Beyond Infinity - Sam Drake

Chapter Four

"Only the devil and I know the whereabouts of my treasure, and the one of us who lives the longest should take it all."
-Blackbeard

Ava woke up once the sunlight strained her eyes. She cursed herself for forgetting to shut the curtains before she went to bed. Leaving her bedroom to get some milk, she was abruptly stopped by Sam, Nora and Nathan who were sat in the living room.

Nora and Nathan were still massaging their headache away while Sam tried his best to stretch out his sore limbs.

"Why the sour faces?" Ava asked curiously and expected a sarcastic comment from both Nora and Nate, instead, Sam took the liberty to answer.

"Well, because some people didn't have a mattress to sleep on." Sam was being sour about the other night and Ava sighed and rolled her eyes at him.

"Well if you behaved, I would've let you sleep on the bed!" Nora and Nate turned in confusion, watching and listening the two bicker.

"All I did was ask you if you liked cuddling!" Sam protested.

"Well you got your answer when I pushed you off the bed-"

"Alright, alright. Enough." Nora groaned, gripping her head with her palms at the sudden loudness of the two, "while Sam...is being sour about your little love quarrel last night..."

Suddenly Nora hesitated to speak and nudged Nathan to speak.

"What? Me?" Nate said in surprise as Nora nodded. "No, I- ouch!" A pinch from Nora made Nate cave, "alright, alright! We...we have to meet Rafe today."

"What?!" Ava said, suddenly losing her milk craving.

"He's going to be telling us when we're going to leave." Sam raised his palms in the air.

"Couldn't he just call?" Ava said bitterly.

"Love, I know what he did to you was wrong- and you two hate each other, but we're going to have to work with him. It's better to face him now than later." As Nora spoke, Sam couldn't help but wonder what exactly did Rafe do to Ava that was so bad?

He watched Ava's shoulder slump with a pout on her face, Ava was defeated- she knew Nora was right.

"A month!?" Nathan said in disbelief as his eyes met Rafe's hollow stones. 

Rafe came in with news- the rest had in mind that they'd be in Panama in a week, maybe less. But Rafe's money couldn't bargain any less than a month. 

The moment Rafe arrived in the bar, the rest couldn't help but be included in the tension between Ava and Rafe. Nora, however, didn't have any mother-advices to throw at Ava for keeping calm, because Rafe started it anyway. 

"Yes. A month." Rafe said as his eyes drifted from Nathan to Ava who was trying her best not to look back at him, she didn't want him to get the wrong idea and feed his ego. So instead, she twirled her beer bottle on the table, focused hard on it as if it was amusing. "It's a good deal after all, it's either a month or five. A month is the closest we can get into the prison." 

"Does that sound good to you guys?" Ava could hear the poison leaking from his words, he spoke with pride that Ava hated very much. 

Nora, Nathan and Sam's eyes turned to each other and they all agreed with each other silently but it was only Nora who decided to speak it, "yeah, that's alright." 

Rafe raised a brow at Ava who was not focusing at all, he cleared his throat loudly and instantly Ava met his eyes in surprise, "is there something more important than this? Or is there something on your mind that you'd like to share?" 

Sam's brow furrowed in annoyance as Rafe smirked but the spoiled brat didn't give a chance for Ava to respond, "maybe you just don't want to be a part of this? I mean...it'll be easier if the four of us go.." 

Everyone seated around that table knew exactly what Rafe meant. 

Before Ava could interest him in a sarcastic remark, Sam spoke harshly to the man he sat next to, "We want her there. I want her there with us." 

"Sam's right." Nora licked her lips before she spoke vexatiously, "we're not going, if Ava's not going." 

"I totally second that." Nathan said with a smirk, seeing Rafe cornered brought great joy to the younger Drake brother. 

Rafe cleared his throat in defeat as his eyes landed on his fists on the table, "alright, I guess it's settled then. The five of us it is." 

Ava tried to bite down her lip to stop herself from smirking but she couldn't help it. 

"But we gotta do something about them two." Rafe diverted the subject as he pointed to Nora and Ava, "they can't go in as girls." 

"No worries, we got that covered." Ava said with a smirk, "we're going to cut our hair and all that." 

Suddenly, Rafe smirked wickedly as he leaned in closer to Ava and immediately her smirk fell. "you know Ava, I am actually...upset...that we ended on a bad note." 

"A really, really, bad note." The corner of Ava's lip twitched as she crossed her arms on her chest. 

As Rafe and Ava concentrated on one another, it was like Sam, Nora and Nathan suddenly vanished in thin air and it was only them. 

"Such a shame." Rafe tsked, "you know, we can make up for lost time you know?"

"In your fucking dreams, you little vulgar piece of shit." Ava added, with a little smile at the end that vanished into a scowl. 

Rafe chuckled, he stood up and grabbed his coat, "I'll see you guys later." His patronizing eyes traveled to Ava who focused on the empty space that Rafe occupied earlier, "it was nice seeing you again, Ava." 

The group sat quietly until Rafe left and immediately, breathing in anger, Ava grabbed her leather jacket, "excuse me." She said as politely as she could before making her way to the bar, needing a little bit of space from everyone. 

"Ava-" Nora's hand gripped Sam's forearm as he tried to chase after her, she shook her head at Sam who, no one could deny, looked worried. "It's best if we leave her be for awhile, go to her later. She's just over there at the bar, don't worry." Nora forced Sam to sit again before she sat next to Nathan again. 

"I didn't know it was that bad between those two." Sam said in disbelief, digging in his pocket for his lighter as his cigarette hung in his mouth. "Jesus- like, what happened?" 

"Maybe...it's better if Ava told you herself. I mean, if she wanted to." Nathan said with hesitation.

"It was just pretty rough, that's all." Nora said, wincing. 

Sam craned his neck to look over at Ava who was sat angrily smoking by the bar, ordering a drink. 

The questioning look on Sam's face was visible and Nora explained with a chuckle, "she just smokes when she's really, really stressed out is all."