AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As I turn to wander back into my bedroom, my name gets me to stop. “Ava?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
The instructions are simple. The task is not so much. I’ve had so much change in the last few weeks it nearly seems like a year. I close the pink cap over the stick and don’t look at it before I try to rejoin my brother.
“You’ve got a lot of nerve coming here.” His voice rings in my ears.
“I only need to see Ava.” My name. Oh God.
“Like hell you will.”
Once I clear the other side of my doorframe, my eyes see what my heart already knows. Rafael is here.
We stare at each other on opposite sides of my open apartment door. I can tell Rafael is trying hard to hide it, but I can tell he has not slept well in days. I know he wants to focus on me, but Austin takes hold of the door above my head.
“Ava. Stay back. I’ve got this.”
“No. I can handle it,” I say.
Austin stares into the darkening eyes of my former love. “Hasn’t he done enough? Come on. You deserve peace. Since him you’ve had anything but.”
“I’m standing right here. You can address me, you know.”
My brother and Rafael both puff their chests out in an outward sign of modern duel. Who will back down first? Who will make the first move?
“Oh, I have plenty to say to you, most of which would likely send me to jail. I’m not going to hurt Ava more than she’s already. More than she’s still hurting. What I fail to understand is how you haven’t gotten the hint yet. Do you need goodbye translated into another language so it sticks?”
Rafael places his hand around the doorframe and leans in. At that point, I grab Austin by the shoulder and pull him back. “Please, I can’t handle this today. Let me take care of it.” I push my way in between my brother and the man I still love, praying so many things, but at the moment, making sure they don’t kill each other. “Rafael, what are you doing here?”
“I stopped by your office today for the meeting and Aaron said you went home sick. Are you all right?”
“I’m okay. I think I’m okay, I mean.”
“You think? What do you mean, Bella?” His strong hand curls around my cheek. “What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong? What’s wrong is you.” Austin charges back into the mix, tugging me out of the way and behind him. “She’s turned herself inside out emotionally to the point of exhaustion. She’s done everything she can for you even still, and you don’t even know it. You’ve changed her life forever and you still get to walk away. Fuck you.”
Austin reels his right hand back quickly and connects with Rafael’s jaw. His head jerks back and to his right. His right temple connects with the frame of the door. “Austin, stop it!” I shove him from behind. “Walk it off. Go!”
“I’m just trying to protect you, Ava. I told you I always will.”
“I know. I… I just can’t right now. Please, let me deal with this. Please?”
“Fine.” He gets nose to nose with Rafael. “You have fifteen minutes, you piece of shit. Fifteen. Then I will be tossing your ass on the street.” Austin leans in and kisses my forehead tenderly. “Text me if you need me sooner. Remember, I love you.”
Rafael turns his body sideways and lets Austin pass, while he glares daggers into his soul. Once I can hear the door to the stairwell latch, I can finally focus back on the mess in front of me. “You’re bleeding,” I tell him.
“I don’t care. Tell me, what’s wrong with you?”
“Come inside and I’ll help you get cleaned up.”
Rafael reluctantly takes my hand. I think I hear him sigh as our fingers touch. “I have a first aid kit in the bathroom.”
We walk slowly through the living room to my bedroom. He pauses just inside. I give his hand a gentle tug, he doesn’t move. “What?”
