Page 31 of Screwed

The heavy rain finally seemed to stop outside. I looked up at the ceiling, impressed that the old roof could withstand the storm after all these years. It was one of the few things we didn’t have to replace completely, just patch up. Ethan walked past with the firewood he’d collected and stashed away some place dry.

“Hey, d’you see Ava and Deacon anywhere?” I asked, scratching the side of my neck. I didn’t like that either of them was missing. Especially not at the same time.

Ethan made a noise that said no. “I haven’t seen either of them since before the storm hit. Maybe they went to town for something?”

“Without giving anyone a heads-up?” I asked. “I guess I wouldn’t put it past either of them.”

Ethan gave me a tight-lipped smile before starting another fire. I was just about to head out myself to look for them when I heard the front door open. I walked out into the entrance area and watched as the two of them crossed the threshold, looking like the sole survivors of a shipwreck. They were drenched, but that wasn’t what caught my attention. It was their body language.

Ava was shivering, her soaked shirt plastered to her skin. But she avoided making eye contact with me, instead focusing on the wall to my right. Deacon stood half a step behind her, unusually tense for a man who normally occupied space with indifference. His lazy, arrogant smirk was gone and replaced by a blank mask. Suspicious, to say the least.

I folded my arms. “Felt like a little summer walk?”

Ava chuckled nervously, still avoiding my eyes. She began wringing out her wet sleeves, little puddles forming at her feet. “Ah, yes. I thought the sun today was just perfect to work on my tan.”

She used her sarcasm as a shield, but her voice was different. It didn’t hold the same confidence it usually did. Deacon deliberately looked out of the front window, and I noticed his jaw clenched so hard a muscle twitched in his cheek.

I craned my head around her to direct my words at him. “And you, Matthews? Also trying to get your tan on?”

He cleared his throat, and then finally dragged his eyes to mine. But they kept bouncing around, as though he couldn’t keep eye contact for more than five seconds at a time. “Storm caught her by the eastern ridge line. She got twisted around in the fog and panicked.” He sounded exhausted. “I tracked her down and shoved her into that old hollowed-out Monarch cedar by the creek to let the worst of the front blow over. She’s fine, just cold.”

I didn’t believe his story any more than I could throw his ass in the air one-handed. I knew he was lying. We’d been friends for long enough for me to recognize the tone of it. And I remembered what Ava looked like when she felt guilty about something. She had the exact same quirk she had as a teenager—her head tilted slightly to the side and she rubbed one hand with the other. Dead giveaway. They were shitty liars, both of them.

Before I could say anything else, Mother Ethan descended and dropped into action. He wrapped a heavy wool moving blanket around Ava’s shoulders and rubbed his hands down her arms to warm her up.

“Come and stand by the fire to dry out,” he said gently, either not picking up on the weird tension between her and Deacon, or simply not caring. He guided her to the hearth, his hands on her arms the whole way. I gave Deacon a knowing look, but he quickly dropped his gaze and followed the other two.

I came in last, watching in silence as Ethan ran off to get Ava a mug of hot chocolate. Deacon retreated to the shadows near the woodpile, his hooded dark eyes fixed on the floor as he peeled off his soaked jacket. Ava looked overwhelmed by Ethan’s attentiveness, not knowing how to react to what I knew was him just being a good guy and a good friend. Though that wasn’t the whole story.

Ethan liked taking care of people, but his eyes didn’t quite light up the same way when he made us hot chocolate. And while Deacon was always partial to walking around brooding, it wasn’t usually with this layer of shame attached to it. There was a sharp, agonizing twist in my stomach; a cocktail of emotions I didn’t recognize and chose not to try because I didn’t like how they made me feel.

“You can change out of these clothes the second you’re warmed up, okay?” Ethan’s words were like cold water splashing onto my face. I stepped forward, leveling my voice.

“Guys, wrap this up and head back down to the trailer for the night. I’ll finish damp-proofing the interior doors and lock up the main structure,” I said, sticking a hand in my pocket.

Ava pulled the blanket tighter around her, her teeth still chattering and cutting up her words. “Nate, that’s ridiculous. The storm just broke, and the trailer has zero insulation. You guys can all stay inside on the cots tonight. There’s plenty of room here by the hearth.”

Ethan looked at me with a hopeful expression on his face, and I didn’t even bother looking at Deacon. I turned a flat, unyielding glare on Ava. “It’s unprofessional. We run a tight ship, and my men are fully equipped to camp out on remote contracts. Go get changed before you get hypothermia.”

All the guilt Ava was feeling evaporated. She set her jaw tightly. “You’re really going to stay out there in the storm?”

“It stopped for now. What better time?” I jerked my head in the direction of the door. “Come on, boys.”

Deacon slunk off the wall and headed straight out without so much as looking at anyone else in the room. Ethan gave Ava a sad look, then nodded at me and followed Deacon. I waited until I heard the door slam shut, then directed my attention back to Ava only to see that she’d already left.

I tracked her down the hallway, my chest tight with some kind of anger. That was the best way to describe what I was feeling right now. Her head turned to the side as she picked up that I was following her, but she didn’t slow down at all. I watched her back as we eventually reached her bedroom.

There was still something big she wasn’t telling me about why she was here and the trouble she was no doubt in. The knowledge that she might be in danger and refused to tell me was bothering me more than I cared to admit out loud, but seeing her pulling closer to Deacon of all people, was something that left me feeling unanchored. Not him, anyone but him.

“You here to catch a third show?” she asked, not looking at me as she pulled out some fresh, dry clothes.

I didn’t take the bait. “You need to keep your distance from him,” I told her. She immediately went rigid. “I’m serious, Ava. He’s a partner in my crew and he’s on the straight and narrow now, but he wasn’t always just a local contractor.”

She finally faced me now, her hands planted on her hips. But the slight tremor in her voice betrayed the hard look in her eyes. “What’d he do?”

I paused, not sure if I should tell his business. I was sure that he was going to do that eventually himself. If he hadn’t, she was testing me or fishing. But she was still Jules’s best friend. I felt obligated to look out for her, even if it meant I had to bring up some things I wish I didn’t have to.

“He did time, okay? I’m not gonna go into detail, but he has a past and it’s less than spotless.”