Page 56 of Unbreakable Love

In that moment, I wanted to experience it all, all over again, like it was the first time I’d ever done it.

I leaned in closer, and Penny’s lips parted. “Gavin,” she whispered.

“Shhh,” I whispered back. “Can I?”

She nodded and I leaned forward. Her warm, ragged breath skated across my lips.

“Miss Pesco! I’m done!”

I shot back like a rocket, and Penny’s face paled.

“Shit,” she rasped and jumped out of the chair.

I fell back against mine and scrubbed my hands down my face.

Shit was right.

But this time, the only thing I was upset about was that we’d been interrupted.

My parents’ house, so normally full of noise with Josie and Landon and all of us guys running around giving each other shit and laughing and throwing a few punches for the hell of it was stone silent. Ava and our mom were in the kitchen, cleaning up after the world’s most painful dinner. A dinner where anger pulsed in the air along with the sick sensation of everything right in the world being turned upside down.

Cam and Ava had sat next to each other, but where there was usually affection and teasing and no small amount of sass from Ava, there’d been silence. Distance. Their shoulders never once brushed against each other’s, and the smiles were strained and rare.

For now, I had a moment with my brother, his leg braced up on our father’s recliner, where Cam had spent the entire day and evening outside of when he’d had to move to the dinner table.

They were leaving for Denver in the morning. Cam had appointments and wanted to recover there. Ava was going with him so she could escape town for a while. News was out about Jimmy’s arrest, and the connection of Ava to our family had hit the national spotlight. We hadn’t turned on a television in twenty-four hours. At least in Denver, they had more security and privacy.

I sat down next to my brother and pulled my chair close. “She still sounds bad. How are you two doing?”

Every word Ava spoke sounded like it was being torn from her. Her throat was purple and mottled, and every single time I saw the oval marks of Jimmy’s hand at her throat I wanted to slam my fist into a wall. I could only imagine how Cameron was handling all of this.

“She’s hurting. Won’t touch me. Cringes when I get too close. And at night, I can hear her screams from the next room.”

I hadn’t realized they weren’t sharing a bed. Maybe because she was still sleeping at her parents’.

“I’m sorry, man. That has to suck.”

He turned to me, eyes lit with unmitigated, absolute fury. He scoffed. “I’m not pissed about not getting any, Gavin. I’m fucking furious this asshole damaged her and she now has to find a way to heal from it. I’m more pissed I wasted all the years I did. Had I not…”

“Don’t do that. Don’t go down that road. It’ll eat you alive.”

“Cam? You ready?” Ava stepped into the room, hands clasped gently in front of her. Ava had always been wild. A little reckless, a little brash, but she entered a room with magnetic energy that followed her. Her face was pale, making the bruising that much more noticeable and there was no excitement in her eyes. Her shoulders were hunched forward like she’d already given up.

Penny’s words from two nights ago jumped into my mind. She’d lived this, repeatedly, watching someone she loved fold into themselves.

I stood from my chair and moved it, then gathered Cameron’s crutches for him.

While he hobbled and climbed out of the recliner, grunting and moaning as he did, I stepped toward Ava.

The instinct to hug her or ruffle her hair like I always did was a habit I didn’t think about. Until her shoulders tightened and she looked away, skin paling further.

Damn. “Take care, Ava,” I said and hoped my smile was understanding and not full of the same pity and fury I felt raking across down my skin.

“Both of you, get well soon.” I turned to Ava. “Keep fighting, honey. Don’t let him win this.”

A flash brightened her eyes and lifted her lips, before it vanished. “Thanks, Gavin.”

I clasped my brother’s shoulder and gave him a firm shake. “Get that leg taken care of. Josie’s going to need someone to climb on soon and you know you’re her favorite.”

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