Chapter 21
ALEX
Alex’s stomach plummeted as Ava’s voice crackled in his ear.
“Ace, it’s not working. I can’t get the retina scan.”
Every beat of his heart thundered loud in his ears, a relentless drum that had begun the second he’d pulled into Miranda’s driveway and now threatened to burst into a full-blown panic.
His features twisted as he tried to keep track of both threads.
Between the demands from Miranda to the problem with Ava, his brain whirled, desperately trying to keep both situations moving forward.
In front of him, Miranda crossed her arms, an annoyed expression on her features. “Don’t give me that pained look. What is it that she has that keeps you on the hook?”
The answer to her question was too long and involved for him to get into, but the short answer was he loved Ava. But now wasn’t the time to extol her virtues.
“Babe, you’ve got to get closer to her.”
Alex swallowed hard, taking a step closer to Miranda. “Look, uh…” He shifted his weight, his shaky voice unable to come up with an answer.
“Closer, Ace.”
Miranda heaved a sigh. “I just don’t get it. I mean, she’s pretty, yes. But she’s clearly not into you. I mean, didn’t the sudden appearance of another man clue you in?”
Alex tried to reign in his panicked breathing as he lunged forward and grabbed Miranda by the shoulders, bringing his face within inches of hers. “How many times do I have to tell you not to talk about Ava that way.”
Her eyes went wide as she stared at him for a moment, appearing to be shocked.
“I got it, the scan worked,” Ava’s voice crackled with a mix of relief and urgency through the earpiece, her success sending a wave of relief over Alex.
He blew out a sigh of relief, dropping hold of her and taking a step back. Wiping away the sweat on his brow, he shook his head. “Sorry, I just…Ava is part of the package.”
“You’re an idiot,” Miranda said with a scoff. “You are passing on the opportunity of a lifetime for a woman who visits you what? Once every two years?”
“That’s not fair, Miranda. You know as well as I do how valuable Ava could be. Her intelligence, her insight–why would you exclude someone who brings so much to the table unless you’re threatened?”
“We don’t want your smart, savvy wife. We want your genius tech and your code.”
“But Ava–”
“Save it. If you’re that stuck on her, then this opportunity isn’t for you. You’ve just screwed it up for a woman who couldn’t care less about you.”
Alex cocked his head. “That’s not–”
“True? It’s absolutely true. What part of she’s engaged to someone else did you not understand?” An expression of understanding crossed Miranda’s features. “Ohhh, or do you not know Chris is her fiancé? Oh.”
She threw her hand back with a laugh. “Tell me she’s got him under your roof, and you have no idea.”
Alex’s jaw tensed as he searched for a response while he waited for Ava to find the key.
“No answer, Alex?” Miranda said. “That’s what I figured. Get out of my house. You’re too stupid for The Board. But we will have fun dismantling your life after your refusal to work with us.”
“I’m not…I…”
“Get. Out.” Miranda said with a sharp poke toward the front door.
He stumbled backward toward the entrance when Ava’s voice whispered in his ear. “I found the key.”
“Miranda, wait–” Alex gasped at words, anything to delay her, to buy Ava those crucial seconds needed to erase her presence from the room and slip away unnoticed.
“Out!” Miranda said. “You do nothing but waste my time.”
She stepped around him to whip the door open and, with a deep frown, she shoved him out the door.
He stumbled onto the porch, the door slamming shut in his face with a resounding thud that echoed the finality of his dismissal. His heart continued to race as he stood staring at it. “Avs…” he whispered.
“Yeah, I heard. I’m being careful. Get in the car, go to where you dropped me off.”
“I don’t want to leave you here,” he breathed, his stomach twisting into knots.
“It’s okay, Ace. I’ll be there soon.”
His lower lip trembled as he stared at the door, considering if he should listen to her or try to break down the door and find her. He ripped off his glasses, his fingers tightening around them.
“I don’t hear you walking.”
“Ava, I don’t like this.”
“Every time I have to tell you to get in the car, you’re putting me in more danger.”
He ran a shaky hand through his hair as he spun to face his car. She was right. The longer he hung around, the more suspicious Miranda could become. He needed to walk away, but it felt so terribly wrong.
He took a few steps toward the stairs leading to the sidewalk, the guilt of walking away with Ava still inside gnawing at him.
“I’m going,” he answered her as his bounced down the stairs and hurried to the car. “But you’d better be right behind me.”
“I’m trying, Ace.”
“Do more than try, Sparky. I want you back with me five minutes ago.” He climbed into the car and fired his engine.
She clicked her tongue at him. “There you go being bossy again, Ace.”
“You know me,” he said as he backed from the driveway, “someone’s got to steer the ship while you play superhero.”
He shifted into drive and pulled away from the house, his heart breaking into a thousand pieces as it faded in his rearview mirror. He felt like he was abandoning Ava to a pack of wolves.
“Ava, please tell me you are out of that house,” he said as he slowed to a stop where he’d dropped her off.
She didn’t answer.
He drummed his fingers against the steering wheel as he chewed his thumbnail. “Ava…come on. Answer me.”
Still no answer.
He held his breath, his features pinching. “Damn it, Ava, answer me.”
Another few seconds passed, seeming like an eternity. He cursed under his breath, kicking himself for walking away from her when she needed him. No wonder she’d looked for another fiancé.
“That’s it. I’m coming back for you.”
He shifted the car into drive, but before he could whip it around to return to Miranda’s the passenger door popped open.
He snapped his gaze toward it, his breath coming in tight gasps. Ava slid into the seat, slamming the door behind her.
He threw the shifter into park as he reached for her, pulling her into his arms. “Oh, Ava, thank goodness.”
She wrapped her arms around him, her hand rubbing his back. “I’m okay.”
“Yeah?” He pulled back from her, studying her up and down. “Are you sure? Where were you?”
“Being quiet because Miranda nearly caught me. She’s suspicious after I removed that chain lock. Hopefully, she chalks it up to being forgetful.”
“Oh,” he groaned, blowing out a sigh of relief as he pulled her close again. “Ava, we are never doing that again.”
“I’m okay,” she assured him again. “It’s okay, Alex.”
She gave him a few more seconds of closeness before she tapped his shoulder. “We probably should go.”
“Right,” he said, his voice still shaky.
He tugged the shifter into drive and aimed for home.
She rubbed his shoulder as he drove. “How are you? You okay?”
“Yeah,” he said with a forced laugh. “I’m fine.”
“You did good, Ace. You handled her well.”
A grin crossed his features at the words, beaming with pride that he’d impressed her. “I barely could concentrate.”
“But you did. You really did well, especially the improv on the retina scan.”
He offered a weak chuckle. “Yeah, that was…I hope I never have to do that again.”
She laughed as he took his hand off the wheel to wrap it around hers. “I think you scared her.”
“I scared myself.”
She flipped her hand, lacing her fingers through his and squeezing. “You’re braver than you realize, Alex. You got in between me and that thug at the warehouse.”
“Took a punch for you,” he added.
“Yep,” she said with an exaggerated nod. “See, you’re tough.”
He heaved a sigh as he turned onto his street. “Now just the bank job.”
“Hey, all you have to do is tech support for that.”
“Yeah, but I’m second-guessing that already. Ava, leaving you at that house was…”
“I know. But we both have to use our strengths. Yours is at the keyboard on this. I can handle myself. Okay?”
They pulled up to a mostly dark house.
Ava ducked to glance out of her window. “Looks like Chris went to bed. Good.”
Alex climbed from the car on wobbly legs, also pleased to hear that the bothersome builder wouldn’t be confronting them the moment they walked through the door. Miranda’s words about Ava choosing someone else echoed in his mind.
He shoved them aside as she grinned at him, reaching for his hand as they walked to the house. “We probably should get some sleep too so we’re ready to go tomorrow.”
“Right,” he said with a nod, too unsettled to even think of climbing between the sheets.
They climbed the stairs, and Ava waved the key as she hesitated outside of her door. “Put this in your safe. I’m not taking any chances.”
He grabbed it with a nod. “Okay. See you in the morning, Sparky.”
“Good night, Ace.”
She disappeared into her room, leaving him alone in the hall. As he shuffled to his room, his emotions crashed down around him, drowning him in a mixture of delayed upset and worry.
As his door clicked closed, Miranda’s words resurfaced in his mind. Ava had picked another man. She didn’t want him.
He opened his safe and placed the key inside, he tried to tell himself that she had looked elsewhere because he’d never confessed his feelings, but the gnawing thought that she’d reject him still ate away at him.
He changed into pajamas and paced the floor of his room, too agitated to go to bed. The upcoming bank robbery along with the emotional warfare his feelings for Ava waged inside him kept him from rest.
He went over their plan in his mind over and over. He’d reset the bank’s security which would give her exactly five minutes and thirty-seven seconds to reach the safe deposit boxes, access Miranda’s box, find the blueprints, return the box, and leave the bank behind.
Spinning on his heel, he crossed the room in the opposite direction as he scrubbed his face. They could do this. Maybe.