Page 44 of Little Fury

“Hush, Miss Ava. Now sit, I have your breakfast ready for you in two minutes.”

“I’ll make my coffee,”I say, nodding at her before turning to the coffee maker. She nods back at me before returning to the food she’s cooking.

I hear a door open and close on the other side of the house. The last couple of weeks have been interesting for Marcus and me. Since the day in the shower, there has been a level of awareness between us that was never there before. Looks are longer. Our bodies find reasons to touch each other more often.

“Morning, ladies,”Marcus says as he leans over me, his chest brushing against my arm. He steals my coffee and takes it for himself. I sigh, get up, and make another.

“Mr. Marcus, good morning.”

“Morning, Evelyn.” She likes him. He flirts with her just enough to make her smile and blush whenever he talks to her. She places our plates in front of us.

“Thank you, this looks amazing.”

“Yes, thank you,”Marcus adds, kissing the older woman on the cheek. She pushes him away, telling him to stop that, but she says it with the biggest smile and blush on her cheeks.

“All right, you two, I have stocked your fridge and freezer. All the food has instructions on how to heat it up.”

“You didn’t have to do that. Ava and I can cook, and there are a lot of amazing restaurants on the island.”

“I know, Mr. Marcus, but I miss having my kids to dote on, and Miss Ava reminds me of my daughter, so let me do this.”

“As you wish,”he says to her. I smile behind my hand.

“All right, you two. I will see you in four days.”

“Bye, Miss Evelyn “

“Bye, dear.”

Marcus walks her to the door and steps outside to speakto the driver, making sure he takes her home and helps her into the house.

“She get away ok there, Buttercup?”I ask.

“She did. Grant will make sure she gets home and settled.”

“Inconceivable.” I muse.

“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” I laugh so hard at his impression of Inigo Montoya that I drop my fork, which in turn knocks my toast off my plate, and that leads to me trying to catch it before it hits the floor, which in turn becomes me hitting my knee against the counter as my toast falls to its death.

“Ow, fuck.” I yell as I feel the pain. The thunk from the contact is loud.“Ow ow ow. Motherfucking fucker, that hurt.” Marcus comes over to me, laughing. I glare at him.“It’s not funny. That hurt. I’m going to have a fucking bruise.”

“Ava, I have seen you take a grown man down after being sliced by a big-ass knife. I have also seen you snap a dislocated finger back in place with little more than a grunt. So, maybe your reaction to banging your knee on the counter is a little dramatic. “

“Those things didn't hurt, thanks to the adrenaline pumping through me on account of the trying not to get killed by the assholes I’m trying to kill. The counter attacked me out of nowhere. I wasn’t prepared.” I drawl.

“Harry would be so disappointed in that. He taught you to always be prepared.”Marcus tells me with a straight face.

Neither of us can stop the laughter that follows.

I move my leg and suck in a breath as I see blood on my knee. Marcus sees it at the same time, and he lifts me out of the chair, placing me on the counter so he can look at the injury.“You didn’t say it cut you,”he scolds me.

“I didn't know it did.”Marcus lifts my leg and places my foot on my chair as he examines my knee.

“I’m going to grab the first aid kit; be right back.”I want to tell him not to bother, just hand me a paper towel, and I'll be on my way, but I decide to let him fuss if he wants to. He’s back quickly with the kit in his hand.

“Let’s have a look.”He says as he opens the case, pulling out several items. He cleans the blood off my leg with a sterile saline solution on some gauze. I look down and see its bleeding more than I initially realized.

“Ava, I don’t know how you did this, but I think it needs some stitches. It’s a little gapey.”

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