Where Love Lingers

Chapter 16

Tyler 

My mind raced as I walked away from the circle, Ava's taste still lingering on my mouth, but not in the way I had imagined. I didn't want to kiss her. It was never supposed to happen like that.

But the way James had been leaning in toward her, like he could take something that was supposed to be mine... It made something ugly rear up in my chest.

I hated that I did it. Hated that I was even in this situation. Ava had been the one person I wanted nothing to do with since the day I learned she was responsible for my mom's death. She'd ruined everything, and now here I was, kissing her like it didn't matter.

But it did matter.

As I moved further away from the group, I glanced back just in time to see Ava still sitting there, her lips slightly parted as if she was still processing what had just happened. Her face was flushed, and for a moment, I let myself linger on her appearance—the way her dress clung to her in all the right places, how different she looked tonight. For someone I was supposed to hate, she sure looked fine.

But the bruise on her ribs—that was something I couldn't shake. I'd seen it when her wet shirt had clung to her earlier at the lake. She tried to brush it off like it was nothing, but I knew better.

And it pissed me off that I cared.

I didn't want to care. She was the reason I didn't have a mother anymore. The reason my dad could barely look at me some days, because she'd taken away the one person who made our family whole. So why the hell was I worrying about her?

Maybe it was guilt. Maybe deep down, despite everything, I still felt that pull from the past—when we were kids, and she followed me around like a lost puppy. But that was before. Before everything changed.

Now, I was stuck in this stupid situation, sharing a room with her, watching her move around the house like nothing was wrong. I didn't know if she still had that ridiculous crush on me, but seeing her with that guy tonight—laughing, smiling, almost kissing him—it made me wonder.

Was she over it? Over me?

I didn't know why I cared. I shouldn't. But the thought of Ava looking at someone else like that, when she used to look at me... it left a weird taste in my mouth.

A taste that had nothing to do with that angry kiss.

My fists clenched at the thought. I could still feel the ghost of Ava's lips on mine, soft and trembling, but my gut churned with frustration. I hated it—hated how something so small, so stupid, could throw me off balance. I hated that she still had that kind of power over me.

I needed a distraction, something to make me forget.

I grabbed a beer from the cooler, the cold bottle sweating in my palm, and took a long pull. I could feel the alcohol burning its way down my throat, dulling the edge of my thoughts. I glanced around the party, eyes scanning for anything to take my mind off the kiss, off Ava.

That's when I saw her—Ava—laughing quietly with James. The guy was hovering near her, too close for my liking, his hand casually brushing her arm as he spoke to her. She smiled, a shy, hesitant smile that I hadn't seen in a long time, and it twisted something deep inside of me.

I downed the rest of my beer in one gulp.

What the hell was she doing with him? I could feel a tightness coiling in my chest, a bitterness that tasted like jealousy. But I wasn't jealous. I couldn't be. She was just... Ava. Ava, who had wrecked everything.

I watched as James leaned in, saying something to her that made her laugh again, and my blood boiled. I didn't care what they were talking about. I hated the way he looked at her, like she was something to win. And I hated even more that she seemed to enjoy it.