Elijah

We went back to Ava’s place so Sara could take a shower and clean up. She looked terrible, awful, and I could tell it was bothering Ava. Sara looked thin for her age, neck chiseled with protruding bones and cheeks hollow and dark. Her hair was greasy and stringy, nails cracked and chipped. She had sores on her face from the drug use, and her movements seemed jittery and nervous. She was probably high. I wondered what Ava’s plan for her was now, but it wasn’t my place to ask, so I stayed silent and allowed Ava to take the lead. I would be her support until she told me otherwise. I didn’t want to see an innocent young girl in a shitty situation.
“What were you thinking?” she asked Sara. Her tone was firm but gentle, and I knew she was trying to ensure the teen didn’t flee again. But beneath the surface of a professional, put-together professional, I could tell that Ava had been terrified for the girl. For herself. For all of us. “You could have been killed over there,” Ava continued, and her voice cracked. “You almost killed yourself, Sara.”
“It wasn’t my decision,” the teen said, tears pooling behind her eyes. I felt terrible for the child. The situation she had found herself in was not unlike similar situations I’d faced once upon a time. Luckily, I’d never died because of it. I hoped she wouldn’t, either. “Tyrese gives us that shit, and he forces us to take it. If we don’t, he beats us.”
Ava sighed, her shoulders rising and falling with defeat. “Tyrese, your pimp? How did you end up there? What on earth was going through your mind?”
“I needed somewhere to stay,” Sara said. “And I needed money.”
“What made you think that being around people like that would help you instead of hurting you?” Ava demanded, and when Sara didn’t answer, she sighed and shook her head. I could see the fight draining from her body. I wanted to reach out and reassure her, but I stayed a step back. This was between the two of them. “Here’s the deal, S. You can stay here tonight and shower and sleep. In the morning, you’re coming back to work with me, and you’re going to walk in and apologize to Katie for leaving, and you’re going to kiss ass until she decides to call off the police … if she does.”
Sara opened her mouth to argue, but Ava held one finger in a warning.
“I’m not done,” she said sharply. When the girl shut her mouth, she continued. “If you think about stealing something from my home or running away again, I’ll have the cops at Tyrese’s house so fucking quickly your head will spin. Not only will they find you and your pimp, but your little friends over there will be arrested too, and they’ll know it was because of you.”
Ava let her words sink into Sara, eyes burning with a passion I had not seen until now. I cleared my throat and looked away from Ava, resisting the urge to undress her mentally. Now was not the time or place, but I still couldn’t stop thinking of her naked.
“Do you understand?” Ava asked, her eyes still on Sara. The teen nodded, chin dropped into a pout.
“I understand,” she said meekly. “Thank you for helping me, Miss Ava.”
Ava nodded, sighed, then forced a smile for Sara. “I will do whatever I can for you,” she said softly. “I just need you to meet me in the middle.”
Sara nodded, cupping a hand to the back of her neck. “I can. I will.”
“Good. That’s all I need to hear, S.” Ava turned to look at me then. For a moment, I thought she would rip me a new one, too. But she was smiling. A tired smile, but a smile, nonetheless. “As for you,” she said, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth to nibble on it. She stepped forward and rested a hand on my chest, and I felt the heat of her skin even through my shirt. “You owe me a date, Mr. Trevino.”