Little Fury: Book 1 of The deadly Little Thing Trilogy
Little Fury: Chapter 17

We spend our last weekend at the ranch with everyone. Our little pseudo-family all together, enjoying the time. Everyone but Sebastian was home for the weekend. He’s on a job but promised to catch up with us in the outside world. That guy will just randomly pop up one day on us. Beth cooked for us the entire weekend, insisting she wasn’t sending us off without making all our favourite meals.

“Little Ava.” I hear Harry say as he steps out onto the porch with me.

“Old man,” I say back, staring out at the night on the ranch.

“You’ve been here for 11 years. I honestly had no idea what I was doing when I agreed to take guardianship of you after your parents died. But I’m glad I did. This life isn’t conducive for kids. So many things can go wrong. Too many times, people don’t come home, and I couldn’t do that to a kid. But then I got you. And I know I could never have taken your father’s place, but I’m so grateful to have had a hand, in the strong and beautiful young woman you have become.”

“Harry, I loved my dad; he was amazing.” I turn to look at him before continuing. “But in all honesty, I barely remember him. I remember that I loved him, and I remember him making me laugh. And I still miss him and my mom to this day. But Harry, not once since I stepped on your ranch did I ever feel unloved, alone, or unwanted. I may have lost my parents, and it was a shit thing to have happened, but it also brought me to you. For the last 11 years, I could not have asked for a better father. Because my dad, while great, was a great dad for a different Ava. That Ava doesn’t exist anymore. She died with them. You are the one who made this Ava. You gave me a new life. Let me become who I needed to survive all that has happened and all that will. I love you, Harry, and I’m so proud to be your daughter.”

Harry looks at me. “Are you crying, old man?” I ask him. He grabs me and pulls me into a bear hug.

“Don’t be an asshole, Ava. You’re wrecking our moment.”

I laugh into his chest. I look up at him, my own tears in my eyes. “I’m going to miss ye, lass,” He tells me.

“Careful old man, your Scottish is showing.”

Marcus and I say our goodbyes and get on the road. We fly out early tomorrow, so Theo is driving us to Billings tonight.

When we get to the hotel, we’re both quiet. We have been waiting for this day for a long time, and now that it’s here, it feels a little surreal. I look around the hotel room. The hotel was pretty booked, so we had one king-sized bed for the two of us.

“I can get a cot brought in,” Marcus tells me.

“Ha! I’d like to see you sleep on a cot all night,” I laugh at him.

“Fine, but I don’t want to hear about me hogging the blankets all night.”

“Dude. I am well aware of your blanket-stealing habits. You’ve done it since we were kids. Housekeeping is dropping off another blanket for me,” I wink at him.

“Sweet. Let’s go eat.”

“Food sounds good. I want pie.”

“You always want pie.”

“Why are you trying to make me feel bad about that?”

Marcus looks at me and shakes his head. “Let’s go.” He grabs my hand and drags me out of the room.

There’s a steakhouse next door to the hotel, so we make our way over to it for dinner. We order a couple of beers and steaks, slipping into easy conversation about movies we want to see.

“Are you looking forward to being at the ocean for a while?” Marcus asks.

“I am. I love the ocean. I missed it at Harry’s,” I reply.

Our food arrives, and we order another beer as we enjoy our meals. After we finish, we head back to the hotel.

“I’m way more tired than I think I should be.”

“Car rides always knock the energy out of you.”

“Car rides? What the fuck am I, a dog?”

Marcus laughs at my indignation. “No, baby, you aren’t. I just meant anytime we have to drive anywhere further than 30 minutes away; you’re drained for the entire day.”

“Don’t baby me, Marcus. Just say sorry for comparing me to a puppy.”

Marcus wraps his arm around my neck, pulls me in, and kisses me on the top of my head. “Awe baby, you know I meant no harm.”

“Whatever,” I grumble as I pass him and step out of the elevator and into the hallway.

When we get to our room, I see that there are no extra blankets on the end of the bed.

“Dammit,” I mutter.

“What?”

“No blankets were delivered. I’m tired and have no desire to wait for them to deliver some now. So, I’m going to need my best friend to promise he will share the blankets.” I say as I walk to the bathroom.

“Yes, Ava, I will share.”

“Good,” I say, closing the bathroom door.

When I finish in the bathroom, Marcus takes his turn. I crawl into bed, grab the TV remote, turn it on, and replace the first “Resident Evil” playing. I settle in, getting my pillows behind me and my portion of the blanket claimed. Marcus finishes up, turns off the bathroom light and throws his clothes on top of his suitcase.

I look at him, really look at him. I don’t know when it happened, but he’s all grown up. He has broad shoulders and a tapered waist. The hours we spent in the gym have made him cut. He has always been ridiculously handsome. But now he is stunningly beautiful. His eyes are still so green that they always look a little fake because you don’t expect them to be that color.

“What?”

“Nothing. I was just looking at you.”

“I can see you looking at me, hence me asking what.”

“I just don’t remember when it happened, is all.”

“When what happened?” he asks as he lifts the covers and climbs in.

“When did we become adults?”

“I don’t know when we were ever really kids, do you?”

“I guess I stopped being a kid the day Beth picked me up from the hospital.” I muse.

“I stopped when my mum died.”

“Yeah, but now, we look like adults.” I chuckle.

“We do.”

“What are we watching?”

“Resident Evil.”

“Why?”

“Did you just ask me why we’re watching ‘Resident Evil’? Marcus! I think maybe we shouldn’t be best friends anymore.”

“If that’s how you feel, Ava, I’m sure we could think of other ways to stay close.”

“Wow, look at you with dirty innuendos.”

“Thanks, I’m quite good at them.” He and I chuckle.

“Good night, Marcus.”

“Night, Ava.”

When I wake up, I’m instantly aware of where I am, and who has his arms around my middle; one of his hands is under my T-shirt. His hand is splayed on my sternum, his thumb resting against the underside of my breast.

Well, this is new.

Unsure of what to do, I lay there, not moving.

You should get out of bed.

Or should I lay here a bit longer? I don’t hate being close to him like this if I’m being honest.

Okay, but what if he minds?

He’s asleep; he probably has no idea whom he is spooning and whose underside of their breast his thumb is stroking.

“Fuck”. I mutter under my breath, feeling his thumb brushing against my skin, causing goosebumps to break out.

I feel Marcus start to stir behind me. He buries his face into my neck and breathes me in. He releases a soft groan, and I feel his arm tighten around me. Fuck I need to wake him up.

“Marcus,” I say softly as I run my hand over his arm. That arm pulls my body closer to his. His body, I am fully aware, is way bigger and harder than the last time we shared a bed. When we were younger, if one of us had a nightmare, we would crawl into the other’s bed. But it has been years since either of us has done that.

His hand moves farther up my breast, and my nipple hardens from the contact.

Nope. Nope, Ava, he is your best friend. Get your body away from him.

What if he wakes up embarrassed? I pull out of his grasp, not caring if I wake him up. I don’t want things to be awkward between us.

“No, stay,” Marcus says into my neck. “You’re warm, and to be perfectly honest, there is no better feeling than having a woman’s breast in your hand.”

“Nice. Can’t say I’ve felt the same way about a woman’s breast,” I reply with a chuckle.

“That’s a shame, Ava, you’re missing out.” His thumb brushes over my nipple, I suck in a sharp breath at his touch. My alarm goes off then, breaking the moment. I roll onto my stomach and groan into the mattress.

“We have 40 minutes until we have to be at the airport to get through security and shit,” I tell him, my face still pressed into the mattress.

I hear him sigh and roll away from me. Turning my head to look at him as he stands up, relieved to see I wasn’t the only one affected by our impromptu spooning, but I’m also a little unsure about what the fuck just happened. I get out of bed and head to the bathroom.

Passing Marcus on the way. I keep my eyes down, but as I step past him, his hand goes to his cock, squeezing it. I look up at him, our eyes meeting, my cheeks flush. Quickly breaking eye contact I step into the bathroom, closing the door behind me. Leaning my head against the door I take in a calming breath.

By the time we get through check-in and security, our flight is about to start boarding.

“Wow, we cut that pretty close,” I say.

“Don’t even. I know you like to see how close to boarding you can get when you fly.”

“I hate waiting.”

“I know.”

We board the flight, make our way to our first-class seats, and settle in. It’s a 7-hour flight to the Caymans and I think I’m going to need that time to process what happened this morning.