The path I cleared out here makes the walk easy. My light ghosts across the work tables lining one side of the shop. Boxes of tools and outdoor supplies litter their surface. All I need is a little sandpaper and some wood stain, both of which I know for a fact are out here, somewhere. It takes a bit of digging around, but eventually I pull the two free.
Ava suggested we throw down a mat to cover the spot, but with a bit of manual labor and a touch of the right product, the likelihood that anyone will notice the spot is slim. I like our odds with my plan better. Though I’m sure Ava wouldn’t have a problem convincing her parents that anything but the truth caused it. Because let’s be honest, a cooking mishap is a hell of a lot more believable than a crazed man being shot, especially when there’s no body to show for it.
By the time I’m done, I swear I see the first rays of light reflecting off the snow through the thin curtain in Ava’s room. Her soft snores fill the quiet air as I strip down and slide under the blanket, pulling her naked body into my side. She nuzzles closer and sighs. With her heat against me and the soft pillow tucked under my head, I’m out in a blink.
TWENTY-THREE
AVA
“What the fuck!”
The roar of a wild animal speaking and the jostling of my body as the pillow beneath me is ripped from under my head has me flying up in bed, clutching the blanket to my chest. My eyes barely have a second to register what’s going on in front of me before the first punch is thrown.
“Dad!” I scream, which only elicits a second furious roar from him.
Pounding footsteps echo behind the chaos. And then I’m staring at the stunned matching expressions of my brothers.
Jesus fucking christ, this couldn’t get any damn worse.
Except I’m fucking wrong, because it’s in that moment I realize how butt naked I am, with the thin blanket barely doing anything to cover my body. I wrap it around myself anyway, before fumbling out of bed, and somehow managing to make it upright.
With one hand firmly in place to keep the makeshift togafrom falling to the floor, I rush toward the two men, acting as if they’re back in their college years—ironic.
“Enough!” I scream over their yelling match, trying to push myself between them.
Scott’s firm grip wraps around my hips as he shoves me behind him, but that only seems to pour gasoline on my father’s reaction.
“Get your fucking hands off her. I trusted you with her all these years. You sick fucking pervert.”
I’ve never heard my father spit such vile things in my life, but Scott takes them calmly, not trying to argue back against a man blinded by rage.
That’s not me. I can’t just stand here and let this happen.
“Stop it!” I yank my arm free from Scott’s hold and scoot around his mountainous frame. “You’re acting as if he’s some criminal. I’m twenty years old, Dad. It’s not exactly illegal for us to be together.”
“You want me to believe this just started? Come on, Ava, I’m no fool.”
“You’re sure as hell acting like it right now!”
My mother’s light voice filters through the ringing in my ears. “Maybe we should take a step back. Let our daughter at least get dressed. And then we can discuss this.”
My brothers turn on their heels, hightailing it away from the scene. They’re probably loving the fact that theirperfect sisteris being cast from her throne all these years later. But my Dad doesn’t budge. His face glows blotchy red with fury, and his hands are fisted into tight balls, the knuckles as white as the ground outside.
“Get the hell out of my house. You’re fucking dead to me.” His fatal words hit before he slams my bedroom door, leaving Scott and me in stunned silence.
“Fuck,” Scott groans, wiping his hand across his face and through his beard. “That is not how I intended to tell your father about us.”
His words take a second for me to digest. “You… you were going to tell him?”
Even in the midst of the heaviness still pushing in against us with the slamming and raised voices off in the house, his eyes meet mine, and the smirk that fills my stomach with butterflies steals all my attention.
“I told you we weren’t done. Tell me right now, this was just a lapse in judgment for you, that you don’t feelitbetween us. Because if that’s the case, I’ll pack my bags, hit the road, and never look back. But know, for me, Ava. You’re it, baby. Even without our secrets. It’s you.”
“Scott, I…” his name puffs from my lips on a whisper, and I stall on what to say next.
An unsure hand clasps the back of my neck, pulling my forehead to his lips for a gentle kiss.
“It’s fine,” he says, with a humorless chuckle, eyes transfixed on mine. “I knew I was shooting for the stars with you.”
