Page 70 of Jack

“You do that. And why don’t you also mind your own fucking business. I don’t want to see you talking to Ava or about Ava again, do you understand,” I warned.

“Yeah, I mean, sure, Jack,” she said, smiling feebly. She then looked at Ava, who stood there looking shell-shocked. “So…you guys didn’t break up?”

My jaw clenched. “Didn’t I just tell you to mind your own fucking business? Ava, come here.” I grabbed Ava’s arm and pulled her toward one of the school’s exits. If the small group that gathered wanted to believe I was still dating her, then I was fine with that.

When we got outside Ava pulled her arm away. “What the hell, Jack? What is your deal? You don’t talk to me for days, then you put on that display? Why? Why not just let them know you broke up with me?” she asked, her voice tinged with sadness, anger, and bitterness.

I just looked at her for a moment. She looked fucking beautiful, as usual. She was wearing a flowy white peasant shirt and a pair of jeans that hugged her hips. I clenched my fists to stop myself from grabbing her. Her hair was in a short ponytail that looked adorable, but there were dark smudges under her light-green eyes. Had she not been sleeping?

“Are you having trouble sleeping?”

She looked at me like I was crazy. “What? What are you talking about? I asked you a question. Why didn’t you just tell them we broke up?”

“We didn’t.”

When I said that, fire lit her eyes and her spine straightened. “What? We didn’t? You demanded I leave your house, have done nothing to respond to my messages and have ignored me for days. You don’t call that breaking up?”

Fuck. My lack of experience in relationships was really biting me in the ass here. I had needed to get away from Ava, get my head straight. I still did, but I didn’t really want to let her go. Yes, I was being a selfish asshole.

“No, I don’t. I never said we were breaking up.”

Ava looked nearly incandescent with rage. “What?!” She started to pace back and forth, her arms gesturing wildly as she spoke. “I know you haven’t dated much, but this is not how people in a relationship conduct themselves. You’re supposed to communicate, be open, share things that bother you. Not shut down and disengage, not reject them, not ignore them.” She finished her monologue and was now standing in front of me, her face flushed with irritation and her eyes snapping with outrage.

God, she was fucking hot. Unable to stop myself, I reached out and slid my hand around to cradle the back of her head, pressing my mouth to hers and walking her until her back was pressed against the brick wall of the building. Fuck, I missed that mouth. At first, she kissed me back, her sweet tongue reaching out to tangle with mine and I found my hand sliding down her thigh and pulling it up on my hip, so I could grind against her.

Just as suddenly, she was pushing me away.

“Jack, are you out of your mind? What are you doing? What do you want?” she asked her last question in a tone that upset me to hear, as it conveyed her confusion, her pain, her frustration.

What did I want? I stared at her, wanting nothing more than to grab her and reassure her, but then I flashed to the scene in the hot tub, her face looking terrified and bewildered at the spectacle of my father. I couldn’t do it. How could I possibly explain about that night? How could I possibly tell her about my past? I was so fucked up, it was killing me.

I stepped back, unable to answer her question because I didn’t know the answer.

“I’m sorry, Ava, I can’t right now.” I turned and walked away. Couldn’t be with her, couldn’t answer her questions, but most importantly, couldn’t let her go.

*****

I was sitting down on my couch drinking my first beer of the evening. Drinking had started to become a bit of a habit for me. I had to slow the fuck down—I was going through a six pack a night. I heard my phone chime and picked it up to find a text from Nikolai.

Nikolai: Thought you might want to see this – it’s been sent to me by 2 different people.

I opened the attachment and was shocked to find myself staring down at a half-naked picture of Ava.

What the hell?

It was clearly taken during her gym class. A small part of me was enraptured at what I was looking at—Ava’s in her bra and underwear, her body illuminated in the mid-day sun as she reached into her gym locker, most likely retrieving her clothes.

However, the vast majority of me was filled with blinding rage. Who the fuck thought they could take a picture of her like this? If Nikolai had gotten this, then a lot of other motherfuckers in school had, too.

I called Nikolai immediately. “Who the fuck sent you this?”

“I got it from Carter. He was going to send it to you himself but mentioned that he made a joke today about dating Ava, so thought it was wiser that I send it to you. And healthier. For him.”

He was fucking right about that. Goddammit. I needed to see Ava. I grabbed my keys and headed for the door, grateful I had laid off the beer tonight.

“This has got to be the same person that was fucking with me and Ava before. How can I figure out where that text came from?”

“Carter.”

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