Ava didn’t answer him. She turned back to me, squinting into the shadows that hid me. She cocked her head to the side.
What was she thinking?
She took two more steps towards me, and my heart hammered in my throat.
Yes, baby. That’s it. Now three more.
Three more steps, and I could wrap her in my arms where she belonged. Fuck Becket and his puppy love. She was mine! She wasmygirl.
But only if she came to me. Only if she stepped into the shadows with me, where I could safely steal her away. Becket wouldn’t let her go without a fight. And I couldn’t kill Becket. She would never forgive me.
“What are you doing?” Becket asked again.
She quickly looked to him, then back at me, chewing on her lip, inching forward as if pulled to me.
Three more steps, little witch.
Together or death. That’s what I had promised. And in my own fucked-up way, I hadn’t broken it. Every single minute without her felt like death. And I couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t tolerate the constant pain that throbbed through my body every second we were apart. It was fucking agony, and I’ve had enough! It was time my baby camehome.
“Come inside. It’s getting cold,” Becket called again.
Ava blinked and took a step back.
No.
She was soclose!
I reached for her, but it was too late.
She took another step backwards. “Coming!” she called, then turned, walking to Becket. She gave the shadows one last glance over her shoulder before she disappeared from my sight.
The air rushed out of my lungs, and I collapsed to my knees. I stifled a scream, pressing a fist to my aching heart as reality crashed back into me.
My mind turned numb to everything but the pain constricting my chest—the loss of Ava. The loss I somehow go through again and again, with the pain only getting worse each time I had to watch her go.
“What were you doing?”
“I don’t know. I…feltsomething.” She sounded embarrassed to admit it.
I couldn’t feel the gravel beneath my knees or the sticky blood that coated my right hand as I listened to her vanish into the building. It was just the incessant throbbing in my chest and their voices.
“You aresostrange. How was your day?”
I could hear Ava chuckle. “Oddlymagical.”
Ava
“Howhavethingsbeenwith you, Ava?”
I dragged my eyes from the brown leather couch that caused a pit in my stomach. It was stupid. It wasn’t the couch that had wreaked havoc on my life. But it’s where I was sitting when I realised just how fucked I was.
I mustered a smile for Doctor Aspen, who was watching me curiously as she made her way around her desk.
I had such a magical day yesterday. Only for it to be ruined the moment I closed my eyes. “I’m as well as can be,” I answered truthfully. “And you, Doctor?” I understood now why she had asked if I wouldn’t be more comfortable meeting her at Owen’s apartment. This room stirred a hurt in me that I had done very well in burying. She must have known how this space would affect me.
Her returning smile was warm and genuine. “Why don’t we go sit in the gardens and talk? The Spring blossoms are so lovely right now.”
My shoulders sagged in relief. “Yes, that would be great.”
