Edge of Desire

Chapter 1

Ava

My mom was going to kill me. No doubt about it. When she found out I had just accepted a job, sight unseen, on the West Coast, she was going to flip out. The proverbial shit was going to hit the fan in the Middleton house. First my brother Justin moved to Seattle and now me. How the heck was I going to pull this one off? I just booked a flight to leave in three weeks. I was headed to Seattle to meet my new boss and start my new job. Oh brother, was I ever in for it now.

Mom had no clue what had been going on in my life. All she noticed was that I had put on some pounds lately. The weight was the least of my worries though. Everything had gone to hell in a handbasket. The only bright star was this new job at SoftwarePlus and it was going to be awesome.

Thank God my friend and trusty realtor, Alana, was handling the sale of my duplex. Melissa, my neighbor who owned the other half, and I had worked out a deal. She would keep an eye on things for me after I left.

Melissa ... I was really gonna miss that girl. When I first met her, I wasn’t too sure about her. I mean, she kind of scared me. She was a sumo wrestler in training and was sort of frightening ... and big. I’m talking muscles and strength. As she explained it, sumo wrestlers had to carry a lot of weight as it helped with their strength, but she worked hard at it, going to the gym every day and eating a mostly healthy—except for all the Ben and Jerry’s ice cream—but high-caloric diet. The first time she fist-bumped me I thought she broke my knuckles. Then she told me she needed to un-girly me, and that I was too much of a wuss.

I never paid her much mind until the night I had a run-in with this loser I’d been dating, Mike Dixon. My mom had been on a mission to find me a husband, and after a string of failures, she arranged a date with him. His full name was Michael Kensington Dixon III, and I tried. Oh, how I tried. After a couple of months of trying to convince myself he was a nice enough guy and that I needed to give him more of a chance, I came to the conclusion there simply weren’t any more chances left in me. I had run slap out of them. There wasn’t a speck of chemistry there. Who was I kidding? The guy was a royal pain in my butt, besides the fact he thought he was God’s greatest gift to women. And please, God forgive me, I hated saying this, but he was super homely. I tried to overlook that and his annoying personality. But I decided it was time to play the honesty card. Tonight, I would tell him we weren’t going to make it as a couple. However, that didn’t go too well.

“But, Ava, I thought you and I were peas and carrots. I was going to see if we could take it to the next step tonight.” He waggled his bushy brows. They were so thick and unruly that they joined together, creating a shadow over his beady eyes. I’d never seen a unibrow so shockingly huge before. It was like a squirrel had crawled up there and made a nest. Not only that, a gigantic mole resided on the tip of his nose. Every time we had a conversation, I couldn’t tear my eyes off the thing.

“I don’t think so. I hate to be blunt, but this is goodbye.”

“Ava, your mother won’t like this. She’s going to be very disappointed.”

“This isn’t my mother’s decision. It’s mine.”

“You know you’re not going to find anyone else. Look at you. I mean who would want to date someone your size?”

That comment should’ve hurt, but looking at him again, it didn’t. “That’s your opinion. While I’m no size four, my weight is just fine since I’m five ten.” That was an exaggeration. I was overweight, but nothing would make me continue dating this jerk.

Well, Mikey conveniently forgot what the word no meant. He took me by complete surprise when he lunged for me, slapped me a few times, and then punched me. I’d never seen this vicious side of him. I didn’t even know he had it in him. He then commenced to rip my shirt off and did his best to maul me. I was frozen with fear. When he unleashed his prized manhood, the fear poofed away. To my utter horror, my eyes nearly exploded out of my head. Oh, it wasn’t because of what you’re thinking. No, it was quite the opposite. Mikey was actually Little Dickie. I mean itty bitty teeny weenie. Maybe even the size of an average pinkie finger. I had no idea penises could be that tiny. Then, a gurgle of laughter burst forth from the furthest depths of my being and rose to a crescendo unlike anything I’d ever heard. I’m pretty sure Little Dickie had never heard anything like it either.

To make matters even worse, and I knew at the time I shouldn’t have said it, but I just couldn’t stop myself. I looked at him and said, “And just what do you intend to do with that? Have a little beanie with that teeny weenie?”

His face went from tanning-booth brown to a mottled shade of purple, right before he released a frightening growl and lunged for me. He brandished his pinkie-finger appendage (that is if one can actually brandish something that tiny) and yelled how he was going to teach me proper manners where penis size was concerned.

Then, as he chased me around my duplex, I screamed at him and frantically searched for some type of weapon to defend myself with. Unfortunately, the only thing I could lay my hands on was my favorite childhood stuffed animal, which was a rather large, dark brown dachshund. I started batting him with it and shouting obscenities at him and his pinkie-finger dick. The irony was not lost on me that I was beating him with a stuffed wiener dog.

Lucky for me, Melissa was home, and upon hearing me screaming and hollering, she came barreling through the door. In no time, she had Little Dickie in a sumo-wrestling hold beneath her three hundred pounds of muscular girth with him crying out, “Uncle, uncle!” And then, I swear by all that’s holy, he started to pee. His teeny weenie squirted in the air just like those water fountains of naked baby boys.

“Jesus! What kind of man pees all over himself?”

“Look at him, Melissa. He was chasing me with that thing,” I said, biting hard on my lip, trying my best not to laugh. I had nearly been raped by this man, if you could call him that, and here I was laughing at him.

“Ava, grab your phone right now.”

I ran and got my phone.

“Now take pictures of this. This needs to be posted all over social media right away. We’ll see how much of a man—hey, what did you call him?”

“Little Dickie.”

“Yeah. We’ll see how much of a man he is now. Take a picture of that little dickie. Hey, you got a ruler?”

“Yeah, why?”

“You need a little perspective here.”

Suddenly, Mikey started crying, “No, please, I’ll do anything. Don’t do that. Please.”

“What exactly will you do to stop us, Mike?” I asked.

“Anything.”

Melissa looked at me and I shrugged. I just wanted the creep out of here, so I decided to handle this. “You attacked me, you tiny piece of scum. Do you do this with every woman you date?”

“No, I swear I don’t!”

“Then why me and why did you hit me like that? I’ll tell you why. You’re nothing but a pathetic excuse for a man, and I use that noun loosely. I should call the police!”

“Please don’t. I’ll lose my job if you do!”

“I don’t give a hoot about your damn job.” I thrummed my fingers against my chin as I stared him down. I should’ve punched him in the balls earlier, except I hadn’t given that a thought on account of I was too scared. “Tell you what, Mikey. Get out of here and don’t ever come back. If I ever hear that you even so much as breathed a word to anyone that you know me, these pics will be posted everywhere. And one other thing. If you ever attack another woman, I’ll twist your balls so tight, you’ll permanently be a soprano. You got it?”

“Yeah. Yeah,” he promised.

Little Dickie scrambled out, wet britches and all, as fast as his feet could carry him. He didn’t even bother to stuff his teeny weenie in his pants, not that anyone would’ve noticed.

Melissa and I had a good laugh over it, but it freaked me out when I saw the ugly bruises he left behind. Tomorrow, they’d look horrendous. Melissa wasn’t too pleased with that, so she took it upon herself to start my sumo-wrestling training.

“Melissa, I’m leaving in three weeks. That’s not enough time.”

She elbowed me in the side and I fell to my knees.

“See, you need to get your strength up. You can’t handle any kind of normal roughness.” I didn’t know what normal roughness was. I had three brothers and they never used normal roughness on me. They spoiled me and protected me instead, so I didn’t have to use any kind of roughness at all.

“But, Melissa, I’m going to be so busy that I won’t have time for sumo-wrestling training.”

“Sure you will.”

There was no talking her out of it. That was how I found myself taking nightly trips to the gym for powerlifting sessions. She also put me on a daily consumption of large quantities of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, specifically, Chunky Monkey and Phish Food. Turned out Melissa wasn’t very impressed with my ability to pump iron. I could bench-press twenty pounds to her two hundred. I’d grit and gnash my teeth but the most I could do was thirty and maybe eke out four reps on a good day.

“We’re gonna have to get those arms in better shape. If you had a little strength in them, Little Dickie wouldn’t have stood a chance with you.”

I groaned and said, “I know. Don’t remind me. I’m trying to forget him. Everything in my life has gone to hell, Melissa.”

“What are you talking about?”

“My social life. My sex life. Heck, I don’t even know what sex is anymore. If Little Dickie hadn’t been such an asshole, who knows? Maybe I would’ve done it with him. I just couldn’t stand him though.”

Melissa grunted, murmuring something about even if I’d had sex with Mikey, I wouldn’t have noticed. She was probably right.

She patted me on the back, almost giving me a neck injury. “Listen, we’re gonna get you through this so you can get your confidence back. You just need a little weight on you. You’re nothing but a bag of bones, Ava. And maybe you should get yourself one of those vibrators. Don’t bother with the kind that need batteries. Go for the electrical ones. They pack a bigger punch.”

Good lord, that was the last thing I needed. An electric vibrator and more weight. I jiggled enough as it was. I probably was my own personal vibrator. I could barely squeeze my rear end into any of my clothes. I was busting at the seams in my big clothes and had gone out and bought new things and those were already getting tight. Sumo wrestling, though. I didn’t want to hurt Melissa’s feelings, but that was not going to solve my problems. It would only add to them. Lately, I was resembling a duck when I walked. Even my brother had mentioned something the other day and he was such a kindhearted person. He wanted to know if I was having foot issues. I wasn’t following.

“Ava, you’re walking a bit funny. I was wondering if your feet are bothering you,” he explained.

“Good heavens, Pearce. I’ve gained a ton of weight and now I waddle. That’s what’s wrong with me. My feet are fine. They’re just not used to toting around all this excess baggage.”

He had the decency to blush and apologize. He patted my hand and asked, “Is everything okay? Is there anything you’d like to talk about?”

“No. I’m fine,” I said glumly. He hugged me and we parted ways. He didn’t have time for me. He was busy with his life now. His wife, Lexi, had just announced she was three months pregnant, and they were redoing their house. They wanted to transform one of the guest rooms into a nursery and they were also interviewing nannies.

I pulled myself back to the issue at hand, which was my mom. There was no getting around it. She would have to be told about my new job and the sooner the better. Maybe I could take her out to dinner and tell her in a public place where she couldn’t make a scene. Nope, that wouldn’t work. She would still make a scene. I had waited a week already. I was so screwed.

Oh, to hell with it. Biting the bullet, I grabbed my purse and headed over to my parents’. They didn’t live but a couple of blocks from me, so I walked there like I always did. When I got to the driveway, I was glad to see both of their cars at home. Might as well get it over with.

Now I’m not trying to brag or anything, but my parents lived in a grand house on The Battery in Charleston, South Carolina. I was fortunate to have been born into a family of means.

Betty, my parents’ cook, was in the kitchen when I walked in, and she immediately tried to shove food into my mouth.

“I know you love to do this, but I’m trying to shed some of this weight I’ve gained. I need to get back into my clothes,” I protested.

“Ack! You girls like to be too skinny these days.” She sounded like Melissa.

I aimed my thumb at myself. “This girl just wants to fit into her clothes!”

I wandered into the den, where I’d hoped my parents would be, but they weren’t. Betty followed me and said, “Check the side terrace. They’re probably having a glass of wine out there.”

Sure enough, that’s exactly where they were.

“Hey,” I said as I walked through the doors. “Surprise!” I sort of did a little head-bob thingy, trying to be funny. They didn’t laugh.

“Ava, dear, we didn’t know you were coming,” my mom said.

Okay. Time to spill it. “I came to talk to you about something.”

“Oh? Is everything okay? Oh my gosh, are you and Mikey in love?” my mom asked, expecting yes for an answer.

Ugh. It’s what she always wanted to know. It was the number one topic on her mind ... whether or not her daughter was in love. I knew she meant well, but it drove me batty. Maybe if she knew what Little Dickie had done, she’d stop.

Smiling, I said, “No, Mom, we broke up.”

“What? I knew he wouldn’t like how large you’ve gotten.”

I groaned and Dad gently scolded Mom. I ignored her statement. “It was me who actually broke up with him. But I’ve got something even more exciting I wanted to share. I’ve taken a job promotion.”

“That’s great, honey. Congratulations.” She sounded as excited as she did when she was waiting for water to boil. Then she huffed, “Now I’m going to have to start all over in my search to find someone for you. Ava, you have to realize that the eligible bachelors in town who are suitable for a Middleton are dwindling.”

“Mom, I don’t care about dating anyone right now. And with this new job I’ve accepted, it doesn’t matter anyway.”

She scowled, disappointment written all over her. Shocker. She always said I’d be sorry for leaving MedSoft, one of the companies that the Middletons owned. An opportunity with another national software company had opened and I grabbed it. She didn’t think it was a good idea at the time. So now, here I was, telling her of another new job opportunity.

Dad asked, “So, when do you start?”

“Well, Mom and Dad, here’s the thing. I’ve already accepted the position. I’m meeting my new boss in a couple of weeks.”

“That’s great,” Dad said. At least he showed some enthusiasm.

“And I’ll also be looking for a place to live.”

“Why do you need to do that?” Mom asked. “You have a lovely place.”

“Because I’ll be moving to Seattle.”

You could’ve heard a pin drop, and then came the nuclear explosion.

“You accepted a position in Seattle, and you didn’t discuss it with us first?” my mom screeched.

“No, Mom, I didn’t. You do realize I’m an adult and am fully capable of making my own decisions regarding my career, don’t you?”

She glowered at me before saying, “Avery Susan Middleton, don’t you dare ask me questions like that. Of course, I know that. But you know good and well that you normally discuss these kinds of things with us.”

“I didn’t this time because there wasn’t anything to discuss. My mind was made up. I want to leave Charleston and make a brand-new start somewhere. This job came up and opened that door for me.”

Then came the wailing. Oh my God, the floodgates opened, and I should’ve started building my ark. She went on and on. Talk about drama. My mother was the queen of all things drama. When my brother Justin moved, you’d have thought the world had ended.

Now there was a story. Justin’s fiancée had died when her car exploded. It was a horrible tragedy that Justin could never get over, so he moved away from Charleston to make a new life for himself. My mom, instead of saying, “Justin, you go and have a wonderful life,” worried more about herself. It was all because she was the first mother in the history of the world who had a son move across the country. Oh brother, help me now.

My mom had yet to go and visit him. He didn’t want to come back here, for obvious reasons. And then, he was lucky enough to meet someone he fell in love with. They ran off and got married and my mom was insanely pissed she didn’t get an invitation to the wedding. Well, I said it then and I’ll say it forever—get over yourself already, Mom. My mom had gotten so self-centered in her older age. She needed to get a job or something to focus on.

“In any case, Mom, I’m sorry you’re not excited for me. I was offered an opportunity of a lifetime, and I snapped it up. I leave in three weeks. I need to find a place to live, and I’ll stop by to visit Justin of course.”

“Well, isn’t that sweet. You’ll get to meet his new bride,” she added sarcastically.

“Yeah, I am excited about that. But, more importantly, I’m really happy for him. I hope she makes him as happy as Terri did.”

“Honey, congratulations.” Dad smiled.

“Thank you, Daddy.”

He stood up and hugged me tight. “Will you stay and eat with us?”

“Nah, I gotta go and start getting things in order.”

“I understand. If you need us to do anything, just let us know. We love you, honey, and I’m so proud of you. Make sure to come for dinner before you leave.”

“Okay, Dad.”

I loved that man. I loved my mom too, but she sure could be difficult.

I ran inside and headed upstairs to say goodbye to Avery, my grandmother and namesake. She was a character that one. Ornery as all get-out and proud of it too. I knocked on her door and heard her say, “You better either be brave as hell or have something really important to have awakened this old coot from her nap.”

I just laughed. I opened the door and walked in.

“Little Avery. Why, you come here, little girl.” I ran to her and kissed her cheek. “Your mama is complaining all the time ’bout your weight, but, honey, it sure gives you all the curves in all the right places. I believe it makes you look hot, child.”

“Grams! I can’t believe you!”

“Why? ’Cause I speak the truth?”

“Partially. I guess I’m jealous.”

“Well, one day when you’re old and you have grandchildren, you’ll be able to do the same.” She let out a hearty laugh. “So, what did you come here to tell me?”

I told her about moving and she was as happy as could be.

“I was happy for Justin and I’m happy for you. No one ever said you had to stay here. You haven’t been happy in a while, so I hope this brings you exactly what you’re searching for, honey!”

“I knew I could count on you, Grams. Will you come and visit me?”

“You know I will as long as you don’t take me anywhere I have to wear a damn bikini! Well, unless there are hot men around for me.”

“Okay, Grams! I love you.”

“I love you too. Now go on and be safe. But, Avery, you find the happiness you deserve and have some fun, sweetie. Life’s too short not to have fun, child.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She always had a knack for making me feel better.