Page 50 of Capturing Ava
I turn my head and look at her. Even now she looks so innocent standing there looking back at me, waiting for a response. “It’s good to care, Ava. It’s the only way that you know you are still human.” Surprise hits her face, but she says nothing more, so I keep walking and hope that she accepts my gift.
When I went out that morning, I wasn’t sure what I was getting. I hadn’t even planned to buy her anything. I wasn’t one for gifts, but Ava made me want to be that guy. The guy who showed appreciation with gifts, not because I wanted to buy her love but because I wanted to see that light in her eyes that she only got when you surprised her.
I’m standing in town. It feels like I’m spinning around in a circle and I keep passing by all the shops just stuck in the middle. Lost and unaware of why I’m even here or where I need to go next, when my phone rings in my pocket, bringing me back to reality.
The call shakes me to my core. I don’t know why because it isn’t even something to fear. Damon’s words still ring in my head: Ava is cooking us all a meal. Ava was cooking a meal for all of us. My eyes widened. I couldn’t believe it, and then I knew where I needed to go. I knew what I wanted to get for her.
It feels like I have been waiting for her to come down forever. I stand at the bottom of the stairs, staring at the space where she should be. She still hadn’t come down and the longer I waited, the more anxious I became.
“Will you come sit down?” Damon grits out. I shake my head. “She will not appear just because you’re standing there.”
“Oh, Déjà vu,” Miles shouts. My head turns as I look at him. “Oh, not you. This is brand new to you. I was talking about Damon.” I share a look with my brother and pray that he doesn’t finish that sentence. “Come on, you all remember, Scarlett.” Shit, he had to go there.
Damon looks at him like he wants to murder him. “Miles,” I shake my head, warning him to just—stop.
“Yeah, you did this. You stood at the bottom of the stairs and watched while Scarlett—.” I hear a crack as Damon’s fist connects with Mile’s face. He stumbles backwards, holding his face. “What the hell, Damon?”
“Don’t do it.” I grit out, but it’s too late. Miles rushes forward, forcing his shoulders into Damon’s body, forcing Damon to stumble and crash on the ground with Miles in tow. I watched them roll across the ground like children that are playing, but they weren’t playing. Miles had hit a sore spot, and Damon was unforgiving about the subject that he had broached.
Damon overpowers Miles, which is obvious. He is twice his size. Mile’s legs kick out and his face burns red when Damon crushes his head in a headlock. I can see drool fall from his lips as he tries to struggle beneath Damon’s firm grip. Miles taps on the ground, but Damon still won’t loosen the grip he has around his throat. “Damon, enough,” I scream.
“It’s enough when I say it’s fucking enough.” Damon spits back at me. “Mind your own—.” His eyes widen and I watch him release Miles from his grip. Miles spits and splutters as the air rushes back into his lungs. Gasping for breath, his eyes also wide and his mouth drops open.
I feel Gage slap me on the back. I shrug away from his touch. “Now, are you going—” Once more I feel Gage hit me on the back, this time more forcefully. Swinging around, I stare into his big brown eyes. “What now?” I scream at him. He points towards the stairs and my eyes glide to where they all watch. There she stands in a royal blue cocktail dress that pulls in all her curves. A cute little blush forms on her cheeks and with each step, I see a sliver of her long shapely legs as they move towards me.
This was the moment, the moment I had been waiting for, and I almost missed it because of Damon’s drama. Made a change that someone else had drama for a change. Usually it was me. She glides towards me, but it feels like she’s walking towards me in slow motion. I had seen no one look so beautiful, seeing her walk towards me. My heart was in my mouth. It felt like I was seeing her again for the very first time.
I hold out my hand as she walks down to the last few steps. She just looks at my hand and a smirk forms on her lips as she presses her dainty little hand in mine. Feeling her palm hit my skin, warmth spreads through my body. Pulling her against my chest, I breathe in her scent. It swarms all of my senses, pulling deeper under her spell.
“You look perfect, Ava,” I whisper into her soft hair that she’s pulled into a bun with little tendrils of curls that tickle my face with every movement she makes.
She looks up at me, the swirling hues of her blue eyes gazing back at mine. “Thank you.” She utters.
It didn’t matter what Ava had; she was grateful for anything you gave her. Even with all the success she had accrued, those little gifts I had left her when I was stalking her were the only time I saw her eyes light up. I realised material things meant nothing to her but a gift that was sentimental meant the world to her.
When we sat around the table and devoured the meal, she had spent all day cooking; I looked across the contented faces and a strange feeling overcame my body. This was alien to me, but she fit in here like she had always belonged. That’s when I realised having her here completed this dysfunctional family.
Ava was my home.
The music plays in the background but above the chatter and laughter that spills across the table, you can barely hear the sweet serenade to glides across the room. I had never seen my brother feel more at ease than he was right now, deep in conversation with the woman who had turned my world upside down. I see it. A glimmer. A glimmer of the man he once was, it never lasts but somewhere in there, she had softened him, made him the person he was before someone had ripped his heart out and before the world had hardened him. It was only a glimmer, but a little light in the dark was better than no light at all.
I stand, and the once noisy room turns into a silent shroud of confusion. All eyes are on me as I walk towards her. Her eyes rise to meet mine and that perfect little blush spreads across her face.
“Ava, will you dance with me?” I ask as I hold my hand out towards her.
I’m not sure how long I wait, but it feels like a lifetime passes and I’m not sure if she is going to leave me hanging or not. She looks unsure, but then I feel her small hand slide into mine and relief washes across my body. Nothing I had done here was forced. Every moment that we had she had allowed, it was bad enough I had to take her from her life. I refused to force her to do anything she didn’t want to do.
“I didn’t know you danced.” She whispers in my ear as I guide her onto the floor.
Pulling her body close to mine and feeling every curve fit against my body. “I don’t,” I whisper. “But for you, I’m making an exception.
For her, everything I had done was an exception.
I didn’t dance, but for her, I would dance forever if it meant I could have her body resting against mine. She thought it was just a dance, but having her body pressed against mine was like a dance of two souls.
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APERFECTGENTLEMAN
