Ava
“Gavin, wait! Please!”
He doesn’t listen, doesn’t stop. He just keeps storming his way to the other end of the bar, where Shayne sits with his guys. Buck watches us with narrowed eyes as we pass by.
“Buck,” I call out, my voice nothing but a rasp. “Help me. It’s—”
With a rush, Gavin is gone. He lunges through the crowd and tackles Shayne out the side door. The music stops and the crowd goes quiet. I bolt out the door after them.
Under the light of a single street lamp, all I can see is Gavin’s dark hoodie clashing with Shayne’s white dress shirt as they hurl through the parking lot, bouncing off cars and stirring up dirt. I hear the sounds of fists hitting flesh, of grunts and growls. I try to yell at them, but my voice fails me. I look around desperately, searching for help among the people from the bar who have filtered out and now surround them.
“Somebody do something,” I wail, but no one listens. There are too many who have been waiting for someone to take Shayne on.
So I stand there, helpless, watching as they go at it, like two bulls locked in a battle out in the wild. Shayne’s a little bigger, but slower. Gavin’s quick and knows how to fight. Shayne manages to get his arm around Gavin’s neck, but he breaks free and spins, then nails Shayne with a hard punch to the face that sends Shayne wobbling, and blood streaming down his nose and onto his white shirt. Shayne’s guys rush in to jump Gavin, but Buck steps inside the circle, aiming a shotgun at the men.
“This stays fair,” he shouts. “One on one.”
The men glare at him, but step back. Shayne manages to get in a couple blows, hitting Gavin in the face and in the ribs, but then Gavin spins and kicks Shayne square in the chest, taking the wind from him. Shayne staggers backwards and Gavin pounces on him. He grabs Shayne by the collar and punches him in the face. And by the way Shayne’s head bobbles, I know he’d be falling over, but Gavin holds him up by the collar of his shirt and keeps hitting him, over and over. And then my stomach lurches when I see what he’s doing. He isn’t stopping. He’s—he’s going to kill him.
I rush up to Buck and grab his arm. “Stop this.”
“If any man’s got this coming, Ava, it’s Shayne. Let him—”
“No—no, you don’t understand!”
I watch Shayne stagger and fall out of Gavin’s grip to the ground. Gavin sways, hands on his knees, and wipes at a cut near his eyebrow, the blood dripping down his face.
By the way Gavin takes a step back, I think maybe he’s getting ready to walk away, but he closes in on Shayne again, grabs him by the collar and yanks him to his knees. Gavin lines him up and closes his fist. And then I know what’s coming. One perfect shot to the nose and bone would splinter into Shayne’s brain. My life would be free again, but Gavin’s would be over.
I rush between them, blocking Gavin’s way.
“Move, Ava!”
“No! I won’t let you do this! It’s your life, Gavin! He’s not worth it.” I grip his sweatshirt, the words tearing my throat up, tearing me up. “Gavin! Look at me! Look at me, please!” His wild eyes finally settle on mine. “He’s not worth it.”
Gavin staggers, his face suddenly weary. “No, Ava. He’s not worth it. But you are.”
“Gavin,” I choke, and the tears start pouring down my face.
His expression softens, to one of longing and despair.
Slowly, I reach back and uncurl Gavin’s bloodied fingers from Shayne’s collar. Instantly, Shayne’s body falls to the ground, and his guys rush over to him. I pull Gavin off to the side while quiet murmurs ripple through the crowd.
I reach up and dab at the bloody cut on his eyebrow with the sleeve of my dress, knowing this is all my fault. If I hadn’t gone out searching that night—if I hadn’t broken the deal…
Gavin takes my hand from his face, gently avoiding my wrists, and presses my fingers against his bruised lips. “Come back with me, Ava.”
I have to look away. I can’t see the pleading in his eyes.
“I can’t. Please—”
“You can! All you have to do is leave with me now. We can get your marriage annulled. We can send him to jail. All we have to do is show a judge your…wrists.” His voice cracks on the last word and he reaches up and strokes my cheek. “Please. Let me take care of you. I’ll do whatever it takes. Look, I know we just barely met, but I’ve never felt this way for anyone before. Do you hear me? Not even close. I want you in my life, somehow, some way. Please, Ava.”
There’s a path I see before me through the haze. One where I leave with him, let him take me away from the hell that threatens to break me. But the hell won’t stay behind. It’ll come find us. Shayne would come after me, after him. Even if he did go to jail, he’d get out eventually. And he would do whatever it took to destroy Gavin, and everything Gavin holds dear. His family. His career. His life. Not only that, there are three precious horses that would suffer. And then there’s Ben. I have no doubt Shayne would hold true to all his threats he made earlier today in front of the chapel.
But by the look in Gavin’s eyes right now, he won’t hear any of it. He’ll only see the now, see the black and white of the chaos around us. And no matter how much I plead with him, he’ll only push harder. So I have to do something else. Something that will hurt a thousand times worse then what Shayne put me through earlier.
I swallow hard, then pull myself from Gavin’s grip and step back. “No,” I say, coldly.
He blinks. “What do you mean, no?” His face twists with rage. “You’re going to stay with this fuck?”
“I’m his wife,” I reply, the words turning my stomach.
“Don’t give me that crap!” he shouts, pointing a finger at me. “You have a choice, here and now, Ava, and you’re going to pick him over me?”
There’s a lump in my throat as I nod my head.
Gavin shifts on his feet, as though needing to find balance. Off to the side, I see Shayne coming around and staggering to his feet with the help of his guys. He looks over my way, his face covered in blood, looking strangely vulnerable. The crowd still surrounds us, staring as though we’re the main attraction now. I hear the click of cell phones taking pictures and cringe when I think of all the media hell Gavin’s going to suffer through.
“Ava.” Gavin’s voice turns soft and he steps in close.
I shake my head and try to step back, but his bloody hands glide up and cradle my face, keeping me in place. “What does he have over you? It can’t be just about paying a debt, can it?”
I try to look away, but he won’t let me.
“Tell me,” he whispers.
I swallow down the scratches in my throat, giving myself time to search for words. I want to tell him everything, but he won’t get it. He’ll think there’s an easy way out of this, when there isn’t. Maybe we’ll steal some time and be happy, but just when we think we’re in the clear, Shayne will come and shatter everything.
Everything.
And so I gather up all the words I can, and lie.
“I don’t want you,” I hiss, yanking back from his touch, feeling my heart crack wide open as he staggers on his feet, like I’ve punched him. “It was one night. One night! I was supposed to be a fling, remember? Why can’t you leave it that?” I’m yelling now, hoarsely, with rage and fury and despair, not at him, but at my life, at all the fucked up things that have led me to have to put this poor, beautiful man through this. “Why’d you have to come here? Why can’t you leave me alone? Just go! Just go and never come back!”
Gavin blinks slowly, then says very, very quietly, “Is that what you really want, Ava? You want me to go and never come back?”
I can’t even say the word, so I nod my head, causing tears to shake free. A coldness settles into his face, a hardness that has little pieces of my heart falling away.
“Fine.”
He turns to go, when the wail of a siren approaches and headlights shine through the crowd. Seconds later, Sheriff Carson steps into the open, the brim of his hat set low, his big belly straining against the buttons of his shirt. “What’s going on here? Got a call about a fight.”
The crowd is quiet, but Shayne’s loud voice cuts through the silence. “He assaulted me!” he shouts, pointing at Gavin. “Again!”
The Sheriff glances to Gavin, then back to Shayne.
“I got all these witnesses!” Shayne says, waving a hand at the crowd. “They all saw him lunge at me. I wasn’t doing anything! Just having some fun on my wedding night and that fucker straight up attacked me!”
The Sheriff glances around the crowd warily. “That how it happened?”
I close my eyes, not wanting to hear the words that will surely follow. It’s Buck’s voice I hear first. “No, Sheriff. Was the other way around. This fella here, well, it was self-defense, plain as day. Ain’t that right?” he asks the crowd.
My eyes dart around, hearing agreement spread from one person to the next.
“Liars!” Shayne bellows. He turns to his guys. “Tell him!”
Red steps forward. “Shayne’s telling the truth, Sheriff.”
Sherriff Carson grunts, lifts his hat to scratch his balding head, then settles it back in place and lets out a sigh. It’s the word of thirty or more people—mostly respectable—against the word of four known troublemakers. “Alright, well…” He glances back to Gavin, then to Shayne. “You’re both standing, so no harm, no foul. Let’s break up this gathering. Go on. All of you, back inside. Nothing left to see.”
Even from the distance I’m at, I can see Shayne trembling with rage, but he keeps his mouth shut.
Slowly, the crowd breaks up and starts to wander in. I see Gavin and Buck exchange glances, as something unspoken passes between them, then Buck disappears into the bar, along with everyone else, and the side door slams shut behind him.
I know Shayne’s eyes are on me now, watching through the darkness, but all I see is Gavin.
He stands with shoulders slumped and turns his somber gaze to me.
My feet want nothing more than to run me to him, but I use every bit of strength I have to force them to stay in place. I just stand there and watch Gavin blink his beautiful green eyes, look down at the ground, then turn and begin to walk away. Tears begin gushing quietly down my face, then Gavin turns the corner, and he’s gone.