Pure Redemption (Tainted Legacy) (11 page)

Chapter
8

A week had gone by since Gabe had reappeared in Ava’s life. Her world had so completely changed and yet, during the past week, things with Gabe had stayed disappointingly the same. He remembered absolutely nothing of his past.

Ava was trying hard to not let it bother her. He was back. He was with her, physically if not mentally. That, for now, was good enough.

Most days.

Her
biggest fear had been that he would simply vanish without a trace as he had done those days by the waterfront.

His
biggest fear was that his memory would continue to evaporate, as it had up until the night Ava had found him. Since that night, his memory had been solid. Stable. But only from that night forward. It wasn’t much but it was a start and with each passing day he became a little more comfortable with himself.  A little more confident.

Because Ava had always been an exceptional employee, Becky had not given her a hard time when she inexplicably insisted that due to personal reasons, she needed to take some time off. Becky had agreed and had been able to cover all of her shifts but one.

That
afternoon
, Gabe had gone to work with her. He’d sat at one of the wrought iron tables at the front of the store, keeping himself entertained with Ava’s laptop. Ava, at that point, had still been terrified to let him out of her sight. She was afraid if she did he would wander off and not remember to come back to her. She had been
relieved when Gabe hadn’t argued too vehemently
about hanging out at work with her.

As each day passed and
as
his current memory became a little more stable, she worried just a sliver less. As an extra precaution
she’d given him a key to her house and a cell phone. Or rather, she’d confiscated Grier’s old phone. S
he’d waited until her parents were gone one day before helping herself to
it
. Her foster sister had not had a need for many numbers. The only ones programmed in belonged to Ava’s family. Ava deleted them all, except
for
her own. She’d given the phone to Gabe and insisted that he keep it with him at all times. She’d taken it a step further and instead of simply having “Ava” listed in the
contacts
she’d listed it as “Call Ava”. Just in case his memory faded again and he needed that extra bit of prompting.

Thus far
, he hadn’t. But that could be
due to the fact that Ava knew where he was at all times.

Since the day in the department store when she had reached for him and he had snatched his hand away, she had been very careful not to touch him. He had claimed that he was just startled but she wasn’t so sure. He had flinched at her touch in the church, not looked particularly happy about
it when she’d touched his knee at the kitchen table,
and
he certainly had
not seem
ed
pleased when she’d so embarrassingly cuddled up to him in her sleep.

She wasn’t sure if she could handle that feeling of rejection again
. She tried not to give him a reason to
phys
ically push her away once again.

He was already dealing with so much, the last thing she wanted to do was push herself on him. Or even push the memory of herself on him. She was afraid if she did that it would simply be too much and it would push him away completely.

At night, they had continued to sleep in the same bed. It was Ava that suggested putting a pillow in between them so that she wouldn’t accidentally cross
over into his personal space or
violate any personal boundaries.

He hadn’t argued.

It was because of this, because of being so careful to not touch
him that
something had slipped past Ava’s notice. Until one day when Gabe was asking if there was anything else she could tell him. It was difficult, nearly impossible, for him to ask specific questions because he didn’t know
what
to ask.

“Actually,” Ava carefully replied, her eyes betraying the surprise she felt at having just realized something, “I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner. I don’t really know how I could have missed it,” she said, more to herself than to him. “I guess I’m still so overwhelmed by the fact that you’re back that—”

“Ava,” Gabe impatiently interrupted, “what is it?”

They were sitting outside at her cabin. It was a hot, muggy day. They’d been in the water but now they were drying off by soaking up the sun’s rays and warmth. There wasn’t much of a beach, just a grassy embankment that fell down at a jagged angle into the water.
They were sitting beyond the embankment on lawn chairs.

They’d been discussing what would happen in the upcoming week when Ava had to return to work. Sh
e was feeling panicked about it. She was not ready to leave
Gabe alone. He was arguing that if she was even considering getting him a babysitter, the thought was ridiculous. In all honesty, she had been contemplating asking Molly
or
Julia to hang out with him if their schedules allowed. But then the talk had turned back to Gabe again.

She slid off her lounging chair and stood in front of him. Slowly, hesitantly, she reached for his hands. He didn’t flinch, didn’t pull away, but he did give her an openly curious look.

The gentle breeze caused her hair to flutter around her shoulders. She wanted to attribute her sudden burst of goose bumps to the breeze as well. Though she was certain they had a whole lot more to do with Gabe than the wind. She hoped he didn’t notice the fine bumps on her skin. And she was aware that she had a whole lot of skin showing with only her new, white and very skimpy bikini on.

“Do you feel anything?” she asked. His knees were parted and she stood directly in front of him, firmly holding his hands in hers. Her eyes were already devouring his face. She had her answer before he even spoke.

“Ava,”
he began, an apologetic look
dominated his features. His eyes, seemingly of their own volition, drifted downward, lingered longer than they had any time recently and then shot
right back up again. He squirmed in his chair as he tried to keep his eyes on hers. “I actually find you quite beautiful. Stunning, really. But I’m so sorry. You know I don’t—”

“No! No, not like that,” Ava quickly said as she cut him off, her cheeks bl
azed a
spectacular
shade of red
. Although, the fact he found her stunning was a pleasant revelation that she would unquestionably ponder later. “When I touch you, does it burn?”

Gabe’s
apologetic expression melted into one of
confusion. “Does it
what
?”

“Burn. Does it hurt?”

He started to shake his head slowly, and Ava wondered if this was finally going to be the bit of information that was too much. Reluctantly, she let his fingers slide from hers. She took a step to the side and settled back into her own chair.

“Are you going to tell me what that was about?” Gabe finally demanded.

She nodded. “This,” she said as she held her grandfather’s cross between her fingers, “used to burn you. Just touching me while I was wearing it used to be awful for you. You once told me it was like holding on to live wires.” She hesitated. “It doesn’t feel like that anymore?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know what it feels like to hold on to live wires but I imagine it can’t feel good. When you were holding my hands,
it felt
…uh, it didn’t feel bad.”

“And when you were in the church? That first night?”

Gabe was staring off into the trees
as he thought.
Ava took the opportunity to take a good, long look at him. He had gained weight since he’d been staying with her. His face was filled out again.
The pale skin was replaced with a sun kissed tan.
His hair was
windblown and incredibly appealing to her. She had to resist the urge to run her fingers through it. He seemed so much like his old self and yet, the one difference was the one that mattered the most to her. While he had slowly been getting to know her again, he still treated her like she was a bit of a stranger. He kept his distance and she didn’t want to violate what had somehow become their unspoken rule.

Actually, she
did
want to violate it. She just refused to let herself.

“
It didn’t bother me at all. Actually, it had the opposite effect. The moment I walked in, I felt relieved
,” he finally said as he met her gaze straight on.
That was his first real memory and while it was tinged in fogginess, for the most part, he remembered. Or at least he thought he did. He remembered being confused, yet pulled there. Once inside, when he’d seen Ava a myriad of feelings coursed through him. But was the experience unpleasant? In any way? Other than when he had been terrified he’d scared her, no, it hadn’t.

“It was hard for you. Being in a church,” Ava told him. “Almost unbearable. Your blood was…”

Gabe could tell she didn’t want to finish the sentence. He didn’t blame her so he did it for her. “
Tainted with d
emon blood.”

“
You o
nly
have
half
demonic blood
,” she said firmly.

Gabe scoffed.

“Don’t do that,” Ava softly commanded. “Because it was only half, it made all the difference. You didn’t let that half own you.”

He nodded but he looked away. He was becoming as attached to the lake as Ava was. It was calming. Hypnotic.  Peaceful.

“I have an idea,” Ava said after a long, comfortable silence. Gabe turned his attention to her. “I know that first day we agreed we shouldn’t drive by your old house. Rafe’s house. But now, I’m thinking maybe we shoul
d. You’ve had a week,” she said. She
was
tryin
g to keep her voice light.

“
And
I still remember nothing,” Gabe grumpily admitted. “I guess it’s worth a try.”

Minutes later they were on their way.
Ava wondered if it was a stupid idea. Chances of running into Rafe coming or going were slim so she was willing to take the chance. If it meant Gabe got his memory back, it would be worth it. Besides, she knew that sooner or later Rafe was going to find out
he had returned
.