28. Ava

28

AVA

S pending more time with my father shouldn't feel like a bad omen, but the fact that lately he was trying harder to be home for me was concerning. He had wanted to have lunch with me today, but I had been otherwise busy.

A shiver went down my spine, thinking about how busy I had been earlier. I almost giggled, thinking about what drove me to visit Micah's house. I mean, I got what I wanted—kind of. Micah could kiss, and I hated myself just a little bit for not letting myself explore this pre-lake incident. We could have been fucking by now. God, did I want him to fuck me. Things had been so hot and heavy that I cursed Mr. Pierce more than I had before.

His interruption aside, now that I have witnessed firsthand how he treated Micah, I didn't think I could ever forgive the man. People in this town worshiped him as much as they did the hockey boys. Their respect for him was blasphemous, as if the man were some saint. Mr. Pierce had a good eye for picking talent for the Blackwell Lake team, but doing this while being a single father was wondrous to some. Poor Mr. Pierce had to raise a son all alone after his wife left him. All that man did was the bare minimum.

I never got the whole hero worship single fathers got just because they were a parent and, in Mr. Pierce's case, a shitty one at that.

Part of the reason I didn't get it was that my father was the opposite of Mr. Pierce. He stepped up after my egg donor left. He made sure I had everything I needed, even if, at times, it wasn't what I wanted.

People judged my dad for working long hours, but he only had to do so because I had fallen in love with skating, and no one wanted to admit that anything to do with blades was a privilege. It was the number one reason there was no diversity in hockey teams. Paying for blades and ice time was one hell of a bitch, but my dad busted his ass so I could have it.

What I now regretted was joining my sorority house. My dad could do without that extra expense for a year. The only reason I didn't drop out was because I was stubborn. If I dropped out, Livy would win and honestly, fuck that bitch.

I bit my lip when a thought came to mind. Would Micah want to go with me to the Halloween party? My core tingled with all the possibilities.

Maybe it was my immediate demise that was making me this horny.

"I kissed Cruz."

Did that bother me? Not really. I mean, the thought of Micah kissing Livy was maddening, but him kissing Cruz was…shit, it was hot.

Yeah, the possibility of going to jail was definitely making me hornier. I had to be honest; I was not cut out for that life. I would end up becoming someone's bitch.

"Get a grip, Ava," I told myself.

My overactive mind was wondering if I was getting much-needed time with the only parent I had before he got taken away from me.

Not that I wanted to think about depressive shit, but would my father stand by me if I got sent to jail? My heart raced faster at the possibility of that happening. The embarrassment that would follow my father around would be immense, ruining his business. Who would trust anyone with their car if they couldn't trust that man to raise his daughter?

Instead of thinking of depressing shit, I pulled open the fridge and got the sub I had made my father. Before I closed it, I grabbed the second one I had made just in case Cruz was working.

It wasn't very late, but the sun had already set. Had you asked me two years ago, I would have told you I was a fall girl. I loved the fact that it was cool, that it was seven at night and it was already dark out. Now, it was just another reminder that monsters were lurking in the shadows.

Sure enough, my dad's car and Cruz's were the only ones at the auto shop. I parked mine right in front of the closed bay since no customers would be coming in now.

The first person I saw was Cruz.

My steps halted as I took in his profile. He was hot, you had to admit that, especially when he was bent over the hood of a car wearing black sweats that hung low on his waist and a white muscle shirt.

I noted that his skin looked good against the white, then realized he usually tended to wear darker colors. The contrast between his skin and the white shirt was mesmerizing.

"Hey, you, working late today?"

When he didn't turn around, my stomach dropped. Was he mad at me? Did he find out about the kiss? Did he hate me because of it? I barely knew him, but why did that bother me so much?

Before I knew it, my legs had started to move of their own accord. When I was behind him, I tapped his shoulders. His reaction was immediate. One second, I was tapping him. The next, he had grabbed my hand and pulled me toward him, then bent me with that same hand behind my back.

Fear and excitement rushed through my body at the same time.

It all happened so fast because the next second, he was cursing.

"Fuck," he shouted louder than necessary.

He immediately let go of me and took a step back. My heart stammered as I regained my composure. When I turned around, Cruz bent his head as he took off his earbuds and then put them in his pants pocket.

"I'm sorry, Ava," he said, sounding apologetic.

I hissed the moment I saw his face. Aside from the regret I saw shining on his face, there was a bruise on his cheek.

"What happened?"

"Did I hurt you?"

We both spoke at the same time.

This made me laugh. He still looked unnerved. He noticed my dropped bag, bent to pick it up, and handed it to me.

"I'm sorry. You took me by surprise."

"What happened?" I asked, taking a step closer to him.

"Nothing." He shrugged it off.

I glared at him as I tentatively reached for his face. He closed his eyes when I touched his shiner.

"Does it hurt?"

"Not as much as my ribs," he spoke in a low hiss.

"Who did this?" I asked him, dropping my hand from his cheek and grazing his ribs. He winced at the contact, but not because I hurt him. It was probably the phantom pain.

"Don't worry about it," he told me.

"You shouldn't be working," I chastised him.

Cruz let out a humorless laugh.

"I don't work, princess, my bills don't get paid."

"You could have taken one day off."

"I just started working here," he shot back.

I scanned the room and found a stool on the far end.

"Go sit over there." I pointed toward it, then reached into the bag and handed him his sub. "I'll be right back."

He looked at the sub I had made him as if it were going to explode, then looked at my face, and I noticed his eyes had gone soft. That had my stomach swirling, and it was confusing that every little thing had me feeling my emotions at a heightened pace.

It had to be the impending doom.

"I didn't poison it. Now sit down and eat."

His lips finally twitched, and I felt like I was doing something right.

"You look sexy when you're being bossy," he told me.

"Chair, now," I snapped back.

Unbelievable, he was hurt and had time to have a smart mouth.

He raised his hands and began to make his way to where I had pointed. As he passed me, he bent his head and whispered in my ear. I could feel my face turning red from his words.

"Your ass looked phenomenal bent over that car. I briefly wondered what it would feel like to fuck you like that. Would you still be bossy with my c?—"

He hissed in pain as I smacked him on his ribs.

"Sit down."

The asshole barked out a pained laugh but did as I asked. I waited until he sat down, then headed to my dad's office, figuring he would be there since he wasn't out here.

He was sitting at his desk, going over some files.

"Hey, Daddy," I told him.

The smile he gave me when he saw me had a pang spreading through me. The thing about guilt was that it was like a parasite infecting every moment and tainting it. It took away joy from things that should have made you happy, and instead, it was there telling you why you couldn't allow yourself to have them.

"What's wrong, honey?"

I snapped out of it and put on my best fake smile. It was the one I used when I had competitions, to pretend I wasn't dreading falling on the ice and making a fool out of myself.

"Nothing," I told him. "I brought you dinner since I missed lunch."

I pulled out the sub from my bag and handed it to him. My dad had a soft smile as he took it.

"It should be the other way around. I should be the one feeding you."

My throat constricted with that damn guilt.

"I'm sorry I missed lunch."

"It's okay. Coach Pierce stopped by."

This time, there was no doubt that my face was beet red. Micah and I got so caught up in the moment, I was glad I had walked from Greek row to his house. My dad had my car wrapped in a pink pearl color, and in the back, I had a Blackwell Lake U skating decal and the ZGT Greek letters. It would not be hard to put two and two together.

"Yeah, I was running an errand for my house," I lied, not knowing why I did so. "So…what did Coach Pierce want?"

My dad let out a snort.

"He stopped by, concerned after one of the parents sent us a message."

This made my heart stop. If my face had been red before, it was drained of color now.

"W-what?"

I forgot about Mr. Pierce knowing about us going to the tracks. Did that mean my dad knew as well?

My dad waved me off and finished chewing on the piece he had in his mouth.

"A few days ago, a concerned parent said you had gone to the racetracks with your friends."

My father took one look at me and laughed at my mortification.

"I'm not mad, Ava."

"Y-y-you're not?"

He laughed.

"You're in college. Everyone is doing reckless shit. I know you value your skating and won't do anything to jeopardize that."

His confidence in me felt like a kick to my gut.

"Mr. Pierce wasn't happy about it," I confessed.

"He didn't like the fact I hired Cruz, either." My dad sighed and shook his head. "I like the guy, but sometimes he gets his head so far up his own ass he sounds worse than the Enlightenment fellowship fools."

God, my dad was awesome.

"Daddy," I said, my voice sounding hoarse.

He raised a brow, waiting for me to continue.

"Thank you for everything."

He looked a little concerned at first, but then he smiled at me.

"Thanks for this sandwich."

I laughed.

"I'm going to go check on Cruz," I said, motioning behind me with my thumb.

My dad lost his easy smile when I mentioned his name, which filled me with dread. Was he rethinking his decision to hire him?

"Ava," he said, his tone serious. "Be careful with him. I know he didn't get that shiner because a crowbar fell on him."

I bit my lip and nodded.

At that moment, I heard my phone ping, and in the distance, I heard Cruz's phone do the same. It was either the guys sending us a message—or we were overdue in the taunting game we had found ourselves in. I turned around and walked away from my dad's office as calmly as possible. I took my phone out, and I was glad I was no longer facing my dad because I would not have been able to hide my dread.

1…2…3…4…

See what happens in the great outdoors.

The photo was grainy and black and white, almost as if it had been taken with a night camera. In the middle were Micah and Cruz, looking at one another.

When I looked up, Cruz was already looking at me. His expression mirrored my own.

Just then, our phones pinged once more.

Cruz nodded, and together, we both looked down.

Grayson:

I need to talk to all of you. ASAP

One thing was for sure. We were being watched at all times now.