Page 38 of Unhinged Cravings
“Aww, you think my legs are pretty. I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve said to me since you called me wildcat.”
Pinching the bridge of his nose, he muttered, “What the hell did I get myself into?”
I took two of my pills, chasing them with a shot of coffee.
“Only two?” he asked.
“Yup. Anxiety and nightmares. The other is for panic attacks, but since I already had one of the damned things, I don’t need it now.” Out of habit, I looked at my arm, but my watch wasn’t there. “Can you set a timer for me, so I take my next one at two? I don’t have my watch or my phone.”
He pulled his phone out without hesitation. After setting the alarm, he motioned toward the stairs with his head. “Come on. I have something for you.”
“More? It’s hard to top medication, Emerson.”
He threw a look over his shoulder, and I grinned.
“So it’s the little things that make you happy?” he said as I followed him.
“Definitely.” Growing up with nothing left me with an appreciation for the smaller joys in life. My uncle’s life was extravagant compared to mine, and it had made me uncomfortable. That was the reason I’d gone to college out of the province and roamedaimlessly for so many years before deciding to move back to Bridgeville. “You know your bedroom is the size of my entire apartment, right?”
He pushed in a code at the end of the deck, where the stairs led down to the shore. I took note of the man making rounds at the cliff-side off the left of the deck and turned my head to the right to see another one in the distance. I’d been watching them out my window, memorizing the pattern of their passes like my uncle had taught me. An odd thing for him to teach me at the time, but now I understood he was taking precautions. I was a liability in his line of work unless I knew how to survive. And after what I had been through, he wanted me to have the skills to fight back harder if there was ever a next time. A lot of good it had done me in this situation, but as Emerson turned and gestured for me to go down the stairs, a mischievous gleam to his eyes, I thought maybe that had been a blessing.
Chapter Fourteen
EMERSON
Adrenaline still pumped through my veins even as Ava walked down the stairs ahead of me. There were times when my rage blinded me, but this time it scored me like a brand, shading my vision in splashes of crimson. I wanted to dig her stepfather up and bring him back to life so I could torture him again. I had suspected there was trauma behind her nightmares, but never had I considered it had been that. While I was thankful she had fought back and the man hadn’t raped her, it did little to quell the ire in me for all the other things he had done. He and her mother. Neglect, abuse, torture.
I wiped my hand down my face, focusing on her instead. My eyes slid to the sway of her hips. Her shorts emphasized her round ass, and each swish eased the tension in my body.
The instinct to shield her from her memories as she’d spoken about them had been overwhelming. Before I could think, I had my hands around her, holding her like I did when she slept. Everything with Ava defied who I was. She brought out a side in me I thought no longer existed. A soft side that opposed the man I had built myself to be.
“Does this mean I have to climb all these steps to get back up?” she asked, her voice carried back to me on the breeze.
“Do you always state the obvious?”
“Do you always answer a question with a question?” she shot back.
Laughter bubbled up, free and light. That’s what she did to me. She made me happy, and I hadn’t been happy for years. She was like a ray of sunshine in my overcast world.
Ava jumped the last two steps, her feet sinking into the sand. She stared down at her toes as they wiggled. Her smile was brilliant, lighting her eyes to a golden hue. Face pointing to the sky, she closed them and breathed in. The sight mesmerized me. I could have stood there all day and watched her. She blinked a few times, then gave me a devious grin before she ran off toward the water.
Frozen in place, I soaked in the sight. The unhindered, carefree spirit she had. After all she’d gone through, she embraced life like I never had. With wide eyes and an open mind, savoring the small things I took for granted. I had lived here for fifteen years, yet never had the view been anything more than a backdrop. Now it was everything because Ava was there, chasing the waves as they hit the shore and laughing.
My chest tightened, an unfamiliar sensation seeping in, one I should have pushed away but couldn’t bring myself to. She circled around, then splashed her hands into the water.
“Should I get you a swimsuit so you can go in?” I asked, trying not to picture her in a bikini that emphasized the flow of her curves.
“Oh, I don’t know how to swim,” she said, drying her hands on her shorts and walking from the water.
“How do you not know how to swim?”
She put her hands on her hips and tipped her head to the side. “Really? Let me see. Grew up in a province where beaches are a thing of myth. Sheltered and?—”
“Okay, okay.” I put my hands up in surrender as she sauntered closer to me. The sun lit the blonde in her hair, making the strands almost white. “I’ll teach you.” The words were out before I could stop myself.
Her mouth opened slightly, eyes scrunching. “I’m not sure we have time for that, Emerson.” The words were like lead weights collapsing my shoulders. The truth that tied us. This was temporary and soon she would be gone. The idea caused that sensation in my chest to turn violent.
“True,” I said, my vision slipping to the water.
