Criminal Affinity [18+]

Chapter 16

I'm better on my own.
But I don't wanna be alone.

Gnash ft. Wrenn - Fragile

Ava wakes up with a foul taste in her mouth. Her dry, burning eyes drift around the dark room and for a moment she doesn't recall anything. Strong arms, William's cologne, a soft feminine voice sounding so much like her mother. Her mind loves playing games on her.

It was Lily.

She checks the time. Three twenty in the morning. How long did she sleep?

She chucks off the bedsheet and gets herself a big glass of water. Ava was thirsty, but she chokes on the third sip and sends water splashing everywhere, cracking the glass into multiple small shards on the floor.

Her eyes scan the mess she made, and tears slide down her face.

It's been a week since she found out Amara is dead. But everytime she wakes up, it feels like hours ago.

Then the pain begins to dull until it's a solid, thrumming ache in the center of her chest. Always making its presence known to her. Always trying to pull her under.

But Ava has begun fighting the pain. It's the only way.

The only way she will have enough sanity to find the person who did this to her poor girl. The person who is targeting William and Ava together. Someone who knows a lot of secrets.

Her brain hurts from thinking and feeling and trying.

She has been putting it off for days now, but now she needs to talk to William. She has to gather enough strength to stand in a room with him and not break into a rage.

The one decent thing he did was to tell everyone to leave her alone. But in the end, Ava isn't sure if that helped or not. Perhaps it pushed her deeper into her little hell. At least she didn't have to haphazardly cover up her misery so no one sees.

But she needed it. She needed to feel the pain, the feeling of losing something so important. The feverish hope that maybe the body wasn't hers. The endless despair that it was.

She needed the punishment. She needed to taste it.

And now she needs to be around someone else. She needs company. She needs warmth and touch and some sleep. She needs to be okay.

So when she finds the one responsible, she doesn't hesitate like she always does.

The air outside her room smells crisp. Ava didn't bother to change out of her comfortable night clothes. As she begins to walk toward his stairway, the chittering ruckus downstairs distracts her.

She looks downstairs to see Gian with his other guards. They are all drunk and laughing, but his gaze is fixed on something across the room. When Ava's gaze follows - of course it is Svetlana.

Ava tears her eyes away and continues on her way. It's when she's at the top of the stairs when the pain hits her. The lack of mobility in the past week has already impacted her muscles. She has bruises on her thighs, and her calves feel too weak to carry her weight.

She pushes through the pain, promising herself that she will go for a run later.

Shuffling leaks through William's door. Ava doesn't care if he has company. She doesn't care if she is going to walk in on him fucking someone this time.

She throws open the doors. And lets out a sound of surprise.

A small, bushy cat is perched on his desk. Her beautiful gray fur shines even from across the room. Those green feline eyes shoot to hers, surveying Ava's stance.