No Coincidence

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

“Should we wake them?” asked the strong deep voice of Dougie.

“Don’t you dare!” came the equally strong but higher voice of Joy. “They’re so cute.” She said quieter.

“As much as I agree with you Joy, we have to get them safely inside” the careful voice of GP said from beside him. As a hand rested on his shoulder, Matt heard Joy mutter “party pooper” under her breath. Pretending like he’d just been woken Matt gave a small jolt and started to sit up, waking Ava in the process.

“We need to get you inside.” GP said. Matt nodded and started to get out. Turning, he helped Ava down then started towards the doors of her building. Matt gentle held Ava’s arm in his left hand, making sure she wouldn’t fall over. He felt her body tense as the hair on his neck stood on end. He pushed Ava to the ground and a second later he felt the bullet rip through his right upper arm. He landed on Ava and instantly used his body to protect her. After two more rounds hit his body armour he heard Dougie shout “clear.” When everyone responded, Matt began to stand up and saw the blood coating Ava’s left arm.

“Your arm?” he said crouching down to help her up. His hand touched her arm and he started to inspect her wound. He saw the bullet had grazed it at an odd angle.

“Thank you, that would’ve hurt.” She said as she looked at her arm. As she looked up at him she saw that the bullet had also grazed him.

“Your arm?” she said, repeating him, as she almost grabbed his arm looking at his wound.

“It’s nothing, just a graze.” Matt said. Then he put his hand on her back and, as his team made a circle around her, led her inside before anyone else got hurt. As they walked up the stairs one of Ava’s neighbours came out and started leave. Matt almost smiled as she hesitated at the glum group climbing her stairs.

“Ava darling,” the old lady said “is everything alright?” Matt just watched as Ava stood there smiling as she said “everything’s fine Mrs Johnson. Have a good night.” As they continued up the stair well Matt heard a noise behind them and saw Mrs Johnson reaching for Ava’s arm.

“What happened, dear?” Mrs Johnson asked. Once again Matt saw Ava fake a smile as she said “I tripped, nothing to worry about, it’s just a scratch.” Matt nodded to the elderly women as they made their way up to Ava’s apartment. Matt watched as Ava held her head high and continued up the stairs. She had the door unlocked and open before everyone was on the landing. He followed her through the door and she walked out of the down stairs bathroom, towels and bandages in her hands. She tossed him a bunch of towels and bandages. Matt followed her into the kitchen where she started to clean the gash on her arm. He watched as she skilfully put a gauze pad over it and taped it to her arm. He heard the front door close as the team finished checking the apartment and left. Before he could do anything, she was cutting away the sleave of his shirt and cleaning his wound with a warm wet cloth.

“Ava-” he started to say.

“Shush.” His jaw dropped.

“Did you just-”

“Shush.” She said again. Matt smiled and let her work. After cleaning the wound Ava sat him down on an island stool and started to get the gauze pads and tape.

“Ava-”

“I thought I told you to be quiet.” She said. Matt just smiled at her stubbornness as he sat through her putting on the gauze pad and taping it to his arm, like she’d done to her own.

“Thank you.” Matt said when she was finished and went to wash her hands.

“It was nothing.” Ava said without turning around. Matt walked up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. He felt her flinch under his touch. Gripping her shoulders, he turned her around to face him. He saw the tears streaking down her face. Raising his hand he brushed them away. As she looked up at him he saw her beautiful brown eyes teary and already starting to go red and puffy. He leaned down and pressed his lips to her temple before pulling her close. He felt her breathing deeply trying to keep the tears at bay. As he listened to her breathing and the apartments silence he closed his eyes. After a minute he felt her shift from one foot to the other. Matt pulled away a little to give her a bit of space. Matt stopped when she didn’t remove her arms from his waist. Looking into her eyes Matt fell. Harder than he could remember ever falling before, even harder than when he fell off his one story house and broke his leg. With his arms around her, Matt leant into her, pushing her body against the sink with his.