Life After Death | A Serial Romance

Chapter 7

Ava yanked open the door to her apartment building, still fuming from her meeting with Hunter, and ran smack dab into Prudence.

"Sorry, Ava." Prudence said, smiling. Ava must have been radiating aggravation or shooting daggers out of her eyes as Prue's smile quickly faded once she caught the look on Ava's face. "What's wrong?"

Ava crossed her arms, scoffing and shifting her weight back and forth as she shook her head. "What's wrong, she asks."

"What happened?" Prue's features softened and she reached out to give Ava's arm a gentle squeeze. "Did you get reassigned?"

"Nope. Not at all." Ava snarled, leaving Prue's hand where it was. "That scroll you gave me? Yea, that was an invitation to a little get together down in the E.E.D."

"The E.E.D.?" Prue's features went from compassionate to accusatory right before Ava's eyes. "What did you do?"

Ava's features clenched as she took a predatory step towards Prudence, who showed no signs of being intimidated but released Ava's arm. "What did I do? Me? Not a damn thing."

"Then why the hell were you called to the E.E.D.? And why are you so pissed off?"

"Because that stupid...cocky...asshole wants to recruit me for some fucking mission!" Ava's hand shot out pointing a deadly finger off in the general direction of the DCA building.

"What cocky asshole?"

"Oh there's only one around." Ava saw a lack of comprehension on Prudence's face. "Hunter; that arrogant, cocky, strutting, lazy, show-stealing, blonde peacock!" Ava shouted.

"Oh, that cocky asshole." Prudence said, obviously amused.

"Yea, that cocky asshole. He said that the guy that I'm chasing with Blake is the same guy that they're looking for."

"Ava, keep your voice down." Prudence urged, lowering her own voice and taking a step towards Ava while simultaneously looking around to see if anyone had heard her.

"I will not keep my voice down! Screw that! I am not about the let some bleached blonde trophy agent manipulate me and use me. They can find someone from their own department for that shit! I'm not doin' it Prue. I'm not. I don't care what they say; Blake and I can handle this shit on our own."

Prudence took hold of Ava's arm, creating a soft bluish glow along the points of contact, and jerked her hard inside the building. Ava's mouth formed a silent "Ow" as she rose up onto her tiptoes to try to escape the pain that Prue was inflicting. "Ava, keep your fucking voice down."

Had anyone other than Prudence manhandled her like that, Ava would have started swinging, but Prudence had only grabbed Ava one other time like this – back when Ava was just learning to be a Director. It had been in Ava's best interests to listen to Prue then, so Ava toned down her rage and gave Prue a little latitude.

Ava tried to ease out of Prudence's grip, but only managed to make the pain worse. "What the hell, Prue? Let me go!"

Prudence gave Ava a rough shove towards the most private looking corner the lobby offered. "Ava, you can't just walk around blurting out details of an E.E.D. investigation like that." Prue was using the mom voice; low and harsh and serious.

"Why the hell not? It's not like Hunter's around to hear me."

Prudence took a deep tolerant breath. "Honey, you really need to think past the end of your nose on this one. The E.E.D. tracks, and let's be honest, hunts down bad guys; dead bad guys to be precise."