A Broken Fate (The Beautiful Fate Series book 2) (20 page)

“I
’ll only be a few hours.” Ari moved my chin to look me in the eye.

I nodded. “K.”

“Do you want me to walk you home first?”

“We can take her, Ari. Just get going with Nick.” Andy said from across the room
.

Ari looked at me he raised his eyebrow.

“I’ll be just fine. Please be safe.”

“
Of course.”

I walked home a bit later with Andy and Aggie. “Do you want to stay with us tonight, Ava? Ari might not be home until real l
ate. You could stay with Lauren.”

“No, Aggie. Thanks though. I
’ll be ok.” She nodded and they both walked me up all the way to my back door.

I slid the door open and saw Aggie move her eyes back and forth between
Andy and me. She kissed Andy on the cheek.

“I would feel better, Ava if I stayed with you.”

I felt a rush of relief at her words. “Ok, thanks, Aggie.”

Chapter 17

Just Clothes

On Saturday, a few of us went down to the beach to surf and lie around in an attempt to give our minds a break from all the heavy. Lauren lent Luke Ari
’s old board so I watched Ari give Luke pointers and try to teach him to surf. It was fun to watch. I had my laptop open, too and worked on some research until Julia and Rory came stomping up the beach from Gianna’s home. Julia was screaming at Rory and the scene was not a pretty one. She stopped right at my beach blanket, turned around and screamed at Rory to get away from her. He threw his arms up, turned around, and headed into the water toward Ari.

I shut my laptop and patted the blanket next to me for Julia to sit down. She climbed on with me and put her head on my shoulder.

“What was that all about?” I asked her.

“Los Angeles,” she replied.

“Again?”

“Rory is upset about this situation with Nick. He wants to be closer to home, closer to his family. He told me last night he was moving home, too and I could come with or stay in L.A by myself. He said the choice was mine.”

“Wow… So what are you going to do?” I asked Julia.

“I don
’t know. I can’t stand the idea of living with his parents again but I don’t want to live in L.A. without Rory. I can’t afford school and getting a place off campus, close to home, while paying for gas for the commute. I just can’t find a way to make it work. And in the meantime, we keep fighting.”

I rubbed my temples and could not believe what I heard myself start to say: “Julia I have a proposition for you, but I haven
’t spoken to Ari yet so you’ll have to check with him first, but if you want, you and Rory can take one of our spare bedrooms.”

“Oh. My. Gosh. Are you serious, Ava?” she shrieked.

“Yeah, I guess I am, but listen, there is danger where I am and you have to understand that.”

“Ok, I do,” she nodded enthusiastically.

Ari and Rory came up the beach moments later. Ari unzipped the top part of his wet suit, letting it hang off his hips, and ran his hand through his cold, wet hair. His looks still mesmerized me.

“Hey, Ava,” he said, “can I talk to you?”

I stood up and walked down the beach with him.

“I told Rory he and Julia could stay with us, in the spare bedroom downstairs, if it was okay with you.”

I laughed.

“Look, if you don
’t want them to, I completely understand. I just feel so bad for him and it’s not like we don’t have the room. And I mean, he
is
family.”

“Ari, it
’s ok with me. I already told Julia they could move in as long as it was okay with you.”

He smiled at me, “Ava Zae, you
’re the best. I never thought we would get married and live with my cousin, ex-girlfriend, your gay best friend and his boyfriend.”

“We really do live glamorous lives,” I teased.

“It won’t be forever. One day this will be over and it will be just you and me and then maybe you will change your mind and have my baby.”

“Ari I…”

He kissed me before I could give him about a thousand good reasons why a baby was a very bad idea. Ari wanted kids and I did not. How could I when I had seen so much death? Not fair, I heard in my thoughts, to place the burden I bear on an innocent and helpless child. I had said as much to Ari on several occasions, but I knew he didn’t agree...we had a perfectly lovely spare room, right down the hall from our bedroom, and he had not offered that room to either Rory or August. It was completely empty, unfurnished and painted white. I knew he was waiting for a baby before he did any finishing details in there.

****

Rory and Julia didn’t waste any time moving their stuff in to our home. They drove to L.A. that night, taking both my car and Ari’s, and packed up then drove straight back. They made several trips and the last one brought them back to our place really late, but both Ari and I were still up, watching some highly addictive and unbelievably trashy reality show marathon. We were both yelling at the people on the TV when I heard the front door open and then a loud crash that followed right behind it.

Ari got up to see what happened and I heard Rory yell out a few cuss words.

“What was that all about?” I asked when Ari flopped back down on the couch.

“Rory just tripped over that big box you left by the front door.”

“What big box?” I asked, having no clue about what he was talking about.

“You know that one box that came a few weeks ago? It
’s been sitting there, untouched, ever since you signed for it.”

I sat there forever racking my brain, trying to remember signing for a box, and then it finally dawned on me.

“Ohh, the one François sent from Montréal.”

I just barely remembered signing for the package, back when I was in my zombie-like state.

“Yeah, that one. What’s in it, anyway?”

“Obviously, I do not know, Ari,” I said with playful attitude. “As you just saw, I left it sitting in front of the door for the last three weeks, unopened.”

He threw himself on me in a playful attack and I broke out into a fit of laughter as he tickled me and kissed me all over. Once again, I forgot about the big box.

It had grown late and Ari stood up and stretched his hand out to me to take hold. He pulled me up to my feet and we walked together to our bedroom. Ari began to unload his pockets on to the dresser; he slipped off his watch then his shirt. I pulled open his dresser drawer and pulled out a tee and some boxers. I walked with the clothes in to the closet and shut the door behind me.

I can do this. They are just clothes.

I gave myself a pep talk. I shoved the borrowed tee-shirt and boxers on to a shelf in the closet and walked to the back corner where a row of very sexy, lacy teddies hung neatly together. I closed my eyes, grabbed a black strappy piece of lingerie, took a few deep breaths and
for the first time slipped on the clothes.

I cracked the closet door open
; our room was lit by the soft candle-like glow of the bedside light. Ari was just walking out of the bathroom. He ran his hand through his hair and began to walk over towards the bed. I pushed the closet door open the rest of the way and did my best to walk out calmly. Ari looked up at me. He blinked, smiled slyly, cocked his head to the side and ran his tongue across his bottom lip. I blushed. Ari pounced. He was at my side in a heartbeat. Ari knotted his fingers around the back of my head and pushed me, hard, back against the wall. His lips were on mine. I moved my hands down to the hem of his shit and struggled to pull it off him. He beamed at me and pinned me to the wall with his hips while he pulled the shirt, with sexy grace, away from his lean body. Ari grabbed hold of my bottom and slid me up the wall while he dropped his boxers to the floor. He wrapped my legs around him. He pulled at the bottom part of my lacy, black attire and flexed himself up against me. I closed my eyes and let my need for Ari take control.

****

We were splayed out in bed. Ari was running his fingers over the lacey fabric. “I was wondering when I was going to see you in this.” He tugged at a strap.

I shifted and looked up at him. “What do you mean? How did you know I had this?” Although the lingerie had been in our shared closet, it was in a deep, dark corne
r that had gone unexplored by Ari.

“
I was golfing with my dad, Thais and Rory a couple of weekends ago- remember?”

“Yes, I remember but that doesn
’t explain anything.”

“Let me finish.” He tugged hard on the strap between his fingers and then let go causing it to smack and sting the back of my thigh. The noise was harsher than the bite and I giggled.

“My dad, very chipper for five in the morning,” Ari continued, “was explaining, in-between holes three and four, that Aggie, my mother, had come home from a shopping trip with Ava, my wife and that you two women had located the new lingerie section at
baio
. My dad went on to tell my uncle just how great my mother looked in the color red. My dad then proceeded to ask me, with a wink, how my evening had gone. I had nothing to report- you and I hadn’t done anything in a
long
time – if you get my drift.” Ari frowned. “So anyway, my dad carried on with his story and told me that my mother had told him that you, Ava, had a wardrobe full of sexy little things just like this.” He slapped me on my bottom, playfully. “So every night since then I have waited, and waited…. and waited to see you come out of that closet in something other than my underwear.”

“Well, you should have said something.” I pouted.

“I rather enjoyed the suspense. Will she… or won’t she. I honestly didn’t think you had the nerve.”

“Well, you were wrong.”

“Mmm.” He ran his finger up the inside of my thigh. “I can see that. Now, as I recall from the
baio
catalog, sitting on my desk at work, this little black scrap costs a
lot
of money. I think we should get your dollars’ worth.”

“Ari, I didn
’t pay for this.”

“Minor detail…” He said as moved himself on top of me on the bed. We spent the rest of the evening reconnecting, being in love, making love and strengthening our bond in marriage.

****

I wrapped a silky, black robe tight around my body and opened our bedroom door to make a pot of coffee. It was early in the morning and the house was still dark. I took a step and walked straight into something hard and big. I yelped and held on to my shin.

“Why is there a box in front of my bedroom door?” I yelled at anyone who could hear me.

Rory came out of the kitchen
and looked up at me.

“I got tired of tripping over it,” he said past a mouth full of cereal while holding up his shin to show me
the giant bruise he had on it.

“Please put the box in the study for me, Rory. I don
’t want it here,” I said, a little annoyed that he was already messing with my stuff.

“Fine,” he said, scooting the box a little more forcefully than necessary back down the hall, past the front door and into the study.

“Why don’t you just open it?” he asked when he came back.

“I don
’t know. I just don’t feel like it – haven’t you ever been so lazy that you would rather avoid something than actually take the time to deal with it?”

“You know who you are talking to right? This is Rory after all,” Ari laughed as he walked out of our bedroom.

“Right. So I’m sure you can relate,” I said to Rory who was now lacing up his running shoes.

“You commin?” He asked and started to stretch out his hamstring.

“Running!?” Finally, a perk to Rory as a roomie.

“Yes, running. Let
’s go. I’m leavin’.”

“Give me a sec, I need to change.”

I turned and walked straight in to Ari’s bare chest. He grabbed my shoulders and steadied me. “Are you sure that’s a safe idea?”

“It
’s just running.” I said with an eye roll.

“Ava,” Ari closed his eyes. “The last time you ran out there you went missing for a week and came back to me broken, bloody and seriously messed up. Don
’t forget, this issue with The Kakos is not yet over. I don’t think it’s wise for you to go. ”

“I
’ll be with her, Ari. I won’t let anything happen to her.”

Ari ran his hands through his hair.

I pouted and frowned.

Ari looked back and forth between Rory and me. He pursed his lips and sighed. “I
’ll go along with you.”

“You want to run?” I asked Ari thinking I had misunderstood him.

“Not particularly. I got all of the workout I need last night. But I want to keep you safe and happy. If this makes you happy then count me in. I don’t have to be in class for a few hours.”

“K!” I shouted and ran passed him to the bedroom to dig out my Under Armour.

The three of us ran down the sandy beach. It was quiet and still a bit chilly for the November morning. The waves crashed hard against the shore. Ari stayed a few steps behind us and Rory was giving him grief about not being able to keep up the pace. After the third or fourth insult Rory threw at Ari about being slow, weak or pathetic, Ari responded.

“I
’m just enjoying the view, Roar.”

I turned around and caught Ari staring at my behind.

“Pervert,” I mouthed. He smiled playfully at me and winked.

“You know, Ava…” Rory huffed. “When Ari and I were young, I would challenge him to race me. He has never, ever been able to
out run me…ever.”

“Rory, don
’t put me in the middle of this.” I sighed and picked up my pace.

“What he
’s not telling you, Baby, is that my mom would bribe me to lose so Rory wouldn’t cry. If I let Rory win, she would buy me new surf gear.”

“Nut uh!” Rory yelled out
angrily.