Here's another update! Super quick for me. Total fluke, so don't get use to it. Hope you enjoy it though! Thanks for the reviews in the last chapter, there was some really great ones!
~HM
Chapter 9
Once outside, he took off on a run, following the same path they used to get to the pub, leading up to the apparation point. When he reached it, she was nowhere to be found, so on a soft curse, he quickly apparated up to the resort.
He took off in a jog as soon as he got his bearings and followed the trail leading to the resort. Both relief and irritation consumed him when he finally saw her shadowy figure ahead. She was wobbling down a slight slope in those ridiculous, but sexy heels when he finally called out to her.
She yelped, and of course, slipped and fell down on her ass. Could she be any more predictable? He wondered as he cast his eyes to the heavens. "Serves you right, Grace."
"What the hell are you doing here?" she demanded as she struggled to get up. She slapped his hands away when he tried to help her. "Get away. Go away."
"Not going to happen," he said as he loomed over her once she was steady on her feet. "What the hell were you thinking? Leaving like that without a word?"
"How did you even know I left?"
"Tanner told me. He said he saw you stalk out of the place. Didn't you ever stop and think that Nora or I would be worried, wondering where you were?"
"I didn't want to say anything to Nora because she was busy with Dallas and…okay, maybe I should have let someone know, like Tanner…but you didn't have to come running after me."
"It's not safe for you to be out here alone, A.J."
She lifted her chin in defiance. "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."
"Oh, right…the girlish yelp and you falling on your ass was really intimidating."
"You snuck up on me!"
"So…what are you saying? A real attacker would have politely informed you ahead of time that he was planning on jumping you?"
Ava opened her mouth to defend herself then, closed it real quick when she realized he had a point and would have just sounded stupid. "Fine…I shouldn't have taken off like that, but I'm fine now. The house isn't too far away from here so you can go back."
"Oh, no," he protested when she started to walk away from me. "We're not done."
"What do you want from me?" she demanded as she spun towards him.
Before he could answer, a loud thunder cracked overhead, causing them to jump, then the sky opened up and rain came pouring down, drenching them both.
"Oh, that's just great!" Ava screamed as she flung out her arms and glared up at the sky. "Could this night get any worse?"
"C'mon." Dameon grabbed her hand and tugged her toward the house.
"Wait…slow down! Grace can barely walk in these heels, let alone run!"
Dameon responded by grabbing her arm and swinging her on his back as if she was a knapsack. She was too stunned to comment or demand he let her go while he ran towards the house, all she could do was hold on tight for the ride.
When he finally made it to the house, she expected her to put her down, but to her amazement he kept on walking right to the stairs. She started to struggle when he was halfway up the steps. "Let me go! What are you…"
"Unless you want to wake up our parents, I suggest you wait to yell at me when we're in your room. We're not done talking."
Ava narrowed her eyes. "You are so dead, Malfoy," she warned in a low, deadly tone.
"Consider myself warned," he muttered, then stalked into Ava's room, kicked the door…quietly...with his foot, then casted a quick silencing spell on the room, before dumping her over his shoulder and onto the bed.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" she yelled as she angrily sat up, shoving her wet hair out of her face. "Tossing me about like that!"
"Get over it," he said flatly. "Now…I'm not leaving until you tell me crawled up your ass tonight. Or should I say…who?"
Since she was tired of looking up at him, she kicked off her heels and got up on her feet. Although she was standing on the edge of the bed, she was only a half a head taller than him. "Whatever, or whoever, crawled up my ass, is none of your business." She gave him an angry shove with her hand when she emphasized "your" and he had barely budged. "So just stay out of it."
"What did Liam do?"
"He didn't do anything."
"Exactly. He brushed you off," he continued when Ava remained silent, a sign that told him he was on the right track. "Didn't acknowledge you or talk to you. He didn't do anything…and now you're pissed of…for good reason."
"It doesn't matter." She crossed her arms over her stomach in defense. "He was doing it on purpose because he was mad I didn't go to the bar with him."
"So, that makes it okay, then?"
Her eyes flashed with anger. "Of course not! His ass is in deep water and he's not going to swim his way out of it so easily this time."
"You shouldn't even give him the chance to try!" he shot back. "He doesn't deserve it…he doesn't deserve you."
Ava shook her head in denial. "Dameon…"
"And you don't see it," he said softly as it dawned on him. "You think of yourself as ordinary. Plain. You don't think you can do any better than Liam Kelson…that's why you stay with him."
Bulls-eye, she thought in a panic. He hit the nail right on the coffin, but dammed if she would admit it.
"You're way off, Malfoy," she balked as her back went up. "Way off."
"Am I?"
"Yes…and I'm not going to talk about it anymore with you. In fact, I don't want to talk to you any…"
The double doors leading to her balcony flew open and the harsh winds of the storm gusted through. Dameon immediately went over and started to close the doors back, but halted and jumped back when a very wet and disgruntled looking barn owl flew inside.
"Oh," Ava gasped when he landed at her feet and ruffled his feathers. She knelt down to the owl and removed the message that was rolled securely in a waterproof tube attached to his leg. "Feel free to stay here if you want to wait out the rain…but the snake is not on the menu," she added when the owl's head turned toward Baxter's cage. The owl let out a disappointing hoot, before flying over to the back of a chair and started to clean his feathers.
"What's the letter?" Dameon asked, still slightly disgruntled that their argument got interrupted, but then deep concern, melted his agitation away when he saw her face turn pale. "What's wrong? What is it?"
"It's…it's from the healing school I was telling you about the other day," she murmured. "They finally answered me."
Dameon sighed in relief. "Oh. Well, don't you think you should open it?" he asked when she only stared at the unopened envelope that had been tucked into the tube.
"Yes…that would be a good idea…I just can't seem to get my fingers to work properly."
Dameon smiled softly as he reached out to take the envelope from her trembling hands, then lifted a brow when she wouldn't let it go. "A.J, you'll have to read it sooner or later. Might as well be now." She nodded in agreement, but didn't let go. "Do you want me to open it?" She nodded again. "All right, but you're going to have to let go for me."
She let out a shaky breath as she let Dameon tug the envelope away, then immediately started wringing her hands. "Dameon…I really want this."
"I know you do, Ava…let's just see what it says. And try to breath…I really don't want you to pass out on me."
She gave him a wobbly smile, than took a deep, calming breath. "I'm all right. Whatever happens…I'll deal with it. Go ahead…open it."
Surprisingly, his own heart was pounding as he opened the pointy flap and slid out the parchment. The last thing he wanted to do was look into those worrisome chocolate brown eyes and tell her she was denied. After giving her one last reassuring look, he calmly looked down at the parchment and began to read.
She tried to read his face while he read, but couldn't get anything out of it. It was driving her mad! "Don't leave me hanging, Dameon…I'm about to throw up here I'm so nervous."
His eyes flickered from the parchment to her eyes. "It's just as I suspected…they really like the hardcore geeks." He then gave her a slow, grin and turned the parchment towards her. "You're in."
"What?" she gasped and then let out a soft sob as she covered her mouth with her hand.
"Don't cry," he pleaded when her eyes began to fill. "Crying females make me nervous…even when they're happy cries."
"Sorry." She grabbed the parchment to read for herself. "I can't believe it," she whispered in awe as she read it over again just to make sure she wasn't dreaming. "I'm in…they actually want me." She smiled as she took a couple of happy bounces on the bed, then let out a bubbly laugh as she beamed at Dameon. "I know we're technically still fighting, but you're just going to have to do."
On an exciting whoop, she jumped off the bed and threw herself onto Dameon, wrapping her legs around his waist as she locked her arms around his neck. "Woah," he laughed, completely taken by surprise, but still caught her easily as he circled his arms around her back. The force of the hug caused him to stumble back a few steps, but still smiled and held her tight, enjoying the way her body was wrapped tightly around him.
"I can't believe it," she murmured against his shoulder. "I'm so excited I'm about to combust. Just hold me a little while…don't let go."
He held on tighter and buried his face into her damp hair. "I won't."
"I'm feeling so much right now I don't know whether to laugh or cry."
"Laugh…I'm begging you."
She did just that as she perched her chin on his shoulder. "I'm so happy…entirely too happy to fight with you."
"Then we won't."
"You're being quite accommodating."
"Don't get use to it."
She laughed. "Oh, I won't." She then sighed as she turned her face so her cheek was now on his chest. "I'm glad you were here. If I've gotten that letter when I was by myself, I would have freaked."
"You would have handled it just fine," he assured her as he started to lift a hand to stroke her hair, but backed out at the last minute and dropped it. "But…I'm glad I was here, too. Have I told you congratulations yet?"
She smiled. "No."
"I haven't? Well, then." He arched his back slightly, causing her to lift her head and look up at him. "Congratulations, Ava."
He then did something he had never, ever done before in all their lives. He swooped his head down and brushed his lips against her cheek, lingering as he did so that his scruffy cheek grazed her soft skin.
Ava blushed, of course she blushed, she expected that. However, she wasn't prepared for the intense shudder of her heart when his lips grazed her skin, or the unfamiliar tingle that rushed all they way down to her toes. A good, steamy kiss from Liam came nowhere close to what she was feeling now. And all Dameon did was brush his lips against her cheek.
"Why…why did you do that?" she asked shakily.
"Because I wanted to."
"You've never done that before."
"No, I haven't. Should I apologize for it?"
She urgently shook her head. "No, of course not…I guess it just took me by surprise, is all."
"Good. Maybe I'll surprise you again."
Ava wasn't sure, but she could have sworn Dameon's eyes flickered to her lips…but it was probably just her imagination. "Well." She cleared her throat and then untwined her legs to get down, but only dangled since Dameon hadn't let go yet. "I…I should probably go to bed…it's getting late and the family's coming in early tomorrow."
"Okay," was all he said and then slowly, inch by inch, slid her body down his until her bare feet finally touched the floor.
"So." She took a step back as she nervously ran her fingers through her tangled hair. "I guess, I'll…see you tomorrow."
"When the invasion begins?" he asked with a grin.
Ava laughed. "Exactly."
"Well," he said after a moment of silence. "Night." He turned on his heels, and walked towards the door and opened it, but turned back to her. "A.J.?"
"Yes?"
"Don't get mad when I say this…but no matter what you believe, you do deserve better than Liam. I know you don't want to be wrong about him and Merlin knows you don't like to be wrong about anything, but…maybe you should stop and really think about the kind of person he is and how he treats you."
"Dameon…"
"No, don't say anything," he pleaded softly as he held up a hand. "I don't want to fight with you…I just want you to think about it. And another thing to think about…let me assure you by saying there are plenty of other guys who would be interested in you." He held her gaze, long enough to feel the tension erupting between them. "Plenty."
He closed the door quickly behind him before she could respond, then leaned back against it and closed his eyes. He was in trouble. He was in big, big trouble. He was falling for his childhood nemesis…and he didn't know what the hell to do about it.
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