Page 46 of Capturing Ava
“No, but if we were, we would be broke.” Damon laughs. Shit. Is my brother laughing? No, that couldn’t be true. Damon didn’t laugh, he just scowled and complained about how I fucked up. It seemed Ava had found his humanity. She was good at pulling out the human in you, and I couldn’t decide whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. “Where have you been?” Damon asks and just like that, I was about to spoil his good mood.
I walk away from the cheery room and allow the darkness to seep into my soul once more. I didn’t need to check to see if my brother was following me because I could hear his footsteps echo behind me.
Walking into the library, I stand by the roaring fire and hear the double doors close. I’m not sure how we all ended up in such a shitstorm. I knew it was my undoing and if I could take the fall for all of them, I would, but this was past them hunting me, now they were hunting something that meant everything I me and I knew they wouldn’t stop.
So, she had to disappear. We all had to disappear.
“What’s going on?” I hear his serious tone and it’s a far cry from the way he was moments ago.
“I met with Cole Lopez.”
“Shit. Chase, how bad is it?”
“It’s bad, Damon. It’s really bad.” I turn and watch as he sinks into the armchair, awaiting the horrors that will spill from my lips.
“Nikoli is closing in. He won’t stop until he has Ava.” His face drops, but he hasn’t even heard the worst of it. “Do you remember the girl Audrey needed us to help get out of the city?” He nods. “That girl was—.”
He shakes his head. “No Chase,” He gasps.
“Yes, and the sick bastard wants her back.” Damon doesn’t argue with me for once. The realisation is all over his face. We had all risked everything that night for a girl we knew nothing about and not one of us ever regretted our actions. “We leave next week. Cole has secured a safe house. I know it’s not ideal—.”
“If it keeps Ava safe, we will do it. That’s all that matters that she’s safe.” I must display the shock across my face. “What if I could trade her for you? I would.” He laughs.
“Ass,” I mutter, shaking my head.
Now, all we had to do was keep Ava safe for a week. That shouldn’t be too hard. The danger was closing in and every second we were out in the open was a second he could find her. In a split second, your life could change. One second is all it took for everything I held dear to be ripped away.
One second was sometimes forever.
20
SOMETHINGLIKEHOME
AVA
I had never uttered the words he wanted me to. He had poured his heart out to me that day and what had I done? I had said nothing. Maybe I was scared if I uttered those words out loud, they would become true.
Once I said it, I couldn’t take it back and by saying those words, I was giving him the power to destroy me. I wanted to see the lie hidden within his eyes when he chanted it, but I didn’t see a lie. It would have been easier if he had lied, or if he had said nothing at all. I could live in blissful ignorance that we were nothing. That he felt nothing. He had to ruin it by telling me he felt something, and now I was stuck between what my heart wanted and what it needed.
I felt guilty that I had left him hanging, that even though he poured his heart out to me, I couldn’t say it back. He never complained or asked why, he just accepted that I wasn’t ready to say it. He never once let the idea that maybe I didn’t feel it. He just assumed I wasn’t ready, like I would be one day. Is anyone ever ready to be destroyed by the person who said they loved you?
I walk through the house, but it is silent. Living with four men, I wasn’t used to the silence. I walked to the living area and saw Chase sitting there like he had been waiting for me to enter. “Where is everyone?” I ask.
“Damon, Miles and Gage have gone to prepare for our trip.” He sighs.
“Are you going somewhere?” I ask, trying to hide the disappointment that pierces my body.
“We are going somewhere.” He raises a brow while taking my hand in his and pulling me onto the settee beside him. “You don’t think I would leave you behind, do you?” I shrug my shoulders. “Oh baby, no, I wouldn’t leave you.” He whispers into my hair.
“Isn’t this your home, though?” I ask, with confusion.
“Home is the people you spend it with, not the house in which you live. I will have all my favourite people by my side. So, I will be home. The location doesn’t matter, Ava, the people you are with do.”
“I never thought of it like that,” I mutter.
“One day, I hope you’ll come to think of me as home, too.”
“I—.” I feel his hands wrap around my face and pull my head close to his, his lips covering mine, taking me under. The swirling desire pours across my lips.
