Chapter 12
If Ava thinks discussing research databases will turn me off, she misjudged how easily I get a competency boner.
Ava.
Ava Bellarose.
My mind plays her name on repeat in the background like elevator music as I listen to her discuss the online newspaper archive she demos for every Communication 101 class at the college where she works.
As I sit here, poolside, cold drink in my hand, my mystery woman sitting close to me, leaning toward me, speaking with a smile and passionate hand gestures, I’m sure that when Rafael shoved me into the pool, I accidentally traveled through space and time to land in a pleasure dimension.
This is perfection.
“I’m boring you,” Ava says, her confident expression faltering and her lovely hands falling into her lap.
“What?” I yelp, scooting my chair forward, closer to her. “No. Not at all. I want to know more. What departments do you work with? Do you like teaching freshmen? How many librarians are on staff? Do you need more water?” I lean over to glance in her cup and realize she’s mainly been drinking her hard seltzer. “You’re not staying hydrated. You’ll get a headache.” I nudge the cup toward her.
Her lovely lips twist in a grimace so brief I almost miss it, but then her mouth softens, and she picks up the cup to take a large gulp.
“Fine. I’m hydrating.” She tongues a stray drop of water from the corner of her mouth in a move that threatens to kill me on the spot. “And to answer your questions, I’m the liaison to all the departments at the moment, but that’ll change whenever the administration hires a new library director. Yes, I enjoy working with first years because I like demystifying the research process so they’re less intimidated by higher education. And technically I’m the only librarian on staff. Rodrigo is head of circulation and full-time, but he’s considered a library associate.”
“What’s the difference?”
“Usually, a master’s degree.” Ava’s adorable nose wrinkles with a frown. “And giving him the title of ‘Librarian’ would mean they’d have to pay him more. Which, by the way, I’m all for. He deserves a raise and works just as hard as I do.” She sighs, a defeated noise that has me guessing her bosses don’t agree. “Then we usually have ten student workers during the fall and spring semesters. And I guess that sounds like a lot. But we’re down to three students for the summer. And I wish we had at least three more full-time librarians. I doubt we’ll get the budget approval for it.” She lets out another weary sigh. “You know what? I’m tired of talking about my job. I deal with it all week.”
Great, I’m poking at her stressful topic. Thinking fast, I glance around for inspiration and my eyes land on her book.
“You like historical romance?” I point to the cover that shows a woman in a flowing blue ballgown that falls halfway off her shoulder.
Ava raises her chin, as if getting ready for a fight. “I do.”
“Very cool. I’ve read a few, but I prefer contemporaries.”
“Contemporary…romances?”
I nod. “Yep. It’s my favorite genre. Because of the happily ever after. I need that positive ending.” I hold up my hand and make a waving motion, coaxing a small bubble of water out of her half-full cup until it floats in the air between us. This simple move takes concentration and willpower because I have zero natural fuel at the moment. “My powers are directly connected to my sadness. If I get mopey, it’s hard to keep everything in check,” I explain.
“Are you sad now?” Ava asks quietly as she reaches out a finger to fondle the floating water.
I swallow hard before answering. “Not even a little bit.”
As if her only goal in the world is to torment me, Ava slips off her sunglasses so I can finally see her gorgeous grey eyes. She holds my gaze as she leans in, presses her lips against the floating orb of liquid, and sucks.
Connected as I am to the water, I can feel the pull on it as well as the way it flows over her tongue and down her throat.
A groan leaves my chest on a ragged breath, and I’m hard as stone in my swim trunks. Ava’s lids flutter shut as a flush rushes over her pale skin, making her glow.
Kiss her!The urge shouts in my head, but I refuse to listen. To shatter this delicate chance she’s given me to show I’m a decent person.
“Gonna…pool.” I grit out the words and cup my hands over my groin as I struggle to my feet. But this position is so much worse because now I’m standing in front of Ava with a hard on and her gazing up at me with wide eyes, her lips still parted slightly and damp from the water she just drank.
Fuuuuuuck.
I stumble back a step, my two goals to get away from her and get into the pool.
Unfortunately, not looking where I’m going is a mistake because I run directly into a Stoner who was passing by, bounce off the guy’s massive chest, stumble away from the water and toward a decorative arrangement of plant-filled pots. Before I can regain my balance, the back of my knee meets an urn. In an ungainly flail, I topple over the greenery to plummet toward a stone path on the opposite side. To keep my face from hitting the ground, I fling my arms out, bracing for collision.
I catch myself, but not gracefully.
Over my shout of surprise, I hear the crack.
Then comes the pain.
White hot lightning streaks down my right arm, and I try to bite back a groan, only letting out a whimper instead.
“Sammy!” Multiple people call my name, all of them concerned, some scared. If I wasn’t in so much pain, I might enjoy the attention. Instead, I stay sprawled on the ground, cradling my arm, panting in bracing breaths as I pray to the gods that the hurt will subside and this will end up just as a bad bruise and a funny story.
But my hand feels wet even though I don’t sense pure water.
“Fuck,” Damien’s muttered curse comes as a shadow blocks out the sun on the inside of my closed eyelids, which I’ve clenched shut as if that’ll relieve some of the agony. “We need an ambulance.”
“No,” I moan, in part denying the severity of my injury, but also out of the fear every Elemental has.
Discovery.
Sure, there’s the possibility humans could learn of our existence and be super cool about it. But humans don’t have a history of easily accepting things they consider as “other. ” More likely Elementals would be labeled as dangerous. Which is why going to doctors where tests are run is such a risk. Our kind don’t get sick, so there’s no need to worry about that.
But we can get injured. We bleed like everyone else.
I squint my eyes open and glance down with trepidation. The white splinter of bone poking through bloody flesh turns my guts to water, and I think I pass out for a moment. But something brings me back. A husky sweet voice full of command.
“Let me through. Don’t call an ambulance.”
I blink up to see Ava in her skimpy blue bikini settling at my side in a cross-legged position.
“He needs a doctor,” Damien growls at her, his protective instincts creating a storm on his normally relaxed face.
“He needs me,” she says back with utter confidence. “Now hush.”
Fuck. If I wasn’t suffering, I’d be hard all over again.
“Sammy,” Ava croons my name, and I let out another whimper because her affectionate tone sounds so good. “I’m going to touch your arm, okay? I’m going to make you feel better. Will you let me?”
“Yes,” I rasp. I’ll let this woman do anything to me.
“Good boy,” she murmurs.
And I fall in love.
Then I bite down on a scream as Ava carefully lifts my injured arm into her lap.
I can’t watch. But her shapely thigh sits only a few inches from my head, so I bend my neck and press my face against the plush part of her, breathing in her refreshing eucalyptus scent as I pant through the pain.
There’re touches around the wound, small irritations, like sprinkles on the torment sundae. Then her voice comes again, so lovely, but the stinging ache must be eating at my ability to comprehend words because everything Ava says sounds like gibberish.
Still, hearing her helps. Slowly, a numbness overtakes my arm, eventually overwhelming the limb and granting me glorious relief. I slump in a shaking, worn out mess, face still plastered to Ava’s leg.
“By all the gods,” Damien mutters, something like awe in his voice.
Much as I don’t want to leave off my new face pillow of Ava Bellarose, I want to check how bad my arm is and thank her for finding a way to take away the pain, even if it’s for a brief moment.
With a grunt, I roll over and carefully sit up, then clench my jaw and glance down.
My forearm is coated in blood. At first glance, it’s terrifying. Only, something is off about the sight.
The skin not coated in gore has strange symbols written in what looks like blue highlighter.
But the weirdest thing is…there’s no wound.
I swore I saw my own bone. Now there’s only blood and what looks like healed scar tissue. My eyes jump from my arm to Ava’s hands, where I see she does in fact have a blue highlighter clutched in her fingers. Her hands and legs have smears of my blood, and some of the crimson has speckled on the fabric of her bathing suit. My stare travels up farther to meet hers.
Despite the soothing way she spoke to me moments ago, the woman does not look concerned or caring.
Ava’s lips are pinched, and her eyes are narrowed as they meet mine. She tears her gaze away and stands up quickly, leaving me sitting on the ground as I try to comprehend what just happened.
“He should be fine now,” Ava announces to the group in a terse voice.
“You healed him.” Damien stands, staring at the librarian with excitement, gratitude, and more interest than I’d like on his handsome face. “You’re a witch. A healing witch.”
A witch. I don’t know much about the magic wielders, having only met a few in my life.
“Yes. Well. Yes.” She glances down at her red-streaked hands and body. “Thank you for inviting me. I’m going to go.”
“Wait.” I try to push to my feet, but I’m unsteady. Likely from the blood loss.
“You don’t have to.” Damien follows her around the plants that attacked me. “You can clean up inside.”
“No thank you.” Her voice is clipped, and I feel panic rising in me at the thought of her disappearing again.
But she doesn’t want to be chased, and I’m in no condition to go after her. Before my muddled brain can figure out what the right course of action is, I watch as Damien pulls out a large orb of water from the pool to float in front of her. A more impressive display of power than what I previously demonstrated.
“For your hands,” he explains when Ava looks wary.
She only hesitates a moment before plunging her arms elbow-deep into the floating water, scrubbing her skin.
Getting rid of every trace of me.
Fingers clean, Ava scoops up her towel and bag, slips her sunglasses on, and strolls out of the yard without a backward glance.
All the while I stay seated on the ground in my quickly drying blood, surrounded by gaping partygoers.
“Fuck me,” Damien murmurs. “That’s some woman.”
I couldn’t agree more.