Chapter 47

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Ava had been in a bad mood for a couple of days, she felt trapped in the mansion. She had never been one for just sitting around, and now it felt like the walls were creeping in on her. Zane and Jax had even stopped taking her to the club. She knew why, but it didn’t stop the feeling of being trapped. She did regret yelling at Zane, she was hoping he wouldn’t see it as defying him and make him punish her. Or did she? She had conflicting emotions about it. To distract herself after shutting herself in her room, that didn’t really feel like her room anymore. She decided to call Gabriel, he had seemed a bit down lately, even though he insisted everything was fine.

“Okay, spill it,” she had told him after they had talked for a while.

“Spill what?” he asked.

“Whatever has got you in a bad mood.”

“Look who’s talking.”

“I know why I’m in a bad mood, I need to know why you are. I need the distraction. I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours,” she said.

“Fine. You know Ryder and I had coffee last week,” he started.

“Yes, and it went really well. You told me, several times.”

“It did,” he agreed, and then fell silent.

“But?”

“But I have hardly talked to him since the day after the date. If it was a date? I don’t know anymore. Maybe he just wasn’t interested after spending time with me. I don’t know,” he told her, and Ava felt her heart breaking a little for

her friend.

“Don’t be silly, Ryder adores you.”

“It doesn’t feel like it. He answers maybe every sixth message I send; he never picks up if I call. I just don’t have it in me to chase someone that isn’t into me,” he confessed.

“I get that, you shouldn’t have to. Do you want me to talk to him?”

“I don’t know, maybe it just wasn’t meant to be.”

“Don’t say that, Gabriel. I’m sorry you are hurting.” They talked for a while longer and after they hung up, Ava took a long shower. It was nice to think on someone else’s problems instead of her own for once. As the afternoon came around, she had come up with a plan. She was a little uneasy about it, it would maybe cross a line or two and if it went badly, it could risk her friendship with Gabriel. But she wanted to do something. She was woken from her thoughts by a woman shouting. She opened her door and saw a raging woman screaming for Zane. Ryder was trying to calm her down as she lunged at Ava. Ryder took her around the waist and carried her off.

“You think he cares for you? Forget it, babe, he is just using you until he tires of you, then he will throw you away and

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forget about your existence. Don’t let him ruin you as he did me,” she shouted to Ava. The two women’s eyes met, and Ava could see mixed with the anger were pain. Zane came up and wanted to know she was okay. She assured him she was and told him she had plans. She wanted to start on her plan. The woman had reminded Ava this thing with Zane was a business deal, nothing more, nothing less. She had let herself slip into the comfort which Zane had become. Ava needed to stop it. Zane had made it clear she would be out of here the moment he had grown tired of her, or her debt was paid off. She had needed a reminder, Ava thought as she walked down to the kitchen. She asked Anna if she minded Ave baking some cookies. Anna didn’t have a problem with it and Ava spent an hour setting the trap for the first stage of her plan.

“Ryder, I have made cookies,” Ava told the bodyguard as he walked into the kitchen. Zane glared at Ryder. But Ava ignored him, Anna would give him his own platter as soon as they left.

“Cookies?” Ryder asked, perking up.

“Yes, let’s grab a plate and some milk and enjoy them in the library,” Ava said, handing him two glasses of milk and taking the plate of cookies and leading the way. They sat down in two armchairs in the library and Ryder moaned as he bit in to the first cookie.

“Oatmeal cookies,” he sighed.

“With apple,” she added with a smile.

“Heavenly,” he hummed.

“Thank you, that’s sweet. I talked to Samantha yesterday, Tom is getting stronger each day,” she said.

“Yeah, I visited him the other day, he wants to get back to work, Samantha wants him to stay home and play with Baily

some more,” he told her.

“Sounds fair, he isn’t in a condition to go out in the field.”

“We would find things for him to do,” Ryder said, shrugging. Ava smiled, he was loyal, which is why she had a hard time understanding what he was doing with Gabriel. She saw him relaxing and knew it was time for part two of her

plan.

“I have a confession to make, Ryder,” she said.

Coh?”

“The cookies were a trap, I’m sorry.” Ryder looked at the cookie in his hand with a questioning look. Then he shrugged and crammed it in his mouth.

“They’re amazing cookies, it’s okay,” he said before gulping down some milk.

“Glad to hear it, I hope you can keep it in mind even after I’m done. First of all, I know I’m about to cross some serious. boundaries and trample straight into things I really don’t have anything to do with. But I need something to keep my mind of me being stuck here, so partly blame Zane.” Ryder smiled at her.

“You have me curious,” he told her.

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“I heard from Gabriel that your date at the coffee place went well,” she said. She saw Ryder look down and flush. “I

also heard that you have been ignoring him since,” she said with a little more force than she had planned. Ryder’s eyes shot up to look at her.

“I–is that what he said?”

“It isn’t true?” she asked.

“Well, maybe. A little I guess.” He nodded and looked down on his hands.

“Ryder, I’m going to tell you something. I probably shouldn’t. But I like you, and I don’t think you are a bad person or that you have any ill intentions towards my best friend. I just think you are a little nervous and don’t know what to do. If I find out I’m wrong and you intentionally use what I’m about to tell you to hurt Gabriel, I will have Zane do all those nasty things I know he can do, to you. And then I will do even worse things. Gabriel is the only true family that I have, and I may be all sweet and innocent. But when it comes to family, see me as a mother bear, hear me roar.” Ryder looked at her with big eyes and nodded. “Good, as I said, I get you are a little lost, and it’s okay. But you are going to lose Gabriel and hurt him with the way you are acting. I know he seems like he has it all together and is stable. But he has scars he hides, and you are poking at some of those and If you continue it will end badly. Have he talked about his parents?” Ava asked. Ryder shook his head.

“We haven’t really got that far,” he said with thin voice. Ava nodded.

Gabriel comes from an upper–class family. His entire life was planned for him by his parents, and they doted on him, he was their perfect child. That was until he was sixteen and told them he was gay. They didn’t take it well. He was out in the streets the day after as he was refusing conversion therapy.” Ava had to pause to breathe. It had been before she met Gabriel, but every time she thought about it, she wished she could have been there for him. “His grandmother on his mother’s side took him in. She was a lot more open–minded than her daughter and she made sure he finishe

high- school and she tried to make him believe in himself again. He was just getting back on his feet and starting to look ahead, plan the rest of his life, when his grandmother went to the supermarket and never came back. She suffered from a blood clot and died almost instantly.” Ava had to stop to swallow, Ryder looked devastated.

“You told me to call him,” he said. “After the ambush, you said I couldn’t just text.”

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“Yes,” Ava said and looked at Ryder. “Losing his grandmother like that has made him, I guess you can call it sensitive, for when people don’t touch base with him. Especially if he knows there’s a risk involved. He just needs to know everyone is safe.” Ryder nodded. “After his grandmother died, he hit a rough spell again. She had left him her house, so he had somewhere to live. But she didn’t have much money, so he needed to work instead of going off to college,” Ava continued. “It was before I knew him, but I think he was depressed and vulnerable. That’s when he met Jonas. Jonas was older, almost twenty years older than Gabriel, and from what I have heard, he was just confident and took charge over situations. Gabriel fell hard for him, and Jonas took over parts of Gabriel’s life.” Ava paused again, even if this wasn’t her story, and the pain in it didn’t belong to her. It still affected her deeply. “It got to a point where Gabriel was more or less emotionally dependent on Jonas. Jonas would dictate what Gabriel should do and when, how he should act and dress, and most other things. Then Jonas started to ghost Gabriel. At first just for a day, then for a couple of days, and then it turned into a week or two. As Gabriel didn’t know what to do, he just stayed in bed those days. He didn’t even eat. If he made decisions on days like that, Jonas would taunt him mercilessly when he got back.” Ryder looked angry, like he would hunt Jonas down and hurt him. Ava felt secretly pleased with his reaction. It showed her she hadn’t been mistaken about the feelings he had for Gabriel. “When Gabriel was brave enough to question, why Jonas would disappear for days, Jonas gas lighted him and made him feel like it was his fault. It went on for almost a year before Gabriel finally broke free. He started going to college to get his degree and working in the hospital on the side. That was when we met. But it is a different story all together. Do you understand why I have told you this?” Ava asked. Ryder rubbed his hands over his face and nodded. He almost looked broken.

“By pulling back, I have poked at all the insecurity he has,” he said.

“I know you don’t mean to do it. That’s why I wanted you to know why it’s a bad idea. If you feel this is moving too fast, or if you feel like this wasn’t your thing, just tell him. He will understand. He’s an amazing person and he won’t be offended. But please, don’t string him along.”

“It’s not that I don’t like him, I do. I really, really, do,” Ryder said. “But after the shooting I just felt like he deserved better, someone that wouldn’t end up shot. And what if he got dragged into it?” Ryder confessed. Ava smiled at him and placed her hand on top of his.

“Gabriel knows what you do. He knows what can happen. And it isn’t just you. He is going to come work for Zane full time in a couple of weeks. I made sure he knew all the downsides of it. But he stepped right into this world. Part of it may be that me and you are here.” As she said that, Ryder blushed. “But Gabriel knows a good deal when he sees it,”

she finished.

“I don’t want to lose him. And I don’t think I could let him go and then watch him date other men,” Ryder said.

“So tell him. Tell him you are attracted to him, but need to take things slow. Tell him about your doubts. Just talk to the man. And I would appreciate if you kept our little talk to yourself, or at least didn’t tell Gabriel about it.” Ava laughed a little nervously.

“Don’t you worry, Miss A. I won’t say a thing. I really appreciate you helping me like this.”

“Any time, Ryder.” Ava smiled.

“I think I need to call him. I think I have some grovelling to do,” Ryder said.

“You do that,” Ava said happily. She stayed in the library, eating the few cookies that were left and reading. She felt more relaxed than she had felt in days, and she wanted to enjoy it. Her phone buzzed and when she looked down, she