Free Without Doubt by Cj Azevedo Page A

me she had more emails to send before she could finish
up and join us in the back.
    As I find my way to Declan, I tell myself
that I really am okay with Bailey and her staying the night in
Dec’s house. However, a new unwelcome thought of strange women
Googling him and deciding whether or not he’s doable is now front
and center in my mind and it doesn’t seem as if Ill be able to
shake these thoughts anytime soon. If his career is as intense as
Bailey makes it sound, then this issue of mine will only get worse
with time. I should definitely speak to Declan about all of
this.

Chapter Nine
    Declan
     
    I was being stubborn when I refused to call
Ava for the last seven days, but it worked, and almost exactly the
way I wanted it to. The only thing that didn’t go as planned was
the time frame. I was hoping she would cave and call me maybe a day
or two later, not seven. I was beginning to think that I was going
to have to come up with a different plan.
    At the time, I wanted to kill Jackson for
holding and kissing Ava. I wanted to bring Rachel back into the bar
and let her do her worst to me to show Ava exactly how it felt. I’m
glad I didn’t. Distancing myself from Ava for a week allowed
something to happen that she clearly wasn’t going to let happen
previously; she realized that I meant more to her than she was
aware of. There was no way I could have convinced her that we would
be good together if she didn’t have the time and space to come to
that conclusion on her own. I gave her all of my attention whenever
I wasn’t fighting or training over the last couple of months, built
a great friendship with her (albeit with a few lies on her end),
and I knew that she felt for me what I felt for her. The difference
was that I was ready to explore the next level of our relationship
and she was too scared.
    Over the last week, I tried to tell myself
that Harper was maybe her pet. I hate to say it, but I kept
picturing a little dog even though I knew it was her daughter and
that’s why she wouldn’t move forward with me. I’m not naïve enough
to think that dating a girl who has a kid is going to be no big
deal. I’m pretty sure it’s a huge deal, but I’m also certain that I
won’t be able to walk away from her anytime soon. Having a kid in
the picture is just going to change the plans I had for us.
    After I leave Ava in my bathroom, I go back
outside to find everyone staring up at me with curiosity written
all over their faces. My sister is the first one to speak up when I
don’t ease their inquisitiveness quickly enough.
    “ Where is she?” Macie
asks, sounding a little angry, like all of this has been my fault
and I just did something to make to make it worse. She and my mom
have been telling me since last weekend that I needed to be the one
to call her and when I refused, they would hang up on
me.
    I move to sit down at the patio table and
everyone’s eyes follow me. I’ll agree this is pretty big news,
since I haven’t exactly been friendly this last week. They were all
hoping we would ride off into the sunset, or some shit like that,
instead of me reappearing alone.
    “ She’s fixing her makeup,”
I say shortly. “She’ll be out in a minute.”
    “ Fixing her makeup? Did
you make her cry, Declan?” my mom scolds.
    “ I didn’t make her do
anything. I actually didn’t say anything at all when she started
crying,” I tell her nonchalantly as I relax back in my chair and
fold my arms behind my head.
    “ But she’s fine now?”
Macie asks, concerned. She’s really taken a liking to Ava, and I
know exactly how she feels.
    “ Yes, she’s fine
now.”
    Everybody gives a bunch of exasperated “Oh,
thank God” and “Geez, it’s about time” sighs. They thought they had
it bad—they should have tried to put themselves in my shoes.
    Just then, I see Ava walk out of the dining
room through the large windows in the family room that look out
onto the back patio.
    “ Oh honey, she’s
beautiful,”