“Mac, what’s going on? Has something happened to your mother?”
“No,” he said, not taking any time to elaborate. He was irritated that she was slowing him down and his usual patience and good manners had deserted him. “Listen, Gwen, I’ve got to go. Shut the door behind you.” With those words, he was gone without sparing her another thought.
He made it across town in record time, pulling in front of Ava’s building in less than fifteen minutes, even with the heavy evening traffic. Scanning the area, he saw Jeff waving at him from the doorway of a small building near the swimming pool. As he drew closer, Jeff held the door for him. “She’s in here. She wants to go to her apartment, and I’ve barely been able to keep her here. The doctor thought she should go to the hospital to be checked out from the fall and from passing out, but she refuses. Says she just wants to go home. According to the security guard, the guy who was talking to her before she passed out was from her hang gliding group. Said she dropped her purse in the parking lot, and he was just bringing it back to her. We got his information but let him go. Seemed harmless enough.”
As if sensing he was near, Ava swung her head around from where she was sitting on the couch in the corner, and Mac’s heart slammed as tears welled in her big eyes. What the fuck had happened to her? She got up on shaky legs and propelled herself toward him. His arms opened automatically to embrace her as she clung to him with sobs shaking her small frame. “Oh, baby,” he whispered against the top of her head, “what happened?”
Trembling, she said, “Please take me to my apartment. I want to get out of here.” Without thinking, Mac swung her up in his arms and took the flight of stairs up to her place. He had to set her back on her feet so she could fish the keys from her pocket and open the door. As soon as she was across the threshold, she turned back to him. He picked her up again before settling them both on her couch.
Mac let her breathing quiet and her body relax before asking quietly, “Baby, what happened? Are you sick?” He felt her shake her head against his neck. He rubbed his hand soothingly up and down her back, letting her know that he had her.
“I got scared,” she mumbled against his throat. “I . . . panicked and started to hyperventilate. It just happened so fast. I couldn’t control it.”
Pulling her away from him, Mac searched her eyes. She still looked so damn shaken. Every protective instinct inside him was roaring. Right now, though, she needed something to take the edge off. “I’ll be right back, baby. Just sit tight for a minute.” Unwinding her arms from around him, he went into her kitchen and pulled out a bottle of vodka. It would probably burn her windpipe, but it should settle her nerves. He poured a generous measure and took it back to where she was sitting. He wrapped her hands around the glass, helping her raise it to her lips. “Don’t sip, Avie. Throw it back. I know it’s gonna taste like fire, but drink it.” She started gagging on the first sip, but he kept steady pressure on her wrist. After a few more swallows, she had downed the alcohol. He set the glass on the table and pulled her back into his arms. “Better?”
With one last full-body shudder, she nodded and seemed to finally relax against him. “I—I’m sorry. I’m so embarrassed.” She sniffed against his chest.
“Honey, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. I need to know what happened, though. What scared you? Did it have something to do with the man who found your purse?” She answered him haltingly about how the man had made her uncomfortable during her meeting and then he’d followed her out into the parking area, keeping her from getting into her car. She’d been shaken enough to take a taxi home and hadn’t noticed that she’d dropped her purse until she had needed to pay the driver. When she’d found the same man had followed her home, she had been so frightened. “Ah, Avie, I’m sorry. I have the guy’s contact information; I can assure you that I’ll be talking to him. He’s never to bother you again. According to Jeff, he was pretty shaken up over the whole thing.”
“I . . . I probably overreacted. I just . . . I felt trapped.”
Mac heard the slight slur to her words and knew that the vodka had hit her system. Her words were softer, almost as if she were talking to herself.