Chapter Thirty-Three
Maverick
Spring
Avery: You know I’m at work, right? Stop sending me those pics.
I grinned as I read his text.
I’d sent him a photo of me in my tight baseball pants—which he loved—and no shirt. I’d had to stay after school for baseball practice that day and had hit the weight room afterward. Before getting in the shower, I’d gotten the brilliant idea to tease him a little.
Opening the camera, I took another selfie, this one showing most of my face, but more importantly, my sweaty chest and abs from the workout I’d just had.
Me: I need a good cleaning.
After attaching the pic, I hit send.
Avery: Jesus. Getting a phone was a horrible idea. I’m now sporting a boner at work. Thanx. If Ruth fires me, it’s your fault.
Ever since he’d gotten his phone a few weeks earlier, all we’d done was text when we weren’t around each other. And we’d talk every night just so I could hear his voice before I went to sleep.
Me: That lady luvs you. Ain’t no way she’d fire you. Go rub one out in the bathroom real quick and you’ll be good as new.
Deciding I’d help him out with that, I checked to make sure no one else was around before taking another—uh, more revealing—picture. When I saw the stamp that he’d read it, but I still hadn’t heard from him minutes later, I walked to the showers with a smile on my face.
When I dropped by his work later on, the first thing he did was punch my shoulder like the feisty little emo demon he was, and then he kissed me.
“I get off in ten minutes,” he said, stepping away and facing the shelf of sculptures and modeling materials.
When he had to put something on the top shelf, he had to stand on his tiptoes.
“Need help there, shorty?” I asked, crossing my arms as I watched him.
He ignored me, but there was a small curve to his lips.
He was wearing black skinny jeans and a black band tee, as well as the bracelet I’d gotten him for Christmas. The only thing he was required to wear to work was the red apron with the store logo on it and his nametag. He didn’t have to conform to normality as he put it because Ruth basically let him wear whatever he wanted.
Ruth was pretty liberal for an older woman.
Once Avery was off work, he closed the store and walked outside with me. His mom had dropped him off at work before she’d gone to the restaurant, and I was his ride home. I grabbed his hand and guided him to my car, being a goofball by trying to swing him out and pull him back in.
We should’ve learned that lesson from the one time I’d tried to do it at the train tracks. It had the same effect. Avery slammed against my chest, and we both stumbled onto the hood of my car.
“A ballerina, you are not,” Avery said, slapping a hand to my right pec. “And yes, that is Yoda speak.”
“Mmm,” I said, doing my best Yoda accent. “Kiss me, you will.”
Avery shook his head before sliding off the car and holding his hand out to me. “Come on, you will, or kick your ass, I shall.”
“I love when you’re feisty, baby.” I grabbed his hand and led him to his side of the car. After unlocking the door, I opened it for him. “Did you eat dinner?”
“Yeah,” he said, getting in the car. “Ruth bought us Mexican.”
“Want a coffee then?” I asked after getting in and starting the engine. “I can make a quick stop by Brew E. Garrett should be working tonight.”
Avery agreed, and I drove down the strip toward the coffee shop.
Port Haven was beautiful in the day time, with the picturesque bay and green hillside. But Port Haven at night was like a different world. The night life on Main Street was amazing—so many stores lit up, people of all shapes and backgrounds going from shop to shop. Sometimes the bars. Okay, most of the time the bars.
“Did practice go okay today?” Avery asked. “You were awfully sweaty in those pics.”
I cracked a smile. “Yeah. I’m so ready for the game tomorrow. We’re goin’ to kick some hawk ass.”
Avery cocked his head. “What?”
“Your knowledge of sports hurts my soul,” I said before sighing dramatically. “The hawk is the mascot of the school we’re playing.”
“Too bad it’s not a parrot,” he replied, staring out the window.
I chuckled, knowing exactly where he’d gone with that. Our mascot was the pirate.
After snagging a parking spot on the street—which was close to a miracle on a Friday night—we went into Brew Emporium. Garrett wasn’t his usually cheerful self when he greeted us.
“You okay?” I asked him after ordering our iced lattes.
Garrett shrugged as he made the drinks. “I guess.” Then, he slammed the cup down and pinned me with a stare. “I lied. I’m not fine. You remember the casual fling I mentioned like a million years ago with the dude you called my sugar daddy? Well, we started dating. I thought things were going great, until he texted me this morning wanting to break up.” He scoffed and flicked his blond bangs out of his face. “A text! Months of dating, and he dumps me via freaking text message.”
“Ouch,” I said with a cringe.
“Right?”
Dang. I felt bad for the guy. We stayed and talked for a few more minutes before leaving. Back in my car, I pulled out of the parking spot and continued toward Avery’s place.
With Monica’s pay added with his, they were doing pretty well. They were still living in the same house, but there was a house closer to mine where they wanted to move—a three bedroom, two bathroom home with a fenced in backyard. It wasn’t in my same neighborhood as mine, but it was close.
We’d also started looking into local colleges. I didn’t need a huge, fancy school in order to enroll in a great science program. The university Garrett attended had a nice campus and a great community. It also had a great program for me and an architecture one for Avery. I’d done a lot of research back in December over them and then pitched the idea to Avery.
One of the nights he’d stayed with me, we had researched what was needed to become an architect, and he’d need a Bachelor of Architecture degree, which took about five years of schooling to get.
I’d also looked into scholarships for him, since he had the assumption he wouldn’t be able to go. We—aka me—had signed him up for a few of them, but we wouldn’t hear anything back until mid-May.
“Mav?” When I looked over at him, he arched a brow. “If you ever dump me through text, I will hunt you down.”
“No worries.” I laughed and focused on the road. “It’d be through a note, not a text. And I’d tape it to your door.”
He slapped my arm. “Jerk.”
“That sucks for Garrett though,” I said. “Break ups suck.”
“Maybe he’ll find someone else,” Avery said, and something about his tone made me shoot him a quick look. He shrugged. “What?”
“Like who?”
“Ricky,” he said, and I almost hit my breaks. “Seriously, Mav? You’re one of the most observant people I know, and yet you don’t see it?”
“See what?” I asked, still trying to wrap my head around his implication.
“Ricky has a thing for Garrett,” Avery explained, grabbing my hand. “I saw it the night we first went to the pool hall with them. And I saw it again, like, the dozen times since then.”
I thought on his words, wondering if it could be true. Now that he mentioned it, Ricky had seemed a little weird around Garrett.
The light mood trickled away once we got to his house and walked through the door.
Monica sat at the kitchen table with a glass of wine in front of her. She was visibly shaken. Her dark hair was pulled back into her usual messy bun, and she hadn’t changed out of her work clothes yet.
Declan was on the couch, staring at the TV, even though it was turned off. He had a faraway look in his eyes.
“What’s goin’ on?” Avery asked, letting go of my hand to approach his mom.
I closed and locked the door, but I didn’t move from the entryway. My gut twisted and my heart rate seemed to spike as I waited for an answer. The silence was deafening.
Whatever was wrong had greatly affected the family I’d come to see as my own.
“Oh, bug,” Monica said as her mouth quivered. She reached for Avery and took hold of both his hands, staring up at him as he stood beside her chair.
“He’s back isn’t he?” Avery asked as his body started to shake. There was so much fear in his voice that my heart shattered. “He found us.”
Not able to stay away when he was hurting, I strode toward him and had my hand at his back moments later, offering any support I could. He pressed against my side, trembling.
If his dad had found them again, there was no way they were staying there another night. We had a guest house they could stay in. That lowlife bastard wouldn’t ever hurt Avery— or any of them—ever again. Not as long as there was breath in my lungs.
“No,” Monica said as a tear escaped her left eye. “I got a call today. I don’t know all the details yet, but there was an incident at the jail where he and a couple of other inmates attacked a guard. He was shot. He… he’s gone, bug.”
It was then I realized that her tears were ones of relief. Like a massive burden had been lifted from her petite shoulders.
Avery didn’t move or say anything for a while. His body had stopped shaking, and the same look that’d been in Declan’s eyes was now in his. When he left my side to go sit beside Declan, I watched him walk away. They whispered, too low for me to hear, but I didn’t try to eavesdrop anyway. It was a moment not meant for me.
Monica grabbed my hand. “Thank you. You and your family have done more for us than my own family ever did. But especially for being so good to my bug.”
“You don’t have to thank me,” I said, sitting in the empty seat next to her. “I love your son with all of my heart.”
“I know,” she said, smiling and laying her hand over mine. “I see it.”
“Are you okay?” I asked, squeezing her hand.
“Never been better,” she answered as another tear fell from her eye. With a shaking hand, she grabbed her wine and took another drink.
***
After I called my mom and asked if Avery could stay the night, he packed a small overnight bag and we drove to my house. I didn’t want him away from me that night, not when I feared he’d cut. The ride there was quiet, and I hated not knowing where his head was at.
His unwavering stare out the window worried me.
Dad had just gotten home right before we did, so when we walked through the front door, we met him in the foyer. He was dressed in a nice shirt and slacks—his preferred clothes for under his white coat—and although he looked tired, he greeted us with a smile.
“Hey, Dad. How was work?”
“Good,” he answered. “A woman came in with a punctured lung, and I had to—”
“Dad. No,” I said, feeling squeamish. Funny how I loved science, but the medical aspect of it grossed me out. The only bad grade I’d ever gotten in science had been the assignment where we’d had to dissect a sheep’s eye. “Glad your day was good, but spare me the details before I puke.”
He snickered before giving a jaw popping yawn. “I’m going to bed. Make sure you get sleep tonight too, kiddo. You have a big game tomorrow.” He pulled me in for a side hug before ruffling Avery’s hair. “You too.”
Avery smiled as he patted down his hair. “The dead never sleeps.”
It wasn’t a huge exchange, but it was significant. Without saying it, Dad had accepted me—us. He didn’t treat Avery like an outsider anymore, and he’d stopped giving underhanded comments about me eventually finding a girlfriend.
By the time me and Avery made it to my room, it was almost eleven. My game was at one the next day, but I had to be at the field an hour and a half before that. I stripped down to just my boxers as Avery changed into pajama bottoms.
As we crawled into my bed, I pulled him into my arms. I wasn’t tired, and by the way he stared at the ceiling, I knew he wasn’t either.
“What’s goin’ on in that pretty head of yours?” I asked, brushing aside his bangs so I could see his face.
“I don’t know,” he answered. “I’m happy my dad’s gone.” He turned to his side and faced me. “Does that make me an awful person?”
“No.” One arm was beneath his head, and I held his side with the other, gliding my fingertips up and down his bare skin. “You’re not happy that he died, but relieved at the fact he’ll never be able to hurt you or your family again. There’s nothing awful about that.”
A moment passed as we lay like that. Having him so close awoke other urges in me, but he needed comfort right then, not sex. And I had no problem just cuddling the heck out of him all night, if that’s what he wanted.
I was nearly asleep when he nuzzled his face into my neck.
“Mav?” he asked in an unsteady tone. “Make me feel something. Please.”
My heart ached because I knew what he was fighting in that exact moment. The numbness that pulled him from his body. Gently, I lay him on his back before kissing up his chest, the side of his neck, and to his lips.
And then I made love to him like I never had before.
When we were coming down from our high, I pressed my forehead to his and just held him in my arms like he was the most precious thing in my world.
Because he was.
“Thank you,” he whispered, running his hand up and down my spine. As he touched the sensitive skin of my lower back, I got goosebumps. “I love you so much, big guy.”
“I love you too,” I said before kissing his temple.
Sometimes it wasn’t always your first love that meant the most, but the one that came afterward. The one who picked up the broken pieces of your heart and put them back together, showing you not only how to love again… but how to truly live.