28. Ava
AVA
T he moment I arrived at this party, I was reminded why I, in fact, do not like parties.
I feel like I’m being watched from all sides, and the more people that bump into me, the more my skin crawls.
It could be because I know I’m breaking the rules, coming to this party when Levi specifically said not to, but it could also be because I’m still wounded from my last interaction with him. That was this morning. He left after he took me home, and he’s been gone since.
Not that I noticed or anything. I don’t give a flying crap where Levi Cross is. Screw him and his overinflated ego. I’m not a child. I shouldn’t have to hide. I’ve spent most of my life hiding, and look where it’s gotten me.
It’s just a crush. A harmless little, inconvenient crush that makes it feel like my chest is going to explode when he looks at me.
If he doesn’t care, then neither do I. This is just a contract. Nothing permanent.
God, even I know I’m lying.
I was doing so well—surviving.
Then he came along and got me addicted to the way he looks at me. How he growls my name, or how, when he touches me. It’s like he’s afraid of breaking me, but I’m his to ruin if he pleases.
Now, the silence is maddening.
It’s my own fault. I have no one to blame but myself. He made it clear that he will never care about me the way I seem to care for him, and yet, I crawled into bed with him anyway.
The housekeeper and a man from one of the wealthiest families in the state.
It would be a great romance book plot if he weren’t such a dick.
“You know you don’t have to hide over here,” Alex smiles when he returns from grabbing us drinks.
I’ve stuck to him most of the night, avoiding the area in the center of the room where people are dancing.
One girl took her top off, and now the whole room is covered in boobs, and that’s not something I think I can partake in.
God, can you imagine the look on Levi’s face if he came in here and I was free-boobing in the middle of the room? It’s almost worth it.
Aside from that, the music is really loud, and I’m getting tired, ready to crawl into my bed in the quiet of Cross Estate.
Maybe I am a recluse, I wonder dryly.
“I’m not hiding.” I totally am.
Alex grins and holds out a red plastic cup filled with an electric blue liquid.
“Is this Windex ?”
He snickers, leaning in until his lips are close to my ear so that I can hear him.
“It’s punch.”
“But what is it?”
“Fruit. Vodka. Try it. You’ll love it. The fruit’s the best part.”
My mouth is dry, and thus far, I’ve only managed to swallow down one beer, which I must say, tasted like actual butt.
“Do you want to dance?” Alex asks. I reach for the cup, but before I can take it, it’s snatched out of my hand.
“She’s good, actually.”
I don’t have to turn around to know who that voice belongs to. The scent of whiskey and sin is enough. Despite myself, my heart flutters at the knowledge that he’s here, even though I know he will try to make good on his threat.
He showed up. That’s more than most have done in my life.
I can feel the warmth of him brushing against my back. The electricity that seems to flow through us makes it feel like my body’s attached to a live wire.
“I asked Ava,” Alex says cooly, his gaze locked on the man over my shoulder.
Levi moves closer, and I can practically feel the hostility flowing between them.
“And I answered you,” Levi says darkly.
I’ve read about this moment in romance novels. The part where the two love interests face off for the main girl. This is just like that, only one is just my friend, and the other has already made it clear he wants nothing to do with me, and I have never been the main character.
Why they’re choosing now to compete in their pissing match is beyond me.
—Or should I say, right over my freaking head?
“I’d like a moment alone with Ava.”
“I’m not leaving her with you,” Alex shrugs, and I swear, I could hit him for continuing this strange caveman-esque showdown with Levi.
“It wasn’t a request,” Levi counters, and a shiver slips up my spine at the warning laced in his voice.
I swear to God.
“It’s okay,” I say finally, after the silence starts to hum in my ears. “I’ll just be a moment.”
Alex is not easily swayed.
“Ava, I don’t trust him. What’s he got to say to you that he can’t say in front of me?”
I pause for a moment, confused, but brush it off. Alex is just being protective, and by protective, I mean overbearing. So is Levi, but one is paying my grandmother’s bills, so I at least need to hear him out.
“Well, I do trust him.” Kind of.
That’s only partially a lie. Do I trust Levi to protect me with his life? Yes. If he didn’t, I’d haunt him with every spare second of my afterlife.
Do I trust him not to completely shatter my heart into a million pieces?
Absolutely not.
“I’ll be okay,” I tell Alex, softening my tone. I can feel Levi’s smugness over my shoulder. The two lock eyes, and Alex’s lip twitches before he finally concedes.
“I’ll be back to check on you.”
The moment he’s gone, Levi’s grabbing my hand and tugging me toward the door.
“Stop,” I grit, but I can tell by the stiffness in his shoulders that he’s not in a great mood.
Good. That makes two of us.
“Let me go, asshole,” I growl the moment we make it out onto the porch, but I may as well be fighting with a brick wall.
The moment my feet touch the sidewalk, I wrench my hand back as hard as I can, snatch my drink from his hand, and storm off toward the trees surrounding the property.
As I suspected, he follows me, though I was really hoping he would just magically disappear.
“Ava.”
“Fuck off, Levi.”
Outside the party, the music is thankfully a lot less headache-inducing, and I can actually breathe from the lack of smoke in the air.
I step into the trees that border the property, just because I know out here under the full moon, it’s a lot better than being in there surrounded by rogue boobs and drunk men getting handsy.
“I will not fuck off, little ghost.”
I stop, turning to stare at him. He looks like a god, basking in the glow of the moonlight overhead. He’s wearing his familiar black hoodie and jeans, but it’s the feral look in his blue eyes and his wild hair that make my heart beat unsteadily.
God, there’s no way he’s real.
“You know, if you’d peed on me, I think you could have made less of an ass of yourself.”
He doesn’t acknowledge me.
“Stay away from him, Ava.”
I gawk at him.
“He’s my friend .”
Levi cocks his chin up. “He know that?”
I swear to God.
“Why are you here, Levi? I don’t need a babysitter.”
“Seems you do. Or did you forget someone was following you?” He pauses, cocking his head to the side.
“Yeah, you ,” I snap.
“Sweetheart, I don’t need to follow you when I can have you whenever I want you.”
In a flash, I toss my punch in his face.
In the split second after, even the crickets know to be quiet.
A predator’s on the loose.
It doesn’t even faze him. In fact, he grins, and it’s both the most terrifying and hottest thing I’ve ever seen.
The feral smile on his lips is enough to have me backing away when he stalks toward me. Unfortunately, I run right into a tree, effectively caging me in.
“Baby girl, what am I going to do with you?”
“I’m sorry,” I rush, flinching when he gets right in my face. He leans in, his hands on the tree on either side of my head, and try as I might, I can’t help but breathe him in.
“I don’t think you are,” he murmurs, his voice barely above a whisper. Heat slips through my veins as if he’d licked between my thighs, and warmth gathers in my core at the dark, low tenor of his voice. “I think you wanted to do that.”
“Just leave me alone,” I grit, and he smiles. It’s devastating.
“I can’t do that, Ava.”
“Why?” I scoff. “Because of a piece of paper? You could have any girl in the world, yet you’re terrorizing me. I do everything you ask, including forgoing any sense of moral dignity I had, and for what? For you to punish me for doing something I want to do for once?”
“Is that why you came here tonight? To piss me off? Did you want me to remind you of our contract?”
“ Fuck the contract,” I grit, tears burning in my eyes. “All you care about is that stupid contract. You’re so hot and cold it gives me whiplash. One minute, you make me feel like trash. The next, you’re storming in here, demanding I live and breathe for you. What do you want?”
He doesn’t respond, and a rush of anger washes over me. I shove at his chest, letting out a growl.
“What do you want , Levi?”
Something briefly flashes across his face before it’s wiped away. I can’t place it, but it’s almost as if his gaze softened for a moment.
I know I must have imagined it. Levi Cross doesn’t know what guilt is.
“Did I hurt your feelings?” he asks, and despite myself, my chest aches at the mocking leer in his voice. “You want me to care, sweetheart? Is that it?”
“I don’t want anything from you,” I grit, though it feels like my heart’s going to beat out of my throat.
“You do.” He steps closer. A shiver slips through me at his proximity. “Want me to get down on my knees and show you how I worship you, Ava?”
I blink, closing my eyes when a tear slips out of the corner. “Stop.”
“Want me to go into that party and tell everyone you’re mine ?”
“Unless you’re getting your dick wet, I’m nothing more than a piece of trash, right? Let’s not act like you care.”
“Oh, sweetheart,” he grins, his teeth glinting in the moonlight like a wild animal. “You’re going to wish you hadn’t said that.”
I open my mouth to argue back, but I don’t get the chance before he seals his lips over mine and steals my breath.
He tastes like the punch I threw at him, and the taste mixed with him is intoxicating. Despite myself, my body reacts to him. My hips press against his, silently begging him to touch me, right here, where anyone could see us.
It’s been less than twenty-four hours, and yet I feel like I’ve been touch-starved for most of my life.