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I lean back in my chair, wishing the ground would swallow me up as everyone goes silent.
“Well, I’ve only had one warning so far, so...”
“You’ve had a warning already? What for this time?” Trevor asks, placing his fork down in the same way that I have, his face going hard at what Jackson has said.
All of his attention is on his son now and I can see the car crash waiting to happen. I don’t want them to know what happened that night, I don’t want them to worry and I don’t want to be center of attention either.
“Well... this douche-” Please don’t say it
“Language,” Ty growls, tilting his head to Eli.
“Right, sorry. This person...” He winks. “From Ava’s college tried to start a fight with me. All because me and Ava were going outside. Anyway-”
“Please don’t, Jackson,” I whisper, my voice breaking as I can feel everyone’s eyes on me, most importantly I can feel his eyes on me.
“Wait... so that’s how you met?” Elena asks from the other end of the table. I close my eyes, wishing I had some kind of super power; being able to turn invisible would come in really handy right about now.
“Yeah, and this dou- person grabbed Ava’s arm.” I take a deep breath and open my eyes, keeping them firmly on the fork that’s on my plate.
“Jackson...” Charlie warns.
He doesn’t listen to him and carries on, completely unaware of what’s going on around him. “So, I tell him to take his hand off her.” He rolls his eyes. “Long story short he punches me in the face-”
Elena’s gasp rings loud throughout the room. “You didn’t hit him back did you?”
“Nah.” He shakes his head, picking up another forkful of potatoes and I breathe a sigh of relief that he hasn’t said anything. “Not until he punched Ava anyway.”
“Shit,” I mumble right before I hear several chairs scrape across the floor.
Tonight is not going to plan, at all.
“He what?” Ty thunders. “Charlie? You know about this?”
I look up to him and watch his face turn a weird shade of red, opening my mouth I go to say something but Charlie shakes his head at me, then says, “Yeah, it’s all sorted.”
“Sorted?” Trevor growls, you can see where the brothers get their protectiveness from. “My Avie was assaulted and you didn’t think it was necessary to tell me?” His eyes swirl with anger as he watches Charlie.
“Well... I...” Charlie stammers, his eyes looking at everything but nothing at the same time.
My eyes fill with tears and I try to push them back. This isn’t what was meant to happen tonight.
“Guys,” Kay says softly, putting her hand on Ty’s arm, trying to get his attention. When none of them listen to her, she says it again, only louder this time. “Guys!” They all turn to her. “Can’t you see how much this is upsetting Ava. Sit down.”
All eyes swing to me and in that moment I really, really wish that my non-existent super power would kick in but, alas, it doesn’t and I sit here not knowing where to look.
Needing something, not quite sure what, I look up and my eyes find Corey’s.
I keep eye contact with him for three seconds, then look away, breaking the connection.
Pushing back on the chair, the legs scraping against the hardwood floors, I announce, “I think I’ll go to bed, it’s been a long day.”
Nobody speaks as Ava gets up and leaves the room with her head down, her eyes not looking at anyone and her movements stilted.
My eyes follow her until she’s out of the door and I have to keep my feet planted to the floor so I don’t go after her. The pull is nearly too much to resist but I manage to focus on everyone at the table.
I can see how much they all love her, with the way that they reacted, but as an outsider, I can see how she doesn’t need that reaction.
Knowing she’s been hurt sends my blood pressure through the roof, there’s nothing more that I want to do right now than to find the piece of shit that did it to her but there’s no point in acting on it.
