Page 12 of Pressure Point

“No, no! I want to see them! I really did enjoy the Galaxy Guards when we watched them in San Antonio,” she told him.

He let out a sigh of relief, happy to know she wasn’t here out of pity. “It’s Guardians of the Galaxy.”

“Yeah, that.” She waved her hand around like it was obvious that she had meant Guardians, and he couldn’t hold back his laughter. Her cheeks were a darker pink now, her teeth nibbling at her bottom lip.

“So why didn’t you just tell me that you hadn’t really seen them?”

“Because it’s embarrassing. Everyone in the English speaking world has seen these movies. Hell, I’m sure they’ve been translated into enough languages that most of the world, period, has seen them. Admitting to having not seen them by this point in my life is like admitting to having never had sex!”

Her hand flew over her mouth the second the words escaped. Liam could feel his jaw drop a little as he turned to face her on the couch. Did she just admit what he thought she did?

No, there was no way.

“Avery, are…are you a virgin?”

He felt ridiculous for asking such a thing. It didn’t matter to him what her history was. How she chose to conduct that part of her life wasn’t any of his business. It wasn’t like he had any room to talk. He’d only ever been with Orla, so it wasn’t like he was going to impress anyone with his number. But now that she’d opened that door, he was too curious not to walk through it.

“No,” she rushed to answer, shaking her head. “A penis has been inserted into my vagina.”

“Oh, well, when you put it that way.”

“That’s the technical definition.”

Liam blinked a couple of times, trying to find his words. What exactly did one say to that? He respected her and her life choices, and he didn’t want her to be embarrassed about what she’d just told him. Was it weird that it somehow made him like her more? That them having a mutual lack of experience made him feel even more of a pull toward her? No, that was ridiculous. And something he really shouldn’t admit out loud. In no way was his chiming in with his opinion what she needed right now. What she needed was a friend who was going to be understanding and accepting of her little slip. Someone who was willing to be weird right along with her. Especially since it was the second sex reference she’d made tonight.

“Anyway, the Tesseract,” he segued, taking the cue that she wanted to talk about anything other than what she’d just said. “The title of this movie kinda says it all—Captain America, the First Avenger. Because he was, well, first. He was, like, forty years before the next one, who was still about twenty years before the one after that. In theory, you’re supposed to know who Odin is at this point. Release wise, the first Thor movie came out right before this one, so anyone going to the theatre would have already met all those people. But anyone familiar with Norse mythology would already know who he is regardless of the movies. Release order gives you everything in bits and pieces as you need to know it. Part of watching the movies in chronological order, though, is it gives you a better understanding of the history of the saga and why everyone did what they did, when they did it.”

“Oh.”

He swallowed hard, hoping he hadn’t inundated her with too much nerd all at once. But watching as her face relaxed, morphing to a look that told him she was happy to not be the one rambling on, he knew he’d made the right choice. Here’s hoping she didn’t mind that his borderline overshare didn’t lose him too many cool points with her. Although maybe showing off his inner nerd would help her feel more comfortable.

He’d loved superheroes ever since he was little, saving up his allowance as a kid to buy comic books. They were some of the few things that had belonged solely to him as a kid, mostly due to sheer disinterest from his brothers. He knew that he probably should have let his affinity for these characters go a long time ago, but he couldn’t help it. It was just as much a part of him as football was.

“I’ll stop there though, because I don’t want you to realize just how nerdy I am and then think less of me.”

“I brought up foodgasms and virginity, so I’m not sure I have room to talk!” she said, bursting out into giggles. “But that is the most verbose I think I have ever heard you, on any subject. I didn’t know you were capable of saying that many words in a row!”

“I promise not to let it happen again,” he joked, happy that she seemed to still be comfortable around him. More than anything, he didn’t want to lose that. Maybe he couldn’t have her in the way he really wanted, but he’d already figured out in this short time that being friends with Avery was better than no Avery. “We good to start back up?”

“Yup. But I make no promises I won’t have more questions.”

Liam nodded, hitting play, letting the movie roll again. He’d seen this movie, and all the others, what must have been a hundred times, and he could probably recite it in his sleep. Part of him wanted to give up the farce of watching the movie and position himself on the couch so he could watch Avery watch the movie. He wanted to see her reactions, experience it with her. Except that was creepy, and that was absolutely not what he was going for here.

They sat in silence as they watched an undersized Steve Rogers desperately try over and over again to enlist. It was a drive that Liam understood—wanting something so bad that you were willing to do whatever it took to accomplish it. He’d spent years practicing and working out, making sure he was good enough to land a spot on the first team in Dundalk. That work had paid off, not only back in Ireland, but now here in Atlanta. He didn’t need to be the star player—that was a role better left for someone like Dash—he was happy just to be part of the starting lineup. If only other things would fall into place just as easily.

“That’s what I need,” Avery said, pulling his attention away from the movie.

“What?” he asked, looking at her.

“That,” she emphasized, pointing to the TV screen, where the newly enhanced Steve Rogers was stumbling out of the chamber he’d been in. Quickly hitting pause, he glanced back at the screen. Liam knew the scene well. Peggy Carter was just about to ask Steve how he felt, only to agree with his response and affirm that he did indeed “look taller.”

“I don’t follow.”

“He went into that pod thingy all scrawny and dorky. And then he came out…well, hot! That’s what I need to do!”

“You need to be recruited into the Strategic Scientific Reserve as part of a super-soldier experiment and dosed with vita-rays?”

“Yes! Well, maybe not the super-soldier part. Or the radiation part,” she commented, twisting on the couch to face him, almost bouncing up and down in her seat. “But something that can take me from scrawny little thing to sexy beast!”