Read Online Core by Teshelle Combs - Free Book Online Page B

cheekbone, glaring against her pale skin.
    “Jim,” Ava called out loud enough for her foster father to hear her across the hall. “Jim!”
    “Ava, please, he’ll hear you,” Miriam whispered, clutching onto Ava’s arm, her eyes wide. “I can explain,” she said.
    But Ava shook herself free and walked into the hallway.   Enough explanations. Enough lies . “Jim! Get out here.”
    The door to the master bedroom– the one Jim and Miriam had shared for twenty torturous years–opened wide. He showed himself, still dressed in his work clothes, his white collared shirt wrinkled and his politician hair disheveled, probably from slapping Miriam around.
    “It’s rude to yell in someone else’s house,” he s aid to Ava, his voice gravelly. With just a glance, Ava could tell he wasn’t drunk, and that made her even more furious.
    He wasn’t the sort of man who was impressively intelligent or obviously aggressive. He was clean cut. He had a medium build and the tone of his voice charmed most. But Miriam must have known what he was really like. She must have, because Ava surely did.
    Yet until then, Ava had been his punching bag, for Miriam’s sake and without her knowledge. She had refused to defend herself against him, knowing that if she made the wrong move–if she hit him back or angered him–Jim would have her sent back to the custody of the state. He’d do it just to break Miriam’s heart. She’d be alone after that, the sole object of his temper for the rest of her life.
    Ava had always resolved that she’d protect Miriam from him. And if she couldn’t do it by pretending to be weak, she’d do it by proving she was anything but.
    Ava had stared at Jim Conrad’s square jaw for years, his too-straight nose, his thin lips. Every time she laid eyes on him she’d imagined how good it would feel to put a dent in him. And at last, all her hard work, her training, every fight she’d ever won was going to pay off.
    Jim lunged at her first, just as he always did, which made it all the more sweeter when she sidestepped him and drove her knee into his groin. He doubled over with a shout and it was all too easy for Ava to lift her knee again, that time striking him in the nose. He yelped and stumbled, but before Ava could get to him again, he turned on her and pointed a pistol at her head. Apparently, Jim had his own plans as well.
    Ava froze, her breath caught in her throat. Her head began to pound louder than her thoughts.   Where did he get that?  She wanted to swallow, but her mouth was too dry, her eyes burning as she stared the barrel of the weapon.  And what is he going to do with it?
    Jim’s mouth and nose were bleeding and despite his look of satisfaction, Ava felt ten times better. It was worth it.   It was all worth it to get to break his nose, just once . But he moved in close and pressed the gun to her cheek. He licked perspiration and blood from his lips, his breathing aggravated, as though he was actually contemplating pulling the trigger.
    “Kneel,” he said, a winded laugh following it, almost as if he was giddy.
    Ava had a feeling that if she pushed Jim, if she gave him even the slightest provocation, he would be angry enough to kill. She’d seen that look before. She’d seen it on the faces of the opponents that would rather end her life before they lost another match. But it had never been on Jim’s face before. He’d been angry. He’d been drunk. He’d been just plain mean. But Ava never thought her retaliation would push him to murder. His wild eyes told her she should have guessed.
    Miriam whimpered from behind her husband. She wrung her hands together, tears slipping from her eyes. “Jim, please, we can talk about this,” s he begged, her entire person trembling.
    Miriam tried to grab onto Jim’s arm, to reason with him. As Jim swung to get her off of him, Ava found her chance. She shoved his arm up into the air and brought it back down over her knee so that the gun slipped