Ruined 23

Avery

“Here?” I couldn’t keep the scepticism from my voice as Dean pulled the car up in front of the most decrepit bar I had ever seen. It made Cooks look like an upscale wine bar.

“Yeah.” My husband didn’t look at me, instead staring straight ahead, his hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles were white.

Was he nervous about seeing his crazy ass lover? Or was it something else? 

Either way, the stony way he was staring straight ahead was making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

“Dean?” What the hell was wrong with him? Why wasn’t he moving, storming in there and getting Parker back from the bitch who took him? 

“Yes, Ava?” Finally, he flicked his eyes to me. But it was like he didn’t really see me. 

“Does she really want to meet you here, it looks like a biker bar but one that hasn’t been looked after for a long time.”

“It used to be a biker bar I think, now….” He shook himself. “It doesn’t matter now. This is how you will get Parker back. Or do you need to wait for your piece of shit biker to come and help you?” His lip curled. And my frown deepened. He had been polite all day so why now was he being awkward?

“I can walk into that bar a lot easier than you can Dean.” Letting my eyes meet his I grinned. If he thought I would shy away from walking into a dive bar, he really had no idea the kind of upbringing I had had. “So let’s go, I want to get Parker and then I want to go home.”

“Back to Ruin?” Deans head cocked to the side, like a confused dog. There was pain in his eyes, pain and something else. Anger. 

I could understand that. I really could. 

“Yes.” I didn’t even know what the future held for Ruin and me. But we were linked. Now he knew about Parker, he would always be in our life. Truth was, I wanted him in my life and not just because of Parker.

I wanted to see if what I felt for him was real or whether it would fizzle out on its own. And I owed it to myself to find out. To be happy, even if it was just for a little while.

“Ok.” Dean sounded resigned as he swung open the car door. “Ok, so be it. Let’s go.” 

***

It wasn’t a biker bar, I knew it the moment the heavy wood door shut behind me. Sure on first glance, someone could mistake it for one but not me. I had grown up surrounded by bikers, spent most of my teen years looking for my father in bars. This was so much worse.

Several pairs of eyes turned in our direction, more than one man grinned at me. 

“What is this place?” I couldn’t keep the wobble from my voice. But I kept my back ramrod straight as I followed him across the floor towards the bar.  It was the middle of the afternoon, and yet the room was so dark it was hard to make all of it out. 

“A bar.” Dean didn’t even look back. “Anyone would think you didn’t want to get your kid back?”

His words stung. I didn’t know what his problem was suddenly. Not that it mattered. I could take it. I could take anything Dean threw at me because when this was all over, I never had to see him again. Never had to be scared of him again.

A few sarcastic comments were a small price to pay.

“Hey Dean,” the bartender’s eyes roved over my body, slowly like he was enjoying my discomfort. “And another Ava?”

Another Ava? My eyebrows shot into my hairline. “Avery?” I didn’t extend my hand. He didn’t seem the type to shake it anyway. 

“Dean, Dean, Dean. Have you brought the real thing this time?” 

The room had fallen oddly quiet like every single person had stopped to listen.

Every single atom in my body was screaming at me to run. I just didn’t know why. 

“I thought it was about time I made the slut pay.” Dean gave a dark chuckle. And it was the chuckle more than his words that made me whirl on him, but I never got to speak the question on my lips.

Deans fist hit my temple and the darkness swallowed me