Flying Free

by Abigail Davies

  “Yeah, Kay wanted to know what time I’m coming down.”

  She nods her head, not breaking eye contact as she takes a sip of her coffee. “Eli’s party today.” She smiles.

  “Yep.” I shuffle my feet, all of a sudden feeling nervous. I’m never nervous and the fact that she makes me feel like this has my head spinning. “I err... I may have let slip that I’m bringing someone with me.”

  “Yeah?” She smirks. “Do I know this person?” She moves forward, her feet inches from mine.

  “You do.” I swallow and place my hands on her waist.

  “Will everyone like her?” she asks, her eyes full of vulnerability.

  I forget sometimes that she worries about what people think and I know that she wants to please everyone but she needs to start and realize that she can’t do that all the time.

  There will always be someone who isn’t happy; that will have a problem.

  “It doesn’t matter if they don’t.” I shrug.

  “Are we telling everyone today then? I don’t want to ruin Eli’s party.”

  I look off to the side and heave a breath. She’s right. Once they know, they won’t be happy, not all of them anyway, and the last thing I want is to cause any trouble at Eli’s party.

  “It’s up to you,” I say, keeping my eyes guarded. “I’ll go with whatever you want.”

  She chews on her lip, a sign that she’s thinking and nods her head solemnly. “Yeah, let’s not tell them today. We can do it tomorrow?”

  I wrap my arms around her, leaning my face on the top of her head. “Sounds like a plan.”

  Traveling with Jackson to Eli’s party is a complete nightmare. From the moment I get in his car, he’s firing questions at me. What have you been doing lately? Are you seeing anyone? Why haven’t you messaged me back?

  The questions come thick and fast and coupled with that smirk, I can see that he knows something. I don’t bother answering any of his questions because, well, it’s not any of his business. Instead, I put my headphones on and cut him off as the music blasts in my ears.

  I stare out of the window all the way there, just thinking about everything that has happened this week. In one sense, we’re moving fast but when you think about it, we’d played this game for long enough. I never knew how much Corey liked me, always thinking that it was all on me.

  I had doubts, thinking it may just be a fling, something to occupy him while he was back but the more time I spend with him the more I realize that he isn’t like that. In fact, he’s far from it and I have no doubt in my mind that he won’t hurt me.

  I pull my cell out of my pocket as it buzzes, expecting to see Corey’s name but it’s not, it’s unknown.

  I haven’t answered the unknown calls, deciding that if I ignore them I can pretend that they’re not really happening. Yeah, I know, it’s stupid to think like that but it’s how I’m coping with it.

  As we drive through the compound gates, I take it all in, my eyes wandering over to the woods. I can guarantee that the party will be up in the clearing. When I stayed here, they were always up there. The people who live on this compound are a man-made family and they look out for each other like you wouldn’t believe.

  “Ava?” Jackson asks, shaking my leg to get my attention. I pull my headphones off and smile at him, pushing out of the car and walking straight to Ty and Kay’s house.

  I’m not halfway there when the door opens up and they all come piling out to greet us.

  “Ava!” Eli shouts as he barrels towards me and wraps his arms around my waist. He’s grown so much since I last saw him.

  “Happy birthday, Eli!” I smile, bending down to him. “I have your present in the car.”

  “You do?” He jumps up and down on the spot, his eyes moving behind me.

  “Yeah.” I smile, standing up and turning to Jackson. “Grab it for me would you?” I ask, not able to hear his reply as another pair of arms are wrapped around me.

  I’m passed between everyone and by the time I get to the end of the line, I don’t know what to do because it’s Corey. We said that we weren’t going to tell anyone today so that means I have to act like I haven’t seen him. That in turn means I need to greet him hello, right?

  “Hey,” I breathe out, stepping closer.

  “Hey.” He winks back and wraps his arms around my waist. “You look incredible,” he whispers in my ear, making my whole body light up.

  “Thanks,” I say, clearing my throat as I pull away.

  I turn just in time to see Kay watching us with narrowed eyes and a smirk on her face.

  “Ava? Help me with the food?”

  “Err... sure.”

  I leave Corey standing there, aware of his eyes on me.

  I love the way he watches me. I wanted to be wanted and that’s certainly what I’m getting with him.

  Following Kay through her house, I wait until she hands me a chopping board and tells me what to cut.

  I start to chop up some salad, aware of her eyes burning a hole into me.

  “So...” Kay says, I turn to look at her and see her brows raised. “How long?”

  “How long?” I ask, frowning turning my eyes back to the salad.

  “How long have you and Corey been together?”

  I gasp and snap my head to her, the knife slipping and slicing through the palm of my hand. “Shit! Shit, shit, shit.” I look down at my hand and immediately regret it as I see all the blood oozing out of the cut, my stomach turns at the sight so I squeeze my eyes shut.

  “Oh, crap!” Kay rushes forward, lifting my hand. I open my eyes back up and catch her grimace.

  “Is it... bad?” I gulp, the burning pain making me wince.

  “Erm... hold on, let me get one of the guys.” I nod and stay there as she rushes out of the kitchen.

  I step away from the knife not knowing what to do next. Do I run my hand under water or do I just stay put?

  Keeping my hand raised in the air, I lean against the opposite counter, pulling a face as blood drops onto the floor.

  What’s taking so long?

  “She’s in here!” I hear Kay shout just before she walks back into the kitchen.

  I watch as Luke follows her in, with Ty at his back. “What happened?” Ty asks, coming forward and grabbing my hand, his face full of worry.

  “Ow!” I screech when he touches it and starts to prod and poke.

  “Ah shit, she’s gonna need stitches.” He frowns and turns to Kay. “What-”

  “I startled her and-”

  “What the fuck?” I hear Corey shout as he slams through the door, his eyes zoning in on me and the blood that’s on my hand.

  Great, just what I need, an audience of people who are gonna see me faint from all the blood. I wince at him and lean against the counter, starting to feel dizzy. I’m really not good with blood.

  Corey pushes past Ty and brings his hands up, cupping my face. “Baby? What happened?”

  “I slipped,” I say, looking into the storm that’s brewing in his eyes. “One minute I was cutting lettuce and the next, bam!” I giggle. Clearly the coppery blood is making me say silly things.

  He puts his arm around my waist and takes me over to the sink, turning the faucet on and holding my hand underneath it.

  “She needs stitches,” Ty says, directly from behind us.

  “I’ll do it,” Corey growls back as he lifts his eyes to Ty.

  “No, she needs to go to the emergency room.”

  “No...” Corey says stepping away from me. “I’ll stitch her up.”

  I watch as they start to fight about what I should do and where I should go, my head spinning as the shouting starts to get louder. Kay pulls out a chair and sits down, an amused smirk on her face as she rolls her eyes at Luke who’s stood against the table watching.

  “Just wait until the next one comes in,” Kay says to Luke.

  “Yep, all hell is gonna break lose when they find out.”

  “Sure is but we haven’t ha
d any drama for a while. We need a little spice.” She chuckles and winces when her eyes meet mine.

  Is this a joke to all of them?

  Here I am, stood with my hand under the cold water, watching two grown men fight about me.

  “I hear Ava is hurt,” Charlie says, pushing through the door, his eyes finding mine. “What you done this time? Huh?” He smirks, coming closer and then stops when he sees Ty and Corey going at it. “Oh, there’s a show?” he asks.

  “I don’t give a rats’ ass what you think, I’ll be stitching her up!” Corey moves his eyes to Kay and barks. “Sis, go and get my kit out of the car.” She stands up, saluting him and marches out of the room.

  “I ain’t letting you stitch her up in my kitchen, she needs to see a professional,” Ty sneers, trying to push past Corey.

  Corey stands his ground, not moving one inch. “You think I don’t know how to stitch it up?” he asks as Kay comes back in with a bag in her hands.

  “Put that back,” Ty says to Kay. She stops in the middle of the kitchen her eyes flicking between the two of them.

  “Erm... guys?” I ask, trying to get their attention.

  “No, bring it here, sis.” Corey says, waving his hand in a come here motion.

  “Guys?” I try again but it’s no use, they’re not hearing me at all.

  “Don’t you dare, Kaylee,” Ty grits out, turning his angry eyes to her.

  “I know you didn’t just talk to me like that.” She raises her brow, her hand flying to her hip as she squints her eyes at him.

  “Ah fuck, I’m sorry, sweetheart, but she needs to go to the emergency room.”

  “No, she doesn’t-” Corey tries to tell him again, taking his bag off Kay.

  “Guys!” I shout, finally getting their attention. “This water is really cold,” I say, my teeth chattering.

  Corey rushes forward and turns the water off, grabbing my hand and inspecting it as the blood starts to come out again.

  “Sorry, baby, I was just-”

  “Arguing with Ty? Deciding what I should do?” I ask with a raised brow. “How about you let me decide?” I turn to Ty, my eyes telling him to back down.

  His eyes widen as he sees the look on my face, then he clears his throat and says. “Erm... yeah, sure.”

  I roll my eyes and turn to each of them, their attention firmly on me. “Just stitch me up, we have a party to get ready for.”

  Corey turns to Ty and pulls a face. I huff at him and he turns back to me, smirking as he places his bag down on the counter.

  “Luke?” Kay asks. “Think you could run to the store for some more salad?”

  My eyes meet Kay’s and just as I’m about to apologize for bleeding all over her lettuce, Ty thunders, “Wait a second. Why the hell were you calling her baby?”

  Corey stops rummaging through his bag and moves his eyes to me, a silent question staring back at me.

  I freeze, thinking back to what I said. I’m sure I didn’t call her baby but, fuck, it could’ve slipped out.

  When my eyes move to Ava, I can see the panic on her face and the room is so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

  “What?” I laugh and shrug my shoulders. “I didn’t call her that.”

  Ty frowns and studies me. “I’m pretty fuckin’ sure you did,” he growls.

  I swallow, my eyes moving to Ava who is stood there with blood dripping from her hand. I don’t have time for this, I need to stitch her up and then Ty can be all macho big brother when I tell him that she’s my girl, because I fully intend to tell him. I’m not hiding us away; I’ll never hide her away.

  I take a step towards Ava but Ty steps in my way and when I move to the side, he follows.

  I’m getting real tired of this bullshit; he needs to move.

  “Ty,” I grit out. “Let me stitch Ava up, yeah?” I ask, although it’s not really a question, I make sure he knows that from the look I give him.

  He huffs out a breath and relents, moving to the side and letting me past. I quirk my lips at Ava and take hold of her small soft hand, cleaning it with some solution and seeing how deep the cut is.

  “Definitely needs stitches,” I say and tilt my head to the table. She follows me with her eyes facing the floor as she passes Ty, I want nothing more than to lift her face up and tell her she doesn’t need to hide away from anybody.

  Instead, I keep my mouth shut as I place my kit on the table and pull a chair out for her.

  I make quick work of stitching her up and putting a bandage on her hand, all the while having an audience watching my every move. I desperately want to lift her hand up and kiss it and tell her that it’ll be okay but now really isn’t the right time for that.

  Ava doesn’t say a word while I’m doing it, I can hear her sharp intake of breath as I close the cut but other than that she doesn’t make a sound. I can’t help but smirk because I’ve known grown men who have squealed while having stitches.

  Finishing up, I run the pad of my pointer finger over the top of her hand then look at her and wink, trying to tell her silently that everything will be okay.

  Her chest rises and falls on a big breath and I say, “Why don’t you go and see if Elena needs any help up the clearing?”

  She clears her throat and nods, pushing out of the chair and walking out of the kitchen silently, not looking at anyone.

  I raise my brows at all of them and shake my head as I pack up my kit. “What?” I ask.

  “Just waiting.” Kay smirks.

  “For?”

  “Your fuckin’ answer,” Ty growls.

  I chuckle at his audacity. “You know that’s real rich coming from you,” I say, dropping the gauze and widening my stance. “You do realize that she’s my fuckin’ sister?” I point at Kay and then cross my arms over my chest.

  “That’s not the fuckin’ same,” he fumes.

  “No.” I shake my head. “It’s not.”

  “Damn straight it’s not,” Ty says, a smirk growing on his face, thinking he’s just won. He hasn’t and he never fuckin’ will.

  “The difference is,” I ground out, looking to Ty and then Charlie. “She is my little sister.” I tilt my head to Kay and then say. “Ava? You may look out for her but she isn’t-”

  “Don’t you dare say it,” Charlie growls from the corner and steps forward. “You’ve been gone for nearly two years and you come back thinking that you can have a say in Ava’s life now?”

  “No, I don’t. Only Ava has a say in what happens in her life.” I raise my brows at him but send him a warning through my eyes. “Something you should all take note on because she isn’t who she was two years ago. She’s strong, so much stronger than you can imagine.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Charlie points to his chest taking another step forward. “It’s me who’s been here, going to visit her, calling her once a week,” he growls. “Where the hell were you, huh? When she needed someone? When she was calling me in the middle of the night because she couldn’t sleep? Or how about when she wouldn’t get out of bed? When I had to coax her out of her room and stand in the bathroom with her while she peed because she was scared of her own shadow?”

  My heart starts to beat wildly in my chest at everything he’s saying. What is he talking about? That isn’t the same Ava that I’ve been getting to know again. My Ava isn’t scared of anything.

  “You underestimate her,” I tell him and look over at Kay. She looks away, telling me all I need to know with that action, that I only knew half of the story and yeah, I want to know it all but I don’t think it’s necessary. She’s changed and there’s no point in dwelling on what she was, we need to move forward. All of us. “When was the last time you had to do that?” I ask in challenge, causing him to stop short and frown.

  “I don’t know.” He shrugs, looking over to Ty. “Not for a while, ever since she stopped seeing that shrink.” He shakes his head. “I said that a shrink wouldn’t help but trying to tell Ma that was fuckin’ useless.”

  We all stay s
ilent for the next few minutes, each of us caught in our own thoughts. None of us make eye contact and although I’m exuding calm inside, I can feel my heart tearing into pieces.

  I wasn’t there, I wasn’t there when she needed me most and I’ll regret that for the rest of my life.

  When Eli comes bounding in, wanting to start his party, Luke takes him up to the clearing, leaving just me, Kay, Ty and Charlie.

  “I know you all love her,” I say. “But that doesn’t mean you can control her. Let her be her.”

  “But-”

  “Ty,” Kay says, crossing the kitchen to him. “Corey never said anything about us being together. He let us get on with it. Let them do the same.” She looks up to him, her hand on his chest and they have silent conversation with their eyes.

  “Fine,” he huffs, looking back over to me. “But if you hurt her, I’ll come for you.”

  Holding my hands up in the national peace sign, I back away with a smirk on my face, remembering when I said those same words to him after I found out about him and Kay. “I’d never hurt her.”

  “Good.” He nods in satisfaction and grabs Kay’s hand, pulling her out of the kitchen.

  I pack the rest of my stuff up, fully aware of Charlie’s eyes on me.

  “Ty may have been easy, but me?” Charlie points to his chest. “I’m the closest to Ava and you’ll have to fuckin’ prove yourself to me.”

  His eyes swirl with anger and I open my mouth to say something but he turns around, following Ty and Kay out the door, not giving me the chance to answer him.

  Great, I thought Charlie would be the easier one.

  All throughout the party I can feel eyes on me. I know that they must all know about me and Corey by now and a part of me feels bad because the whole reason that I didn’t want to tell them yet is because it’s Eli’s party.

  Nothing is said to me until the sky starts to darken and Eli has fallen asleep.

  Once Luke takes him back to his for a sleepover, it leaves all of us sat in the clearing and the tension starts to boil over.

  I can feel Charlie’s eyes on me and I’m sick and tired of them burning a hole through me.

  Huffing, I turn to face him. “Come on then,” I say, raising my brows. “Say it.”