“Who did this to you?” I growled in a louder voice and stepped towards her. She couldn’t hide a bruise from me. I knew a bruise caused by a tight grip on an arm when I saw one. Who was she kidding?
“Nobody. I accidentally hurt myself,” Ava said and tucked in some stray red strands behind her ears nervously. She was refusing to meet my eyes. I reached for her chin and tipped her face to look up at me. When our eyes met, I felt a fire blazing in the pit of my stomach.
“Trust me, Ava. Tell me who did this,” I said, in a softer voice. Aggression wasn’t going to work on her, I needed her to be honest with me.
“My boy…my ex boyfriend. He was drunk and angry and he found me at my best friend’s house,” she stammered with her words and I dropped my hand from her chin. I could feel the fury coursing through my veins. I had to grit my teeth so that I didn’t lash out at something. Anything.
Some asshole had the fucking audacity to lay a hand on Ava.
My Ava.
“Who is this motherfucker? I’m going to crush his neck,” I hissed, eyeing her with anger. Ava gulped and looked away from me.
“No, please don’t. Just forget about it. He was drunk and I think he’s gotten in with a bad crowd. I think he owes someone money,” she said and I was shaking my head.
“I’m going to find him and then I’m going to kill him,” I snarled and this time, she stepped towards me, hesitating right when she was about to place her hands on my chest.
“He’s gone, I’m fine…Commando, please, just drop it,” she said but I could hear the fear in her voice.
“You’re not fine. Assholes like these don’t just stop after the first time,” I said and reached for her waist. Our eyes were locked, her gaze was soft, she suddenly looked less afraid. “Ava, I’m going to keep you safe, you’re going to have to trust me. I’m not going to let this motherfucker come anywhere close to you,” I said and her face grew even softer, she was about to cry. I could see her lips quivering. I knew she wanted to agree with me, she wanted me to take care of her but her pride was getting in the way.
“You’re going to stay with me. I don’t want you staying anywhere he might find you,” I told her, and my hand on her waist felt warm. Just touching her made me weak and I didn’t want to feel weak in that moment. Ava dropped her gaze to her feet and nodded her head. She was going to come home with me.
“And you can ask your friend to come too. She’s not safe in her apartment either,” I said and she looked up to meet my eyes again.
“She’s staying with her boyfriend, at least for a few days and I was going to go there as well,” she said, in a small quiet voice and I had to do everything I could to not pull her into my arms and kiss her.
Someone had touched her.
Someone had bruised her arm.
I was seeing red everywhere.
“Let’s go,” I said and grabbing her hand, I led her to my parked Harley. I helped her on to the bike and then sat down in front of her. She hesitated for a moment, before wrapping her arms around me.
That movement in my pants again. My cock had a mind of its own, even though sex was the last thing I was thinking of. I needed her to be safe.
“What about my shift? Big D will be expecting me inside,” I heard her say, as I revved up the engine.
“You can text him later and tell him you felt sick. Big D won’t mind. They are all very fond of you in there,” I told her, honestly. All Big D did was talking about these days was what a “sweet kid” Ava was and how much of a help she was to him.
And right now, I couldn’t think of anything but getting her out of there and to safety. And being with me was the safest I could keep her.
Chapter 12
Ava
“Nice apartment,” I said, looking about me. Commando was picking up discarded clothes and pizza boxes off the carpeted floor, and flinging them to a corner of the living room. The place wasn’t anything fancy, but it was well maintained enough for a single guy, especially a guy like him.
We’d been relatively silent all the
way to his apartment, and all I could think about was how I had my arms around him, how our bodies were grazing.
“It used to be!” he said and we both looked at each other and smiled.
He was right, I was safer here. In his apartment, with him. In fact, I hadn’t felt safer than this before and I walked over to the couch which he had just cleared out and sat down.
“Thank you for this, Commando, you really didn’t have to do it,” I said, kneading my fingers together. I was being honest. He wasn’t exactly indebted to me to keep me safe. I was just some girl he almost had sex with behind a bar. He had no obligation towards me.