The Ultimate Chance-Chapter 63

"What’s so hard about that? I agreed to this." She reminded him. His expression was proof that he didn’t believe her and probably thought she was pretending not to mind.

"If I told you this was breaking my heart and I wanted to stay with Angel, would you leave without him?" She asked him even though she had already made up her mind.

As she thought, he shook his head. "No."

"I thought so."

"It wouldn’t be fair if he only kept staying in one place when we are supposed to be co-parenting. However, you have every right to come over at my place if you miss him too much."

"I do?" She was puzzled.

"You’re his mother. The last thing I would ever want to do to you is keep you away from your son."

His words made her feel worse than she already did. He wouldn’t do to her what she had done to him ever since they met again, yet she felt the need to judge someone else’s actions. Who was the villain between her and Gabriel?

At least Gabriel acknowledged his wrongs—some of them, anyway.

"I’ll get his overnight bag ready." She followed Angel to his room and had him pick out the clothes he wanted.

When they were done, he ran to her room and brought her overnight bag as well, and it broke her heart.

She crouched to his level. "Baby, why don’t you spend the night with papa today?" She knew he was already aware that she wouldn’t join them and was making a last-ditch effort for her to come along.

Damon had come to help and witnessed the little disagreement which he couldn’t stand.

"You can come with us, you know." He reminded her.

"Yeah." Her smile was stiff. "But Angel needs to get to know you. If I’m there, he will spend all his time trying to make sure we don’t steal each other from him." She turned the offer down. She wanted to grab it but she was afraid Gabriel had put a tracker on her. In case she was right, she didn’t want him to know where Damon lived. It would be easier for him to know where to find Angel if he wasn’t with her.

"If you change your mind, you have my contact number." Damon knew it wasn’t as easy as she was making it sound.

She nodded and gave Angel’s overnight bag to him.

"I think you should take some of his clothes later. His toys, get some copies of the books he loves, his drawing books, and..." She fought back her tears. Why had she suddenly turned into a cry baby?

She hugged Angel to hide her face in his chest. "If you miss me, I’ll be missing you too. And if you’re scared, papa will be there for you."

The boy nodded and followed his father out.

Avery tried not to watch them leave. She wouldn’t be able to take it so she returned to her room and curled into bed.

___

Night had never felt longer. She had tossed and turned for what felt like two nights but when she checked the time, it was 9pm. Angel was probably only starting to feel sleepy.

Damon must be reading him a book and for the first time, he must be wondering why she wasn’t there for his bed time. Would he be sad without her around? Would he be scared?

She locked her phone before giving in to the urge to find out, but her willpower only lasted a few minutes before she called Damon.

"Do you miss me already?" He teased her.

"Why would I? I only miss my son." She retorted through her parched throat.

Silence followed for a few seconds before Damon asked the question she was hoping he wouldn’t ask. "Have you been crying?"

"No." She lied.

"I know how you sound when you’ve been crying and how fast you respond when you lie." He called her out mercilessly.

"Avery," He started. "I meant it. You can come over if you miss him."

"I want to. I really do."

"But you can’t? Is it because you don’t want to be in my house?"

"No. Who cares if it’s your house, Damon? I would go to hell if he was there and I needed to see him. It’s just... I met Gabriel earlier today."

"That dork who tried to kill Angel. He is out of prison, has been for years. They let him off, Damon." She cried.

"Did he threaten you?" He asked, a hint of a threat in his voice.

She shook her head then immediately realized he wouldn’t see her. "No. Not directly. But he has been sending me emails and he did say he wanted to see his nephew."

"Nothing will happen to Angel, okay?" He promised her. "I know it was shattered years ago but I need you to trust me, Avery. Our son is safe."

Heaven knew why she did but she trusted him.

"Do you want to come?" He asked, knowing she did.

She pondered for a while.

"Don’t say anything about a father-son night." He warned.

That was her only reason to stay away and if she was being honest to herself, she didn’t think it made sense either. She agreed and ended the call.

...

Damon’s place felt further but at least she no longer felt the need to look over her shoulder. She had carried her clothes in a small bag so she wouldn’t need to go back and forth in the morning.

Damon was waiting for her in the living room when she arrived.

"You are here." He helped her carry her bag although it wasn’t heavy and showed her to Angel’s room.

Surpassing her expectation, Damon had modified a large room in his house to be Angel’s. It had everything Angel loved and when she saw the slide bed, her face cracked a smile. Damon knew exactly how to make his son happy.

There was a little basketball hoop as well as what looked like a miniature aquarium with realistic versions of all the water animals that Angel loved.

"Is this heaven?" She joked.

Her son, who was on the bed, couldn’t agree more.

"Do you like it?" Damon asked her.

She nodded. "Angel loves it too."

He pointed at the other bed in the room, which was way too large for a five year old. She had been wondering what it was for.

"If we want a family sleepover, that’s the place." He explained the humongous bed. "You can sleep here tonight if you want."

’I would rather sleep in yours.’ She thought, and was glad she didn’t say that aloud. She hated the fact that she seemed to always become a live wire as soon as Damon was in the picture.

"If not, I’ll show you to the guest room." He took her silence for a no.

She nodded her agreement and followed him out the room when Angel fell asleep.

He showed her where to find everything she would need but she wasn’t paying attention to a word he was saying. Instead, her eyes were focused on his arms that flexed with his movements.

Feeling her stare, he glanced over at her and she cleared her throat.

"I think I’m ready to go to bed now." She recoiled awkwardly.

"Okay." He watched her go over to the bed to climb on it and swept her off the floor before she did.

She squealed, caught off guard by him. He kicked the door to his room open, his intention obvious.

"What are we doing here?" She asked coyly. "Not that I’m complaining."

"How do you want me to answer that?" He took her hand and placed it on his bulge.

"You’re insatiable." She bit her bottom lip.

"So are you." He pushed her onto the bed and came down hovering over her. "Besides, how could I ever have enough when you look like this?"

"You don’t." She placed a finger on his lips. "That’s enough talking."

____

The following morning.

It had been a surprising warm and comfortable night. Avery had expected it to be unbearably lonely in the absence of her son but the last thing she had expected was to spend it in Damon’s bed.

She couldn’t keep track of how many times they’d done it. Mina was right. He was a bunny, and he had turned her into one as well.

She turned to check the time on her phone and had to shuffle out of bed. Angel was probably awake already! It was the weekend and she didn’t need to go to work, but she wanted to go to catch up with the work she had missed the day before.

She found her clothes and wore them, her legs trembling slightly. Her phone rang before she left the room and she was puzzled. Why was Damon calling. Had he left?

"If you have left without a word..."

"Can you be a doll and bring my credit card on your way downstairs, babe?" He croaked into the phone, making her forget all about what she was going to say.

"It’s in the vault. The passcode is the same old one." He added.

She shrugged and walked over to the vault, which was similar to the one she had before. She keyed in the passcode and reached for the credit card, but a familiar logo caught her eye.

___

In his excitement, Damon had forgotten what else was in the vault and it was too late by the time he remembered it. He flew up the stairs, taking two at a time, and arrived in his room to Avery holding a folder with her name and the logo of Skyline Obstetrics Hospital on it.