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Who the fuck is her family?
I have dug and fucking dug, and the shit I’ve found out about Aviana’s family is utterly fucking terrifying. Not only are they running some serious illegal shit, they’re doing it in her name. Every single fucking thing is in her name, every house, every account, every fucking thing belongs to her and she doesn’t even know it. Those smart mother fuckers, keeping themselves clean, keeping her unsuspecting.
She has more than she could possibly imagine.
Her father is smart.
He’s also incredibly dangerous.
I’m determined to find out more, to find out why everything is in her name, to find out what kind of show they’re running and how they plan on involving her in it. If someone found out everything technically belonged to her, they could take her and everything would be theirs. It would be terrifyingly simple. Is that how her father wants it? If anything comes back on them, it’s automatically directed to her and he can start clean.
I don’t fucking know, but I’m going to find out.
I walk up my driveway, head in the clouds, and I consider all the possibilities of what they might be doing when I look up and see Aviana sitting on my front step. She’s got her head down, staring at nothing on the ground. She looks ... hurt. I pick up the pace and walk up to her, asking, “Hey, what’s happened?”
She looks up at me, and she has a sore and swollen eye. She’s got tears running down her fucking beautiful face and she looks like she’s had a hell of a day.
“Who did that to you?” I growl.
“My brother’s pathetic girlfriend,” she mutters. “We got into a fight, and they kicked me out. My own family kicked me out and let her stay in my house.”
I sit down beside her, and she turns to me. “Can you believe that?”
I shake my head. Mother fuckers, they don’t deserve someone like her. Not even fucking close. “I can’t begin to understand it, but you can stay here for the night. Let’s get that eye cleaned up.”
I stand and take her hand, pulling her to her feet. “Lucky Briella is still moping about her broken wrist—if she saw me like this she’d flip. I’ll have to tell her I’m sick so I have an excuse not to see her for a week. She already hates my family.”
“Sounds like she has good reason to.”
“She does.” Avi smiles.
I walk into the massive house that belongs to my parents, and their German shepherd puppy that Briella so fondly named Germy when she was younger, comes bounding out. Avi kneels down and wraps her arms around his fluffy coat, nestling in, and I watch as a huge smile spreads across her face. “Seriously,” she exhales. “This dog is the absolute best.”
“Yeah, he’s alright.” I can’t keep the grin off my face.
I find an ice pack for Avi’s eye while she’s busy playing with Germy, and then I take it back to her and hand it over. She presses it to her eye and glances around the house. “This place is massive; I don’t think I paid enough attention the other times I was here.”
“Yeah, it’s a good place. Want a drink?”
She nods. “Yeah, that would be great.”
I go to the fridge out on the back patio and she follows me out there. I grab two beers out, handing her one. We take a seat and stare out. It’s fucking nice out here, the sun slowly setting in the distance, a nice wind blowing across our faces. Avi takes a sip of her beer and glances over at me. “Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.”
“That’s what friends are for.”
She giggles. “I suppose you’re right.”
I wink at her, and we sit in silence for a few minutes, just enjoying the afternoon. Only after we’ve done that do I dare to ask the questions burning on my mind. I want to know what she knows about her family, if anything at all. If she has no idea what they’ve done in setting her up, then she doesn’t know she could be forever in danger if people come looking for what she has.
“How come you’re not close to your family?” I ask.
She shrugs. “Ever since Mom died, I just became the invisible one. My brothers both help Dad run whatever shit he’s running, and I’m just a pain in the ass. They’re just the cold, selfish types of humans you never wish to end up with as family.”
“What business do they run that they have to keep so far away from you?”
She glances at me. “You know, the illegal shit. You’d probably know about it more than me. I do know they move a lot of drugs, that’s purely from overhearing conversations. The other night a few men came to the door and my dad made me run out the back door and go for a night. He said he didn’t want me to be around if things got dangerous. I think they were there threatening him or something like that. It’s not the first time.”
“Did he get rid of them?” I ask her, narrowing my eyes.
“Yeah, well, I mean obviously. They weren’t there when I got back. He said they had the wrong house, but I know he’s lying. There have been others come to the house and they suddenly ‘disappear’ I guess that’s what happens when you’re running the kind of life they are.”
Sounds like whoever he is sending away is looking for her.
Specifically, what she owns without knowing it.
“You ever see anyone and they approach you, or make you uncomfortable, you come to me, yeah? The club will always have your back.
She smiles at that. “I’m glad.”
“You’re family, we take care of family.”
The look she gives me when I say that makes my fucking entire body want to go to her, to take her into my arms, carry her upstairs, and fuck her slowly all god damned night long.
“Would you hate it if I hugged you right now? I feel like I want to hug you for saying that.”
Fuck.
“You wanna hug me, you hug me,” I say, my voice far huskier than I’d like.
She stands with a smile and walks over, leaning down and wrapping her arms around my neck. It takes everything, fucking everything, not to just pull her onto my lap and kiss her until she’s moaning my name. I don’t do that, though. I wrap my arms around her, inhale the fresh scent of her hair, and hug her as hard as she’ll allow.
She exhales, almost in the relieved, relaxed kind of way.
Then she pulls back, but only enough that we’re now face to face, eyes locked. Fuck me, if she doesn’t move now, I’m goin’ to kiss her. I won’t be able to stop myself.
Her eyes soften in a way that tugs at my heart, and when she bites her lip, as if contemplating if she might just lean forward and finish it, a sound has her jerking back. She glances up and then quickly stands. I turn and see Samantha standing in the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest, a scowl on her face. “What the hell is going on here?”
Fuck me.
Here we go with the drama.
“Was huggin’ a friend,” I mutter, standing.
“Looks like you were doing a whole lot more than hugging her. Who is she? Who are you?”
She’s scowling at Aviana now.
“I’m Aviana, we’re friends.”
“I doubt that,” Samantha snaps. “Why were you touching my boyfriend?”
“Fuck me,” I growl. “I’m not your fuckin’ man, Samantha.”
She looks to me now, horrified. “Excuse me?”
“We fuck, we go out sometimes, but I’ve never told you that we’re together.”
“You were making love to me just last night.”
Avi noticeably flinches and I could swear her face scrunches with ... Is that jealousy?
Does she want me as much as I want her?
“I was fuckin’ you, there is a big fuckin’ difference.”
“You were looking into my eyes ...”
“Where the fuck else am I supposed to look? The wall?”
“You’re a pig!” she cries. “I thought this was something.”
Fuck me.
“It ain’t.”
“I should leave,” Aviana says, sidestepping so she can get past Samantha without the risk of receiving another black eye.
“You’re not leavin’, you have nowhere to go,” I say to her, but she ignores me and hurries past Samantha.
“Aviana!” I bark.
“I’m okay,” she yells out, and then she’s gone.
Fuck me.
If it’s not one thing, it’s another.
I don’t want her out on the streets alone.
She’s not safe.
“I gotta go,” I say, rushing past Samantha.
“Cohen!” she yells.
“It’s over, Samantha!”
With that, I’m gone, too.
Poor Samantha, she probably deserved a better ending than that.
Right now, though, I’ve got more important shit to deal with.
Keeping Aviana safe.
~*~*~*~
