Avery's P.O.V
Alex drove me home to pick up some of my stuff, just like he promised a few days ago. He parked in the driveway, as I headed for the front door.
I didn't have my keys on me because they were inside my car, which was parked in Alex's house. Therefore, I grabbed the spare from the pot nearby the front door and unlocked it. We both walked into what seemed like an abandoned house.
Okay, maybe not abandoned, but you could tell that no one had been home for almost a month. Alex helped me up the stairs to my room, in which he sat on the bed as I looked for a backpack to collect my things.
"You know, your house reminds me a lot of my childhood home." He spoke reminiscingly.
"Really? It always reminded me of a shoe box, but I guess to each their own." I joked.
"No, I'm serious. When I was about 11 or 12 we moved to the house we live in now, but I had some of my best memories in my old house." He smiled tenderly.
"I get it, I loved my childhood home as well. Although, I don't regret for one second leaving that place." I said as I stuffed a backpack I found in my closet. Once it had all the clothes I deemed important, I laid it on the floor and picked out some shoes.
"Was it so terrible?" He asked.
"Terrible is not the word that I would use, but all the other places I've lived in have given me another perspective; a better one." I tried to explain myself.
"I understand. I wouldn't change the success my father has gotten either. It's just that sometimes I miss who he used to be. His success has given us another life, but I feel like he's lost a part of himself."
"Nothing is ever really lost. We tend to fool ourselves into thinking we've erased past feelings and memories, but the truth is that we've merely buried them. And they're just waiting to be found under the layers we've built." I spoke from my own experience.
"When did you get to be so wise?" He said playfully as he gripped my waist from behind me and held me happily.
I looked at him through the mirror, and all I could do was beam at him as he laid loving kisses on my neck. I turned around as he still held me, all I could see in his eyes was unbridled lust and affection for me.
I dove into his lips, as his own received me with warmth and tenderness. Our kiss grew in intensity and power. Our sexual tension finally exploding in a gamma of lust, kisses and caresses.
His lips and tongue explored my own and we were lost in a world of our own; a world that no one else could access. We fell on the bed as our passion consumed us, that was until we heard the front door being opened and shut.
I was immediately on alert. I broke our kiss apart and signaled for him to be quiet. Alex followed my lead as I opened a chest drawer and took out my 9 millimeter handgun.
I could see surprise written all over his face, but he still remained quiet. I picked up the bat I had under my bed, and handed it to him. He immediately held it up on alert as we quietly walked to the door of my room.
I opened it, and briefly scanned the perimeter. After deeming it safe, we walked out onto the hallway. My injury gave me some discomfort but I pushed through it, because I was not going to leave Alex to fight the intruder on his own.
After checking the top floor we figured he must be on the first floor. As we quietly went down the stairs, we heard rummaging in the kitchen.
Whoever it was had their back to us, and I took the opportunity to press the barrel of my gun to the nape of their neck.
"I don't give a fuck who you are, you have ten seconds to get out of my house before I put a bullet in you." I warned.
"You always did have that temper." My older brother Sebastian, said. His voice was forever etched in my mind, and I recognized it in a second.
"Seb?" I asked in disbelief as the man turned around. I laid my gun on the counter as I rushed to embrace him, and his arms received me with love and nostalgia.
He held me tightly like he didn't ever want to let go, and neither did I. It had been almost a year without him. 8 months of loneliness, sadness and thinking the worst.
Once he let me go, I punched his arm. "Where the hell have you been? I was worried sick!" I scolded.
"We each did what we had to do. The important thing is that I'm here now." He smiled tenderly as he caressed me lovingly.
"I hate to break up the reunion, but who is this Ava?" Alex asked still gripping the bat tightly. For a moment I had forgotten he was here.
"Oh, sorry you can put that down now. This is my older brother Sebastian." I explained.
"A better question would be, who the heck are you?" Seb inquired mistrustingly.
"Um, this is Alexander, my boyfriend." I spoke coyly.
"Oh, yeah, you always did have one of those too." He remarked.
"What's that supposed to mean? I'm right here you know." Alex put the bat down next to my gun.
"I'm aware." Seb said sarcastically.
"Be nice," I whispered as I smacked him lightly.
"It's not my job to be nice, I'm your older brother kiddo." He scruffed my hair and I immediately fixed it.He always did that and it was something I used to hate, but now loved since it had been so long.
"Um, Alex, could you give us a moment to catch up?" I needed some time alone with Seb.
"Y-yeah, no problem." He smiled understandingly, and walked upstairs. Once he was out of earshot, I got to say what I truly wanted to.
"How did you even find this place?" I asked in a hushed tone.
"Mum reached out to me and told me where to find you. At first I doubted it was even her, but she knew what to say so I'd know she was telling me the truth."
"Do you know anything about Marie?" I whispered.
"No," he sighed. "W-we parted ways once we reached the states. We thought it was safest to not know where either one was going."
A million thoughts rushed through my head, but there was one thing I wanted to know the most.
"How are you even alive? We got separated and I saw the building explode with my own two eyes. I thought you were gone. At the very least I thought the agency had gotten to you." My voice was shaky as I bursted with emotion, and wept tears of relief to know that they had survived.
"We knew the academy like the back of our hands. We escaped through a passage that was under construction at the time. We barely made it out alive." He recalled as he appeared to be in a trance-like state.
"Well, I'm just glad you're back." I said as I hugged him again to reassure myself that I wasn't dreaming.
"Happy to be back, kiddo." He beamed at me, his eyes giving the same warmth as his smile.
"This is kinda off topic but, what's with Mr.Ava? You know that's not the procedure." He looked at me knowingly.
"Yeah, but he can be quite insistent. And I like him. A lot." My stare shied away from my elder brother's eyes.
"Hey, look at me." I did.
"I'm not saying that you should negate your feelings, or that shouldn't have your fun. I'm just saying that having a relationship is," He winced to make his point, "problematic. Specially for people like us."
"I know," I rolled my eyes.
"I don't think you do. This isn't you and Mason, running and hiding around the academy. This is a matter of life and death; you can't drag that kid into this." He reasoned.
All his points were valid, everything he said was true and it made sense. However, something inside me just wouldn't let Alex go.
"I-I know, okay? It's what I've been telling myself for the longest time, but I can't just dispose of him. He has helped me so much, his sister too. They've treated me like family when I had no one. I can't just cut him off, okay!" I all but yelled.
"Look, whatever your reasons are, you know what I'm telling you to do, is for the best. That kid is not ready to deal with this kind of situation. Do whatever you have to do, but know that if anything happens to him, no one is going to be there to save him." His eyes held certainty and his stern tone told me that he meant what he said.
Again, he was right and I knew it but I wouldn't tell him that. The wooden flooring creaked and our heads immediately turned to look in the noise's direction. Alex stood by the foot of the stairs, looking like a deer in headlights. He was carrying the backpack I had prepared. Although, he must have added some things, since it looked much more full than when I left it on the floor.
"I-I'll wait in the car." Was all he said before he bolted out the front door.
"Wait!" I called out but it was too late.
"You know I'm right Olivia." Sebastian deadpanned.
"You should know better than to call me that. I have to go. Make yourself at home, but I gotta fix what you just did."
*****