Ethan and Ava (Redwood Falls 4)

A single tear slid down Ava's face, slowly followed by another.

Chapter Nine

Ava swallowed her apprehension as she knocked again, harder this time. It was ten o'clock at night and she was exhausted. The bus had broken down and they'd spent two hours on the side of the road after the driver had called for a backup. The fact that Ethan once again wasn't answering her texts had screwed with her sanity the entire time. She tried not to let it—she was sure they'd straighten everything out as soon as they saw each other. Everything was going to be okay. She just needed to see Ethan.

On swollen feet, she trudged the last few feet to his dorm room and stood in front of the door. Getting inside the building had been easy. She'd simply walked inside as someone was walking out. The student, by the looks of him, had been pleasant to her. He'd smiled a genuine smile as he held the door for her. Maybe his small act of kindness portended that some much needed luck would be on her side going forward.

Now, as she finally stood in front of Ethan's door after all the horrendous hours she'd endured, she dropped her backpack and grimaced as she rubbed her lower spine. She couldn't wait to curl up against Ethan and let him rub her back.

As she knocked on the door, nothing felt right. She could hear music coming from inside the room and the chatter of several different voices. Female voices.

As her mind raced for an explanation for what she was hearing, her hand went to the wall in support. She'd brought very little with her: just her purse and a backpack with a few toiletries and a couple of changes of clothing.

Her head drooped as a profound sense of dread gripped her.

The door finally opened. A girl stood in the doorway with an impatient expression plastered to her face.

A second girl walked up behind the first as Ava took a deep breath. "Is Ethan around?" she asked as casually as she could under the circumstances.

The pretty blonde girl shared a snide look with an even prettier brunette. They eyed her up and down condescendingly, taking note of her obviously pregnant state.

The blonde girl raised an eyebrow and then, with a contemptuous snicker, turned to ask the brunette, "He's out with that slut Danielle this time, isn't he?"

The girl paused and smirked, and then finally drawled, "Yeah, that's what Cade said."

The first girl made a show of biting her lip as her avid gaze settled on Ava's prominent baby bump. "So, Ethan did that?" Ava's eyes widened at the intrusive question but she said nothing. The girl's eyes flashed evilly as she arched a brow. "Lucky girl. He's really something, isn't he?"

Ava would have liked to say she didn't believe them for a minute, not the Danielle thing and not the girl's innuendo that she would have any reason to know whether Ethan was 'really something' or not. But Ethan hadn't answered Ava's texts in hours and her insecurities were front and center. She tried to pump up her confidence by reminding herself of what she already knew: Ethan loves me. Ethan loves me. Ethan loves me.

It didn't work. The mantra failed to soothe her and she found herself asking, quite against her will, "Who's Danielle?"

The two bitches shared a look again—a smug one this time—and the first girl answered conspiratorially, "Ask Danielle and she'll tell you she's his girlfriend." At Ava's ashen face, she continued reassuringly, "But that's not true, of course. I mean, we all know Ethan doesn't have girlfriends. He'd probably say they were just 'friends with benefits'." The girl even threw in air quotes with her blood red nails flashing by her face.

Ava struggled to stay calm and not let the girls get to her. They were obviously troublemakers. The bitch was lying about all of it. She had to be. And her slutty friend was lying, too.

Ava picked her backpack off the floor and plastered a fake smile on her face. "No problem. I'll wait," she announced as she stepped toward the door.

But the two girls immediately barred her entrance. "Not going to happen," the blonde replied as her hands braced against the doorframe. "Listen, whoever the hell you are," she said snidely, "when Ethan finally gets tired of Danielle, you can bet your ass he'll be coming straight to me." She gestured toward Ava's very pregnant belly. "And, frankly, it looks plenty crowded in there already, if you know what I mean. So. Go. Away."

The comment stung and Ava instinctively placed a protective hand over her swelling abdomen as the door slammed shut. Even though, in her heart of hearts, Ava didn't believe a word they had said, she'd found the experience very upsetting and, yeah, confusing. She'd read all kinds of relationship stuff and she knew that sometimes a person could be completely blindsided—it was possible. And it was pretty much always a surprise.

Was this one of those times? Could she have been so gullible that she'd only believed what she'd wanted to believe?

She didn't think so. She really and truly believed that Ethan loved her and their baby and would never cheat on her. She highly doubted the girl named Danielle even existed.

But that faith didn't help her much at the moment. It was still ten o'clock at night, Ethan wasn't answering her texts or phone calls, and she didn't have any friends here—and these bitches wouldn't let her in.

Could she even get a hotel room for the night? Was she old enough? Did hotels take your money no matter your age? How much would it cost to get to one anyway?

She didn't know the answer to any of those questions and with dawning horror, she began to appreciate the sheer vastness of her stupidity for acting so impulsively and failing to have a better plan. Spending any money at this point was probably the last thing she should do.

She wracked her brain for a solution. All she needed was one person who could help her. One person.

But she knew no one here.

And then a light went off in her head. She'd heard her brother mention that Nathaniel Cox was at Blinn College this year. If that was true, then it meant he was only about half an hour away. Nate had always seemed like a good guy even if she hadn't had a single conversation with him in her entire life. She'd certainly seen him around Redwood Falls forever. He'd graduated with Ethan and Ty. And when she and Hannah had shown up uninvited to his party that time, he'd been super cool about it. She remembered the drunken, lopsided smile he'd given her. Sure, maybe they weren't friends per sé, but if she called her brother and he called Nate on her behalf, surely Nate would help her out and at least let her sleep on the couch?

She walked from the building, found a nearby bench where she could sit and rest and called her brother.

****

It was well past midnight before Ethan had a chance to look at his phone. He was dead-ass tired as he left his job and climbed in his truck. Cranking the engine, he picked up his cell as he waited for the heater to kick in.

Fuck.

Five texts from Ava and two missed phone calls.

Also a missed phone call from a number he didn't recognize in the Redwood Falls area code.

He read Ava's texts in order, each sent about thirty to forty-five minutes apart.

Call me please I love you

Ethan I need you to call me as soon as you can. Love you

Where are you?

Seriously, I need you. I'm all alone. CALL

ME NOW

WTF?????? If you needed me I'd for damn sure call you back

Jesus Christ—he almost lost it right then and there, his worry for her sending him to the edge of frenzy. And Christ—was the baby okay? Surely to God everything was okay. If it wasn't, he'd never forgive himself.

He dialed her number but it went straight to voicemail, so he texted her instead. So sorry. Are you okay? Please be okay. I love you.

She didn't answer, of course. If she hadn't answered his call, then he figured she wouldn't answer his text.

Was she sound asleep? Or was she pissed? And dear Lord—was the baby okay? Was Ava okay?

Imagining a million different scenarios, each worse than the last, he broke out in a cold sweat and flipped the heater off. Something like this had only happened once before, where she'd texted him a few times while he'd been at work. But those had been normal texts, just checking in to see how he was doing. Texts that he loved getting, but nothing that alarmed him. Texts that said she missed him. That she loved him. That she couldn't wait to see him. Stuff like that. Stuff he needed to see and hear on a daily basis as he tried to get through his shit-for-life without her.

Yeah, those texts were nothing like these. These were scaring the crap out of him.

How the hell was he supposed to go back to campus and get any sleep? Sleep that he desperately needed to function. He wouldn't be able to sleep; he was too worried and too angry at himself for not being there when she needed him.

He held his phone in his hand and stared at it, willing it to ring.

But it didn't.

He glanced at the other call he'd missed. There was no voice message left. But it was an area code from home, and the call had come in between Ava's two calls.