Charlie made a disgusted noise, but he couldn’t hide his smirk. The man was practically drooling the second I gave him orders. “Fine, Ava. Whatever.”
He stomped ahead dramatically, off to do as I asked. I was nearly certain he was walking away with a hard-on. Oberi followed behind him, happily trotting on his paws with his tongue lolling out.
I wore a satisfied smirk. It didn’t matter if Charlie whined and pitched a fit about my requests, so long as he followed the command. After all, that’s what brats did.
Charlie wanted to play. Bringing the fun back into our relationship was just what we needed.
Or it could blow up in our faces. Only time would tell.
Chapter Twenty-One
CHARLIE
I wasn’t sure what was happening. Things seemed to be getting better between Ava and I, and it had come out of nowhere. What exactly had changed?
I couldn’t work out the solution. I tried, but didn’t get anywhere. We were back to sharing a bed at night, although she stayed on her side, and I remained on mine. I avoided brushing against her or touching her in any way, because I didn’t want her to feel pressured into anything. Worse, I worried she might feel trapped, so even though we were back to living together, I did what I could to give her as much space as possible. She would come to me, and whatever she needed, I’d give to the best of my ability.
Even so, our relationship was at a standstill. Ava and I lived like quiet ghosts passing each other in the night. We shared a room and a bed, but we didn’t do anything. There was no touching, no conversation. We laid beside each other at night, pretending the other wasn’t there, getting ready silently in the mornings before we went to our separate lives, then headed back to bed just as wordlessly at night.
The counseling sessions had helped us to be cordial, but I didn’t feel close to her just yet. We never talked unless we had to— I continued to teach her how to fight, but it was only when Chancey or Danny were there with us. Otherwise, I left the rest of her training up to Liam, while I avoided teaching her one-on-one.
We were making progress, but it was slowly. Ava cast out shitty comments made all in good fun, and sometimes, I’d take the bait, biting back a sentence or two.
But we never argued for long, and I missed it. I was afraid to play our games again because I worried it’d hurt us in the long run, instead of turning out to be the innocent fun I wanted it to be.
I think she was afraid, too. We were both being extra cautious because we didn’t want to hurt each other again. I was praying I wasn’t misreading her signals. I wanted to talk to her about it, but I worried about reopening old wounds, so I kept crossing my fingers and hoping one of us would be brave enough to bring it up without the other exploding.
We sometimes talked about Casey, but it was small things. I told her whenever the baby made progress, like when the doctor was able to take out Casey’s feeding tube. He was able to exist outside of the incubator for hours at a time now instead of short periods. The stiff dialogue was awkward and painful, but not as devastating as being apart had been.
We still hadn’t visited Casey together. I went by myself every day, staying in the NICU for hours while Ava busied myself with training. She popped in every now and then to see Casey, but it was only every few days, and she never stayed long.
Even with the progress we were making, our relationship still felt up in the air. I figured if she was taking the lead on this one, I had to follow her wherever it led.
I was with the baby in the NICU one April morning when I heard the door open. Casey was resting in the incubator, and I’d found myself dozing off in the medical recliner next to him while Oberi snored at my feet. I was so tired these days.
“Time to talk, kid.” Liam’s voice was gruff. “You’ve got another session to get to.”
Liam and Sophia never scheduled these counseling sessions. They just sprung it on us, like they were trying to teach us we had to be prepared for anything.
“Could you keep it down?” I complained. “You’re going to wake the baby.”
“Bullshit. That baby takes after Ez. He could sleep through a hurricane and so can that infant. Now let’s go.”
Well, that much was true. Casey was a pretty good sleeper. I got up, rubbing my eyes of exhaustion, and dragged myself after Liam as Oberi hopped onto his paws and trotted after us.
“What’s next on the torture list? Gonna throw me in a pool of lava? Drop me off a cliff? Dump me on some deserted island and ask me to fend for myself?” I threw all the sarcasm I had into my tone.
“Now you’re getting it. Took you long enough,” Liam stated. I grunted in response.
The stone underneath my shoes transitioned into grass, and I felt the sunshine span across my skin as we entered the gardens. Oberi sprinted to sniff the flowers, while Ava’s voice rolled across the area.
“We’re making progress,” I heard her say. “We can be in the same room without wanting to kill each other anymore. I think that’s huge.”
My heart still lifted every time I heard her speak. I wanted to snip its wings and tell it to quiet down, yet still, it soared.
“That’s good news, but only the first step,” Sophia replied. “Do you think you two are willing to let your guard down and rely on each other?”
I paused, hanging on her answer. I wasn’t sure how I would respond, myself.
