We wrap up dinner and turn down dessert in favor of heading back to Cutler Tower where Grant can begin his nightly duties as my personal secret service agent. The secret being Grant himself. The service being something my girl parts are suddenly very, very interested in.
“I’m headed to the restroom. I’ll be right back.” I lean over the table and offer a brazen lingering kiss that’s full of promise for the long night still ahead of us. Honestly, I don’t think I’ll be able to wait until after Thanksgiving to start in on our fleshly feast. Tonight’s dessert might just be a little too hard to resist. I pull back and lose myself in those dark honeyed eyes of his. “Sometimes, I think you’re too good to be true.”
“Just sometimes?” he teases.
“Yup. Don’t go disappearing on me.” I mean it. When Aubree was taken away, it felt as if my parents were taken right along with her. Owen was practically kicked out of the house at that point. My biggest fear is losing everyone I care about. My heart tugs with emotion, and an entire flood of words begs to pour out. “Having you in my life—it’s funny, because you make me feel so completely like myself, as if there were no dark shadows lingering overhead.” I swallow hard at the bizarre soliloquy I just volunteered. I’d love to tell Grant about my family one day—definitely not this weekend, but sometime soon. He doesn’t seem like the type of person who would judge me for the sins of my sister—or my brother if you consider his dance hall days. “Speaking of lingering—let’s get out of here as soon as I get back. I’ve got a big brother turned boyfriend to cuddle up with.”
“He sounds like a pervert.” Grant gives my hand a squeeze, his gaze growing more serious by the moment. “Get back quick. I’m already missing you.”
I hop out of my seat, and our fingers part slowly, inching over one another as we part painfully slow.
I head toward the restroom and pull my phone out just as soon as I’m out of sight. I shoot a text to both Harper and Lucky.
To hell with this weekend. I’m having this boy tonight.
Grant
Ava. A goofy grin settles on my face as I watch her perfect little body strut beyond my line of vision. There’s no way I’ll be able to hold off until this weekend. And as much as I can tell she might want to move up the timeline, I’m sort of thinking we should wait. I want this to be perfect for her, for us. I know for a fact Lawson’s family has a cabin up at Lake Avalanche. He offered it up to me anytime as long as it’s not occupied. I shoot off a quick text to him and ask if it’s available this weekend, and he replies back instantly letting me know that it’s mine if I want it.
I plop down enough money to cover dinner and a tip before the bill ever arrives. I’m not usually that brazenly rude, but a part of me doesn’t want to see Baya again. Not just yet, and not tonight, not anywhere close to this weekend. The last thing I wanted to tell Ava was that Baya is Bryson’s wife, the girl that nut job who killed my sister almost offed on her way to becoming a serial killer. Every time Baya takes my order I feel sick to my stomach. I’m thrilled she survived, but she’s also the girl Bryson chose to fall in love with and marry, something Steph wanted and will never have. In the hierarchy of people that I want nothing to do with, both Baya and Bryson might be pretty high up on the list, but Owen Vincent, the killer’s brother, is still sitting squarely at the top.
A light tap lands over my shoulder, and I turn to find Jet Madden staring back at me with a stern expression.
“What’s up?” I laugh and slap him five. Ava has me light and on my toes. This entire long weekend is already shaping up to be the best time of my life.
He nods toward the murky back of the establishment, and I follow him over. I can see the hall that leads to the restroom from here in the event Ava comes out and thinks I actually did ditch her. I don’t know where her fear of me leaving comes from, but I’m betting it has to do with Darcy and the fact she haunted our Halloween weekend. Other than that, I’m drawing a blank.
“Hey, man.” Jet folds his thick arms across his chest, his features hardening as if he were about to deliver some shit news. “What’s going on with you and Ava? Is this some kind of revenge thing?”
“What?” I inch back. “Is this about my ex?” I blink as I say it. “Wait. Do you know Darcy or something?” Shit. How the hell do I have Darcy on the brain again?
“Nope. But I know Ava.” His eyes track to each of mine.
“No shit? You’re not her big brother, are you?” A dark laugh strums from me, but a part of me is afraid Jet is about to rearrange my face.
He shakes his head. “Dude.” He closes his eyes a moment. “Are you really this clueless?”
“Clueless? Are you on something, man? Because if you are, it must be the good stuff.” I offer a light sock to his arm. “Look, I need to run.”
Jet pulls me back by the shirt and lands me square in front of him. “I saw you with her the other night, and just now I saw the two of you kiss.”
Anything friendly I might have felt toward Jet has just about dissipated.
“Get your hands off me.” I give him a swift push back. Jet might be a real life version of the Hulk, but I can take him if I have to. “I think you’ve had one too many tonight. Maybe you’d better call a cab.” I try to take off again, and his arm lands in front of me.
“She’s Owen’s sister.”
I glance to the bar before looking over to Jet. “Who’s Owen’s sister? Baya?” My heart thumps straight into my ears at the thought. The three of them, Owen, Bryson, and Baya interweaving their nuclear bonds even tighter than before.
Jet steps in front of me with that expression of his growing increasingly serious by the second. “No. It’s Ava.She’sOwen’s little sister.”
The room rotates in one quick move. The ground bounces below my feet, and whatever the hell Jet is spewing at me next is quickly drowned out by the sound of adrenaline rushing in my ears.
“No.” I hear myself say it plainly. “She can’t be.” Ava PB and J. Ava—what the hell is her last name? Shit. Have I really gone months completely oblivious to who Ava really is? She knows who I am, right? My mind reels right along with the bar, and I stagger for a moment.
“Easy, man.” Jet pulls me up by the elbow, and I back out of his reach. “Look, I care about you. I care about Ava.” He cuts a quick glance toward the restrooms. “But Owen will gut you like a fish if he thinks you’re trying to take advantage of his little sister. The dude is nuts that way.”
“Like his sister.” The words blow from my lips in puffs. “The killer.” I blink in disbelief. “Aubree Vincent.AvaVincent.” That’s who she is. Chills break out all over my body just hearing her name come out of my mouth. A spear of anger knifes through me. “You saw me with Ava the other night,” I growl at Jet like I might attack him, and I might. “Why thefuckdidn’t you say something?”
