Avery’s POV

“Avery, would you like some toast with your breakfast?”

I looked up from the table in our sunny kitchen, meeting my dad’s piercing blue eyes. He was smiling at me and I couldn’t help but return his kind look. He looked the happiest I had seen him in a long time and the smile on his face filled me with warmth.

“Sure, that sounds great, Dad,” I said, still smiling as he made his was over toward the table, only he wasn’t getting any closer. His face was falling into a panicked expression as I moved farther and farther away.

“Avery! Avery!” he called but when I opened my mouth to call out to him, nothing came out.

Suddenly I was in a really cold place and I had no idea where I was. The only thing I could determine was that I was in this empty white space where each flake of snow that fell from the black sky stung my skin. This place was colder than the devil’s heart and the snow that hit my bare skin was agonizingly painful.

“Hello?” I called out, my teeth chattering as warm tears flooded my cheeks. “Dad? Where are you dad?” I was so lost and confused that I didn’t know what to do or where to turn. He had been there moments ago and now I was alone, well until the light in the darkness shifted.

And there he was, lying in the middle of the room, his lips blue and cold.

“Dad!” I cried, racing over to his side. I dropped to my knees, ignoring the cold I felt and cradled his head in my hands. The hot tears stained my icy cheeks as I frantically looked around for help. “Someone please help us!”

In the distance I could hear sirens crying as they neared and I instantly knew my father was lingering somewhere between life and death. “God this cant be happening. What happened?”

“You did this, Avery.”

I looked up to see a woman in white floating towards us, her long dark hair billowing in front of her face. She looked like an angel—only there was nothing angelic about her. Her skin was ghostly white and her hands and feet had dark blue tint to them.

I frantically shook my head at the figure. “No. No…we were just eating breakfast. I-I couldn’t have done this.”

“Oh, but you have my dear,” she said, landing next to me and pointing to my left. To my horror, there was Brian lying in the same state as my father. Only his body was being punctured by shards of ice and a thick crimson pool surrounded him.

“NO!” I cried, moving from my dad’s icy frame to Brian. When I kneeled at his side the warm crimson liquid immediately covered my legs and I felt like I was going to be sick. I couldn’t help him either. “Brian…please-please wake up!” I shook his body but he didn’t move. “No…no…no…”

I didn’t know what to do. I felt so helpless. Should I try to save Brian or my dad? Did matter at this point in time? Was I too late to help either of them? “Brian…Dad…no-no…please, this cant be happening. Please! Help me!” I screamed at the women, the sirens getting closer and closer with a manic crescendo.

“You did this by going against everything that I taught you. You broke your fathers heart. You broke Brian’s heart so you don’t deserve either of them, Avery!” I woman said shaking her head. “You are not the person I thought you were! This isn’t my daughter…”

The direction of the wind changed and my jaw dropped as the woman’s face stared back at me, the tears racking my body. “M-Mom?” I sobbed, looking at her sunken and ghostly features. She wasn’t the beautiful woman that I had known as a child. She was now a floating corpse, showing me my failures. “No…Mom…please…”

“You ruined everything, Avery. You ran away from home, you ran away from the person you love. You lost both of them and now you must face the consequence. There is no turning back. You’ve sealed your fate with your actions. You killed your father, Brian…and even me.”

“NO! I didn’t kill you…I-I didn’t kill anyone!” I screamed realizing that I now had Brian and my father’s lifeless bodies on either side of me. Then it hit me – I couldn’t save them. For the first time in my life I felt helpless, I didn’t know what to do and that scared me almost as much as losing the two people I loved the most.

“You did and now it’s time for you to pay!” Those dark discolored hands moved in on my throat as I started to scream at the top of my lungs, the darkness crashing down around me.

“Ave? Avery! AVERY!”

I shot straight up in the bed, taking in a strangled breath. It felt like the first time I had actually been able to breath in minutes. The burn in my chest and throat was almost as bad as the icy pain of the snow falling in my dream, which only made my level of panic rise. I could feel the warm tears pouring down my cheeks as my heart raced wildly in my chest. “No! No! I have to get out of here!” I cried, thrashing my body, thinking that I was still in the white space engulfed in agony. In my mind, everyone that I loved was still gone and I was the reason.

“Avery, shh…It’s okay. Shhh,” a voice soothed, pulling me into a warm muscular chest. “I’m here…nothing can hurt you…”

I frantically shook my head, trying to look around through my tear filled eyes. To my relief I only saw a dark hotel room and pair of heavily tattooed arms pulling me into a tight embrace. I slowly began to realize that I wasn’t in the white space anymore and that the pair of arms holding me were very much alive.

“Shhh….I wont let anything happen to you,” Brian’s deep timbre assured me, kissing my forehead. “You’re okay.”

“You-You…. were dead!” I sobbed, pulling my knees to my chest and trying to fight my rising nausea. That dream had really shaken me, especially when I saw Brian and my father’s lifeless bodies on the floor next to me. I felt so helpless and that thought alone hurt more than anything else. “Y-y-you and m-my dad were d-d-dead…and-and I-I couldn’t s-s-save you!”

Brian’s strong arms carefully pulled me onto his lap, rocking my back and forth as the tears fell. “Avery, look at me,” he said, taking my chin and pulling my face up so I could meet his eyes. “I’m here with you and I’ll never be anywhere else.” Brian’s calloused thumbs gently whipped the tears from my eyes. “You’re mine.”

“No!” I yelled, trying to get him to understand. He looked down at me with concern in his eyes but I had to make him see what I was. I was a monster, or at least that’s what I thought after that dream. “I-I-I killed you both! It was my fault!” I was hysterical and all Brian could do was hold me and try to sooth me. “My-my-my mom…she-she said…I-I-I killed you both!”

“That’s not even possible, love. You couldn’t kill anyone even if you wanted to,” Brian chuckled, kissing my forehead. I don’t know what he thought was so funny because I wasn’t laughing. “You don’t have a mean bone in your body.”

I gapped at him, finally meeting those brown eyes in the early light of the morning. He was right—I couldn’t have actually killed anyone. I would never forgive myself, let alone work up the nerve to commit the act. “You’re okay and you’re not going to lose me, I promise, Ave. I promise,” Brian said over and over, his lips moving over my naked shoulders, distracting my thoughts.

Brian had kept me occupied throughout the early hours of the morning, but there was no way I was going back to sleep after that nightmare. I couldn’t fall back asleep even if I wanted to, and that wasn’t even counting the hour and a half I spent tossing and turning before passing out the first time. There was no point, considering it was already six-thirty in the morning. My dad would be here in three hours. What was I going to do? I had no idea how I was going to make it through this mess without getting sick.

“How can you promise that?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

“What do you mean how can I promise that?” Brian’s brow furred as he looked down at me. “I love you, Avery. I can’t just give that up. You’re the first person and may be the only person I’ve ever felt like this around and there is no way in hell you are getting away.” He stared at me but I couldn’t respond. My words and brain weren’t working.

“Do you believe me?” Brian asked softly and I could only nod weakly.

A pair of warm arms snaked around my waist, followed by a warm sculpted chest pressing against my back. The next thing I knew, his soft lips were kissing my neck and shoulders, causing me to melt into him. “Talk to me, Babe,” he breathed but I couldn’t say anything. I was still trying to fight my anxiety about the dream and my father coming in a few hours. “What are you so afraid of right now?”

He slowly pulled me backwards and into the bed and hovered over top of me. Through the dim light of the morning, I could see the look of concern etched in his dark orbs. “Please, Ave…you’re killing me here. Are you worried about the meeting with your dad?”

I nodded, the tears still coming from that awful dream. “I’m not letting you go, no matter what happens. You are staying with me,” he said again, forcing me to look at him.

“I don’t want to hurt him…” I finally whimpered, feeling his calloused fingers whipping away my tears. “I can’t hurt him…it’ll kill him to know what I’ve been doing. He is going to hate me forever…h-he-he’s going to make me choose and-and I can’t-I-I can’t—“ I sobbed but Brian pressed his lips gently to mine to stop me.

“Shh…don’t say that,” Brian soothed, running his hands up and down my arms. “It’s not possible for anyone to hate you. Besides we’ll make him see, Ave I promise. He will see what we have and I wont give up or back down until he does.”

“What if he doesn’t listen,” I was shaking my head back and forth, my mom’s corpse haunting my thoughts.

“Let’s not live in the land of ‘what ifs’, okay? Lets make a plan and go with it, that way we know exactly what is going to happen and how to react? Sound good?” Brian pulled us back up into a sitting position and I rested my head on his shoulder. He was so good to me and I owed him everything. I just hoped that I wouldn’t have to give him up. “Just tell me one thing, Ave. Would you stay with me if it came down to you making a choice?”

I picked up my head and met Brian’s eyes, seeing that he meant every word that came out of his mouth. I knew I loved him and that I wanted to be with him but could I choose him over my father? I guess the question I should have been asking myself was ‘who couldn’t I live without’. Taking in a deep breath, I closed my eyes and the answer flashed before my eyes. I knew immediately who I would choose and my dream made it surprisingly clear.

“Yes,” I barely whispered, feeling a flutter in my chest. “I don’t want to be without you…just please…don’t hurt me.”

“Ave,” Brian sighed with a huge smile on his face. “I couldn’t look at another woman the way I look at you, even if I wanted to. You’ve-you’ve changed me…”

“Changed you?” I asked, whipping away the tears for good this time. I wrapped my arms around Brian’s chest and slowly moved into his side, loving how nicely I fit there. “How so?” I furred my brow and looked down into his eyes.

“Don’t make me say it,” he groaned, looking at anything but me. When he finally did look at me he couldn’t help but chuckle and pull me into a kiss. “You really don’t know do you?”

I shook my head and he rolled his eyes. “Damn, Ave…you’re really are killing me here….Fuck…” Brian slowly sat up and pulled me back onto his lap, gently petting my dark wavy locks. “From the moment I met you at my house party, you were literally the only girl I could think about, which was really something. You knew my reputation before I’m sure. I guess something inside of me told me right away that you were all that I would need, even if I didn’t want to admit it. I was almost like you entranced me and even when I wanted to look at other girls, my eyes and mind went back to you. And once I embraced that, I realized exactly what that was and I wasn’t going to let that go. I love you Avery, and I really mean it.”

As soon as the words left his lips, I crashed my lips down into his. I couldn’t get enough of him and I knew that staying with him was the right decision. I needed this man in my life and there was no turning back, not now not ever. Brian would have to literally crush me for me to feel any differently but something told me that wasn’t going to happen. My dad was wrong—Brain needed me just as much as I needed him.

And he proved it to me. First in the shower, where he cleaned every inch of me, using only his tongue and the showerhead, and then in the Jacuzzi bathtub. By the time he was done to me, I was lying in the middle of the king sized bed in a euphoric state. I didn’t have anything one my mind but the man holding me in his arms, enveloping me with his love.

“How are you feeling, love?” Brian’s warm breath tickled my ear and I closed my eyes.

“Mmm…very good…but hungry,” I admitted, having no idea when I ate last. And as if on cue, my stomach grumbled loudly.

“Do you want to go get breakfast?”

“Only if you carry me,” I giggled, cuddling into him. I felt so happy and alive in his arms and I knew this is where I needed to be. I just had to help my father understand that now. “I don’t think I can walk…”

“Well, I think I could arrange something. But if we want breakfast we should go now. They only serve it until 8:00 here,” Brian said with a light frown, grabbing my hands and pulling me out of the bed. I moaned lightly when my feet touched the floor.

Fifteen minutes later, Brian was leading me down the hallway toward the breakfast station. “Matt and Maya are going to meet us down here in a few minutes,” he said, taking my hand and kissing it lightly. “I just got a text. They want to make a plan for our 10:30 meeting. We want to be prepared for anything.” Brian glanced over at me with a wicked smirk on his face.

“What are you doing?” I asked him, raising my brow. I knew that face. That was the look he got when he and Jimmy were up to something and I didn’t like it. “Brian?” I asked warningly, only I didn’t have a chance to ask the rest because I was suddenly thrown over his shoulder as he raced toward the breakfast area. “Brian put me down! Please!” I half laughed, half yelled.

“Put you down? Are you sure?” He asked, wiggling his brow as he moved me upside down over his shoulder.

“Brian!” I giggled, only to be swung around in his arms to be bridal style. As soon as I was situated, he started running toward the buffet area. “What are you—“

Brian came to as screeching halt when we came face to face with the one person we hoped to avoid for a few more hours. My stomach felt like it fell to the floor and I suddenly wasn’t hungry anymore. I felt like I was going to be sick.

“Avery?”

“Fuck…” Brian hissed under his breath, slowly putting me down on my feet. I gapped at the tall man in front us, unable to formulate words or even register what was going on. All I knew was that this wasn’t at all what we had planned.

“Avery!”

“Hi dad,” I said softly avoiding his gaze. Through the corner of my eye, I could see his expression changed from shock to anger in a manner of seconds. The vein in the side of his neck started throbbing and I knew we were done for.

“Avery Marie Jacobson, what the hell are you doing here?” He hissed in the most deadly tone I had ever heard.

“I-I…”

“AVE! BRIAN! WAIT UP! WE ARE FUCKING STARVED! DOG PILE!!”

My body was suddenly shoved into Brian’s as a heavy mass came colliding into my back. We toppled forward and crashed into my dad, all of us falling to the floor. When I finally looked up, I could only see Jimmy and Jess on top of Brian, Dad, and myself. Oh this wasn’t going to end well.

“Shit Jimmy what the fuck were you thinking?” I looked up to see Matt and Maya coming around the corner and their expressions falling when they saw who else was in the pile with us. “Fuck…”

We all scrambled to get to our feet, ‘fuck’ being muttered over and over again as we looked between each other. This was the worst possible scenario of talking to my dad imaginable. Not only did he find out about my whereabouts in a not so gentle way, but he was also assaulted by Jimmy.

“Fuck is right,” My dad roared through gritted teeth, brushing off his suit. “Conference room, now. All of you!”

“But what about breakfast?” Jimmy whimpered and I swear I heard his stomach growl in protest.

“NOW!” he yelled, ushering us all into the room and slamming the door behind us. “Call the others and get their asses down here now.”

“Larry we can explain,” Brian started but my dad pointed a warning finger at him. He looked like he wanted to pummel Brian to the floor and I could only sink into the couch next to Maya. I took her hand and squeezed it as hard as I could. How could this all have gone so badly?

Notes

What is Larry going to do now? He showed up two hours early surprising everyone! Comments please!