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I left the meeting room, while already pulling my phone out of my pants. I dialed Ava’s number as I stepped outside the bar. It rang a few times, before she answered. Her hello was groggy, but I could hear the sound of the television in the background.
“Ava.”
“Hey…I’d fallen asleep. What time is it?”
“Doesn’t matter. I need to speak to you,” I said, walking over to my bike. When I saw the side view mirror, I was reminded of the way her t-shirt and bra were dangling from it while I plowed into her. It made me instantly hard; just the thought of her body.
“Okay, what did you want to talk about?”
“You need to tell me your ex boyfriend’s name,” I said and there was silence on the other end.
“Commando…”
“Just tell me his name, Ava. Don’t make this difficult for me,” I said, my voice deepening with anger. Dad was right. This asshole needed to be gone from the picture, before I could even think of having anything with her. My first priority was to ensure her safety, so that it wasn’t overwhelming all my thoughts all the time.
“Why? What are you going to do?” she said and I ran a hand through my hair.
“You don’t need to think about that. Just tell me who he is.”
“Yes, I do need to think about it, Commando. This is my ex boyfriend we’re talking about. Not some random guy on the road!” I heard the cackle in her voice, although she was speaking in a hushed voice. She didn’t want her friend to hear us arguing.
“To me, he is a random guy. A bastard who laid his hand on you. And it’s time that I dealt with it,” I growled into the phone, clutching it tightly to my ear.
“Dealt with it how, Commando? I don’t want you to kill him. I don’t want blood on your hands,” she said and a whimper entered her voice. I was silent for several moments and then she let out a gasping cry.
“There’s already blood on your hands, isn’t there? You’ve killed people before. This is normal for you!” she was sobbing as she spoke and the sound of her cries was driving me nuts. I wanted to break the phone, I wanted to burn my bike, I wanted to punch someone. Anything to make her stop crying!
“Ava,
stop, please, just don’t cry,” my voice had dropped by several decibels. I couldn’t stand another moment of hearing her cry. I would have smashed the glasses of the side mirrors if she didn’t. Her sobbing grew softer, and then she sniffed and I imagined her wiping her small nose with the back of her hand. I clenched my fists, hating myself for making her cry.
She hadn’t completely stopped, or she couldn’t stop and either way, I could still hear her sobbing.
“Fuck. Ava. Stop crying or you’ll make me come over there!” I growled deeply and her sobbing grew softer.
“Okay, I’m not crying anymore,” she said and I breathed in deeply.
“I don’t care what you think of me, Ava. This is what my life is and I’ll understand if you don’t want to be with me, but I want to fix this for you,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm as I spoke to her. She sniffed again and then her breathing became more even.
“Blaine Salzburg. That’s his name,” she said and I pressed my eyes close. She had told me his name. I didn’t know what she was thinking. What she thought of me or if she still wanted to be with me, but this Blaine fucking Salzburg was a dead motherfucker.
“Okay,” I said.
“Okay.”
There were a few seconds of silence between us.
“I’m afraid of what he’ll do if he finds me again, Commando,” she said and I gritted my teeth. This was exactly what I didn’t want her to feel.
“I’ll take care of him,” I said.
“What if he hurts my friend? What if he hurts Charity?” there was raw fear dripping from her voice and now I was glad that I had pried his name out of her. She was trying to be prideful and pretending to be strong earlier. The truth was that she was scared.
“I will make sure he never comes near you, Ava. I promise,” I said and she sniffed again.
“Okay.”
“I have to go now, you should get some rest,” I said and stopped myself from saying more. There were other things bubbling at the tip of my tongue. I was afraid of blurting something out that she didn’t want to hear, that I should not have been telling her. Not now. Not when she was going through this.
