Intaglio: Dragons All The Way Down (24 page)

“Tell me what
you want,” Cole ordered, voice dark and low.

She giggled,
turning her face away from him in embarrassment.

“You know,” she
muttered, leaning in to kiss him again.  His hands moved up from her breasts to
her chin, holding her face steady, forcing her to look at him.

“Tell me...” he
said quietly, voice raw.  “Tell me what you want me to do to you...”

“Cole…”

“I want to hear
you say it.  Out loud.”

She moaned, body
aching with need.

“Kiss me first,”
she said, wavering nervously.  It felt odd giving him directions in the bright
light of day, rather than in the darkness of her bedroom. 

He kissed her. 
It was almost brutal in its intensity, over as fast as it began, like being
sucked into a tidal wave and thrown back out again.  Ava groaned in desperation
as he pulled back.

“Tell me how you
want to be kissed...”  Cole prompted, one hand dropping to her waist,  grinding
against her.  The frustrating barrier of their swimsuits left little to the
imagination.

 She tightened
her arms around his shoulders, whispering in his ear.

“Cole, I want
you to kiss me… hard, on the mouth… and I want your fingers…” she giggled
again, dropping her face to his neck.

“Where...?”  he
asked, teeth grazing the lobe of her ear.  “Where do you want my fingers, Ava?”

She looked back
up at him, mouth parted with desire.

“Inside me…”

: : : : : : : :
: :

The week was
over too quickly and they boarded the plane sated with sun and surf.  Chim and
Suzanne slumped down in seats on one side of the aisle.  Across from them, Ava
and Cole followed suit.

Cole was
completely sober this time, and though he squeezed Ava’s fingers painfully
during takeoff, he made it through without incident.  He grinned as the plane
levelled off, releasing her hand from his grip, then lifting it gently to his
mouth to kiss.

“Thanks,” he
said shakily. “Not so bad this time.”

 “Not nearly as dramatic
though,” she teased.

He laughed at
her answer. Ava reached down to pull Nina’s books from inside her carry-on,
determined to give them at least a partial once-over in case Nina asked her
about them.  While Cole looked out the window, she opened the first page.

A piece of paper
fluttered to the floor.

Ava leaned over,
picking it up from between the seats.  She stared down at it for a long moment,
her eyes tracing over the text once and then again, her fingers starting to
shake.

“Cole...?” 

He turned back
toward her, face anxious, hearing her tone.

“What’s wrong?”

She handed him
the paper without answering. His face blanched, eyes drawn to the neat cursive
text, written in a looping hand.  Picture perfect, just like her.

“This is Nina’s
handwriting.”

Ava nodded.

Cole stared, a
line of concern appearing between his brows as he read the message.  His eyes
lifted to meet hers.  She could see the pain and confusion in them.

“I think you’re
going to need to talk to them both when you get back,” Ava said.

With a sigh,
Cole handed back the piece of paper, staring back out the window.  Seeing
Cole’s withdrawal into himself, Ava was desperately glad she hadn’t opened the
book until just now.

Her eyes dropped
down to the note once more:

Ava,

I can only tell
you that the affair was just the start.  There’s far more to the story, but
Frank will have to be the one to share the rest.  He isn’t ready yet, but I’ll
talk to him again today.

I wasn’t kidding
when I said I believed in telling the whole truth, no matter who got hurt in
the process.  You and Cole both deserve to know.

I’m so sorry for
all of this. 

Nina

: : : : : : : :
: :

For the rest of
the flight, Cole sat in angry silence, melancholy and distant.  Ava flipped
through the book, unable to focus on the storyline at all.  With a sigh, she
shoved it back into her bag, the paper tucked inside. 
‘What a fucking
mess...’
her mind prompted.  She flashed to her father reading her teacup,
the earnestness on his face.

“There’ll be
some moments when you need to step in and you should be ready for that.  It’s
going to be a hell of a fight, but I think you’re up to it.” 

Ava twirled her
hair nervously between her fingers, over and over, playing with it the way she
had as a little girl.  Cole’s anger made her edgy and nervous; that reaction,
in turn, was making her want to run.  All of the good feelings from their
vacation were now soiled. 

‘Thought I was
past this...’
she thought in dismay. 

As the silence
stretched on, her thoughts went to her father.  It was moments like these that
she really missed him.  These were the times when she needed someone to talk
her down, to give her perspective on managing the stress.  She couldn’t wait
for Oliver to get home; four weeks until graduation suddenly felt like a
lifetime.

Partway into the
second hour of the flight, Suzanne fell asleep, so Chim began chatting with Ava
and trying to lure Cole into conversation.  Cole muttered monosyllabic answers
for a few minutes, then turned to the window.  When Cole headed to the
washroom, Marcus stepped across the aisle, taking the empty seat next to Ava.

“What’s up with
Cole?”  he asked.  She shrugged, not knowing how to explain.  “You guys have a
fight or something?”

Ava sighed,
twisting the ribbon of hair between her thumb and forefinger.

“No,” she
muttered.  “Not us.”

“Well, what,
then?”  Chim asked again.  “He looks like he’s gonna start a fight with
someone.  He hasn’t said two words to me in the last hour.”

With a weary
sigh, Ava leaned forward, pulling the note from her bag.  She handed the paper
to Marcus, waiting while he read it.  His face, usually easygoing and content, 
grew cool and contemptuous. 

“Cole’s
stepmom?” he asked.

Ava nodded.

“What’s her
angle?”  he grumbled, nose flaring in annoyance. 

“What do you
mean?”

Marcus sat
back.  This was the Chim she knew who talked himself out of arrests, who could
end a fight with carefully chosen words as quickly as with fists.  He had a
gift for reading the intricacies of a situation.  It was one of his strengths,
and Ava trusted his judgement.

He drummed his
fingers along the armrest, then cleared his throat.

“What is she
getting out of this?” he asked quietly.  “I mean why drag you into this at
all?” 

 “I... I dunno. 
‘Cause we’re friends, I guess.”  Chim’s tone that bothered her, and she shifted
nervously under his gaze.

“What, Marcus?”

Chim gave her a
half-hearted smile.

“She’s using
you, Ava.  Find out why.” 

It was nearly
ten o’clock when the plane set down, though it took them almost an hour to get
all of their baggage and load it on a trolley. The group piled into Suzanne’s
hatchback to head into the city.  Chim told stories, embellishing them all the
way that only he could. 

Cole sat in
silence.

He was irritated
by their laughter, infuriated by the easy banter.  There was too much going on
inside him.  Too much he couldn’t control.

Rage.

Ava reached over
to take his hand but he pulled away, staring out into the wet darkness.  The
city streets were slick with rain, a perfect companion to Cole’s dark
thoughts.  He clenched and unclenched his fists, fighting to rein in his
temper.  The calm of the vacation had been destroyed by Nina’s revelation. 

‘The affair was
just the start...  There’s far more to the story...’

By the time they
reached downtown, Cole’s body pulsed with the need to hurt someone or himself. 
He needed to get out of the car … the laughter… the companionship… Ava. 

Suzanne slowed
down as they neared the building where the shared studio was located.

“I’m just gonna
pick up a couple things since we’re here,” Suzanne explained, pulling the car
to a stop, and tugging the emergency brake.  “I hope you guys don’t mind the—”

Cole was out of
the door before she finished.

“Thanks for the
ride back,” he growled, storming away without looking back, “I’m outta here.”

Chaos erupted.
Chim yelled for him to wait, Ava argued to be let out, Suzanne asked what was
going on.  Cole ignored them all.  He headed away, crossing the busy street in
a half-jog.  He could hear Ava calling, but he dodged the oncoming traffic, 
heading toward the main thoroughfare.  There were any number of questionable
bars there.  There would be an easy place to find a fight. 

He’d done it
before.

Cole had been
walking for a few minutes when he located the right locale.  It had dingy,
dirt-covered windows, loud heavy metal music buzzing the grated door, and a
neon sign flashing “op–n.”.  Cole was just about to duck inside when he heard
pounding footsteps behind him.  He smiled coldly as he spun around, hands
rolled into fists, wondering who else was looking for a fight tonight.

He stopped in
his tracks.  It was Ava, and she was furious.

“Where the HELL
do you think you’re going!?” she snapped, striding forward until she was chest
to chest with him.  

She was
breathing hard from running.  Bright pink blotches coloured on her cheeks.  It
struck Cole that he’d never seen her so angry before. 

“I needed to
take off,” he ground out, face stony.  “You
know
why.”

Her fingers rose
to his chest, poking hard.  His temper rose – abruptly focused on her – and he
pushed the monster back down under the surface.  He couldn’t let it out… not
here… not with Ava!

“You don’t have
to do anything!” she shouted.

Cole sneered.

“You don’t
understand a fucking thing,” he snarled, turning back toward the bar.

She was at his
side before he’d gone two steps, grabbing his arm and pulling him roughly to a
stop.  She was really strong when she wanted to be... but he didn’t think about
this for long, because he was too full of fury.

He needed a
fight to release it.

“You do NOT get
to run off on me, Cole Thomas,” she bellowed.  “Not now!  Not after all of the
SHIT we’ve dealt with!” 

She was in his
face, breathing hard.  Cole tried to turn again, but she grabbed hold of his
wrist.  This time she didn’t let go.  His eyes flicked down to her hand, the
muscle in his jaw jumping quicker and quicker.

“Don’t,” he
warned.  Ava’s hand on his wrist infuriated him in ways he could not explain. 
Not even to himself.

“Don’t what?”
she hissed, pushing into his space so that they were standing only a
hands-breadth away from one another.  “Don’t care?  Don’t say anything?  Don’t
touch you?”  She was red-faced, her voice bitter.  “Since when do you get to
give ME the fucking rules, after all the crap you’ve pulled, huh?”

Cole watched
her, ready to react.  If he’d already been inside the bar, his hands would’ve
been ready to throw the first punch.  But this was Ava, and that had changed
the rules.  A tiny voice inside him screamed at him to calm down.  She stood on
the rainy street, waiting for his reaction.  He could see it in her face and
posture.  Her hand was still clenched tight around his wrist.  She expected him
to try something.

“I want an
answer!” she yelped, her voice breaking sharply.

Like a splash of
cold water on a raging flash fire, a number of things were abruptly clear. 
First, that her hand was shaking where she held him.  Second, that her lower
lip was quivering as if she was about to cry.

She was scared.

At the
realization, his temper dropped down to a steady blaze.  He didn’t move or
change his stance, but suddenly he was listening.

“This isn’t
about you!” he barked. 

He wanted to be
out there where the lines of bars and one-night hotels lay… to drink and fight
and cauterize the gaping wound in his chest with the physicality of pain.  He
wheeled on Ava.

“I’m just fucked
up... okay?!”  he roared, the sound echoing loudly off the brick wall behind
him.  “I’m just so goddamn MAD at everyone and I…” he shook his head, not
knowing how to make sense of it.   “I don’t know how else to DEAL with this
right now!”

She nodded, her
lips pursing. 

“Yeah, I get
that.”

Cole’s temper
still burned, fury and disgust and resentment wrapping around him.  The
rational side of him was telling him to listen to what she was saying, but the
pain was too deep.  He glanced at Ava’s hand on his wrist again.  She still
hadn’t let go.