Turbulence (8 page)

“You told me you weren’t seeing anyone. You just got caught
in a lie, woman.”

“This was the first time Ross and I have gone out. And it’s
not your business anyway.”

“Like hell it isn’t!” he yelled. “You say you can’t go out
with me, but you go on a date with my brother. Look how you’re dressed. You
should be ashamed of yourself.”

Avalon looked a little different than how he usually saw her
but wore nothing too provocative. She was not going to be made to feel bad
about it because he was upset. He might be her leader, but did not control
every aspect of her life.

The front door of the cabin opened. Veeva stuck her gray
head out of the door, glancing from Avalon to Greyson. “What’s going on out
here?”

 “Get back in the house, granny. This doesn’t concern you,” Greyson
snapped.

“Don’t speak to her that way.” Avalon turned to her grandmother.
“It’s all right, Gram. We’re just talking. I’ll be in soon.”

Veeva gave Greyson the evil eye. “Okay, but scream if he
puts a hand on you.”

“I wouldn’t hurt her. I’m not a monster.”

“Humph. If the shoe fits…” Veeva said, closing the door.

Her good mood had plunged so fast Avalon forgot what being
happy felt like. All she felt now was confusion and anger because Greyson was
behaving like a jerk.

“What are you here for, Greyson?”

His jaw clenched and unclenched. “I came to check on you and
let you know I was back. Guess that was unneeded.”

It might have been unneeded and Avalon was still upset, but
she appreciated the gesture. “Listen, Greyson. Lily set Ross and I up and—”

He held up a hand, halting her mid-sentence. “I don’t care.
Just be at work tomorrow. Don’t worry about breakfast. I probably won’t be
available.”

Greyson threw her the keys, which she almost dropped. He
snatched his cell phone out of his pocket and brushed past her as he was saying
into it, “Jalena. My room. Ten minutes.”

Avalon felt guilty. Guilty for not telling Greyson about
Ross. Guilty for going out with his brother. Guilty for everything. She felt
like a horrible person.

She let herself into the house. Veeva was waiting on the
couch, ready to pounce and bombard her with questions. Avalon couldn’t deal
with it right now.

“Later, Gram,” she said, handing her the leftover food then
rushing to her room.

Avalon flung herself onto the bed and buried her face into
the pillow. How could such a great night turn into this?

Chapter 8

The weeks that passed felt like a year to Avalon. All thanks
to Greyson. He made sure to rub every woman he was with in her face. Every
morning either Jalena or other women—humans mostly—came down the steps leading
from his suite.

She would never admit to him that it bothered her. She
figured he already knew, which was why he did it. Greyson made her time at work
a living hell. He was drinking a lot more than usual. He was ill tempered,
demanding, and difficult to please. Instead of going down the road each day to
ensure the children made it on and off the bus safely, he sent her and was not
very nice about it.

The only things that made the days better were the
occasional evenings she spent with Ross who was either oblivious to his
brother’s bad moods or just chose to ignore it, girls night with Lily and
self-defense class.

Hitting stuff was an excellent way for Avalon to expel her
contained emotions since she couldn’t tell anyone how she felt about Greyson
because she couldn’t explain her attraction. He made her feel so many things.

“Hands up, Avalon,” Amelia barked.

She put up her fists to protect her face. Ross’s word was
golden and he got Amelia to train her in self-defense. However, that proved to
be too dull for Amelia since she believed all women should learn how to “kick
butt.”

They were in a large room of the sentries’ training
facility. It was an open space filled with red mats on the floors and walls.

“Last exercise of the day. Jab and cross,” Amelia ordered.
“Try to hit me. Jab and cross.”

Though she was better than when she started, Avalon was
nowhere near good. Her punches were weak, slow, and easily dodged by Amelia who
was quick and skillful. Avalon extended her fist in a punch. Amelia ducked and
the cross punch went straight over her head. This sad routine went on for the
next twenty minutes.

Avalon wiped the sweat dripping down her face and backed
off. It was hard not to be discouraged.

Amelia seemed to know how she felt. She didn’t smile. She
never did. But there was compassion in her exotic almond shaped eyes. “You’re
doing well for a beginner.”

“I won’t ever be as good as you.”

“I’ve been doing this a long time. Not even the boys are as
good as me.” She tapped her toned biceps. “Anyway, you don’t need to be like
me. I’m a sentry. You just need to be able to defend yourself, especially with
the attacks happening.”

“What attacks?” Avalon asked. She hadn’t heard about
anything. She’d said ‘attacks’ as in multiple.

“Nothing.” Amelia turned away and grabbed their water
bottles by the wall. “I mean in general. Attacks on women happen all the time.”
She was lying. Avalon heard it, but she didn’t want to push it. There was a
reason Amelia wasn’t telling her. Hopefully a good one.

She tossed Avalon the water bottle. The water, though room
temperature, felt amazing gliding down her parched throat. These sessions left
her exhausted and aching. Her muscles weren’t used to this much activity. She
was ready to take a hot bath, wash her sweaty head of hair, and go to bed. But
first she had to make dinner for her and her grandmother. Some days felt
endless.

“Same time tomorrow?” she asked Amelia.

The sentry nodded. “Tomorrow I have a treat for you.” Avalon
was not looking forward to that treat. Amelia’s fun usually turned out to be
not so fun at all.

Amelia slapped her on the back and it nearly sent Avalon
straight across the room. Fortunately, her mind block was up and she didn’t
slip into a vision from the contact.

Just as Avalon was leaving, her phone rang. She steeled
herself, expecting Greyson, but it was Lily.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Avalon. I’m sorry to bother you, but we kind of need
you to come back.”

“Okay. Is it something that I did?”

She heaved a sigh. “You’ll see once you get here.”

Wet sandbags couldn’t have felt as heavy as Avalon’s tired
legs at the moment. But she drudged up enough energy to head to the farmhouse.
What could be so important? Probably nothing. During her time working there,
she had learned to care for everyone, but they often needed her to do the most
menial tasks.

The sky was darkening. Avalon preferred to be indoors by the
time night came, which arrived increasingly faster the more the temperature
dropped. She zipped the fleece jacket up to her neck. Lily and Noris had helped
Avalon pick out the jacket and workout clothes at the store. The exercise
clothing was much more form fitting than what she would have picked on her own,
but at least she didn’t have worry about the flowy material of her dresses
getting in the way during Amelia’s grueling sessions.

As soon as Avalon entered the house, she shivered. It was
colder in here than outside. She immediately knew Greyson was the cause.

Dex and Lily were sitting on the living room couch. His hand
rubbed slow circles across her small, barely there belly. He didn’t appear to
be conscious of it. Lily had finally told Dex about the pregnancy, but they
were waiting to share the news with the community. Neither noticed her standing
there.

“He’s out of control.”

“This is hard on him,” Lily said softly. “You know how much
the Jhetans mean to him.”

Dex made a noise of disagreement. “Don’t make excuses for
him. They mean a lot to me as well. This is hard on me too, Lily.”

“I know, sweetie. I’m not saying it’s not. I’m just saying
that you should be more sympathetic”

“Greyson doesn’t need sympathy. He needs someone to knock
some sense into him.”

Greyson’s ugly behavior must have gotten worse. Avalon
cleared her throat, gaining Dex and Lily’s attention.

Lily rose from the couch. “I’m glad you’re here.” Dex tried
to make her sit down until she pegged him with a scowl, “I’m pregnant, not
fragile.” He held up his hands and backed off. Avalon couldn’t help but laugh
to herself.

“Did I forget to do something?”

Lily rubbed her forehead. “No, you didn’t. You’re always on
the ball, Avalon. This really isn’t about you per se. Greyson is having a
conniption about a shirt.”

“A shirt?” All of his shirts looked the same. Black.

“He’s been all over looking for it. I think he’s in the
entertainment room sulking now. Do you know where his shirt is?”

“I can find it.” Because she knew whatever was bothering
Greyson wasn’t about the shirt.

When she went to the lower level of the house, he was indeed
in the entertainment room. He was leaning on an arcade game, his head lowered
to his chest. He was shirtless. She was almost used to seeing him that way now,
not that it made his strong, powerful body any less impressive.

“Greyson?”

“Get out.” His voice was low, hardly above a whisper.

Avalon approached him slowly like she was approaching a
wounded animal, which she sort of was. Greyson reminded her of a beautiful,
barely tamed animal. A panther.

“Do you need me to find your shirt?”

He didn’t respond. She didn’t really expect him too. Still,
she continued to creep forward until she was behind him. He smelled strongly of
alcohol. Avalon placed a hand on his back. His skin was cold. It was like
touching marble. The muscles tensed and bunched beneath her fingers.

“What’s wrong, Greyson? Talk to me. What are you feeling
right now?” Greyson hid behind a mask. No one bothered to find out what was behind
it. No one cared, she suspected. But she did. It hurt Avalon to see him
hurting. She wanted to ease the burden and pain he constantly carried around.

“You should go, Avalon. I’m drunk. Leave before I say or do
something that I’ll regret later.”

“I won’t. Not until you tell me what’s bothering you?”

“Who called you here?” he snapped. “You’re not supposed to
be here.”

“Lily. She said you were worried about a shirt. But I know
that’s not the problem. Did someone pass away again?” She hadn’t heard anything
around the colony, but he’d keep that quiet for as long as he could to protect
everyone from living in fear.

Once again, he did not answer. However, his muscles
tightened and cool air blasted from his skin. That gave her the answer. Another
life was lost like Davie Riddick and he blamed himself.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

Avalon pressed her lips against his spine. Then she rested
her cheek against his back and wrapped her arms around his waist. Even after
the tension melted out of his strong body, she didn’t move away. It felt too
good, too right.

“I’m worried about you, Greyson,” Avalon told him honestly.
“You have to stop drinking. It makes things worse for you. Look at how you’re
behaving.”

He placed his hands on top of hers, which were still around
his waist. “I know. It used to help me. Calm me when life got stressful. I’m
not even sure where it took a turn for the worse.”

His drinking problem had snow balled into something he
probably could not control without help. She would try her best to help him in
any way she could.

“Do you want to go upstairs to your room? We can talk about
what happened.”

His body grew taut again. “No. You need to go. Now.”

Avalon pulled away like he burned her. She wasn’t expecting
him to dismiss her. He turned around and ran a hand roughly through his long,
blonde hair.

“Look, Avalon. Thanks for whatever you just did to pull me
down from the ledge. But nothing has changed between us. You made sure of that.
Go find Ross or some other idiot you suckered into dating you.”

Avalon sucked in a ragged breath. Over the past few weeks
she’d taken a lot from Greyson, insults included. But this was too much and
completely uncalled for. “Screw you, Greyson. Maybe if you actually showed you
cared about other people’s feelings, someone would care about you.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, well. Too bad I couldn’t give a rat’s
ass. Oh, bring me a shirt before you leave, will you?”

To keep from screaming out her frustration, she bit her lip
until she tasted blood. If she even thought of dating Greyson, it was over now.
She spun away and rushed out. If he wanted a shirt, then he needed to get it
himself.

Avalon kept going until she was outside. Despite the aching
of her legs, she ran home.

----

“What did you do to her?”

Greyson glanced dryly at Dex standing in the doorway, arms
folded. “What are you talking about, Dexter?”

“Avalon just ran out of here like a pack of wild dogs were
chasing her. What did you say?”

“Nothing that wasn’t true.”
I had to say it. I had to do
it
, he kept repeating in his head.

Dex chuckled without an ounce of humor. “If you want to act
like you don’t have a thing for her, then fine. But don’t try to lie to me and
say you don’t. I see you staring at her when you think no one is looking. It’s
the same way I looked at Lily when we first met.”

“Is this going somewhere?”

 “Leave Avalon out of your warpath. She doesn’t deserve it
and you know it.”

“How would you know what she deserves?” he barked at his
second in command. He was not in the mood for this. He’d just had a terrible
day that was not getting any better.

 “She’s a sweet girl. All day long she takes care of other
people without regard for herself. Cut her some slack. It’s the least you could
do.”

“Do you remember when you used to tell me to mind my
business when it came to you and Lily?” Dex gave a reluctant nod. “How about
you take you own advice and stay out of my personal affairs?”

Dex shook his head in resignation. “You’re a real piece of
work, man. I feel sorry for that girl.” He pivoted around and left.

Well, Greyson felt sorry for Avalon too. Not sorry enough to
not be upset with her. She lied to him and made him feel things he didn’t want
to feel.

Still, he shouldn’t have said what he did to her a few
minutes ago. He didn’t know how else to get her to stay away from him. He
wanted her too much for his own good. Greyson’s father told him to avoid women
like that at all cost. They made you weak.

It hurt him more than he wanted to admit to himself that she
was seeing his brother. Ross was better for Avalon than Greyson was. Ross could
give her tenderness and sugar coated words. Greyson couldn’t. He couldn’t love.
He only desired. All the women he’d been with over the past few weeks only
satiated his carnal desire. They meant nothing. Most of them he couldn’t even
remember their names or faces. A cheap thrill was all they were, something to
mask how much he wished they were Avalon.

Greyson swore to himself that he wouldn’t take her. Not only
was she his brother’s woman, but she was too good for him. Too gentle and too
kind. Greyson would destroy her.

He should have sent her packing the moment she charged down
the stairs to comfort him. But he was too distraught over the news he received
courtesy of Keith Barney to send her away. Another life lost. Another Jhetan
dead. This one wasn’t a citizen of the colony, but he lived not too far away in
Omaha.

There hadn’t been an attack in weeks then all of sudden this
happened. Homeland Security kept a close watch on all reports. They hadn’t
found any information on the location of Department X’s hideout. None of the
agents reported to be working with them had been spotted. Neither had Nile.

It was just a whole lot of waiting and seeing what happened.
Greyson hated sitting around. People were dying. Humans and Jhetans alike. At
the same time, he didn’t know what to do short of putting a target on his own
back as bait, which was becoming more appealing as time went on with no leads.

He was in a hole and he didn’t know how to get out.
Responsibility was a heavy load. You needed strong shoulders to carry the
burden without sagging under the weight. Greyson felt himself slowly slumping
under the pressure.