Page 20 of You're So Vine
Her fierce expression, combined with the farce of rushing to pull up my pants and button them over a resistant hard-on, suddenly makes me laugh.
Ava glares at me.
“Come on.” I toss the blanket to her. “This is funny.”
“Hilarious,” she says and abruptly re-cocoons.
I open the door just as Doc Wilson’s fist’s about to land for another knock.
“Sorry,” I say. “Was showing Ava how the shower works.”
Dumb, but first thing I could think of.
Doc looks past me. Sees Ava, grouchy in her blanket, still sitting, I realize, on the kitchen counter. Looks back to me, and my shirt hanging outside my jeans.
“All righty then,” he says cheerfully. Bustles on in, doctor’s bag in hand. “Let’s take a look at the patient.”
Ava hops off the counter and drops into the armchair.
“I haven’t showered, and I have nothing on but this T-shirt,” she announces.
“Wouldn’t be the first time.”
Doc opens his bag and pulls out a blood pressure cuff.
All righty then, as I didn’t think anyone in the real world actually said.
“Uh, I’ll—” I hook a thumb toward outside.
No one’s looking at me. I grab my jacket off the hook by the front door and head out.
Door closed behind me, I lean against the side of the barn, and breathe in and out, long and slow. Getting a grip.
Primal Cam has a lot to answer for. Now that the horny adrenaline is fading, he’s skulking off like he’s leaving the scene of a crime. Responsible Cam is sitting up, rubbing his neck, and giving me a full-on accusatory stare. Jesus, Ava was in the hospital only last night, and here I was about to pound her on a kitchen counter. Without protection, too. What the almighty fuck was I thinking?
I wasn’t thinking. I was acting on my worst impulse. Last time I did that, I almost ruined my entire life.
The adrenaline clears out, taking with it any last impression that this was funny. I’m left with a guilt and shame double combo that’s warming me on this chilly day, only not in a good way. I just did everything I’ve spent years regretting. Lost control. Gave into hasty dumb urges without stopping to think about the consequences.
And now what? When Doc Wilson leaves, Ava made it crystal clear that she expects to carry on where we left off. The thought of it starts to summon back Primal Cam, so I shake my head, stomp my feet on the ground, and try and get the blood back to my brain where it should have been in the first place.
The door creaks open. Doc Wilson peers out, looking way more cheerful than I feel, but I suspect that’s his factory setting.
“She’s in the shower, son,” he tells me. “No problem operating it. Guess you gave good instructions.”
He sees right through me.
“What’s the verdict, Doc? She really going to need all those tests?”
Doc wags his head side to side.
“If her mother hadn’t come to me, I’d say this wasn’t out of the ordinary,” he says. “Those Durant kids are hard drivers, and Ava and Nate are the worst of the bunch. They exercise way too much and don’t eat properly. No idea how to spell ‘relaxation’, let alone do it.”
He looks a lot less cheerful now. Worried, even.
“But from what Ginny’s told me about Ava over the last few weeks … as I said last night, I’d be remiss not to be thorough.”
“So … what next?”
