Tainted Legacy (YA Paranormal Romance) (18 page)

“Well, I hope you’re hungry because that’s a lot of food,” she pointed out.

“I’m starving,” he assured her.

****

Gabe
had
been starving. Seemed to Ava he was
always
starving. While she’d eaten her share, Gabe had eaten the vast majority. He’d eaten until every last bite was gone. Then they’d cleaned up and he had pulled her over to the couch.

Her entire body hummed with anticipation as he leaned in to kiss her. Everything from his touch, to his scent, to the heat of his body next to hers made her want him. She wondered how long it would be until that feeling faded. Until it stopped feeling so new and exciting. She hoped it never would. She’d had boyfriends in the past, not a lot, she could count them on one hand, but not one of them ever made her feel the way Gabe could.

As his hands slid up her shirt and his lips danced their way across her neck, she found herself becoming absurdly breathless. So much so that she realized she was becoming lightheaded, as she often did, when he was kissing her.

“Gabe,” she finally groaned, “I’m supposed to be doing homework, remember?”

“Isn’t this more fun?” he asked as he pulled away, just slightly.

“Yes, which is exactly why we should stop right now,” Ava said with a laugh. “I have homework in Civics and a test in Chemistry that I need to study for.” She also had a paper due in her literature class and a group presentation in her health class but those, at least, weren’t due for a few more days.

Why teachers [>Wh’t d felt the need to cram so much into the last month, especially when so many of the students had already been accepted into college already, she was not able to understand. She thought it borderline sadistic, actually. With the beautiful spring weather and the excitement of graduation constantly on everyone’s mind, any homework always felt like a cruel punishment.

Furthermore, with a twinge of guilt, she was suddenly wishing she hadn’t agreed to help Molly make posters for a tennis team fundraiser the next evening. Because then, maybe she wouldn’t be feeling so desperate to spend time with Gabe right now, when she should be worried about academics instead.

Fortunately, Gabe made it easy for her.

“Okay,” he said as he sat back. “I’ll let you get some work done.” He picked her backpack off the floor and handed it to her.

She squirmed into a sitting position and pulled out her Chemistry textbook as she scooted to one end of the couch, Gabe to the other.

He grabbed a magazine of Molly’s that had been left on the end table.

“Get to work,” he told Ava as he flipped it open and settled against the cushions.

At first, Ava thought he was joking but he was being surprisingly cooperative. She watched him flip a few more pages until he found an article that he was seemingly interested in. After a few moments she managed to pull her gaze away from him so she could devote her full attention to the information they were being tested on.

She read the entire chapter, then pulled out her notebook and skimmed through her notes as well. She hadn’t thought she’d be able to study but to her relief, she felt that she was retaining most, though definitely not all, of the information. When she was finished she debated reviewing one more time but decided against it. She had a decent enough grade that she didn’t need to ace the test. She decided not to waste any more time on it.

She stuffed her Chemistry book back into the bag.

“Done?” Gabe asked with a hopeful look.

She shook her head and pulled out the dreaded Civics textbook. “No, I still have this to do,” she said as she held up a packet of papers. “But I’m so glad you planned this for tonight. With such a busy week I wasn’t sure when I was going to see you again.”

“How about Friday night? We can come back here,” Gabe suggested as he took her hand and started toying with her fingers.

Ava thought she would like nothing better than that. For the first time she started to think that moving into the cabin after her birthday might not be such a bad idea after all. She could have privacy.
They
could have privacy. On the other hand, maybe it would be a dangerous idea because resisting Gabe was hard enough already.

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But that was a thought for another time.

She started to shake her head.

Gabe’s face clouded with confusion. “No to Friday? You won’t have to worry about homework. You’ll have the whole weekend for that.”

Ava bit her lip for just a second. “I can’t,” she hesitantly admitted. “There’s this party I’m going to…” she trailed off at the questioning look on Gabe’s face. “Well, I’m not sure party is even the right word. At least, not what
you
would probably expect from a party. It’ll be more of a get together. Just some of my friends, some of the senior class, celebrating the end of the year. I kind of already agreed with Molly and Julia that we could make a girls’ night out of it.”

It was hard to find a balance between her friends and her boyfriend but it was something that was important to her so she was determined to find a way. She had never been one of those girls that ditched her friends for a guy and she had no plans of becoming that kind of person any time soon.

Despite how tempting Gabe could be.

“Oh,” he said as he leaned back into the couch. “Okay.”

Ava was surprised by the disappointed look on his face. “I would’ve invited you,” she told him, “but I don’t think you’d have much fun. It just really doesn’t sound like it would be your kind of thing.”

“No,” he scoffed. “It’s fine. You need to spend time with your friends.”

“You’re okay with that?” she asked.

He nodded. “Yeah, of course.” Then he grinned. “But it does make me glad that I have you to myself tonight.”

He slid over, pulling her body into his.

“Gabe,” Ava chastised, “I should really be filling out these worksheets.”

“You can,” Gabe said as he kissed the inside of her wrist. “I’m entirely capable of entertaining myself while you study,” he informed her as he proceeded to leave a trail of kisses up the length of her arm and finally, a lingering kiss on her neck. “See,” he said as he moved his lips to her ear, “I can keep very, very busy.”

She giggled as she playfully pushed him away. Already she knew she wouldn’t be getting any more homework done. She did a quick mental calculation of her grade and decided she probably had enough extra credit points that not finishing her study packet from Civics wouldn’t matter too much. Instead, she tossed it aside.

Gabe gave her a victorious grin as he gently pushed her down onto the couch.

She couldn’t stop the not-so-quiet moan that escaped her lips as an intoxicating warmth rushed through her body at the feel of Gabe’s hands on her once again. “You are such a bad influence on me,” Ava murmured, teasing as she wrapped her arms around him

He cut off any more half-hearted protests with a hungry kiss, wondering just how bad of an influence she was going to allow him to be.

Chapter 13

He did not want to admit to himself how his week had
dragged
on incessantly. More specifically, he did not want to admit
why.

They’d spent several hours at her cabin and he hadn’t seen her since. That night it had been clear that ^n>

Just a little.

In the meantime, in the following days, he’d kept himself entertained with thoughts of that night. Embellished thoughts, but thoughts nonetheless.

He found that the less he saw of her, the less he had of her, the more he wanted her.

He was used to spending the weekends with her but she was with her friends. He was sure that she had been right. He wouldn’t have had any fun if she would’ve invited him along.

Of course she was right. What fun would he have at a party where they were probably bobbing for apples, pinning the tail on a donkey or doing whatever mundane thing it was that
good
kids did for fun? So he hadn’t complained.

But now he found himself wanting to be where she was because…did he actually
miss
her?

Impossible
, he told himself. He didn’t miss her.

At first he had been worried that Ava would be angry about him not agreeing to hear her sing. It was the first time he’d ever really denied her anything. Initially because he needed to win her over, later because he found himself—to his bewilderment—wanting to do whatever it took to keep her happy. When he talked to her about it he realized she wasn’t angry at all. But she was a little sad.

He was frustrated that he felt bad about that, but really, there was nothing he could do. Going to a church was not an option. If the cross had caused him discomfort, well, he didn’t want to contemplate exactly what kind of havoc would be bestowed upon him if he stepped foot on sacred ground.

But that didn’t explain why he was so agitated sitting home alone on a Friday night. He could go out. To Rafe’s consternation Gabe had actually managed to make a few friends at the radio station. Kara, for example, had invited him to join her and her friends yet again. For the first time, he’d told her not to bother asking him anymore.

He wandered into the main house to raid the fridge since his was pathetically empty. He rummaged around in the freezer, not really finding anything of interest. This in itself was another odd occurrence as he was typically satisfied to eat anything and everything. The listless feeling was becoming bothersome. He finally settled on a family size box of chicken enchiladas. He was walking through the kitchen with them when Rafe entered.

“Shouldn’t you be out?” he asked.

Gabe shrugged. “I’m taking the night off.”

“Seems like you’ve taken almost every night off this week,” Rafe noted. He looked displeased and Gabe was annoyed with how closely he resembled their father.

Gabe tried to sidestep him so he could get back to the guest house. Rafe blocked the door.

“What do you care?” he finally asked.

“Father would prefer more contact time,” Rafe told him.

“And why, exactly, does he want that?” Gabe pressed. “I’ve been doing my part for a few
months now. I think it’s about time someone enlighten me as to
why
I’ve been doing this.”

“Don’t tell me you haven’t enjoyed it?” Rafe countered with a satisfied sneer.

“I don’t enjoy not knowing what’s going on,” Gabe grated out.

“You’ll be finding out soon enough.”

An incessant vibration erupted in Gabe’s pocket. He pulled out the phone and an unwanted pleasant feeling spread through him at the sight of Ava’s number.

Rafe had been watching him closely. He was not sure if he’d managed to keep his face neutral at the realization of who was calling.