Chapter Sixteen
Avery
I’d never played pool before, but I’d picked up quite a bit as an observer. Maverick tended to use a kind of intimidation technique to distract Ben while playing, behaving more confident than he probably was to get under his opponent’s skin.
Well, it didn’t work on me. Once I’d discovered how he played dirty, I’d decided to do the same.
And it was strange to admit, but I found myself really enjoying it: the hanging out, the competition, being around Mav. Just all of it. My nerves were still present, but not as severe as they had been when we’d first arrived.
“Man, Avery.” Maverick shook his head as he looked at the table. “Never thought I’d say this, but you are kicking my ass this game.”
He’d won the first game, but I’d gotten better the second time around. I had one ball left, and he had two. So it wasn’t a total butt-kicking. Yet.
Ben sat behind us, munching on some chili fries. I kept looking back at him, and he’d give me a thumbs-up with chili stained fingers.
I looked at Mav. “Afraid your title will be taken from you, big guy?”
The corners of Mav’s blue eyes crinkled. “Not today, short stuff.”
It was almost easy to forget about the former awkwardness between us: the unexpected kiss, the punch, and then the week of little communication following it. Even as we stood across from each other, playing a game and having a great time, an unspoken barrier separated us.
I didn’t know what we were doing, what he wanted, or if we could even be friends after what happened.
“You okay?” Maverick asked as his brow dipped in the middle.
Damn. There was so much concern in his eyes too.
“Yeah,” I answered. “Is it my turn?”
He nodded, but his face remained guarded, as if he could tell I was full of crap.
Focusing on my last ball, I bent down and gently tapped the cue ball. The solid was pocketed, but so was the white ball. A freaking scratch, so it was Maverick’s turn. Not surprising, he knocked the rest of his in, and then went for the eight ball. However, he missed.
Maverick’s sapphire eyes flickered to mine, and he looked so sexy that I momentarily forgot where we were. Heck, I probably forgot my own name.
“Call a pocket,” he said, and his voice was deeper. Raspier.
Or maybe I just imagined it because my whole body was buzzing with sexual tension.
“Um,” I said before clearing the lump in my throat. “This one.” I tapped the middle left pocket with the stick.
“Let’s see what you got,” Maverick said with a sly smile.
After taking a deep breath, I lined up my shot. My hands shook, which made the stick wobble a bit. I didn’t hit the cue ball hard enough, so it moved just a few inches and tapped the eight ball. Of course.
“Wow, Avery,” Ben said before giving a slow clap. “That was bloody brilliant.”
“Shut up,” I said, looking back at him. “At least I made it to the eight ball unlike someone I know.”
Ben laughed before messing with his red hair. “Dude. Point taken.”
Maverick took his next turn after calling the pocket, and he made the eight ball in. But he also scratched, so I won. It didn’t feel like a real victory, though. Kind of like winning a talent show just because you were the only one that showed up or something. A win by default.
“Good game,” Maverick said, reaching to touch my back, but stopping before he made contact. He withdrew his hand and shoved it in his pocket instead. “Wanna go again?”
“Actually,” Ben said, hopping out of the chair and nearing us. “I need to head home. My parents don’t like me out past nine.”
“On a Saturday?” Maverick questioned.
“They’re paranoid,” Ben answered as his cheeks reddened. “My mom is a mortician, and she sees a lot of crazy crap. So she just likes me to—”
“Wait. Hold up.” Mav studied him with a serious expression. “Your mom is a mortician? Like she works with dead people?”
I gaped at Ben too. I mean, I knew someone had to do that job, but just the thought of it gave me goosebumps. He’d never told me what his mom did for a living.
“Guys, it’s not that big of a deal. Damn.” Ben cracked a smile as he looked between us. “You two look like you’ve just seen a ghost. I have before, by the way. I went to work with Mom before when I was younger, and one time, I was playing in the hall at the funeral home when I saw this little girl walk past me.” His brown eyes widened. “She had long, blonde hair and looked a few years older than me.”
I listened to his story, feeling the goosebumps spread farther.
“Well, I said hi to her,” he continued. “And she just looked at me with this blank expression before walking downstairs where the bodies were kept. I chased after her, but when I got down there, she was gone. Mom was at her work table, and I asked if she saw the little, blonde girl that just walked in there. The one with the red dress. And Mom’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head.” Ben leaned in closer to us. “Turns out, a little girl had just been brought in earlier that day. Car accident. And Mom had her body on the table.”
I shuddered, thoroughly creeped the hell out, but I busted out laughing when I saw Maverick’s face. His expression was one of pure terror.
“You’re shitting me,” Mav said. “Man, I’m gonna have nightmares tonight.”
Ben looked at me and winked. The guy was an evil genius. And creative. He should be a novelist one day. “I for real need to head home, though.” He looked at me. “You ready?”
Before I answered, Maverick spoke.
“I can take him home,” he said to Ben before moving his gaze to me. “That is, if you’re not ready to go yet.”
I was definitely not ready to go.
***
After Ben left, Maverick and I played one more game of pool—he won—and then we let another group of people have our table. It was almost ten o’clock, and instead of getting slower, business had only picked up as a bunch of college students trickled in. Maverick paid for all the drinks and multiple baskets of fries before turning to me.
“You wanna take a walk?”
“Sure,” I said.
We exited the pool hall, and I breathed in the outside air. After having been in the stuffy, over-crowded building for a few hours, the fresh air was much appreciated. The whole place was growing on me.
Port Haven was a special kind of haven, somewhere I was beginning to think I could settle into and feel safe for the first time in my life.
The night was cool, and I shivered before crossing my arms. I’d forgotten to grab a jacket before Ben picked me up earlier.
Maverick stopped walking, and I did too. He shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over my shoulders. A protest was on my lips, but he shook his head.
“Don’t argue.” He grabbed his shirt and pulled it down from where he had it bunched at three-quarter sleeve. “See? I’m good.”
“Thanks.” I slipped my arms through the jacket and tried to ignore how his amazing scent drifted upward and surrounded me. The jacket engulfed me too, which I liked for some reason. “I didn’t know it’d get so chilly tonight or I would’ve brought mine.”
“It’s cool.”
“Where are we going?” I asked as we walked down the sidewalk, away from the pool hall and toward… nothing.
Everything was behind us and we were going into the unknown.
“You’ll see,” he answered, still with that smile on his too-perfect face.
And he was perfect. His teeth were probably a dentist’s dream, and his sharp jawline, perfectly positioned brow, and his straight nose, made him look like a model instead of a high school student.
But what truly called to me wasn’t his appearance, but the guy beneath it. The one who willingly gave up his jacket without hesitation, one who had the most sincere smile I’d ever seen, and one with highly expressive eyes that always told the truth, even when he was silent.
Deciding to trust him, I walked with him to wherever it was he was taking me.
Even if it was to my death.
I laughed out loud at the thought, and then froze.
“What’s so funny?” he asked, softly bumping my shoulder.
Might as well go with honesty.
“I was just thinking about where you could be taking me, and I played out a scenario where you’re a serial killer and you’re luring me way out here to butcher me.”
“Dang. You caught me.” Maverick faced ahead as the path ended, and he began walking through the grass. “But I’m stumped on where to dispose of your body. Any suggestions?”
“Hmm.” I tapped my chin and met his amused stare. “Maybe chop me up into pieces and throw me into the ocean?”
“So you can be fish food?” He visibly pondered the idea. “That’s an awesome way to give back to the environment.”
“Indeed. It’s the circle of life.”
A silence passed between us before we both started laughing. Crazy how something so sinister could be so funny. Or maybe it was just the ridiculousness of it all. Whichever the reason, it felt great to laugh like that. So free and uncaring of anyone’s opinion.
I stopped laughing and looked at Mav, who was still smiling ear-to-ear. “This is nice.”
He cocked his head. “What is? Talking about chopping you up into a million pieces?”
“Being with you,” I said and my chest tightened at the same time the words left my lips. “I’m sorry for pushing you away this week. You didn’t deserve it.”
“Yeah, I sorta did, though,” he said with a serious tone. “Kissing someone without their permission is wrong.” He turned his head more away from me. “It’s like sexual assault. I’m so sorry. If I could take it back, I would.”
I couldn’t help but laugh again, less out of actual humor, and more because the guy had obviously been torturing himself about it and had misinterpreted my behavior. He’d believed I’d shut him out because I was upset about being kissed without consent, when really it was because I was so deep in self-hatred that I knew I didn’t deserve someone like him.
“I don’t think it was assault,” I said, giving him an apologetic look. “If I was different, I would’ve loved it.”
“What do you mean?” Maverick asked, looking down at me. We were away from the town lights, so it was harder to see his expression.
Instead of answering him, I faced ahead, noticing that the ground was sloping. “Are we going down a hill?”
“Maybe,” he answered, and his lighter tone told me he was back to his usual self—if not completely, then at least enough for him to be playful.
No more was said for a while. We traveled down the hill, and once I realized where we were going, I froze on the spot.
Up ahead, the moon reflected off the ocean’s surface. Even in the poor light, I saw the dark water moving, slowly lapping at the dock and a little on the shore. My insides coiled and my pulse quickened.
“I can’t go any farther,” I said, staring at the water.
Maverick halted his step and turned to me. “What’s wrong?”
“I… I’m afraid of the ocean,” I confessed. “I know how stupid that sounds, but—”
“It’s not stupid.” Maverick stared at me in silence a moment before holding out his hand. “It’ll be okay. I promise.”
My next decision could result in two different paths. One, I could say no, step back, and refuse to go with Maverick. Or… I could place my hand in his and trust he wouldn’t steer me wrong.
Meeting his eager stare, I grabbed his hand and entwined my fingers with his. “Okay.”
And then he smiled in a way I hadn’t seen before. It took my breath away. As we walked closer to the water, I focused on the warmth of his hand in mine. His hold wasn’t tight, but not loose either. Just… perfect.
My anxiety started clawing through my chest and up my throat as we got closer to the sea. We neared the water, and my knees began quaking. The grass had evened out to mostly flat ground, but we were going toward a huge rock jutting out of the hillside. And it was right over the Pacific.
I tightened my grip on him, needing to know he was with me.
Right before it was too much for me to handle, Mav stopped.
“Is here okay?”
Many seconds passed where I could only stare at him. Too afraid to look elsewhere. The water against the dock sounded, as did the occasional dinging of the buoys farther out. In my head, I pictured the dark water waiting not too far away; hiding what lurked beneath the surface.
His hand squeezed mine, and his gaze was unwavering.
Finally, I looked away from him and to the area he’d taken me.
The large slab of rock was big enough to where I could sit several feet from the edge and not feel like bolting. The closeness to the water still had me in a slight frenzy, but it was bearable, as if Mav had pushed me out of my comfort zone just enough to challenge me, but not enough to push me too far.
I nodded, not trusting my voice.
Maverick sat down and gently pulled me down too. One side of me said to let go of his hand because it was beginning to feel way too familiar, but a bigger part still needed him. So I kept holding on.
“Can I ask why you’re afraid of the water?” His voice was barely above a whisper. “It’s cool if you don’t want to tell me.”
It was as if the silence around us forced a quieter volume. Like when it snowed and all the noise was pulled from the air. That’s what it felt like; except for it was an eerie ocean instead of a field of snow.
“Not exactly sure,” I answered, noticing how loud my voice sounded compared to his. It was a bit unsettling; being so loud in an area that remained so silent. So, I took my volume down a few notches. “The ocean seems never-ending, just a massive stretch of deep water. The unknown scares me. And it’s a bit ironic too. A man can get lost at sea and die of thirst because the water is like poison.”
Maverick brought his knees up and rested one arm on them while still holding my hand with the other.
“I feel that way about space,” he admitted, staring out over the rock. “I know it’s not exactly the same thing, but the idea that space is infinite, that you can go up there and travel for years and years and still not reach the end… I don’t know. It just creeps me out. Maybe it’s too advanced for my brain to understand.” He looked over at me. “Nothing can just go on forever, can it? All things end. Eventually.”
I thought on his words.
Could anything truly be infinite? People grew older, buildings crumbled and turned to dust, and the flowers that blossomed in spring died in winter.
“Twinkies,” I said, sharply turning my head toward him and smiling when his eyes met mine.
His lips twitched. “What?”
“Twinkies are infinite. They last forever.”
When Maverick laughed, it was like the world slowed around me. All I knew was the rumble of his laugh and the sight of his eyes as they crinkled around the edges. The warmth of his hand in mine.
“I think you’re on to something,” he said with a smile in his voice. “Twinkies will outlive us all.”
I grinned and averted my gaze from him.
I realized how opposite we really were: he was afraid of what’s above and I was afraid of what’s below. Maybe it was why we worked so well right in the middle, in between space and the depths of the sea.
Just two boys sitting on a rock and holding hands, talking about the immortality of Twinkies. Night and day couldn’t co-exist. However, right before light was shrouded by darkness, there was a moment when dusk reigned.
That’s where we were now, in that speck of time. And although I knew dusk wouldn’t last forever, I saw the beauty while it did.