Tainted Legacy (YA Paranormal Romance)

by Amity Hope

  “Manda is suspended. Molly and Oliver swore she pushed Grier and she denied it. Then a few other people came forward so Mr. McDaniel suspended her for a week,” Ava told him. She was surprised and pleased that Gabe had thought to ask her.

  “That’s good, right?” he wondered.

  “I suppose. Whether it will actually change anything? I doubt it,” Ava admitted. “At the same time, I’m glad Manda didn’t get away with it. She usually does.”

  She blew out a sigh as she changed the subject. “Well, you know where to find Pizzaro’s, Cheaters, The Sugar Shack, the movie theater, our only florist and my favorite ice-cream parlor. I showed you the bookstore that you told me you’d never step foot into and the craft store where Molly works. Unless you want to check out Hudson’s Hardware or Nana Mae’s Quilt Shop, I’ve pretty much shown you the whole town. I guess my job is done.”

  Gabe made a sad face at h toad faceer. “Does that mean I need to bring you home?”

  “Nope,” Ava said with a decisive shake of her head. She had a huge stack of homework stuffed into the bag she’d tossed into the backseat but she’d find a way to squeeze it in no matter what time she got home.

  “Good,” Gabe said as he gave her a smile. “I’m not ready to be done with you yet. So where to?”

  Ava laughed. “You’ve seen how severely limited our choices are. You tell me.”

  “You’re the tour guide. Guide me!” Gabe teased.

  Ava bit her lip, lost in thought for a moment. “How do you feel about baseball?”

  “I don’t mind it, why? Do you like it?”

  She nodded. “I like most sports. Around here, we take our entertainment where we can get it. Granville’s college team is playing tonight, if you’re interested?”

  Gabe pretended to be thinking it over.

  “Or we could go bowling,” Ava said with a laugh. “Those are pretty much our choices.”

  “Baseball it is,” Gabe decided. He popped the last truffle into his mouth and then they were headed out of town.

  “As long as we’re going this way, could we stop by the church?” Ava asked. She had snatched her purse up from where it was wedged between her feet. She was already rummaging around in it. Had she been looking at Gabe, and not in her bag, she would’ve seen the color drain from his face.

  “Thanks, but I really don’t need to see the church. I’ve already driven by it a few times,” he replied with forced calm.

  “I don’t actually need to go to the church,” Ava explained. She waved a white envelope, the item she had just procured. “Joshua lives next door. I just wanted to drop this off for them. It’ll only take a second.” She noted Gabe’s tension and relented. “Never mind. I can do it tomorrow.”

  “No, it’s okay. We’ll stop,” Gabe decided. “What is it that you’re doing?” He glanced at the envelope. He noticed “JOSHUA and JILLIAN” printed in neat script across the front.

  “After we left the carnival I won this in the raffle. It’s a gift certificate for Pizzaro’s. Julia brought it to me today. I thought I’d give it to the kids. I babysat for them one day last summer when their daycare lady was sick and I took them to lunch at Pizzaro’s. They were so excited. They’d never been there before. They probably haven’t been back since.” She shrugged. “I thought they’d enjoy it way more than I would.”

  Gabe pulled into the empty driveway and Ava darted out of the car. She had been hoping that no one would be home yet. She wasn’t sure if Joshua’s mom would agree to keep the gift. However, she lucked out and no one answered the door. She stuck the envelope in the screen door and then slid back into the car.

  “Done. Thanks for stopping,” she told Gabe with a grateful smile.

  “No problem,” he said as they set off again. “Any more errands to run? Do you have some drowning puppies to save? Do you need to heal the maimed? Feed the homeless and hungry?”

  Ava slapped him across the chest. “Are you mocking me?”

  Gabe burst out laughing. “Absolutely,” he admitted unapologetically. He glanced at her long enough to favor her with another flirty wink.

  “Good,” Ava said, “because I only help with feeding the homeless on Tuesdays.”

  Gabe turned to her with a surprised look.

  “I’m kidding,” Ava couldn’t help but laugh. “So what exactly is it that you like to do in your free time, Mr. Castille?”

  His gaze rested on her for a few moments before answering. “Hang out with you,” he finally replied as he gave her a heart melting grin.

  Ava felt her body respond to that grin in a myriad of ways. Her cheeks became warm, her insides turned to goo once more and a smile flickered across her features even though she tried to give him a stern, no nonsense look.

  She shook her head slightly, trying to regain her composure.

  “So tell me where you’ve lived,” she demanded.

  Gabe shrugged. “Here and there. All over,” he replied evasively. “Nowhere that really stands out. Nowhere that I’d really care to go back to. I’m just used to moving around.”

  Ava spent the entire car ride to Granville trying to pull details of his life out of Gabe. He was an expert at deflecting the questions back to her. She wasn’t sure if she should be flattered by the attention—no one had ever seemed quite so interested in her before—or if she should be flustered by his subtle refusal to let her get to know him better.

  By the end of the night, she had decided to go with “flattered”. Gabe had insisted on paying for their entire evening, just as he had done the night they’d gotten pizza. This time he purchased the tickets to the game and all of the ballpark fare that they could stand to eat.

  With nothing else to do, they’d gotten to the ballpark early to watch the players practice. She had looked at him in wonder when he had—barehanded, of course—caught a line drive that flew through the gate someone had pansomeoneforgotten to close. She hadn’t been the only one to display her surprise. Everyone who had witnessed his amazing catch had commented on it in awe.

  He’d smiled at her sheepishly when she’d lavished attention upon him. He insisted the ball wasn’t traveling nearly as fast as she had suspected. At first she hadn’t been convinced but after closely inspecting his hand, it seemed there had been no damage done. Not so much as a bruise showed up by the end of the night. He insisted there was no soreness and his fingers were working just fine. Ava decided that he must’ve been right. While she enjoyed sports, she wasn’t exactly a fanatic and therefore, nowhere near an expert. If Gabe claimed the ball had little force behind it, it wasn’t as if she had reason to argue.

  She was grateful for the scoreboard she had to keep glancing at. For the first time in her life, she hadn’t been able to track the score in her head. Her thoughts kept wandering to Gabe. She kept sneaking glances at him. He seemed to catch her each time, always favoring her with a warm smile that made it impossible to keep her mind on the game at all.

  On the ride home, he had been awfully chatty. Not to mention flirty. When they’d pulled up to the front of her house, Ava had lingered perhaps a little longer than necessary. She hadn’t wanted their evening to end. Gabe simply turned to her, leaning back against his door so he could face her. He’d told her what a great time he’d had and asked if they could get together again. He seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact that Ava was silently willing him to place his lips on hers.

  If it had been any other guy, she likely would’ve initiated the kiss herself. However, there was something about Gabe. He wasn’t intimidating, exactly. But the thought of being the one to make the first move felt too daunting to attempt.

  Instead, she’d agreed without hesitation to get together with him again.

  She’d lugged her backpack inside and greeted her family. She’d texted them to let them know of her plans and they’d showered her with curious questions about Gabe when she’d returned. She’d assured her parents and Grier that she had just been spending time with a friend.

 
After picking away at her homework for an unreasonable amount of time, she realized that she was no more able to concentrate on it than she had been able to concentrate on the game. She’d only met Gabe a short time ago and already she couldn’t get him out of her mind. Reluctantly, she put her unfinished homework aside, hoping she’d have better luck with it in the morning.

  She fell asleep with a small smile on her face. Molly was right. She did have a huge crush on Gabe. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a crush so intense and then she realized that…she never had.

  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 classe
s 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.