Intaglio: Dragons All The Way Down Read Online Free PDF Page B

‘sir’,” he said, raising a bushy eyebrow, “you actually mean
something totally different.”
    Ava winked.
    “Because you’re
a wise man.”
    : : : : : : : :
: :
    Ava was fiddling
with the radio, smiling in bemusement,  when Cole came out of the office.  He
climbed in the truck, ashen-faced and unspeaking.
    “Hey,” she
said.  “How’d it go today?”
    He made a
choking sound, letting his face fall into his hands, body curling down.  Ava
slid past the gear shift, fitting herself next to him on the bench seat.  She
put her hand against his back, rubbing lightly.
    “That good,
huh?”
    Cole laughed
bitterly.  Ava wrapped her arms around him, her chin settling on his shoulder. 
Beyond the pitted windows of her truck, the afternoon sun slanted across the
buildings, lighting them with the golden tones and deep shadows of an Edward
Hopper painting.  She waited, but he sat motionless, face in hands. 
    “I hated going
at first,” Ava said quietly.  “I didn’t have a choice about going... wasn’t
making an effort, like you are...” 
    She closed her
eyes, remembering this other version of herself, her rage coming out against
everyone and anything.  It was strange remembering herself this way.  It
reminded her just how lucky she was to have had her father with her. 
    “I had to go to
counselling as part of my probation,” she admitted, her hand circling gently
against his shoulders and arms, her face next to his ear.  “It certainly wasn’t
something that I wanted to do, and I fought it tooth and nail.  You think you
were a rotten teen?  I made my dad’s life a living hell.”
    For some reason,
it was the last statement that broke the melancholy mood.  Cole choked back a
laugh, glancing at her.
    “I don’t believe
you.”
    Ava punched his
thigh twice, indignant.
    “You’re damn
right, I did.  Total fucking badass.”
    “Uh-huh?” Cole
said, chuckling again. This time she grinned, leaning back in, brushing her
cheek against his shoulder.
    “Cole Thomas,
I’ve got street cred you can’t even dream of having.”  He snorted, and Ava
continued.  “The first session was really hard,” she said, tightening her arms
around him.  “Really fucking awful.”
    She felt Cole
shifting so that he could move his arms around her too.  She smiled against him
as he pulled her into a hug.  The two of them were side-by-side, the light on
the buildings becoming burnished, blue shadows lengthening.  Cole’s hands ,
clung to her like he was in too-deep water and she was a raft.
    “Must’ve been
hard,” he said. His face was hidden from view against her ear. His voice was
thick and close to tears.
    “Yeah, it was,”
she admitted, her fingers running down his back, feeling the tension ebb away. 
“But it had to be, because if you don’t get the hard stuff out, then you can’t
move past it.  That’s the whole point.”
    He nuzzled her
hair, lips brushing her neck.
    “Was it worth
it?” he asked. 
    There was more
than that to the question... layers of self-doubt and fear, and she knew it. 
Ava pulled back after he said it, her hand running down the side of his face,
comforting him.
    “You, Cole, are absolutely worth it,” she said, answering the question he hadn’t asked.
    He nodded,
leaned in to kiss her with sudden passion.  When they finally broke apart, she
could see that some of the worry was gone, the despair faded to resignation.
    “Thank you,” he
said, “for coming to get me.”
    She giggled.
    “You’re not the
only one who can break someone out of jail, you know.”
    : : : : : : : :
: :
    The storm blew
in that night, leaving the lights flickering angrily for ten minutes before
finally going out, plunging the house into darkness.  Cole suggested he and Ava
drive back to the city, but Nina refused.  She was full of reckless
excitement.  Marta Langden had been her suggestion and Nina seemed determined
to use the first meeting to force Cole and Frank