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"I don't even know what the hell you're talking about, Ty. You're not making any sense."
"She's just a girl, Ava. I know she belongs to Josh and even if she didn't, it wouldn't be in the cards for us, okay?"
"Whatever," Ava answered, still not getting it. "So where are you going?"
"To see Ethan," Ty answered with a straight face before breaking into a massive, shit-eating grin.
A burst of excitement erupted inside Ava's belly. "No, you're not!" she blurted, dropping the shirt she was holding. "Can I go?"
Without answering, Ty strode toward her and wrapped her in a bear hug. "Of course you can go. I'm not a big enough dick to leave you behind, and if I showed up without you, Ethan would murder me anyway."
Ava hugged her brother and then leaned back enough to look up into his face. "I don't always understand why you do the things you do, but I love you more than you'll ever know."
His expression softened, but he didn't say a word. He didn't need to. He just ruffled her hair as he stepped away. "Get ready, little sister. We're leaving in an hour."
Through her excitement, an arrow of anxiety hit her. "What about school? I can't just skip. I'll get into trouble."
Ty lowered his voice and mimicked their father's tone. "You're not going to skip, young lady. Your father's going to call the school and tell them you're sick."
Ava covered her mouth to stifle a laugh, and immediately began packing.
****
Ethan slammed out of his dorm room yet again, even more pissed than he'd been the last time he'd stormed out, if that was even possible. At least this time he hadn't walked in on a damn orgy. The residence hall for men's athletics should have been a place where he could find some goddamn peace and quiet. But most days, it didn't happen.
The number of girls who traipsed in and out of the building, whether they were allowed or not, was utterly ridiculous. He had neither the time nor the inclination to stop and chat every time some random chick tried to get his attention. And it happened more often than he cared to think about.
How the hell many times did he have to say, 'I have a girlfriend'? The information didn't seem to slow them down. The chicks here seemed to think that snagging a football player as a boyfriend was the crème de la crème of the college scene. And the fact that his roommate was on a mission to see how many girls he could fuck? That was fucking fantastic, that meant there were chicks in his dorm room all the damn time.
Ava would freak if she knew about any of it. But what the hell was he supposed to do? He'd already lambasted Cade more than once. In fact, he and Cade had almost come to blows the day after Isabel had tried to turn a threesome into a foursome. So really, all he could do was stay out of his room as much as possible. These days, whenever he wasn't in the gym working on physical conditioning, he was studying in the common areas, mostly the student center and the library. But he'd found out quick-fast that the girls hung out in the student center as well, and they had no qualms about striking up a conversation with him.
So, the student center was pretty much out.
That basically left the library. At least when he was in the library, the need for quiet slowed the girls down somewhat. Although he caught sly glances here and there, he was mostly left alone. And he desperately needed to be left alone.
Every minute of every day he had an agenda: live and breathe football, be on top of his game; study hard to make good grades that would see him able to put his Engineering degree to good use. He wasn't after a degree just so he could play football; it was just the opposite. He was playing football so he could get his Engineering degree. And not just get the damn degree; he'd actually like to retain what he was learning so he would be prepared when he finished school and started his career.
And he missed Ava so fucking desperately and he worried about her constantly. The anger he felt toward her parents hadn't dissipated a damn bit. He worried they were wearing her down, upsetting her all the time. It made his blood boil. Especially her mother. He'd lost all respect for her dad because the guy wouldn't stand up to his wife, but jeez, the anger he felt toward Mrs. Anderson wasn't healthy, even for him. And Ava had to put up with her mother's bullshit on a daily basis. It wasn't good for Ava's emotional state and it damn sure couldn't be good for their baby.
Seriously, he was counting the fucking days until April first. He'd already researched it. They'd go get a license, and three days after that, they'd find a courthouse and get married. Probably in Redwood Falls, which held the county seat. And then he'd have Ava out of her parents' house in a couple of hours flat. His parents had his back. They'd already offered to let Ava live with them, as long as she was eighteen—Thank God.
As he walked across the commons, heading toward the library, he swore to God that he'd just spotted Ava in the crowd, but he knew it could only be a mirage. He thought about her constantly, dreamed about her all the time, even if those dreams turned into panic attacks that woke him up from REM with sweat running down his spine. It wasn't the easiest thing to think about, supporting a family at nineteen.
As he continued to watch the girl walk toward him, his heart began pounding against his ribcage. That dark hair, that sexy walk, those hellacious curves. Holy Fuck! It was Ava!
Ethan didn't think. He just took off in a run so fast it would have made his coaches proud. And then he was grabbing her and lifting her off her feet and twirling her in the air. She laughed as her hands came down to clutch at his shoulders as he brought her to her feet. "I can't believe it! I'm fucking dreaming, right?"
Before she could answer, a deep voice let out a sarcastic snicker. "Dreaming?" Ty snorted, rolling his eyes.
As Ethan clutched Ava to his chest, not about to let go any time soon, he turned and glanced at Ty who was watching him with a twisted grin. Ethan held tight to Ava with one arm and offered his free hand to Ty.
They shook briefly, then Ethan kissed Ava for all he was worth. And then he held her at arm's length and took a few moments to study her. He'd seen her only a couple of weeks before, but now she was pale and although she'd always been a voluptuous, curvy girl, her features now appeared taut—stressed to the extreme. Her mother's goddamn fault.
He tried to push the bad thoughts from his mind and focus on the good shit, which was Ava (and he supposed Ty, as well,) standing in front of him. "Hey, baby," he whispered, staring down into her beautiful face.
She licked her lips and stared up at him with big round eyes. "Hey."
"I'm glad you're here. You have no idea." He tried to contain it but found himself squeezing harder.
"Yeah? I think I have somewhat of an idea," she countered, smiling.
"How the hell did you get away?" he asked the both of them.
Ty answered for her. "The parents went to Dallas and we needed a road trip, you know?"
"Yeah." Ethan did know. He'd do anything within his power not to be in their parents' vicinity, as long as he could get Ava away from them, too. "How long can y'all stay?"
Ty answered again. "Ava can stay the night, if you promise to take good care of her."
Ava turned to her brother as if she had no idea what he was talking about. "Are you going somewhere?" she asked with surprise.
Ty put his hands on his hips and looked around, almost as if he didn't want to answer. "I'm gonna get you settled and talk to Ethan for a bit, but yeah, I'm headed to Houston."
"Houston?" both Ethan and Ava asked in unison.
"Houston," Ty reiterated without elaborating.
"Are you looking for a job?" Ethan asked.
"Maybe. Doubtful. Look, I'm just checking out my options. Visiting some people."
"What people?" Ava asked as if she'd actually get an answer from her brother, but Ethan knew better. Ty already wore that closed off expression that Ethan recognized so readily.
"People," Ty answered succinctly.
"You don't know anybody in Houston," Ava argued.
"You don't know that," Ty snapped.
"Who?" she asked tenaciously.
"What do you care? You're not my mother."
"Hey," Ethan was forced to interject. "Don't be a douche—not to Ava."
Ty let out a long sigh as he shook his head. "Dude. I brought her to you against everything I knew my parents would want. I'm not being a douche just because I don't want y'all all up in my business. Take a fucking hint, okay?"
