Chapter Thirteen Ava
A s I stared at my heavily lined eyes and glittery purple eyeshadow in the mirror, I shook my head. “I’m getting too old for this.”
Lexie snickered as she rolled on lipstick. “You’re not too old until your tits are at your knees.”
I snorted. “ That’s the only parameter we have when we give up dancing at the restaurant?”
Wrinkling her nose, Lexie replied, “Can you think of any better ones?”
“Yeah, like when you hit thirty, you’re done.” Motioning to my intricately beaded gold and purple costume, I replied, “No more belly dancing.”
“With your banging body, you’re not even close to being done,” Lexi remarked.
Every year for the Greek festival, my parents went all out with the Greek regalia. We dressed in traditional costumes. For the young women in my family, that meant performing as belly dancers.
For most of my youth, I loved dancing on tables, twirling napkins, and breaking plates. I even enjoyed all the money that would get placed into the waistband of my costume. But tonight was seriously going to be my last time. Next year I was hanging up my provocative belly dancer attire and donning the Corfu style the older women wore.
Dani motioned me with her curling iron. “Sit down, and let me do your hair.”
“Fine,” I grunted. When I plopped down in the chair, I winced. Despite a dose of Advil and an ice pack, my vagina was still ached and not in a good way..
With a snicker, Dani said, “Are you sore?”
“Unfortunately yes.”
“Too big or too much use?”
“Both.”
She whistled as she wound the curling iron through a strand of my hair. “Lucky, lucky bitch.”
Shifting in the chair, I winced. “It’s so bad I think I’m going to have to take an epsom salt bath tonight.”
As Dani and Lexi snickered, my mom entered the office. Outfitted in her Corfu costume, her salt and pepper brows knitted at the sight of me. “Did you sprain a muscle at rehearsal, my koukla ?”
Even at thirty, my mother still insisted on calling me her beautiful doll. “Uh, no. Why?”
“You just said you needed an epsom bath.”
With a grin, Dani said, “Oh that’s for her–”
I elbowed her stomach. “I did too much dancing last night. Between it and rehearsals, I’m really sore.”
“Such a liar,” Dani muttered.
“I will kill you,” I mouthed at her reflection in the mirror.
Placing her hand on my shoulder, Mom said, “You look so beautiful.”
“Thanks.”
“And what about us, Yaya? Are we chopped liver?” Lexie teased.
Mom laughed. “Of course not. Ava is my very beautiful daughter and Alexandra and Danielle are my very beautiful granddaughters.”
Lexie kissed Mom’s cheek. “Nice save.”
Mom smiled. “You’re welcome.” After glancing at her watch, she said, “I need to get back out front.” When she got to the door, she turned back around. “Don’t be too much longer, girls.”
“Yes, ma’am,” we called in unison.
Once we were alone, I smacked Dani on the arm. “I can’t believe you almost told Mom that my pussy was sore. I mean, do you want her to have a stroke?”
Dani laughed. “No. But it would be kind of fun to see her lose her mind that her precious angel Ava had banged a stranger so hard that it left her with a broken pussy.”
“My pussy is not broken!” I argued.
“Are you sure?”
“It’s just temporarily out of use.”
As Dani and Lexie both dissolved in laughter, I rose out of my chair. “Jealousy of me and my pussy is an ugly emotion,” I quipped.
“I can’t believe as much as you hate that word that you’re even saying it.”
“Desperate times call for desperate measures.”
As I made my way down the hallway, music and loud conversation floated back to me. When I got into the main room, tables overflowed with people. To help with the overflow crowd, tents had been erected out back. While we were always crowded on the weekends, we were the sought out restaurant during the festival.
Smiling, I waved to several of our regulars. I allowed a few frat boys to slide some Alexander Hamilton’s in my waistband. “Opa!” they cried.
I laughed at their enthusiasm. “Opa!” I called back.
A tall, lanky one in a backwards baseball cap gave me a seductive smirk. “Do you do private dances?”
Sweeping my hands to my hands, I snapped, “Does this look like a fucking strip club, jackass?”
With a wink, he countered, “Considering you’re showing a lot of tits and ass, it’s a possibility.”
“There’s also a possibility I could private dance my heels all over your crotch.”
“What if I get off on pain?” he teased.
Motioning my hand around, I added with disgust, “ There’s kids around.”
“ Kouklaki , is there a problem?”
Only one person called me his little doll and that was my father. As I whirled around, he held two plates of souvlaki while giving me a concerned look. Overprotective didn’t even begin to describe our relationship.
With a shake of my head, I replied, “No. Everything is fine.” When he narrowed his eyes at me, I added, “I was just talking to the customers.”
Although he was seventy-five, Dad appeared in his mid-sixties. He went to the gym everyday and had a body most younger men envied. He held out the souvlaki. “These goes to Table 9.”
“Yes, sir.”
As I started away, Dad leaned in to poke his finger in the cocky bastard’s chest. Whatever my father said caused the kid’s eyes to bulge while his face flushed red. I was so busy eyeing my father that I also ran into Nick.
“What’s pissed off Pappouli?”
I rolled my eyes. “Some pervy frat boys.”
Nick clenched his jaw. “Do I need to throw them out?”
“From the looks of it, Dad’s got it covered.”
“Keep me posted. I don’t mind taking the trash out.”
“Will do.”
After I deposited the souvlaki at Table 9, I turned around and ran right into someone. When I recognized Molly Wallis, I inwardly groaned. We’d gone to high school together, and she was the biggest town gossip.
Her brown eyes widened at the sight of me. “Oh my God, Ava, I didn’t think I’d see you tonight.”
I gritted my teeth. “It’s the festival. Where else would I be?”
“I just thought you might be laying low because of your divorce just being finalized.”
Women like Molly thought I should’ve hidden myself away in shame for what had happened with Preston. Obviously I had done something wrong to cause him to bang a high school girl. “Oh, it’s just for tonight. I’ll go back into hiding tomorrow,” I humorlessly joked.
She giggled. “You were always so funny.”
“I try.”
As her gaze slid down my body, she proclaimed, “You look amazing.”
Her comment shouldn’t have made me self-conscious, but it did. Maybe it was the fact I was bearing my mid-drift while my cinched up boobs were prominently displayed.
“Seriously, I just told Jace that I would totally divorce him if it meant looking as good as you do.”
“Yeah, I’m going to market the Divorce Makeover to make millions,” I quipped.
After giggling for a moment, Molly’s expression turned somber. “I just want you to know you’re in my prayers. I can’t imagine the humiliation you’ve experienced in the last few months.”
Inwardly, I rolled my eyes. “That’s kind of you.”
She patted my arm. “Hang in there. I’m sure this will all blow over in a few months. Or at least there will be some new town scandal.”
Considering my lack of sleep, I was just about to unload on Molly when Nick appeared at my side. “Hey, how’s it going?” he asked.
“Great,” I gritted out.
Nick turned his attention to Molly. “Was Ava telling you about her new man?”
As I stared wide-eyed at him, Molly’s face lit up. “Ava, have you been holding out on me?”
“You know it’s hard getting a word in edgewise with you, Molly,” Nick teased.
She giggled. “Jace says the same thing.”
Sliding his arm around my waist, Nick said, “Our Ava here is seeing a very handsome and very wealthy club owner in Boston. We were just there last night to see him.”
Fuck. Me. I was going to kill Nick. Like a slow and torturous death. With Molly’s gossip tendencies, half the town would know about me and Dare by morning. “What is the name of this handsome and wealthy man?” Molly asked.
Before I could make up a name, Nick replied, “Dare Kavanaugh.”
Her brows furrowed. “I think I’ve heard of him.”
“I’m not surprised. He’s a big deal.” Nick gave me a beaming smile. “I’m so happy for our Ava.”
As Molly stared expectantly at me, a fake smile curved on my lips. “I’m truly blessed.” Turning to Nick, I said, “We better get busy before Mom and Dad get on us.”
“Well, bye!” Molly called after us as I practically dragged Nick away.
Once we were out of earshot, I demanded, “Have you lost your mind telling her about Dare?”
“I could tell she was getting to you. I wanted to help.”
“By lying?”
“It wasn’t a lie. You did see Dare last night.”
Rolling my eyes, I argued, “But you made it sound like we’re dating, and that’s totally not true.”
“It could be if you hadn’t run out on him.”
“How long are you going to give me shit about that?”
“Until you get your ass in the car and go hunt him down in Boston.”
My jaw unhinged as his suggestion. “You aren’t serious.”
“Oh, I’m dead serious. That man was good for you. You came home practically glowing this morning.”
“That was just about the sex.”
“It was more.”
Grunting in frustration, I replied, “Besides lying about our non-existent relationship, I can’t believe you gave her Dare’s name.”
“I wanted her to be able to Google him, which you know she will.”
“And she’ll see him with a bunch of women who are not me.”
“Actually, there are very few pictures of his exploits out there.” At my questioning look, Nick replied, “I googled him.”
“Why am I not surprised?”
“Hey, I wanted to make sure he wasn’t a serial killer or something.”
“With his money, he could’ve paid to have the negative shit about him wiped off the internet.”
“I didn’t do a deep dive on him. Just a quick search.”
“What a nightmare,” I groaned.
“Stop overreacting. Dare will never know that I told some random chick that you two were dating. In the meantime, you get to look less like Sad Sap Sally in front of the town.”
I laughed in spite of myself. “You better be glad I love you.”
He winked. “Doesn’t everyone?”
“Okay, Mr. Ego, I’m going to work in the back room.”
“Shake those tits and ass,” he teased.
“Fuck my life,” I muttered as I walked past him.