Page 189 of Heartache Duet

But in my heart,

I believe thathopecreates the magician.

TWENTY-ONE

connor

As soon as Krystal arrives at Ava’s house, we go over to mine and get right into bed. I call Dad, confirming he got the message from school and tell him that Ava’s here, and we’re probably just going to hang out in my room so that he doesn’t get any unwanted surprises when he comes home. As soon as my head hits the pillow, I’m struggling to stay awake, and sure, there are other things I’d rather be doing with my girlfriend in my bed, but I’m that fucking tired. Even though last night’s game was an easy W, I still went hard. I used to show up to get attention from colleges; now I do it for NBA scouts. Ava must sense all this because she kisses the tip of my nose, runs a hand through my hair. “Take a nap, babe.”

With heavy lids, I kiss her quickly. “What are you going to do?”

“You got headphones?”

“On my desk.”

She gets out of bed and returns with them and her phone. “I’ll listen to a podcast or something.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

Two minutes later, headphones in, she’s fast asleep, snoring lightly. I smile as I watch her, take in every single thing I love and missed about her. Her lips curl as if she knows I’m watching, but she doesn’t react in words. She simply moves closer, until there’s nothing between us.

No space.

No past.

No regrets.

I wake up to my phone going off somewhere on the other side of my room. At first, I ignore it, because the only person I care about enough to answer is in my arms. But then it rings again, and again, and Ava’s slapping my cheek, mumbling into the pillow, “Tell it to shut up.”

“Shut up,” I murmur.

It stops ringing, and Ava smiles. “Hey, it worked.” But then her phone rings, and of course, she sits up immediately and starts searching for it even though it’s vibrating in her hand.

With a chuckle, I remove it from her grasp. Rhys’s smug face takes up the entire screen, and I answer, “What?”

“I tried calling you.”

I roll onto my back, my forearm covering my eyes. “Weird.”

“Who is it?” Ava asks.

“Rhys,” I reply, watching her move to straddle my hips. She flashes a smile, right before she lowers her chest to mine, her mouth going to my neck, kissing me there. “Is this important?” I say into the phone. “Because I’m a little preoccupied right now.”

Ava giggles while silence fills the phone line.

“Cool,” I murmur after waiting a beat. Then I hang up, my hands instantly latching on to Ava’s ass.

She starts kissing down my bare chest, making it to my stomach before she looks up, asks, “Have you got any condoms here?”

Shit. “I don’t know.”

“Well…” She starts to get off me, but I hold her there.

To mess with her head, I say, “Wait. My dad should be home. I’ll ask him.”

“What? No!”

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