Level Up

by Hadley Quinn

  Then she turned around to see Gabe again, but he was gone.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  “Ava! That’s so terrible!” Chelsea squealed. She threw a bagel at her but Ava was quick enough to deflect it.

  “Watch it, sister,” she warned playfully. “I have no problem sending this Jell-O into your face.”

  She laughed a taunting challenge. “Right. Dry foods I can see, but Jell-O with whipped cream… You wouldn’t risk the mess.”

  “Mess? Why would I care about any kind of mess?”

  Chelsea’s confident front disappeared instantly as everyone else sat around the table watching. The two girls still faced each other while Ava finished adding the whipped cream to her Jell-O.

  “Shit, Chelse, what have you done?” Trent joked. “See that look in her eye? You damn near sealed your fate.”

  Chelsea shook her head as she moved away from the kitchen. She watched Ava out of the corner of her eye while she continued to mix her Jell-O. “Nah,” Chelsea concluded. “She’s arrogant when it comes to her food. She wants everyone to praise her cooking.”

  Ava thought her smile was pretty cute. She was obviously proud of her burn. Everyone else snickered, but Trent was the only one that somehow knew what was going to happen because he slowly got up from the table. Chelsea froze at that moment when Ava brought the large bowl of Jell-O toward her.

  Then with a shriek she took off as everyone else jumped up from the table. But Ava was too quick since she knew she was going to head for the kitchen and she blocked her route. Chelsea bolted out the open sliding door onto the deck, but before she could beeline it down the steps to get away, Ava dumped red Jell-O all over her head.

  Chelsea screamed. Really loud. But she was laughing her butt off as she flung whatever she could at Ava as everyone else gathered in the doorway to watch.

  “Jell-O wrestling!” Trent shouted.

  Ava pretty much had Chelsea in a headlock when she saw Gabe come out of his house quickly and it took her two seconds to realize he must’ve heard screams and came running.

  “Oh shit, you’ve released the Kraken,” Adam said.

  She let go of Chelsea and heard her murmur, “He’s gonna want to spank you, Ava.”

  “God, I hope so,” she whispered back.

  They were both trying to stifle laughs when he approached, carefully assessing the situation as he looked at the red mess all over the deck and mostly on Chelsea. He looked like he was going to say something and then he closed his mouth. Then he opened it and said, “Yeah, I’m speechless,” and turned and walked away.

  Ava thought it was pretty damn sexy, but she couldn’t say that out loud. Chelsea was the one that murmured, “Yep, he wants you,” and then they both snickered again.

  Having Chelsea know about her crush on Gabe was good and bad. It was fun to talk about, but there were times when it wasn’t so funny to Ava. Chelsea treated it like some little girl fantasy, and in a way Ava guessed it was, but she felt it a little deeper than that. There was just something about him that was different, something that spoke to her.

  During her time at the lake house she’d noticed a lot of little things about Gabe. He was always busy—always repairing or maintaining something—and even if he was inside the cabin, she couldn’t picture him being idle.

  The garage was organized to the letter. Literally. She was pretty sure it was Gabe’s tidy handwriting all in capital letters that labeled storage bins and the tool cabinet, and she was positive he was the one that started a chart to keep track of the maintenance on the boat, the mower, and the truck.

  Usually when she saw him it was just briefly. He chopped wood behind the cabin, so unless she went to the dock to gawk at him, she didn’t get to witness it happen. She was really tempted whenever she heard an axe come down on some wood, but she tried to maintain a little restraint. She knew he worked in the garage sometimes, but she refrained from pestering him in there, too. Once she saw him return to the house from what must have been a long run. He was shirtless and sweaty and he went straight to the cabin and disappeared inside.

  That was at five in the morning and she happened to be awake. She hadn’t been able to sleep so got up to sit out on her deck. She saw Gabe a few minutes later when she heard long strides in the gravel coming down the driveway. She’d wanted to holler good morning to him, but he had an intense look on his face. Maybe he’d run ten miles or something, but she thought it best not to bother him.

  There were other times that she’d have a chance encounter with him where there were actually words spoken. Everyone had been downstairs one morning, the fifth day they were there. A serious pool tournament was taking place and Ava was the first one bumped out of it. She agreed to go upstairs to get lunch finished and that’s when she heard some sort of creaking metal sound. She thought maybe it was part of the music downstairs, but this sounded like it came from the main deck just outside the kitchen.

  She shut the refrigerator to step onto the deck and the noise stopped. But she saw that a section of railing was missing to her right so she walked to it and looked down.

  Gabe was standing right below her.

  “Now the view has improved,” he said, and he took a crow bar to rip away another section of deck railing that was broken and in need of repairs.

  His comment made her shove her sundress between her legs to end the peep show. The deck was only six feet off the ground from where he was standing, so he couldn’t be in a better position if he’d tried.

  He chuckled at her reaction and shrugged. “Maybe I should’ve kept my mouth shut.”

  She wasn’t embarrassed except that he’d scared her. She supposed there wasn’t much difference between seeing her panties under her dress and seeing her in a bikini.

  “I like your boots,” he said, and he tossed the broken wood onto the ground beside him.

  She wasn’t sure if he was being serious or not, so she just glanced down at her favorite old brown cowboy boots and replied, “Thanks.”

  He took the back of his hammer to pull out a few nails and dropped them into a rusted coffee can. Then he picked up a freshly assembled section of deck railing to replace the old piece and set it up on the deck to fit it in.

  “You want some help?” she asked. She knew he didn’t need it, but maybe he’d want her around. At least that’s what she was hoping.

  “Uh, there’s not really much for you to do,” he answered. He came up the steps to insert the new section and she stepped aside. He wedged it tightly between one stabilizing post and the other one against the house. She watched the muscles in his forearms work as he did this and she swore her damn mouth watered. “I’ll re-stain everything when you guys leave, but for now it will look a little mismatched.”

  She shrugged to say that it didn’t matter, but before she could speak any words, he was already down the steps with a screw in one hand and a drill in the other.

  But one thought did occur to her.

  “I’m making lunch right now. Do you want to eat with us?”

  He stopped what he was doing, but only briefly before he angled the screw into the base of the deck and put the drill to it. “No thank you,” he answered.

  “It’s fried chicken,” she tried. “And I make it sooo good,” she added with a smile.

  He stopped again and looked up at her. She was still holding her sundress to her body, but he looked her right in the eyes. “I believe it. But I’m heading to town to pick up a few things. I’m hoping you guys won’t get too crazy and break anything else.”

  She sort of chuckled. “I’m sure Trent had no clue that a barbecue grill could move like that and bust a deck railing.”

  He glanced at her again. “Hmph. You know the wheels lock on that—”

  “Yes I realize that,” she smiled. “I’m sorry we made extra work for you, but thank you for fixing it so quickly.

  He only nodded.

  “So when are you leaving to head up town?” she asked.

  He drilled a
nother screw into the deck. “Probably in about fifteen minutes.”

  “Give me twenty and I’ll have lunch you can take with you.” And without waiting for a response, she rushed into the house to turn on the deep fryer.

  She was sure he’d wait. She didn’t think he had it in him to be rude when it came to someone making food for him. But she was mostly hoping that it was her he would be accommodating, not his stomach.

  Ava quickly rubbed several pieces of chicken in egg batter, sprinkled them with garlic salt, and then coated them with her special seasoned flour. While the oil was still heating up she removed her potato salad from the fridge and scooped some into a sealable container. The watermelon wasn’t cut up yet so she sliced some pieces from it, tossed them into another container, and added some grapes.

  Then she set the chicken in the deep fryer. While that was cooking she found another container for it and a couple of drinks. To be funny, she found a picnic basket—complete with the red-and-white checkered cloth inside. She packed it up, and while she was waiting on Gabe’s chicken, cut up the rest of the watermelon and heated some beans on the stove.

  When everything was packed into the basket she looked at the clock. Twenty-two minutes. Well, she was close.

  Gabe had his own truck started on the far side of the cabin, but he was loading a push mower into the back. Ava didn’t recognize the mower, so she wondered what he was doing with it.

  She was sure he knew she was coming across the driveway but he didn’t turn around until she was to the porch. She smiled as she set the picnic basket by the post and said, “Hope I wasn’t holding you up.”

  He stared at the basket for a few seconds and seemed a little surprised. He finally shook his head and said, “Eh, no, I was just, uh…” He motioned to his truck behind him.

  “Where’d that mower come from? It doesn’t look familiar.”

  His gaze followed hers and then it returned to her face. “Belongs to someone down the road. It’s fixed now so I’ll drop it off on my way by.”

  Why there was such awkwardness between them this time, Ava wasn’t sure. He seemed totally caught off guard, or maybe uncomfortable. Was it the picnic basket?

  She figured she should leave him alone and motioned toward the basket of food. “Sorry, it was either that or a plastic bag.”

  She turned around and headed for the house. After a few seconds she heard, “Thank you, Ava.” She smiled to herself but didn’t turn around. She only waved a hand that was supposed to mean he was welcome.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  The next day actually had the audacity to rain. Ava had planned to take her friends hiking through a few nearby trails, but the plans were changed when the rain wouldn’t let up. Carrie and Roger took a trip into town for a few hours, but the rest of them ended up playing cards and other board games.

  Ava was really surprised by how well the four of them got along. Especially Trent, and she knew she owed Chelsea an apology for how she’d judged him. She was right; he was pretty fun to be around. But as much as Ava liked being around Adam too, it seemed like the same kind of platonic relationship. Adam and Trent were like the brothers she never had.

  Chelsea and Ava made French bread pizzas that evening, and since Carrie brought home pies and ice cream from their grocery stop, they had that for dessert. There was a lot of food leftover again, and Ava couldn’t help but wonder if Gabe would like some. She debated it for a while, and when everyone went downstairs to watch a movie, she made the excuse that she had some phone calls to make and slipped away for a little bit.

  She actually did have some calls to make, and since it had cleared up and the sun was going down, she made them from her deck upstairs. It was her watchtower, so she could see what Gabe was up to. There was a light on in his cabin and she thought the flickering light from a television. It was just turning dusk so she couldn’t really tell.

  When she got off the phone with her last call, she stuck it in the back pocket of her jeans. She quickly made it downstairs, threw some food onto a couple of plates, and grabbed the rest of the vanilla ice cream. She slipped out the front door undetected.

  As she made her way across the driveway she felt a hammering in her chest. She was excited to see Gabe but nervous at the same time. He was hard to read, and although she got the impression that he liked her, there were too many things that caused her to believe that he was just tolerating her. Even though he seemed way too loner and rough to be relationship material, there was something about him that told Ava otherwise.

  She lightly rapped on the door and took a deep breath. She heard footsteps and took another deep breath. Her heart thudded as the door opened only to face…

  A very disgruntled looking Gabe.

  He was shirtless again, which would normally get her excited. And he was also sweaty, which could also get her excited as well. But he looked angry for some reason, like he’d just been in an argument with someone.

  “Ava,” he said, seeming surprised to see her.

  “Is this a bad time?” she asked.

  “Uh…” He sort of shook his head and then took a deep breath. “No, it’s fine.” He looked at what she had in her hands and it brought her back to the reason she came. Well, one of the reasons.

  “Have you eaten yet? Well I mean if you have you can just save it for later but…”

  She stopped before she could ramble on, but also because he’d been punching something into his phone and she wasn’t sure if he was even listening.

  He sent what seemed like a text and tossed the phone onto the couch. “Actually no, I haven’t eaten. And I’m pretty hungry. Whatcha got there?”

  That pleased her and she pushed the plates toward him for the taking. He accepted them, looking them over at the same time.

  “French bread pizza,” she said. “Sorry if you don’t like what’s on it, you can pick anything off. And some pie and…” She removed the ice cream that was wedged under her armpit so she’d been able to carry everything over.

  “Ice cream too?”

  “Yeah, do you already have some? I don’t have to leave it with you if—”

  “Ava,” he kind of smiled.

  “Yes?”

  He paused for a second and said, “You don’t have worry about me rejecting your food. Or anything else you offer.”

  Those last five words repeated in her head about ten times at lightning speed.

  “Thank you,” he added, and she handed over the ice cream. “I really appreciate it.”

  “You do?”

  She didn’t know why she said it. It was just automatic. But because Gabe was so hard to read, she never knew if she was bothering him or amusing him.

  The corner of his mouth lifted and they just stood there, looking at each other for a very long three seconds. “Yeah, I do,” he finally said.

  He cleared his throat and kind of motioned her in while he left the door open and put the food on the kitchen counter. For some reason she was hesitant. Ava had been in the guest cabin a million times when Charlie lived there, but it just had a different feel now. She knew it wasn’t just the minor changes inside but the beautiful man that was now living there.

  But she did step inside and she tried to look around briefly while his back was turned to her. It was immaculately clean, and although the furniture was mostly the same as it always had been, there were a few subtle changes. There were tons of books, something she never saw when Charlie lived there. There weren’t any blankets or quilts draped over the couch or chairs like she was used to seeing either, and the paint appeared to be a different color than she remembered.

  The TV was on, but it was on mute. And when she noticed a set of free weights that seemed to have been in use before she arrived, Ava realized that’s why he was sweaty.

  “Do you always work out in silence?” she couldn’t help but ask. He was putting the ice cream in the freezer and she motioned to the weights when he turned around.

  He shrugged. “Depends on my mood.” />
  She studied him for a moment. “Oh? And what kind of mood are you in tonight, Gabe?”

  He returned the stare and she could feel the heat rising through her body until it settled on her face. She also couldn’t get past the fact that his tattoos were right there in front of her again. She so badly wanted to look them over, maybe even ask him about each one. Maybe trace a finger over one…

  He took a few steps toward her, a tiny smile on his lips. When he was five feet in front of her he stopped and crossed his arms over his chest. “Not sure about my mood yet,” he finally answered, seeming to think about it. “It can change pretty quickly sometimes.”

  She tilted her head with curiosity. “Like Hulk?” she asked with a sassy smile.

  That made him chuckle, and a ripple went up her spine. Why was hearing someone’s laugh so thrilling?

  “I guess,” he supplied with a shrug.

  “You’re temperamental, huh?”

  His face was now expressionless. “More like I have that same unpredictable monster inside that no one wants to provoke.”

  She wasn’t sure how to take that. Was he trying to scare her? Impress her?

  Warn her?

  She tried not to swallow too hard when she met his gaze. “And why does someone as sweet as you have monsters to control?”

  She’d surprised him with that one. “Sweet?” he kind of smirked. “Why in the hell would you get that idea?”

  She smiled bigger. “Yes, sweet. And if you deny that you can be soft now and then, I’ll pretend you’ve fooled me but just know that you haven’t.”

  He smiled again. “You’re a witty little thing, you know it?”

  She barely shrugged. “So are you for avoiding the question. Evasive.”

  He obviously knew exactly what she meant and met her eyes again. “It’s not a subject that’s up for discussion.”

  And with that she noticed his entire demeanor changed, almost like he was shaken out of some kind of dreamy daze he’d been in.

  “Thanks for the food, Ava. You should probably get back to your friends now.”