by Dahlia West
Now it was Ava’s turn to grin. “You’re pretty cocky,” she told him with a smirk. Sure he was hot and sure she’d love to get her hands on him, but chances were he was all talk. Most guys were. As if he could almost read her mind, he moved in again. This time he firmly took hold of her hips, pressed her tightly against the wall. He ground himself against her.
Ava gasped and sucked in a sharp breath.
That grin again.
“Oh, I’m definitely cocky.”
His mouth came down on hers. Ava melted against him. His tongue teased its way past her lips and she couldn’t help but think of it as a preview for coming attractions. She tasted him again— dark and dangerous— and only wanted more. Fate had other, less interesting plans, though.
Emilio tore his lips from hers as he was jostled from behind. As he pulled away, his fierce expression made Ava’s breath catch in her throat. Thankfully, he directed the piercing look toward someone else entirely.
“Watch it,” he growled as he half-turned. His arms never so much as twitched, though, as he kept Ava firmly in place.
Reluctantly, she turned her head as well.
“Ava!”
Sienna had found them. She was flushed and breathing hard. Her long, dark hair was wild. She looked from Ava to Emilio and back again. Her agitated expression was mixed with regret.
Ava saw Emilio’s jaw flex but relax.
“We have to go,” Sienna declared. Her hand shot out underneath Emilio’s and grasped Ava’s arm. She tugged hard.
Frowning, Emilio stepped back, enough to free Ava from her heavily muscled prison. “You just got here,” he pointed out.
Instead of answering him, Sienna glanced back over her shoulder. “Oh, God!”
Ava peered past Emilio and her best friend to see Jonah stalking toward them— a very pissed-off Jonah, to be exact. Her brother’s dark, slitted eyes rivaled Emilio’s in intensity. Sienna spun to face the youngest Stark male.
Without so much as glancing back, Emilio stepped forward as well, clearly intending to put himself between Sienna and Jonah.
Jonah’s expression suddenly went from dour to downright deadly. “What are you doing here?” he demanded, glaring at Sienna.
Emilio’s hand reached out for the girl’s arm. No doubt, to him, Jonah looked like a formidable threat, made even more so when Jonah’s eyes zeroed in on the hand making its way toward Sienna. Jonah’s eyes locked with Emilio’s and even Ava, the farthest from any of them, could practically feel the temperature plummet in the tiny hallway.
“You fucking touch her and I’ll start with breaking your arm.” Jonah’s voice was low— steady and grave in its tone. Maybe the fact that he hadn’t shouted it was what made Emilio pause. It seemed less like a threat and more like a foregone conclusion.
But Emilio only paused, perhaps just for a quick re-assessment of strategy. It was clear from his own demeanor that he had no intention of backing down from Jonah. Both men were similar in height and build. Both men looked perfectly capable of vicious, painful things.
Ava didn’t want to know how that would end. She reached out and grabbed Emilio’s arm. He tensed under her hand but kept his gaze on his would-be rival.
“Wait!” Ava ordered firmly. “Jonah, just wait a minute.”
“Jonah?” Emilio asked, confused. He was no doubt thinking about the ink on Ava’s arm. His eyes flitted to Sienna for a moment, thoroughly lost.
As if he’d only just noticed her presence, Jonah’s eyebrows shot up. “Ava? Jesus! What in the hell?”
Ava tried to skirt around Emilio toward her slightly older brother, but Emilio caught her around the waist and pulled her in close.
Jonah didn’t miss that, at least. “Get your hands off her,” he demanded.
Emilio grinned, but something about it was far from reassuring. “You can’t stake a claim on both of them,” he informed Jonah. “I’m still deciding whether or not I’m going to let you have that one.” He nodded toward Sienna as he spoke.
Fire ignited in Jonah’s eyes again and he surged forward. “Get your fucking hands off my sister!”
Emilio had started forward as well, hands raised to meet Jonah halfway, but stopped short. “Wait, what? Sister? Seriously? This is your sister?”
In his zeal to take on Jonah, Emilio had released Ava. Seeing no immediate threat now, Jonah paused as well.
“Is she your sister, too?” Emilio asked him, nodding toward Sienna. He seemed genuinely curious.
Jonah didn’t respond.
Sienna snorted. “I might as well be,” she muttered. She turned away from Jonah.
Ava looked up at her brother. She was shocked to see a fleeting, pained look cross his face.
Emilio saw it, too, and dropped his hands.
Brushing it off, Jonah redirected his gaze to Emilio. “She’s seventeen,” he bit out.
“Shit,” Emilio replied. He shot a dirty look at Ava.
Ava’s jaw dropped. “Not me!” she insisted. “I’m eighteen.”
“You said you were twenty-one,” Emilio reminded her darkly.
“I— ” Ava struggled for a reply. Surely he couldn’t be that angry. He couldn’t be that much older. She opened her mouth to continue defending herself but she was cut off abruptly.
“HEY!”
All of them turned.
A tall man in a ripped denim shirt was making his way toward them. He was all the way across the bar, on the other side of the dance floor. The place was dark, but not so dark that Ava couldn’t make out the blood on his face and the hateful gleam in his eyes. The two men he had flanking him didn’t look so happy, either.
Sienna squeaked and took a step back. Emilio took hold of her shoulder and pulled her farther away. Jonah didn’t seem to mind this time.
“Your handiwork, hermano?” Emilio asked Jonah.
Jonah nodded as he narrowed his eyes at the approaching trio of rednecks. “There was only one of them, though. Guess they multiply when they get blood on them.”
Emilio pulled Sienna back into the hallway and toward the exit door. “You take the one in the middle, then,” he suggested to Jonah. “I’ll take the other two.”
Jonah snorted as he pushed up his sleeves. “You’re pretty cocky.”
Ava watched a slow grin spread on Emilio’s face.
“Not the first time I’ve heard that.”
The men were already halfway across the dance floor. Patrons parted like waves and gaped in their wake.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Ava said, stepping forward. “You two take the two on the left. I’ll take the third one.”
Jonah obviously wasn’t surprised, but Emilio snorted. “Not happening.”
“You don’t get a say,” Ava shot back.
She tried to move past him but Emilio grabbed her arm. “Muñeca, he outweighs you by about fifty pounds. Out the back door,” he ordered, jerking his chin to the green sign behind them. “Now.”
Ava’s teeth ground together. “Listen— ”
“Ava,” Jonah barked to cut her off. He dragged his eyes from the trio and locked onto hers. In a quieter, half-whisper he said, “Take Sienna out of here.”
Caught off guard by his urgent tone, Ava recalled the look on Jonah’s face just moments before. She glanced back to Sienna who was now a few feet away, chewing nervously on her bottom lip, eyes wide as she stared at the men coming for them.
Ava finally sighed. Jonah was right. Ava could handle herself, but this was no place for Sienna. “Okay,” she replied and turned away from them all. She strode toward the door, locking her arm with Sienna’s. “Let’s go,” she told the other girl. As Sienna stepped through the door, Ava turned back. “Good luck,” she called.
Emilio turned slightly and grinned at her. “Don’t worry, muñeca. I don’t intend to let them win.”
Ava’s jaw dropped, but before she could respond, Sienna pulled her through the open door. It slammed shut, reverberating on its hinges.
Chapter Seven
>
Ava stared at the closed steel door. “Do you believe that?”
Sienna grabbed her arm. “Come on,” she pleaded. “We should leave.”
“But do you believe that? Let me win? Let me win?!” She glared daggers at the door where she secretly hoped Emilio was getting pummeled by rednecks. “He didn’t let me win! He was too distracted! He wasn’t prepared!”
“Let it go, Ava!”
“I can’t let it go! That’s bullshit!”
Ava took a step toward the door but Sienna dragged her back.
“Look, can we just go?!”
The tenor in her friend’s voice made Ava pause. She turned to Sienna. Sienna’s lower lip was quivering. Her eyes were welling with tears.
“Shit,” Ava muttered and felt like the world’s worst friend. She was being a selfish dick. “What happened in there?”
Sienna wiped her cheeks with one hand and held her shirt together with the other to cover her chest. “The cute guy and I were dancing. No big deal. I liked it,” she admitted. “Then one of those assholes cut in. And he just let him! Just walked away!”
“Shit,” Ava repeated. She shouldn’t have left Sienna alone in a place like this.
“I said no, but he wasn’t hearing it. I pushed him and he grabbed my arm and the next thing I know, Jonah was there. I don’t know where he came from. I didn’t see him when we came in. He was just... there. And he punched the guy.”
Sienna sniffed. Her eyeliner was starting to run. “And said my tits were hanging out.”
Ava grumbled and took one last look at the door. No matter how good it would feel, it was a bad idea to go back in. They might end up in the back of a squad car. She herded Sienna to the car, instead. The lot was littered with people cackling and singing loudly. They goose-stepped past the bar’s more raucous patrons and onto the sidewalk.
“I hate him,” Sienna whispered fiercely.
Ava sighed. If Sienna actually hated Jonah, that’d be easier for everyone. But that was the opposite of Sienna’s problem.
They found the car and Sienna unlocked it. She narrowed her eyes at Ava over the car’s roof. “Can I pay you to break his kneecaps?”
Ava snorted. “Wouldn’t be fair to take your money. I’d end up on the floor and you’d be a hundred dollars poorer.”
Behind them an engine revved loudly. Ava recognized it as a smaller cc, a bike engine. Both girls turned to look. In the dark, Ava could just make out the high seat, the chrome rims.
“Oh, shit.” To Sienna, she said, “Get in the car.”
Sienna slid into the driver’s seat and glanced back. “What...?”
“Drive,” Ava snapped. “Drive, drive, drive.”
Sienna twisted the key into the ignition and the Olds came to life. Before she pulled out from the curb, she ducked her head again, looking into the rear-view mirror. “Ava?”
Ava turned in her seat to look out the back window. Under the streetlight, a green BMW racer loomed in her view.
“Is that—?” Sienna asked.
“Yes. Drive. Just drive, Sienna.”
Instead of hitting the gas, Sienna craned her neck to get a better view of her own. “Well, what does he want?”
“Drive, Sienna!” Ava ordered. When she didn’t respond fast enough, Ava slid over in the seat, lifted her leg, and stomped on the accelerator. The car shot forward and barreled down the street.
Sienna yelped and scrambled to grab the steering wheel. “Ava!” she protested. “What’s going on?”
Ava ignored her friend and pointed to the road in front of them. “Rule Three: Drive fast.”
Sienna yanked the wheel to avoid the parked car in front of them. They careened out into the street, but too far. The left tires of the Olds crossed the double yellow line. Sienna pulled on the steering wheel to correct their course. “Oh, my God, Oh, my God!” She was nearly hyperventilating.
“Just steer!” Ava barked.
The Olds swerved and almost fishtailed. Ava let off the gas a tiny bit. “Turn here,” she ordered, pointing to the right.
Sienna squinted. “There’s no turn.”
“There is,” Ava insisted.
“Ava, there’s nowhere to— !”
Ava hit the gas again and grabbed the wheel. The car spun sharply, hooking around a set of trash cans that had been grouped on the curb. The rear fender swiped one of them. Finally past them, Sienna could see the opening of the alley between two buildings. “My car!” she whined as she shot through the narrow, brick-lined space.
“Relax,” Ava said, turning in her seat. “They were just trash cans. The damage can’t be that bad.”
It wasn’t like hitting a brick wall, which she prayed Sienna didn’t do in this tight space. Ava had hoped the spilled cans would work in their favor and block the BMW, but it didn’t prove to be much of an obstacle. The bike was much more nimble than the Olds and had no problem maneuvering around the debris.
“Turn again,” Ava ordered. “Left.”
Sienna checked for oncoming traffic and spun out into the roadway. Ava finally took her foot off the gas, confident her friend could handle it now. “Faster,” she told Sienna.
“We’re in the middle of downtown,” Sienna argued.
“Sienna!”
“Okay, okay. But if I get a ticket, you’re paying it!”
Ava frowned and checked behind them again. If they got caught by the BMW, they’d get a hell of a lot more than a fine, but Ava kept her mouth shut. She turned forward again and glanced at the light up ahead. It changed from green to yellow.
“Go,” Ava encouraged Sienna.
Instead of obeying, though, Sienna’s foot let off the gas.
“Go!”
“It’s turning red!”
“Yeah! We’ll make it through. He won’t!”
“Are you kidding me?!” Sienna screeched.
Ava’s eyed darted from left to right. The closest car was just barely entering the crosswalk. “Just go!”
“Fuck me!”
“SIENNA!”
Sienna hit the gas. It was hard to know which squeal was loudest, the tires of the vintage car or the teenage girl behind the wheel. The Olds’ engine roared to life. Thousands of pounds of torque shot them forward. Ava gripped the door handle as they barreled toward the light that was now red.
She’d misjudged the distance of the nearest car. More tires squealed and a loud horn blared at them.
Sienna screamed.
They made it through the intersection though and rocketed down the street. Ava turned to see the BMW caught behind the stalled traffic. The rider slapped his handbrake in frustration.
Ava laughed. “Turn. Turn now,” she told Sienna. “And take the next one as soon as it comes up.”
“Which direction? Where are we going?”
“Head to your place. But go past the school,” Ava told her. “Take the long way. Hurry, though.”
When they were safely away, Sienna glared at her. “Are you going to tell me what the hell is going on?”
Ava chewed her lip but didn’t answer.
“Ava, I swear to God! My car is trashed and I just broke about every traffic law there is! Probably a few they haven’t written yet, but they will after tonight!”
“Your car’s not trashed,” Ava assured her.
“I bet it is,” Sienna pouted.
“Then I’ll get it fixed.”
“Swear?”
“Scout’s honor.”
Sienna snorted.
“Whatever,” Ava shot back. “I will.”
They appeared to have lost their tail. Ten minutes later and Sienna turned into their neighborhood. She pulled the Olds into the garage and hit the switch on the remote control clipped to the visor.
Ava didn’t let out her breath until the door nestled firmly onto the concrete, blocking the view of them from the street. Satisfied that they were safe, she reached for the door handle.
Sienna grabbed her arm, though, and held it tightly.
/> “Oh, no way,” she declared. “You are not getting out of this car until you tell me what the hell that was about!”
Ava turned back, ready to brush her friend off. The look on Sienna’s face told her that was a bad idea.
“My car has a dent in it! And we just broke about a dozen laws back there, some of them might have even been felonies. So you are going to tell me the truth, Ava Mae!”
Ava squirmed under her friend’s harsh gaze. There were some things Sienna just didn’t need to know, but it was clear that no one was going anywhere until it all came out. After a long moment, Ava took a deep breath. “Okay,” she finally replied.
Slowly, Sienna released her. “Well?” she demanded.
Ava felt a rush of guilt, not over the past, but for keeping Sienna in the dark. They were best friends, after all.
“Tonight?” Ava began and then paused.
Sienna raised one eyebrow.
Ava blew out a harsh breath. “Totally not my first felony.”
It took half an hour to fill Sienna in on all the details. In the end, Ava wasn’t sure if her friend thought less or more of her. Maybe it was better not to ask. Sienna ducked into her house from the interior garage door while Ava slipped out the side door that led to the side yard. It was only a quick stroll across the shared back yard before she made it up the steps of the back porch of her own house.
The living room light was on, but the rest of the place was dark. Pop would be in bed by now. Adam might still be awake, though. She tested the back door, found it unlocked, and stepped into the kitchen. In the living room beyond, she could see not one head on the couch, but two. Her heart nearly stopped. Both Adam and Jonah turned to look at her.
Ava tried to breathe normally as she deposited her keys and her phone on the kitchen counter. She noted with some disappointment that Jonah looked no worse for the wear despite having just gotten into a bar fight. She held her breath as her oldest brother rose from the couch.
“All right,” he announced, stretching as he spoke. “I’m hitting the rack.”
Without a word, he sauntered past her and down the hall.
Ava was stunned. Clearly, Jonah hadn’t been giving a report on her. Adam would likely be waiting with a car battery and a pair of pliers, ready to find out all of Ava’s secrets, if Jonah had said even a single word about the bar. Or Emilio. Or racing, which Emilio might very well have told Jonah about in between punches.
