Page 6 of Keeping Ava

Of being taken from her home because of harassment and then moved once more when the killer escaped.

It’s a lot to take in for anyone. However, something in my gut tells me this is different and that she’s not just another assignment.

It’s fucking with my head and I close my eyes for a few seconds, focusing on the soft breeze coming from the balcony doors I have open. The smell of salt water in the air soothes me—lulls me into a state of calm where I can think.

My mind pulls to the forefront the few details that stood out the most from the file...

Witness: Ava Perry

Age: 22

From: Lubbock Texas

Occupation: Owns Bakery (Cherry On Top)

Lives: Childhood home. Parents deceased.

Phone Number: None at the moment. Call Weston King (Texas Ranger) if needed.

*Ava went to school with the accused. Three years younger than him, they didn’t run in the same circles, but he was close friends with her childhood neighbor, Anthony Salcedo.

*Ran into him again as a customer at her shop. He came in daily after the first encounter; 7 a.m. (February to the end of September) ordering the same thing: a coffee and blueberry muffin.

*Asked her out every other week and she turned him down on each occasion.

*The first body was found a mile from her home after the first refusal; a twenty-year-old brunette he picked up at a bar and choked to death. Examination of the body concluded that there was no sexual assault, just physical.

Page after page, it’s full to the brim with notes on the both of them. His fascination with her is plain to see within every line—morphing into a sick obsession the older she became.

Something tells me this started when they were kids.

There are pictures from every crime scene along with his mugshot when taken into custody, and yet, Ava’s is missing. It nags at me. Unsettles me.

Forces me to take a metaphorical step back and analyze the why. Why hide her physical appearance?

That’s when Perez’s words from earlier today smack my subconscious. The seriousness in his eyes show more than the sternness of a command; it’s a plea. A warning.

“Very few people know of her whereabouts outside of the Texas Ranger delivering her to your home in four hours, and we’ll be keeping it that way.”

“Who are you, Ava Perry?” I whisper aloud, opening my eyes as the doorbell rings. A few seconds tick by, and that ring becomes four quick raps against the wooden surface. They are loud, but not as annoying as the continuous pressing of the doorbell that follows after.

Standing, I grab my gun from the coffee table and make my way over. I’m more than halfway there when whoever is on the other side knocks again. Just a little bit harder. Inpatient or in a rush to...

My eyes shift left to a clock on the wall, and I realize just how much time has passed since coming home. Two hours that I’ve been lost inside my head while breaking down her file and putting the pieces together again.

Another knock. Softer this time.

I don’t look through the peephole, knowing it’s her, and I pull the door open. Problem with that, is that I didn’t think things through. I’m not prepared for what greets me, and in that minuscule second where my eyes meet a pair of light blue ones, I curse Perez for my demise.

I’m caught. Can’t look away.

My eyes scan her face, memorizing everything from the freckles over the bridge of her nose and cheeks, to the small scar over her right eyebrow. It’s tiny, a crooked line partially hidden beneath the hair there, and I find it cute.

Lowering my eyes, I settle on her plump lips. Their natural berry color is appetizing, even more so as this tiny beauty bites down on her bottom lip while looking up at me through long, thick lashes.

She’s simply gorgeous.

The blood throbs within my veins and my cock hardens; it pulses with each rise and fall of her chest. With the way her own eyes look at me with curiosity.

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