enough. I heard a smack as Myron’s hand hit my face. Blood rushed out at the corner of my mouth.
A car that had been driving by skidded to a halt. I had been so engrossed in my situation I had almost forgotten that we were on a main road. I looked over, grateful for whoever was coming to my aid. My heart fluttered when I saw it was Carter. His face was pulled into a snarl. He ran to us and without so much as a word grabbed Myron and pulled him off me.
Myron grunted as he fell to the ground, his leg making an alarming snapping noise. "You asshole!" he screamed, kicking his leg out and getting Carter in the knee. Carter let out a wail and buckled over, but did not fall as Myron had.
Myron seized the moment, however, and pushed himself off the ground before Carter could right himself.
"Myron, don’t!" I screamed. "Stop!" But Myron had his eyes set on Carter and was on him before my words had even hit his ears. They would have made little difference even if he’d acknowledged them.
Myron flung himself on Carter, knocking him to the ground. I jumped on Myron’s back just as he was about to kick Carter’s stomach. I clung to his neck, wrapping my legs around his waist, trying to stop him from hurting Carter. He fell back against the car, pushing me back into the door, and I lost my breath. My grip around his neck loosened and he easily flung me off. He spun around and slapped me again. My cheek went numb.
Carter jumped up from the ground and kicked Myron’s knee. Myron fell over and Carter jumped on top of him, his fists flying. I was shocked at what a fight Myron put up, after all Carter was a professional football player and it seemed he’d been in his share of fights off the field. I feared for a second that Myron might actually get the better or him. If that was the case I didn’t know what I would do. I didn’t think I could outrun him. But in the end, Carter’s defensive moves from years of football paid off. He was simply stronger and more experienced in physical fighting than Myron, and when Carter finally climbed off him, Myron’s nose was bleeding and I could see he was having difficulty focusing on anything. I was in such shock I just stood there staring at him and Carter.
Carter didn’t look much better—blue tinged skin around his right eye was already swelling to an alarming degree. He was going to have a black eye for Hanna’s wedding. His other eye looked alright, except for the red streaks running through it that made it look as if he’d been crying. I couldn’t tell if it was blood, or if he had just gotten too much sweat in his eyes during the altercation.
"Come on," I said. "Let’s get out of here." I didn’t want to be around when Myron snapped out of it. I eyed him as he lay on the dirt, looking lost and injured, and for some reason, despite the fact that he had just attacked me, I almost felt bad for him. He was a slave to his jealousy and obsessed with someone who didn’t feel the same way about him. Still, his way of handling this made me fear him for the first time since we’d met.
Carter got up and stumbled towards me. "Are you okay?" he asked, checking me over.
"I’m fine," I said, taking his hand. His fingers intertwined with mine and I felt that old spark of electricity surge through me. My heart jumped in my chest as he pulled me into a hug. I heard Myron groan from behind us.
"You’re right," Carter said. "Let’s get out of here."
"You bitch," Myron murmured. "You slut. You’ll be sorry for this!"
And to think, I had just felt pity for him. I tried to shake off his words as Carter ushered me into his car, but they stuck to me like crazy glue. Carter sped away from the scene, Myron’s angry words still sounding in my ears.
29
Ava
"Are you okay?" Carter asked again as we arrived at my apartment. His eyes were frantic and worried. He reached out with one hand and gently brushed my cheek. I guessed I was smeared with dirt or blood or both. But his own hands were covered in blood.
I nodded. "Yeah, I’m fine, I think." My hands were still trembling as I took my keys from my purse and opened the door. Thank God Lily isn’t here. That was the only benefit of having Lily sleep at my parents’ place. When something went wrong in my life—which seemed to be the case more often than not these days—I didn’t have to come home and try to act as if everything was perfectly fine.
Carter lingered by the doorway.
"Come in," I said, grabbing his hand. It was warm and red and I didn’t even care how dirty we both were. His touch was the only thing keeping me sane right now. Myron was the last person I would have expected an outburst like that from. He had actually hit me!
"I’m sorry," Carter said.
"For what? For saving me from Myron?"
"No," Carter said, shaking his head. "For all those awful things Olivia said to you. She was way out of line."
"Oh, Carter," I said, throwing my hands up. "I don’t think that matters now, do you?"
He looked at me, surprised. "You’re not mad?" he asked.
"Not at you," I said. At Olivia, yes. At Myron, for sure.At myself, absolutely. But I couldn’t think of one reason to be mad at Carter right now. He had defended me to Olivia, and then he had saved me from Myron.
"Do you want to take a shower?" I asked.
His face relaxed. "Yeah, actually, that sounds great. Thanks."
I put out some clean towels and told him to help himself to my body wash and shampoo. "Give me your clothes and I’ll toss them in the wash."
"Thanks," he said, pulling the door behind him and handing me his clothes through a crack in the door. It was cute that even though we’d torn each other’s clothes off just days before, he was now trying to hide his nakedness from me. I tossed his clothes in the machine .
I stood by the machine for a few minutes, running through the past couple of hours. I couldn’t comprehend how my life had turned from a relatively routine existence of being a single mom working two jobs, to having my life threatened only to be saved by the guy I couldn’t get the guts to tell was the father of my child. As soon as I thought of Carter, my mind started picturing him down the hall, naked in my shower. I thought about the streams of water flowing in rivers down his well-formed pecs and before I knew it my clothes were in the wash to and I was walking naked down the hall to the bathroom.
I turned the knob noticed Carter’s cheeks flush red as he looked to the doorway and saw my naked body.
"Ava," he said. "What are you doing?"
"I needed a shower too." I walked into the shower and put my hands around his neck. I stood on my tiptoes, kissing him as the water rained down on us. My heart thumped hard in my chest, not out of nervousness, but out of anticipation.
I spun Carter around and began to lather his hair. It was silky smooth under my hands and he moaned as I massaged his scalp. When I dunked his head under the water I kissed the back of his neck, almost inhaling the water as it streamed over him.
He spun back around and kissed me. His lips were like sweet red wine washing over me. His tongu
e found its way over my neck and down my chest, pausing at my nipples. He began to circle them with his tongue, making me shiver despite the hot water.
My mind raced. Images of me and Carter merged with images of me and Myron, which merged with images of Carter and Olivia, back to me and Carter. I wanted to wash away all of the confusion and emotional messiness of the past few days. I let my eyes rest on Carter’s broad and muscular shoulders. My mind quieted as my gaze lowered down his chest, to his hips and pelvis.
With the hot water still streaming down on us, Carter pushed his hips against mine, sliding his manhood into my warm, wet cave. My back arched and he wrapped his arms around me, holding me tightly so that I wouldn’t fall. My hands came around his neck, sliding along his back as he began to pulse against me.
Carter’s breath blew against my face like a sharp wind that both warmed and cooled me at the same time. I moaned loudly. Without Lily here, I made a conscious decision to let myself go. I dug my fingers into Carter’s back, wrapping one leg behind him as he moved faster and harder against me.
"Don’t stop!" I screamed. I hadn’t realized till just now how much I needed this moment with him. Carter responded to my sexual charge. He took one hand off my back and placed it against the wall, using it for support.
I kept one leg on the shower floor and moved the leg that was wrapped around him to the side of the tub, balancing it on its ledge. I opened myself wider for him, and he responded by pressing his erection deeper into my pussy. My legs began to quiver and my body started shaking.
"Hold on," he whispered. "Not yet." He kissed my mouth once more, feeling the energy surge out of me. My body was like clay and he was the potter molding it to his desires. He kissed my neck, pushing himself deeper into my sex. I closed my eyes in pleasure and he dug his manhood deeper still, sailing past the buoys and beyond the horizon until he was submerged so wholly inside me that he and I were one and the same.
"Now," he whispered, tugging at my ear with his teeth. He gave one final thrust. I met his hips with a thrust of my own, and together we let ourselves go, flying towards the sun that shined down upon us as we melded together, forever a part of each other.
30
Carter
My head was pounding. I opened one eye and looked at Ava, who was still asleep. The pounding sounded again. This time it seemed to come from outside my head.
"Ava," I whispered. "I think someone’s at your door." She looked me with sleepy eyes. It didn’t feel late, but the sun was shining in through her windows. I reached over and looked at my phone. It was six in the morning.
The pounding grew louder now and Ava sat up in bed. "Maybe my parents forgot their key," she said. "Stay here." I guessed she wouldn’t want her mother and father questioning her about my presence.
I watched Ava quickly dress and leave the room. I leaned back against the pillows and closed my eyes. My mind drifted to the events of last night. Ava’s boyfriend, Myron, was a psycho. No doubt about that. I still couldn’t believe the guy had hit her. If I hadn’t been driving by them in my car when it happened, how much worse might he have hurt her?
I never would have pegged Ava for the abused housewife type, but I thought it all made sense now. It certainly explained some of her behavior. She was a little moody, a little sullen, a little erratic whenever she was around me; it was because she was scared of Myron. Of what he might do to her. I wondered if Myron was Lily’s father. A surge of sympathy raced through me for both Lily and Ava. Maybe I could help them.
There were loud voices coming from Ava’s living room now. I heard Ava yelling for whoever it was to get out. Myron, I thought. I jolted out of bed and threw on my clothes, which Ava had washed during the night and left on her bureau. In the living room, I was surprised to see uniformed police officers standing by.
Ava looked at me and said, "I’m sorry." Her eyes were filled with tears as one of the officers approached me.
"Carter Stone," the officer said. "You’re under arrest for assault."
"Assault?" I said, confused, looking at Ava. "Who did I—"
"It’s Myron," Ava cried. Then I understood. Myron was pressing charges. He was getting even with me for taking Ava away from him last night.
"You’ve gotta talk to him, Ava," I said as the police steered me out of her apartment. "Tell him to drop the charges. Or tell the cops what he did to you." She looked after me with wide eyes and I saw the fear in them. She had no intention of telling the police that Myron had beat her, and it pissed me off. Some of the press had gotten wind of my arrest and were already staked outside of Ava’s apartment. They began snapping my picture the moment I came out.
Great, now they’ve got photos of me in handcuffs. This was serious, more so than my other arrests. Myron was dangerous. Who knows what he’d told the cops. If Ava didn’t explain that I had been defending her... But I’d seen too many stories on TV about women like Ava, whose husbands or boyfriends beat them to a pulp, and still the women wouldn’t press charges.
At the jail cell, I was fingerprinted and booked. It wasn’t like I hadn’t been in similar spots before.But somehow, this time, it seemed much worse.
"Make your phone call," a policeman said, leading me to a phone. I thought it over for a moment. I knew word would get back to Hannah and my parents soon enough, so there was no pressing need to call them. The one thing that bothered me about all this, aside from Ava’s relationship to Myron, was what Coach might think about all this. Coach had been a sort of second father to me the last few years. I hated the idea of letting him down.
I dialed San Francisco and some woman I didn’t know answered Coach’s phone. She passed it to Coach and it was good to hear his gruff voice.
"Carter?" Coach said.
"Yeah, Coach. I’m kind of in a jam."
"No shit. It’s all over the news."
"Already?" I don’t know why I was surprised to hear that. This was the age of Google after all.
"Listen, Coach, I—"
"No, you listen," Coach said. He sounded angry. "I just got off the phone with the owner. He wants you off the team. For good."
I felt the blood drain from my face. "Listen, Coach, can’t you talk to him? This whole thing is a huge mistake. I wasn’t even drunk." I couldn’t help the anger bubbling up in me. If Ava would just tell the police about Myron, I might get out of this. After all, this wasn’t just another drunken barroom brawl; I had been defending Ava. If I hadn’t been there, she might be in the ICU now, or worse.
Coach sighed and I knew it was no good. "Carter, talk to your manager. Good luck. Maybe one day if you get yourself cleaned up..." But Coach couldn’t even finish his thought. He hung up and left me listening to a dial tone.
I went back to my cell, dejected, waiting for Hannah or my parents. Hannah would know to call my lawyer. I had a contract after all. The owner couldn’t just get rid of me. I wondered if Ava would come to see me. If she did, maybe I could talk her into telling the police what had really happened. They would believe her; I was sure of it.
"Visitor," the guard shouted and my head snapped up. I’d been staring at the ceiling.
"Oh Carter, baby," Olivia squeaked, running to the bars of my cell. She tried to place her lips through the opening and the guard forced her back.
"Olivia." I was surprised to see her, and not exactly thrilled by it.
"Oh honey, I heard you were in here. That Ava person is such a cow. This all her fault."
I wanted to disagree with her but couldn’t. I was too busy blaming Ava for his predicament. If I hadn’t stopped to help her... but then how could I not have stopped? What kind of person would that have made me?
"It looks like I’m off the team." She was possibly the only person who might understand how I felt right now, aside from my teammates. She knew how important the game was to me.
"I know," she said. "It’s all over the internet."
I sighed. I hated technology.
"Listen," she said, stepping towards me. The
guard looked ready to stop her if she got too close but said nothing just yet. "I’ve talked to my father. You know my uncle is friends with the owner of the 49ers."
I had completely forgotten that. I’d only met Olivia’s uncle once or twice in the last three years. "I’m pretty sure he’ll talk to the owner for me, if I ask him too."
My heart soared. "Would he really? You think so?"
Olivia nodded. Her eyes were soft and her lips downturned. "Of course, he’d need a good reason to do it. I mean, I’m not sure that helping out my boyfriend is a good enough reason for him. But he takes family very seriously."
My head was spinning. "What are you saying? You think I should beg him?"
"Oh no," Olivia cried, her eyes wide. "I wouldn’t want that. I only mean that it’s one thing to help your niece’s boyfriend... it’s another to help her husband."
I finally caught on. "You want me to marry you? Are you serious?"
"We can fly down to Vegas after Hannah’s wedding. We’ll be married by next week. I know my uncle will help you then. He’ll have to. What do you say?" She fluttered her eyes at me and my head began to pound.
Marry Olivia? Could I really do that? At least she was trying to help me, unlike Ava. But was this really help? Wasn’t it more like blackmail or extortion? My mind reeled. I had to make a decision, fast.
I licked my lips. I already knew what that decision had to be.There was no other choice. No matter what I decided, someone was gonna get hurt. I had to do what would ultimately be best for myself. With that in mind, it was an easy choice.
31
Carter
I woke up with a headache and on top of it my mind was still reeling. I couldn’t believe I’d spent the night in jail. My lawyer had always been able to get me out almost immediately. This was a first, and that worried me.