Tainted Legacy (YA Paranormal Romance) (8 page)

Chapter 6

Gabe was wondering just what he’d gotten himself into. He’d let several days pass since the last time he and Ava had gotten together. He’d called her that afternoon to ask if she was free for the evening. To his consternation, she wasn’t. It was the first time she’d turned him down. Gabe was not used to being turned down by anyone. It had left him feeling stunned.

However, she had timidly asked him if he’d like to join her in her plans and his ego was immediately restored. Never mind that her plans consisted of watching the girls’ varsity tennis match. Apparently Molly was on the team and Ava had already agreed to attend.

His initial reaction was to tell her ‘no’ but considering that he’d just invited her out for the evening, he couldn’t think of a logical reason to excuse himself from her invitation. He’d hesitantly agreed. At the moment, he couldn’t think of anything duller than tennis.

At least he felt that way until he pulled up and noticed all the girls wandering around in stunningly short skirts. His interest was immediately piqued and he decided maybe watching tennis wouldn’t be so dull after all.

He parked and then slowly sauntered up toward the mostly empty bleachers. He wasn’t in a hurry, despite the fact that he was already running late. He’d spent the afternoon at the station enjoying the attention of the two female interns. As he was leaving, he was invited by one of them to join a game of paintball with her and some other students from the university.

He’d been tempted. The girl, Kara, had been pursuing him relentlessly. While he had yet to accept any of her offers, he hadn’t exactly discouraged her either because he hadn’t completely ruled her out yet.

It wasn’t as if Ava would ever find out. Or even if she did, it shouldn’t matter. He wasn’t her boyfriend. He wasn’t anyone’s boyfriend.

And a game of paintball would’ve been fun. With his excellent reflexes he’d have enjoyed an extremely unfair yet intense victory. He was sure of it.

Unfortunately for him, he didn’t dare cancel on her. He wasn’t overly concerned about her reaction in itself. It was more that he was concerned about the chain of events it could cause. He couldn’t risk annoying her. A game of paintball, even with the lovely intern, was not worth his father’s wrath. And that would be exactly what he would face if things didn’t continue to go smoothly with little Miss St. Clair.

He sighed as the short-skirted girls all amassed together, presumably with their coach.

He scanned the clusters of students and parents that were spread out on the grass, not immediately spotting Ava despite the crowd being relatively sparse.

A spark of annoyance snaked through him when he realized that she wasn’t impatiently waiting for him, ready to pounce upon him at his arrival.

When he finally did spot her, an unfamiliar burst of feeling exploded in his stomach. She was standing with Julia and someone he didn’t recognize. A
male
someone. A male someone that had his hand on her elbow as she leaned in, listening raptly to whatever he had to say. With a smile on her face.

The same feeling, more intense this time, exploded throughout him again when the guy leaned forward and tucked a stray strand of her hair—a piece that had escaped from the braid she’d had it in—behind her ear. With a start, he realized that it actually
bothered
him to see another guy with his hands on her, despite how innocent it was.

Not that he had anything to worry about, he was sure. This guy screamed boring and dull. Everything from his carefully combed sandy blond hair, to his baby blue polo—
What kind of loser wears baby blue in the first place
, Gabe wondered—to his khaki shorts and sandals made him appear to be the complete opposite of what Gabe knew
himself
to be.

And what he knew? Was that girls wanted
him
.

He quickened his stride, noticing how obnoxiously cute Ava looked in a simple form-fitting pink sweater, worn jeans and pink and beige plaid shoes.

Not that he cared. He wasn’t interested in cute.

Nor was he interested in the fact that Ava and the dweeb actually looked…good together. Like they possibly belonged together. Like they would actually make the ideal, boring, dull couple that would make perfectly dull and boring children. Together.

“Hey, there you are,” he said as he sauntered up behind her, gritting his teeth against the  humming, grating, biting sensation that burned through him as he slid his arm around her waist.

Her eyes widened, seemed to brighten instantly, when she realized it was him. “Gabe!” she exclaimed, more surprised that he had his arm around her than she was by his actual presence. She stepped away from the guy and as she did so, Gabe allowed his arm to fall away.

“I’ll talk to you later,” the stranger said as he took a step back from Gabe’s intimidating stature. He wasn’t exactly short, he was just a tad taller than Ava but he was nowhere near Gabe’s height. He walked backward a few feet before turning around to search out his friends.

“Who was that?” he asked, disgusted by the tension in his voice.

Ava shrugged as she turned her attention to Gabe. “A friend. His name is Dawson.”

Julia’s pale eyebrows shot up as if Ava’s answer had come as a surprise. She grabbed a strand of her short blond hair and began to twirl it around her finger. Her big blue eyes darted from Ava to Gabe and back again as she pursed her lips.

“Just a friend?” Gabe asked, directing the question more to Julia than to Ava.

“Yes,” Ava answered at the same moment that Julia said, “Well,
now
.”

“Now?” Gabe pressed as he followed Ava who had started to move away, toward the bleachers. Gabe realized there was already a match in progress. He had been oblivious to the start of it.

“They dated last year,” Julia helpfully supplied as she trailed along behind them. “Almost
all
of last year.”

“Five months, Julia. That’s not even
half
of a year, and we’ve been broken up twice that long,” Ava corrected over her shoulder as she climbed the bleachers. She chose a seat that would be nearest to Molly and Gabe dumped himself down next to her. Julia gingerly crept past him to sit on Ava’s other side.

“So how was work today?” Ava asked, oblivious to the turmoil that Gabe was overcome with.

“Work?” he asked, perplexed by the question. Ava didn’t know that he didn’t actually work. The radio station was, more than anything, just a place for him to hang out, kill some time during the day, do a little f too a litlirting, and hang out with a few guys that were a little older than him but still willing to kiss his ass because he was the boss’ son. “Work was fine,” he finally decided.

“You talk to your ex a lot?” He knew he hadn’t imagined the smugness in Julia’s tone when she’d pointed out who Dawson was. He also knew he should be ignoring it but he couldn’t seem to help himself.

Ava shrugged but narrowed her eyes at him. Her lips seemed to quiver at the corners, as if she were fighting off a smile. He knew then that his voice had been lightly tinged, if not positively soaked, in annoyance. He hoped she hadn’t mistaken that annoyance for jealousy, which it clearly wasn’t. His only concern had to do with maintaining her friendship and he didn’t need some guy messing things up. He didn’t see the humor in that and didn’t think she should either.

He cleared his throat before adding on, “I think that’s great. That you can still be friends.”

“Yeah, we’re still friends,” she agreed.
She
was able to keep her voice even. “We have a few classes together this year. We’re working on a project together for one of them. That’s what we were talking about just now.” She cocked her head to the side, taking in Gabe’s reaction before adding. “It’s not just us, though. There are five altogether in our group.”

Gabe frowned as he faced the tennis courts. Not even the girls’ bouncing skirts could distract him from the infuriation that had just settled into his chest. He found it hard to believe that any guy would be happy being just friends with her. But it wasn’t exactly as if he—supposedly just being her friend—could point out to her just how naïve she was for thinking that.

“Oh, there’s Molly!” Ava enthused with an excited little clap of her hands and tapping of her feet.

Gabe barely spared Molly a glance. Not even her shapely body or her gorgeous mass of long, dark, curly hair could hold his attention. He was too busy trying to decide if he needed to move things along with Ava or if he could keep up the pretense of friendship. It all depended upon whether Dawson was a threat or not. He couldn’t let anything or anyone interfere with this newly founded and very delicate relationship.

If Dawson had the potential to be more than just a friend again, he would likely not appreciate Ava spending time with another guy. He knew that
he
wouldn’t appreciate it. In fact, he didn’t appreciate it now and they were not even dating. He glanced across the way at Dawson who seemed to be taking a peek at Ava. Dawson quickly turned back to the court when he noticed Gabe’s gaze on him.

Maybe he needed to…
What was that idiotic expression
? he wondered. 
Stake his claim
. < ofw Roman/font>

The
whack
of the rackets and the
thump
of the ball on the court only agitated him as he pondered this unforeseen development.

Molly’s match ended before Gabe had really even seen her play. He only knew it was over because of Ava’s exuberant reaction. He faked a grin and tried to look interested. She glanced over at him with a smile so charming it was contagious. He found a sincere smile creeping onto his own face for no apparent reason.

Ava nudged him and Gabe managed not to jump despite the burn. “That’s Marci, Dawson’s sister, heading out onto the court right now,” she explained. “In case you’re wondering why he’s still here. She’s a sophomore but she’s on the varsity team.”

He was about to protest, to tell Ava that he wasn’t wondering that at all but then realized she’d likely seen the death glare he’d been giving the boy. Instead, he nodded but didn’t say anything because when she leaned in close, he could smell the fruity scent of her lip gloss. He found himself wondering what flavor it was. Cherry? Watermelon? Raspberry? She was so close he could lean over and find out for himself. But then her hand came down on his knee and because he hadn’t been paying attention, he sucked in a surprised, pained breath.

“Are you okay?” Ava asked as she jerked away from him, completely forgetting what it was she had been about to tell him.

He nodded. “Yeah. Just a leg cramp,” he lied as he stretched out his leg and rubbed the spot that was still burning. If he’d had any doubt that he could move things past friendship, that small searing touch solidified the answer as an absolute
no
. There would be no staking of claims on his part anytime soon.

Julia peeked around Ava, a curious look on her face. He forced an insincere smile her way. She forced an identical one back at him.

Ava’s gaze bounced between the two of them. She rolled her eyes before turning her attention to Marci.

Gabe tried to pay attention this time but Ava was sitting forward, her profile clearly displayed before him. He hadn’t noticed before how high her cheekbones were. How perfectly shaped her nose was. Or how full her lips seemed to be.

When the match became suddenly intense, he watched with interest as she rolled her lower lip in, biting it between her teeth.

As soon as it was over, those lips broke into a huge smile. This time it wasn’t for him. He followed her gaze to Dawson who was cheering for his sister.