At least his greed for money inadvertently kept her body safe, always pushing condoms on everyone. After we broke free from him she never had sex again until last night. She had no need for birth control.
We had both been tested shortly after leaving the house, paid for with restitution money. Once my head cleared from drugs I was worried about my shitty decisions with needles and she had been worried about what condoms didn’t protect her from.
We went to the doctor together and supported each other as we got the results. Both of us were clear and never spoke of it again.
We finish our shower together, actually focusing on getting clean this time. I shampoo her hair and she lathers soap in her hands to rub my body clean, head to toe. I do the same for her and by the time we’re both clean I’m hard as a rock again.
“We have to get to the airport.”
“Not for three more hours.” I nuzzle her neck, hoping to convince her we need to explore each other one more time before heading home.
“You know we still need to pack.” She tilts her neck to give me access for an open mouthed kiss.
“Mmm-hmmm.” I nipple again, sucking her soft skin.
“We need breakfast first.”
“Mmm-hmmm.” My tongue trails across her pulse point, taking great pleasure in finding that her heart is still beating faster than usual.
She steps back from me and wraps a fluffy towel around her body. Her eyes trail down to my dick without apology before she tosses me the other towel. I wrap it around my waist, accepting that we’re done for now.
After we get dressed we pack up our bags and grab breakfast from the little café downstairs. Things are pretty rushed since we’re on limited time, needing to check in to our flights and give ourselves enough time to get through security.
☠ ☠ ☠ ☠ ☠
The flight home has some mild turbulence which makes Nat fidget nervously in her seat. She holds my hand tightly but remains quiet since we left the airport. Too quiet. Something was bothering her but I was afraid to ask what it was.
Maybe she regretted having sex. I never bring up my fears and worries but a couple hours into the flight she speaks up and shares a hint of what’s been on her mind.
“We need to get the morning after pill.”
I sigh in relief that she finally spoke, even if her words throw me for a loop. “Okay?”
“We didn’t use a condom.” She whispers louder than she realizes, her hearing skewed at this altitude.
“I know. I’m sorry, Nat, I wasn’t expecting anything to happen. That was stupid. I should have been more prepared.”
“It’s not your fault. We’re both adults.”
“I’ll buy a pill on the way home from the airport if that’s what you want.”
Her brows furrow. “What do you mean if that’s what I want?”
“It’s your body. It’s up to you what we do.”
She blinks slowly and her tone takes on a quality of frustration. “Well we need to make sure I’m not pregnant, Chris. I don’t want to ruin your life.”
That’s what was really bothering her? She thought I would be upset at the idea of her getting pregnant and that I would feel robbed of a different type of life. I wasn’t sure how I felt exactly, having not thought anything along those lines. Being a father wasn’t something I always dreamed about but the idea was surprisingly not terrifying or appalling. In fact…
“Getting you pregnant would not ruin my life. I would be lucky to have a child with someone as amazing as you.”
She seems relieved at my response and I mean every word. The thought of us as parents had never crossed my mind but now that it had I sort of liked it. I wonder if Max and Lacey planned to have kids soon that we could practice parenting skills on.
What better way to test out what kind of parents we would be than using my future niece or nephew? That way if it didn’t work out, we could send the kid right back to my brother’s house.
“Now that we have that straightened out,” I reach across her lap to unfasten her seatbelt and gesture my head toward the back of the plane. “How do you feel about the mile high club?”
☠ Chapter Twenty-Seven ☠
Natalie
Ava had been weighing on my mind for days. Even in Seattle, when we were having quiet moments simply enjoying the scenery and each other, my mind was running through possibilities of how Chris would find out he had a sister.
From Ava or from me?
Since we got back home and spent the last two days wrapped up in a sex haze, the guilt of keeping such a secret was bogging down my joy of finally having Chris fully and entirely in a way I never had any man in my life.
It doesn’t escape my attention that neither of us stopped by a pharmacy to pick up a morning after pill on the way home from our trip. Or any morning after since. If anything we both pointedly avoided the topic.
Another thing we never bothered picking up was a box of condoms. Our lack of concern in that area was very telling. We both knew where this road would inevitably lead if we didn’t do anything to prevent it. On some level that had remained unvisited and unacknowledged out loud I was wholly okay with that.
Chris and I walk hand in hand down the sidewalk in town after leaving the movie theatre. It’s the last day of the one week I gave her to come clean. I’m racking my brain on the best way to bring up their long lost sister.
Just when I think Ava’s not going to tell the guys who she is and I will be forced to do it myself she surprises me.
Out of nowhere she runs up to us from across the street and throws her arms around Chris’s torso. He releases my hand and steps back, wide eyed as if he had been burned by this crazed girl. For a split second I don’t recognize her and wonder what the hell is going on. She’s a whirl of brown hair and pastel green from her shirt.
When I register who she is I can’t help but cringe at the epically horrible delivery.
What the hell is she doing? This isn’t how you broach this sensitive subject and introduce yourself to a brother that doesn’t know you exist. Seeing her still gives me a small sense of relief knowing I won’t have to struggle to bring this up myself.
Guilt creeps in over that thought, knowing it would have probably been brought up more rationally by me. Chris wouldn’t have had to be blindsided like this if I had just dragged her little ass into the salad bar last week and forced her to tell him and Max the truth.
I had been trying to protect her at the time but that had been ridiculous. My loyalty lied with Chris, not Ava.
She at least provided an opening with this outburst even though I would likely still have to help her talk to him. She was off to a shitty start so far.
Bewildered, he looks to me and throws his hands in the air where I can see them. His eyes scream for help, not knowing how to react to such a bizarre situation.
I almost laugh at his expression. It reminded me of the time he got arrested right on the side of Main Street for getting in a fight with a john that got too mouthy with me. It had been stupid and illogical and he knew it. That’s why he looked so damn shocked when the cops showed up.
Shock was what I saw now only this time it was for an entirely different reason.
I hate that I know more about what’s going on than he does and didn’t prepare him for this moment. But I promised her I wouldn’t and didn’t want to break that promise no matter what. I felt for this girl and her less than ideal situation.
She just didn’t know how to approach Chris and her discomfort was leading us to this moment. If her awkwardness wasn’t making this encounter so uncomfortable it would be pretty cute.
He takes a step back still looking at me. “Nat, I swear I don’t know who the hell this is. I haven’t slept with her. I promise.”
“Yeah. Thank god for that.” I mumble in amusement that he’s more worried about what I think than why this girl would be attacking him on the sidewalk to begin with.
“What?” His voice rises as hi
s confusion growing to insurmountable levels.
“I know you haven’t slept with her, Chris.”
His eyes dart between the two of us in question, finally processing that I don’t seem as surprised to see this girl as he is. That I don’t seem worried about her being a lunatic. Ava remains silent and shoots me a pleading look for help. More understanding seeps in.
“What the fuck is going on?” He demands harshly, glaring at Ava and taking another step away from her. She visibly shrinks under his gaze, closing into herself.
“Tell him, Ava.” I urge.
“Natalie?” Chris turns his gaze to me and I’m flooded with guilt for keeping this from him all week. For sleeping with him for the first time while this secret loomed between us. For knowing her name days before he did.
Finally, thank fuck, Ava speaks up. “Chris. I’m…”
She looks to me one last time and I nod encouragingly, wanting nothing more than for her to say the words so we can all handle the fallout and work through the consequences.
Just spit it out. I silently will her.
“I’m your sister.”
There’s a long pause. People pass the three of us on the sidewalk but no one moves or speaks for several beats.
“Nat, come on.” Chris reaches for my hand while giving Ava a suspicious look. “This girl is nuts.”
“Chris.” I admonish him, tugging on his hand to pull him back to us as he tries to walk off. “Listen to her. Look at her.”
He turns back to us and looks at Ava, carefully taking in all the details of her features. His face slowly melts from anger to shock and he runs a hand through his hair.
He sees it. He sees the similarities that can’t really be missed when you looked closely enough.
Chris says, “What the fuck.”
Tears fill Ava’s eyes in response to his harsh tone as he curses and looks to the sky as if begging for an alternate reality to unfold. Anything but this odd turn of events that had taken our nice afternoon walk and turned it to complete shit.
It’s a moment that’s going to change his life forever and he knows it.
I stand frozen in place watching as the two of them stare at each other. Then Chris turns around and walks a few feet down the sidewalk leaving the two of us standing there speechless and waiting in anticipation.
Waiting for him to say something profound.
Something heartfelt.
Just something.
When Ava chokes out a sob she was holding I go to her and wrap an arm around her shoulder, pulling her into a soothing embrace. I don’t know how the hell to be motherly or sisterly or even fucking friendly. But I have to do something to make her feel better and I must be doing it right because Ava turns into me.
“You were wrong. He hates me.” She whispers.
“He doesn’t hate you.” I assure her, hoping like hell I’m right.
The last thing I want is to lie to this girl but right now I’m blindly telling her what she wants to hear and what I think I know about Chris. He wouldn’t hate his sister even if the news of her existence is shocking, upsetting and not exactly welcomed at the moment.
I shoot daggers over Ava’s head to Chris as he paces, tugging at his messy hair. He looks like he’s panicking and on the verge of some sort of a meltdown. His emotional control could really use some work.
I want to go to him. Comfort him the way I’m doing with Ava. But I can’t leave her here out of fear she might take off and disappear again the same way she had done the first several times I spotted her.
She was a flight risk so I resolved myself to stay put.
Chris eventually makes his way back to us looking slightly more composed.
Good. He just needed a few minutes to process his thoughts and think about what he was going to say.
“What the fuck is going on here? I don’t have a sister, Ava. You’ve got the wrong guy.”
What. The. Fuck. That wasn’t the response I was expecting after giving him these moments to pull himself together. I squeeze around Ava’s shoulders a bit tighter in a show of support and scowl at him.
“Your dad is Brad Davis, right? The one from the trial a couple years ago?”
Her words pile on another brick of evidence that what she’s saying is true. He sinks down to a bench a couple feet away from us and leans forward on his elbows, hanging his head. It was the closest he was going to get to admitting the connection he had to the man she mentioned.
He takes a deep, calming breath and stays on the bench, looking defeated.
“Come on.” I tell Ava, urging her to sit on the other side of the bench.
I hip bump Chris and force him to scoot to the other end of the bench so I can fit between them. I put my arms around both of them as they deal with the wave of emotions crashing into them and simply provide a quiet supportive presence to both.
Ava’s shoulders gently shake as she takes in choppy breaths, trying not to cry. Chris remains stoic and as still as a statue.
I think about texting Lacey and begging her to bring Max down here to get that part over with too while we’re at it. No sense in doing this shit twice. Plus he could help Chris gain some composure and sense of direction.
But I never get a text sent off because each of my arms is wrapped around a Davis sibling and I can’t reach my back pocket right now to grab my phone.
Backup was going to have to wait.
☠ ☠ ☠ ☠ ☠
It took us a while to say our goodbyes to Ava and get her phone number. I promise to set up a meeting for her and Max that will be executed far better than this little meet and greet had gone.
No more blindsiding any brothers. We saw how that went tonight and it clearly wasn’t productive.
She still seems quiet by the time we leave, a bit disappointed by his reaction but accepting that it went as well as can be expected. Hopefully Chris can get his shit together and do some damage control soon or he would risk alienating Ava.
He changed his demeanor and spoke to her a bit before parting ways. I could see that he felt bad for his initial rejection.
She was young and had no one. I could relate to that.
They talked about her mother. What she had seen during the televised trial of the infamous Brad Davis. It was before she knew he was the father her mother tried tirelessly to protect her from. Before she knew her brothers were the ones taking the stand and being grilled by defense attorneys for the entire country to view.
On the walk back home Chris asked me if I knew about her before today and I told him the truth. It was obvious how exhausted and overloaded his mind was when he dejectedly nodded in response and didn’t get pissed for my lack of loyalty.
I defended myself by telling him Ava deserved my support too and she had asked me to let her tell him herself. That I only knew for a week. That it wasn’t my place to tell him if she planned to. That I love him.
He just nodded in acceptance and quietly led the way upstairs, changed his clothes and climbed into my bed. He didn’t talk and didn’t fall asleep for a long time, lost in thought and reflection.
I couldn’t help but notice that he didn’t text or call his brother to fill him in. Probably didn’t know how to even bring something like this up with so much on his mind. I decide to help him by texting Lacey myself and telling her what was going on. Leave it up to her to decide how best to handle Max.
Lacey was shocked as the rest of us and decided to tell Max right away. What I should have done the moment I learned the truth. More guilt swamps me but I know I did the right thing for Ava.
Chris’s phone starts blowing up with texts and calls from Max. He turns the ringer off and ignores them.
“I told Lacey and she told Max.” I tell him softly.
He makes a noise of acknowledgment in the back of his throat and drapes his arm over my waist, pulling me close and closing his eyes, effectively ending the conversation in search of sleep.
☠ Chapter Twenty-Eight ☠
Chris
Walking into the maximum security prison and signing the visitor’s sheet was ironic. I never thought I would set foot here. Not as a visitor anyway. Not as Brad Davis’s visitor, that was for damn sure.
But here I was sitting on a cold metal seat waiting for the man of my nightmares to appear on the other side of the glass.
I had made peace with where he ended up and the knowledge that he deserved to be here. Had said my goodbyes, even if it had just been in my own mind, and written the man off.
He was dead to me. Dead to Max.
Then Ava Davis came stumbling into our lives and I had to know the truth. The need for that truth had been eating away at me for days, corroding the happiness I was building with Natalie.
I wasn’t going to let this son of a bitch destroy another second between me and her. He had done enough of that when we lived under his roof and under his thumb.
I wait impatiently and he finally appears in front of the glass in a white jumpsuit, escorted by a guard who towers over him. His stature looks smaller than the last time I saw him. Worn down and haggard. There were dark circles under his eyes and his hair was almost fully gray.
It brings me a bit of satisfaction to know his actions of the past have caught up to him and that he’s suffering now the way he always ensured we suffered growing up.
How he made my mother suffer during her last hours of life and the years they spent together leading up to that moment.
He was paying for his countless wrongs now. Justice was being served and that was a good thing to witness with my own eyes. I wouldn’t have believed it if someone told me. Wouldn’t have imagined it possible for him to be anything other than arrogant and malicious.
Dad grabs the phone and gestures for me to do the same. I take a deep breath, bracing myself for the torture of hearing his cold voice again, and pick mine up.
“Hello son. Didn’t expect to see you here.” He sneers and I fight to sit tall and look him square in the eyes. He may be a different man on the outside but his voice, his eyes, were a window into who he really was. Who he would always be.
Flying High (Davis Brothers Book 2) Page 17