Page 17 of Screwed

“What are you doing here, Ava?” I asked, deciding to just bite the bullet. She frowned, still focusing on the hammering.

“Um, exactly what you asked me to? Patching up the dock, I believe you called it,” she answered. Smartass.

“No, I mean, what are you doing here in Blackwood? You never told us.”

She sank back on her haunches, taking a break from her task. She looked at me quietly, her green eyes guarded. But I recognized the look she was trying to bury behind the annoyance. “I didn’t think I had to. It’s hardly necessary for a renovation job, is it?”

“Just making conversation,” I said, shrugging. “You have to see why you have us all so curious. A successful, hotshot architect walking away from her career in a big city just to learn how to swing a hammer on a half-broken boat dock in the middle of nowhere.”

She shrank back, her gaze hardening.

“Nothing you wanna share with the class?” I pressed.

“Nothing,” she said evenly. “Not a single thing.” She turned her attention back to the dock. “When did you start learning all this stuff, anyway? I know Ethan’s story, and I can fill in the blanks with Nate. But for someone so curious about me, there’s still so much I don’t know about you.”

So that’s how she was going to play this.

This woman was smart, and she wasn’t a half-bad liar. But what she didn’t know was that I had the kind of past that primed me to read between the lines of even the most cool-headed storytellers. And she was definitely lying. I rattled off some story from the selection of history I was willing to share with her, but internally, all I could think of was getting to the bottom of whatever was going on with her. Even if it was the last thing I did.

Ava Barden may have been stubborn and hardheaded as hell, but so was I. And if she wanted to continue playing these games, she’d find I was going to give her quite the challenge. I kind of looked forward to it.

By the time we finished, the sun had warmed up even more, and both of us had worked up quite a sweat. But it was satisfying. The patch job looked pretty good. At the very least, I was confident it would hold for now.

“Good job, rookie,” I told her.

Despite the tension between us when I’d tried fishing for answers, Ava glowed under the compliment. I grinned.

“Well, I guess there’s just one thing left to do now,” I announced, inching closer to her.

“Oh? And what’s that?” she asked, folding her arms.

“Cool off,” I said. Before she could react, I caught her off guard with a quick, playful nudge to the shoulder that sent her splashing right back into the lake.

10

Ava

The world tilted as I went under for the second time today. Only this plunge around, the initial icy slap didn’t knock the breath from my lungs. Between the now-hot sun above and the flush on my skin from the light labor, the water felt crisp and refreshing, albeit still a couple of degrees colder than I’d have preferred.

I heard a splash nearby and saw Deacon had jumped in himself, still fully clothed. He hovered nearby, treading water with effortless, powerful kicks, an unbothered grin splitting his face.

“You’re a dead man, Matthews!” I spluttered, wiping several dislodged strands of wet hair from my eyes. Deacon just threw his head back, continuing his leisurely swim as he laughed.

“You look like a drowned rat, Barden. Where’s all that city-girl attitude now?” he said impishly.

“Right here,” I gasped, instantly cupping my hands and sending a sharp, aggressive wave of lake water directly into his face, catching him mid-laugh.

Oh, it was on.

He started hacking, his face contorted as he tried not to swallow whatever was resident in Blackwood Lake’s water.

Now it was my turn to cackle with satisfaction. But it didn’t last very long.

“So it’s war? You can’t outrun me in here, princess. I’m twice your size,” he scoffed, maneuvering his body to glide toward me. I squealed, backpedaling out of reach.

“Yeah, which makes you a much bigger target,” I shot back breathlessly.

When I tried it a second time, he ducked under the splash, his wide shoulders slicing through the water before popping up closer to me and creating a forceful wake that bobbed me backward.