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“Ava, is that him?”
“Yes,” she said, barely able to get the word out of her mouth.
He reached under the table and squeezed her knee.
“You’re beautiful, sexy and any man would be happy to have you. Don’t get upset with him,” David whispered.
She excused herself to use the restroom, practically running. She was starting to lose control. The anxiety attacks that she had kept at bay for the past four years threatened to take hold of her. She sat on the toilet seat in the far stall trying to breathe. Several minutes later she heard Sam.
“Ava? Ava, where are you?”
“Sam?” She managed to choke out as she tried to calm herself.
She unlocked the door, and Sam came into the stall with her. She kneeled in front of her using toilet paper to hold back the tears from ruining Ava’s makeup.
“It’s okay. Don’t let him get to you.”
“How did you know I was in here?”
“I saw you leave the room. David told me you were upset.”
She took Ava by the hand and led her out of the stall and back into the party room. Ava scanned the room for Xander and spied him near the bar. He was drinking a double scotch and talking with Jacob. She looked away before he caught her staring at him.
She tried to enjoy herself through the evening. Tim dominated most of her time on the dance floor, but she did manage to squeeze in a few dances with David and her cousins. Tim’s attentions were diverted when he discovered that Roger was a fellow techie. He became engrossed in a conversation with him, and Ava was able to escape from Tim suffocating her time. It allowed her time to circulate the room talking to people that she had met through the Poulos family and her own. But she always had a corner of her eye on Xander to see if he was enjoying himself more than her.
Xander saw her watching him throughout the night. But he was also watching her and doing a much better job of hiding it. He knew that she wore the lavender colored dress for him. It showed off her shapely body and cleavage. The necklace she wore might as well have been an arrow that pointed to her breasts. He wanted to bury his head between them. She had put her hair up so he could see her lovely neck. He wanted to kiss that neck and suck on her earlobes. But he couldn’t do any of that.
It was hard for him to control himself, but he had to with Kaycee sitting next to him. She kept watching his eyes, and he not only had to be careful of her seeing him but Ava. Towards the end of the night, he slow danced with Kaycee, and she put her head on his chest. Ava was dancing with David and his eyes locked on hers. She looked like she wanted to cry.
The song ended, and she hurriedly walked ahead of David and out of the room. She needed somewhere to rest and get away because she was being torn apart by watching Xander with his girlfriend. She quickly walked down the hall and noticed one of the banquet rooms had its door slightly ajar, peeking in, she saw that no one was there. It was dimly lit, and she sat down in one of the comfortable chairs in the corner away from the tables.
Xander watched as Ava practically ran out of the room. This was his chance to talk to her. He excused himself and told Kaycee he needed to use the bathroom then he ran to follow her. She had gone down the long hallway of banquet rooms, but he didn’t see her anywhere. He continued down the hall and noticed one of the rooms had a door that was slightly open, looking in, he saw her tucked into the corner. He quietly walked in and reached out to the hand that held her cheek.
She smelled him before she opened her eyes. That familiar cologne he always wore. She didn’t open her eyes or even move when he touched her. It made her sigh deeply before she spoke.
“What do you want, Xander? Please go away and don’t ever touch me again. Haven’t you damaged me enough? How much am I to take before you stop wounding me?”
“Sweetheart, I don’t know what you mean. I damaged you? You damaged me. I’m no good for anyone else because of you. You have wounded me.”
She opened her eyes, and Xander saw fire in them.
“I never sent you an email breaking up with you and telling you I cheated on you, did I? No! You sent that to me? How could you, Xander? How could you do that to me?”
The tears started to flow. He reached out to wipe them away than thought better of it and handed her his handkerchief instead.
She snatched it out of his hand.
“I would never cheat on you, ever. Please, sweetheart.”
“Don’t call me that again. You don’t deserve me. You never did.”
She wanted to hit his gorgeous face. Make him hurt the way she was hurting. He put his hands on her face and went to kiss her. She slapped at his hands.
“I never want to see you again. Go back to Kaycee. Maybe she can deal with your lying and cheating, but I will never do it again. You disgust me.”
She started to cry harder, and David came into the room and pushed Xander from her.
“Get away from her. She doesn’t need you anymore.”
