Because if I say it, and she turns me down, if I lose her, I don’t know what I’ll do.
So I watch her take a step back. God, it hurts seeing her pull away.
Her voice is tight, when she tells me she needs to close up. Like she’s trying to convince herself of something. Like she’s building walls faster than I can walk around them.
“You always run when things get real?” I ask softly. I don’t want to push.
But Ineedto understand.
Because I know she wants this too. She wants us too.
I see it, in the way her smile grows when she sees me walking in. In the way her eyes linger a second too long.
“I don’t run,” she says with a tight, crooked smile.
“I just… move fast in the other direction.”
It’s a joke. Classic Ava. Quick to deflect. Never quick to let anyone stay.
You’re already in too deep, I remind myself. This isn’t a crush. Hasn’t been for a long time.
I want to tell her she’s safe with me. That the world could burn and I’d still be here, in the ashes, looking for her.
But I know she wouldn’t believe it. Not yet.
Maybe not ever, if she keeps convincing herself no one could want her for real.
And something in me snaps.
I follow her into the little office.
She’s rifling through the mess on her desk. God, she’s adorably chaotic. I love that about her. I loveeverythingabout her.
This is Ava: brilliant, messy, sexy as hell, and somehow heartbreakingly unaware of her own magic.
I close the door slowly behind me. The soft click makes her head snap up.
Her eyes widen when she sees me there, leaning against the door.
“What are you doing, Elijah?” she asks.
Her voice trembles. She takes a step back and bumps into her chair, falling into it.
I cross the room, slow. She tries to roll away, but I tilt my head and let a mischievous smile play on my lips.
“Are you afraid of me, Ava?”
“W–What? N–no. I’m not afraid of you. Why should I be?”
She tries to sound confident, but her voice betrays her.
“Then why do you look like a deer caught in the headlights?” I tease.
“I donot!” she says, trying to sound offended.
For a second, I hesitate. I’m trying to read her.
Trying to figure out if this is a mistake.
