“Jesus, what the fuck is your problem?” He spat, wincing as he grabbed his lower back.
“Have I not made it abundantly clear what myproblemis?” I asked. I took a moment to appreciate the look of discomfort on his face. Was that sweat on his forehead? Fuck, that was nice.
“Let me make it more clear then,” I said, grabbing a handful of his electric green hair and pulling. He bared his teeth.
“Repeat after me,” I said. He shot hate from his eyes and I smiled wider. “Ava is Caspian’s.”
“What the fuck—” he cut off when I jerked his hair. “Ava is Caspian’s,” Brandon bit out and I let go of his hair and pushed his head.
“Good boy,” I said with a pretentious laugh. I think Brandon was my favorite bandmate, we always had such a good time together. If we kept all this fighting up, I might even consider him my best friend.
“You’re a sick fuck,” he spat.
“And you’re annoying,” I hissed my face careening into his, my real teeth flashed for a moment, sharpened points of terror. His eyes bulged and he fell backwards on his ass. It was only a flash, something he might explain away later but right now he looked terrified. “If you even think about touching her I’ll destroy you.”
“You’re serious,” he said, scanning my face. I smiled but then his earlier words replayed in my head and I couldn’t stop the rage. I lunged at him, he lifted his arms.
“Stop, please,” he mumbled in a pathetic voice. I’d never once heard him sound that way. He started to shiver. What the hell?
“Caspian,” a feminine voice uttered and I jerked around in shock to see Ava standing there, trembling as she looked at me with wide eyes.
“No, no, no, no,” I said, feeling sick to my stomach. My hands started to shake. Satisfied laughter came from Brandon. Fuck, had they allplannedthis? Had he been goading me? I ran towards Ava and she flinched away. The air was sucked out of my lungs as I saw her reaction.
“It’s not what you think. He was threatening you.”
“What?” She asked, her voice sharp and strong again. Her eyes zeroed in on Brandon. “What did he say?” I tentatively reached out then sagged in relief when she let me grab her hands and bring them to my mouth. I kissed each finger as I trembled. I almost lost everything and I still felt like I was fighting for it.
“I don’t want to tell you. It involved him and the other guys… with you.” I really didn’t want to tell her but there wasn’t much wiggle room out of this. Ava’s eyes went to me in confusion and hurt.
“Why would he say that?”
“They want me to come back on tour but I can’t Ava. It was a threat for me, what they’d do if I didn’t agree to tour. I need to beherethough. I’m so sorry. I just got so angry. It made me sick what he said.”
“I didn’t fucking threaten her,” Brandon grumbled out from the gravel. I jerked around to face him.
“You didn’t imply the whole band would take turns with her?”
“I didn’t mean it like that!” I knew he hadn’t been insinuating he’d force her but it didn’t sound good either way and Ava didn’t know them. All she knew is that before today they’d been mean and disliked her. I patted myself on the back for telling her they’d been the ones in our camp last night, trying to scare us. I’d said it so she wouldn't worry but it worked out well in my favor right now.
Her expression morphed into disgust as she looked at Brandon. I closed my eyes, sighing as my shaking subsided. She believed me.
“Bullshit, Brandon wouldn’t say that,” Matthias said, walking up behind Ava. My muscles tightened in anger and tugged Ava back towards the river. They were ganging up on me. They were trying to ruin what I had with Ava and in no reality would I let that happen.
“Caspian,” Ava said, trying to get me to stop but I didn’t. I pulled her into the water and tugged her along as I swam the sixty feet to the other side. We got far enough on the shore that I could lay her down, partially submerged. Her head rested above water while her hips stayed underneath. I settled on top of her, taking her face in my hands.
“I’m sorry that happened. This is all my fault.” And it was because I couldn’t get them tofuckingleave. I swiped my thumb across her bottom lip. “It’s okay,” I said, pressing my lips to hers, hoping she kissed me back. When she didn’t I pulled back.
“They really hate me?”
“No, of course not. They hate me for leaving. They know you’re my weakness,” I said and her eyes focused on mine.
“I am?” Her body lost its tension and I felt myself relax in response.
“You saw the tattoo,” I said, hoping it was better to bring it up than keep avoiding the topic.
“When did you get that?”
“Right after I moved out.” Her eyebrows furrowed at my response.
