by Storm, Sloan
Trying to restrain myself from screaming, I dug my fingernails into my neck. “I swear, Gene, if you come anywhere near Simon I’ll…”
Gene interrupted me. “You’ll what, Ava? You think I’m afraid of you? If you try anything, I promise you, I’ll vanish with that kid, and you’ll never hear from him again. Do I make myself clear?”
I stayed silent, restraining the rage within me.
“Now, listen to me,” Gene began, increasing the volume of his voice. “Quit fucking around and get your boyfriend to cough up the money.”
“How many times do I have to tell you? Dyson is not my God damn boyfriend!” I shouted, squeezing my eyes closed tight.
Gene stayed silent for second. “Get it handled. I’ll be in touch.”
“Shit!” I exclaimed.
Shaking, I flipped my eyes open and to my horror, Dyson stood not six feet away from me. I looked at him in shock before turning away. Frantic, I tried to slide my cell phone back into my pocket and get out of there. But before I could even move, he spoke.
“Ava?”
Frozen in place, I closed my eyes and swallowed hard. From behind, I heard the sound of his footsteps as he moved along the crushed gravel path.
Oh no, oh shit.
Not long after, I sensed his presence. He passed by me, brushing my upper arm. I flipped my eyes open to see him standing in front of me, arms crossed and eyes narrowed at me.
“Are you going to tell me what that was all about?”
I shook my head, still half in shock by the conversation I just had and the fact Dyson likely heard the most important part of it.
“No,” I whispered. “Please don’t make me. And anyway, it doesn’t concern you.”
“I heard my name. I happen to think it does concern me.”
I shook my head. “No, really, you don’t understand.”
“Yeah, no kidding, Ava. That’s why I’m standing here asking you. I heard you telling someone I wasn’t your boyfriend. What the hell is that about?”
I licked my lips, frantically searching my mind for a plausible lie. “It’s… It’s just my roommate, Jillian. She keeps making silly jokes about what I’m really doing when I’m here with the team.”
Dyson scowled at me, nodding his head slowly. I stared at him until I couldn’t anymore.
“So why don’t I believe you?” he said.
I looked at him once again, shrugging and shaking my head. “I have no idea. It’s the truth. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get going.”
When I’d finished speaking, I tried to walk away. Before I’d taken a single step, Dyson stepped in front of me, blocking my path. Our eyes met for a second. I tried once more. Again, he moved in front of me.
“What are you doing, Dyson? Get out of my way.”
He edged closer towards me, shaking his head. “No. You’re not going anywhere. Not until you tell me what’s going on.”
“I don’t have to take this from you. Don’t threaten me.”
He licked his lips. “Trust me, it’s not a threat.”
It was clear he wasn’t about to let me walk past him. Frustrated, I turned my back and tried to walk in the other direction. But after only a single step, I felt his hand crush my upper arm in its grasp. Stopping, I snapped my head in his direction.
“Ow!” I exclaimed. “Let…” I began, yanking my arm. “Go! You’re hurting me!”
Yet Dyson remained silent, and instead of releasing me, he grabbed hold of my other arm. I struggled to free myself, but he pinned me against the wall.
“Shut up, Ava,” he warned, glaring at me. “Tell me what is going on. I know something is wrong.”
“Unnhhh,” I growled, shaking my upper body back and forth, still trying to break free. “Stop!”
And then, without a word of warning, Dyson leaned the weight of his torso against me and crushed his mouth into mine, kissing me. I continued to struggle, twisting my upper body and trying to break my mouth free of his.
“Unnhhhh!!” I exclaimed, thrashing beneath his viselike grip.
However, the harder I tried to break free, the stronger he became. Soon, I felt the energy of my struggle began to wear on me, and I relaxed a bit. Not long after, Dyson pulled his lips away from mine. We both stood there looking at each other without a word.
The only sound between us was the labored breathing we shared.
I tasted him in my mouth, traces of him left behind on my tongue. My lips parted. But before I could speak a single word, Dyson pressed his mouth to mine once again.
For no sane reason, I forgot about all of my troubles.
I inhaled his sweet scent, allowing his tongue into my mouth. With a soft moan, I reached up and slid my fingers into his thick hair. Dyson twisted his head back and forth as we kissed, in full view of anyone who happened to see.
DYSON
Yeah, I knew something was wrong. But fuck it, I couldn’t help myself.
I hadn’t seen much of Ava at all and something about the state she was in… I can’t explain it. What started as wanting to help, an urge to protect, transformed into something else.
I had to have her and I was sick of waiting.
And I couldn’t have been gladder I’d done it. She tasted incredible, sweet in a way that I can’t describe. She’d resisted me at first, but now I felt her body give in beneath me. She dragged her fingers along my scalp, making lazy strokes with the tips.
I didn’t give a shit who happened to see.
I’d waited so long for this moment that there could’ve been thousands of people around, and I wouldn’t have noticed. Eventually, we separated from each other. Ava looked up at me, her eyes glassy with the kind of lustful gaze I’d seen hundreds of times in my life.
I smiled at her, expecting the same in return. But, instead Ava blinked a couple of times and shook her head.
She looked away from me.
“Dyson,” she began, reaching up and wiping her lips. “We shouldn’t have done that. Please, let me go.”
I looked at Ava, trying to figure out what the problem was all of a sudden. She turned her face towards me. “Please…”
Nodding, I dropped my hands and backed away from her.
“Thank you,” she said, smoothing out the fabric of her shirt. “That was a mistake. I’m sorry.”
“What are you sorry about? I’m the one who did it. I’m not sorry one bit.”
Our eyes met. The bright green of her irises seemed darker somehow.
“Well, I am, Dyson. I’m sorry because I don’t want you to get the wrong idea about me.”
I slid my thumbs through the loops on my jeans. “What idea is that exactly?”
“I just… I’m not going to be one of your girls. I’m not going to be like Anastasia or Svetlana. I won’t.”
“I see.”
Her mood changed even more. Ava crossed her arms and shook her head. “I have no interest in being anyone’s flavor of the month. I have big goals and dreams for my life, and the last thing I’m interested in is being your… plaything.”
I nodded at her, content to let her speak her mind. “So you didn’t enjoy it?”
“Whether I did or not, it doesn’t matter. It was a mistake. I never should have done it and…”
Without thinking, and without giving her a chance to protest, I grabbed her and kissed her again. And just like the time before, she struggled. After a few seconds, I let her go.
“Stop that!” she said, stomping her foot. “What did I just tell you?”
I shrugged. “Why should I listen to you? You won’t even tell me what’s wrong.”
She pointed her finger at me. “Don’t try to change the subject. What’s wrong with me has nothing to do with…”
I snatched her in my grasp again. Kissing her harder than ever, I pulled her to my body and held her there as she struggled to break free. After a few seconds, I let go of her once more. She slapped my upper arm with all her might.
“God damn it, Dyson!” she
exclaimed. “If you do that one more time I swear, I’m going to scream.”
I shook my head, casually letting her threat roll right off of me. I stepped towards Ava, pausing and looking at her in silence.
“Scream all you want, sweetheart,” I said, wiping my fingers across my lips. “Because until you tell me what the hell is going on I’m going to stand here and kiss you until the sun goes down.”
Ava glared at me. I backed away, maybe by a foot or so. Crossing my arms at my chest, I raised my eyebrows at her.
“If you don’t believe it, just try me.”
She looked away. Reaching up, she crossed her hands in front of her body and began to rub her upper arms as if she were cold. The only thing was, it had to be at least eighty degrees outside, and we were standing in the sun.
“I’ve got all afternoon,” I began, leaning away from her a bit. “We’re not going anywhere until…”
With that, Ava dropped her hands and snapped her head in my direction. “Fine! All right!”
She exhaled and reached up towards her forehead, rubbing it briefly before she looked at me once again. Over the next several minutes I listened in disbelief while she told me the story about how Simon’s old man was back in the picture, threatening to take the kid. The only part she left out was how my name got mentioned. So when she paused for a second, I asked her about it.
She nodded. “I haven’t gotten to that part yet.”
“Well, you need to.”
A long slow breath passed between her lips. “Gene thinks you and I are a couple. He saw you kiss me after you won in Miami.”
“Ah, okay,” I began, raising my thumb and forefinger to my chin. “Makes sense. What did you tell him? “
“What do you think? Of course, I told him we weren’t…” Her voice drifted off. Just then, Ava cleared her throat. “Yeah, well, that’s not all. Um, he’s demanding money.”
“How much?”
“Half a million dollars.”
I wrinkled my brow in disbelief. “Are you serious? You mean to tell me that this worm is extorting you?”
Ava shrugged. “Yes.”
“How much time do you have to come up with the money?”
She frowned at me. “Why?”
“Just answer the question. How much time do you have?”
DYSON
Ava exhaled a frustrated breath. “He gave me until the end of the week.”
“All right,” I nodded, waving my hand with a casual flick. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll help you out.”
Right away, Ava began to shake her head. “Oh no, no way. Absolutely not, Dyson.”
I shrugged. “I’m helping you, and that’s all there is to it.”
“No. I’ve never let anyone fight my battles for me before, and I’m not about to start now. Thank you. I appreciate it, but no.”
“Okay then,” I began, crossing my arms. “If you won’t take my help, then what’s your plan? What choice do you have?”
Ava fell silent, gnawing on her lip. She broke her gaze on me.
Sensing her uncertainty, I continued, “Is this dude the type that will follow through on something like this?”
Eventually, she looked at me again. “To be honest, I really don’t know. But with the kind of money we’re talking about here, I wouldn’t put anything past him.”
“So what are you going to do, Ava? Are you just going to call his bluff? See what he does? What exactly are you going to do?”
“I already told you. I don’t know!”
I paused for a second and stepped towards her, wrapping my hands around her upper arms. “Look, don’t be stubborn about this. What if he is serious? Are you willing to lose Simon over it?”
Ava looked up at me, her eyes glassed over.
“I don’t know what to do, Dyson. I love Simon more than anything in this world.”
I squeezed her a bit. “I know you do. I know. Listen, you’ve got to let me help you.”
Ava turned her head, and a single tear streamed down her cheek. She reached up to smear it away, when I heard the sound of her cell phone vibrating in her pocket. She froze and glanced at me for a second before reaching in and pulling it out.
After looking at the screen, she glanced towards me. “It’s Gene.”
I opened my hand. “Let me talk to him.”
Ava began to shake her head. “No, please.”
“Give me the phone, Ava. We’re together, a couple, remember? He won’t be surprised to hear from me. Come on, hand it over.”
After the end of the third ring, she passed the phone to me with reluctance. I answered.
“Who’s this?” A man’s voice said. “Where’s Ava? Put her back on the line.”
“Afraid not,” I replied, looking Ava in the eye. “I’m the person you want to talk to anyway.”
“Oh, well, if it isn’t pretty boy. So, you’re ready to swoop in and save the day for your girl?”
There is a part of me that wanted to cuss this good for nothing douchebag out. But, I thought better of it. After all, if I could talk him into my idea, I’d get what I wanted anyway.
“Let’s just cut the shit. Gene, is it?”
“Mmm hmm.”
“Here’s my offer. I’m only going to say it once, so pay attention.”
He cleared his throat but didn’t speak, so I continued.
“I’m in Los Angeles for a race. If you want your money, you need to come to me.”
“I’m not going anywhere, slick,” he said. “If you want me to come there, then you’re paying for my ticket. First-class by the way.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, I replied, “No problem. Buy your ticket, and when you get here I’ll reimburse you for it.”
He hesitated for a second. I wondered if I’d aroused his suspicions.
“Okay,” he said at last.
Guess not.
“Great,” I said. “I’ll have the rest of your money when you arrive. But in exchange for it, you agree to leave Ava and Simon alone for good.”
I glanced at Ava. She covered her mouth with her hands and shook her head back and forth.
“No problem,” he replied. “When?”
“How soon can you get here?”
“I can be there in a couple of days.”
I spent the next few minutes telling him to meet us at one of the bars where the team had been hanging out since arriving in Los Angeles. Not long after, I hung up and passed the phone back to Ava. She took it from me. Her face hardened with a scowl.
“Are you being serious?”
“Huh?” I said, frowning back at her. “What you talking about? Serious about what?”
Ava exhaled and slapped the outside of her thighs with her palms. “Gene! About giving him the money. How could you just, give in to him like that?”
I shook my head and chuckled at her. “Okay, let me get this straight. Fifteen minutes ago, you didn’t want me to help you at all. Now, as soon as I get the whole situation handled, you’re upset?”
“Paying off this weasel’s attempt at blackmail is not my idea of handling the situation!”
“Who said I’m paying him?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at her.
“What?” she stammered. “Well, you did, just a minute ago on the phone call. You told him you were going to pay for his first-class plane ticket and then give him the rest of the money when he got here.”
I nodded and winked at Ava. “Ohhh, that… Right. Yeah, um, there’s not going to be any money. Don’t worry about it.”
“Don’t worry about it? How can I not worry about it?” she replied, stepping close to me. Pointing off in the distance, she continued, “He’s coming here expecting to get that money. What’s going to happen when he shows up and there isn’t any?”
Unconcerned, I shrugged as Ava continued to ramble.
“I’ll tell you exactly what’s going to happen, Dyson.” she said, placing her hands on her hips. “He’s going to take Simon away from me. Jesus! When you sai
d you were going to help me, this is not what I had in mind! And now, things are one hundred times worse than they were before you got involved!”
I’d had enough. I stepped towards Ava, reaching out to try and calm her down. But as I neared, she pulled away.
“Just… Please don’t touch me. Please.”
“All right, okay,” I said. “Let’s take it down a notch. You’re right. I’m not going to give that dirt ball one penny. But I can promise you that by the time I’m finished with him he will be keeping his word. Trust me, Simon isn’t going anywhere.”
Ava looked at me with suspicion. “What are you trying to say, Dyson?”
“I think I just said it, didn’t I? What part of that didn’t you understand?”
“I don’t want anyone getting hurt, Dyson.”
“Well, Gene should’ve thought of that before he got me involved.”
Ava started to say something in response but before she could, I continued, preventing her.
“I know how to deal with people like this. They only understand one thing, okay?”
I stepped towards her once again, reaching up to hold her.
This time, she didn’t flinch.
“I’m afraid, Dyson.”
“Don’t be.”
AVA
I hadn’t heard a word from Gene since his phone conversation with Dyson. As far as I knew, he planned on showing up as agreed. However, I was a nervous wreck about the whole thing. I tried calling Jillian and talking to her about it, but her attitude was I ought to let Dyson handle it. Since she’d wanted him involved from the beginning, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised.
Anyway, since we’d talked about it, Dyson was busy with the team.
I wasn’t done voicing my displeasure about what I expected would happen to Gene. While he hadn’t confirmed or denied it, I wasn’t altogether sure Gene wasn’t in serious trouble. If Dyson did something to hurt him, I just knew it would make things so much worse for me—and Simon. I had to find a way to get through to Dyson before he met up with Gene. And so, late in the afternoon on the day they were to meet at the bar, I waited for Dyson.
He and Marco had been testing all day long. Right around the time they were scheduled to finish, I waited outside the team garage, pacing back and forth like a nervous cat. Eventually, he and Marco emerged and walked in my direction. I tried to greet them with the most pleasant attitude I could, considering the situation. I smiled at both of them as they drew near.
