After she gets out of the shower and they bandage up her wounds, Ava starts getting tremors and sweating really bad. She finally breaks down and tells him Clyte drugged her the whole time he had her.
"I'll kill him, I swear I will," He seethes but tries to get her to see reason. "We need to get you to the hospital. Ava, we need to get you checked out. The drugs can cause serious damage."
"It was only for three days and he put it in my food. When he left, I threw it all up so it'll just take a little while and then it'll get better. I'm not going to the hospital. I don't want anyone to know," Ava says turning around in the bed on her side away from Luke.
"Okay, but if this doesn't stop in a few days, I'm taking you willingly or not. While you were in the shower, I put the gun in your desk. I already called Tara for the medic," He starts to say.
"You called Abel's mother?" She says turning around to look at him.
"I told her it was for a friend at work who had an accident and he can't cover the cost. She's gonna come over here tonight. I cleaned up downstairs and there's no sign that you've been here. All you need to do is rest up. I've got some soup cooking downstairs. I respect your decision not to let them know, but you need to relax, baby. Get some sleep and we'll figure out where to go from here in the morning. I also checked all the windows and doors in the house. If that bastard tries anything, alarm will ring and I'll shoot his ass dead," Luke tells her not joking one bit. She sees he changed into a new gray, plaid, short sleeve shirt probably to get rid of the bloodied up one.
"Okay, get rid of her fast," Ava tells him hearing the doorbell ring downstairs.
Downstairs…
"Hey, Luke. how's it going?" Tara says when he opens the door.
"It's going pretty good. It's quiet without a teenager in the house," he tells her grinning.
"I don't have much, but I hope this is enough," She says pulling out a small pill bottle.
"That's more than enough. Thanks for doing this. I owe you one," Luke says taking the bottle and putting it in his back pocket.
"You can repay me by answering me something," Tara says following Luke into the kitchen where he checks on the soup.
"What's that, darling?" He replies avoiding her stare.
"Convince Ava to talk to Abel," Tara tells him.
"What Ava does or does not do with Abel is all on her. I won't control that. It's her relationship and all I can do is be there for her if she needs me," He tells her but for the first time in all of Ava's 17 years of age, he doesn't believe doing things her way is the best thing.
"It was a blowjob and he feels like shit about it," Tara tells him in a rational tone. Hearing that, Luke is glad he's turned away from her because he can hide the look of shock on his face. He had no idea Abel cheated on his niece, not that he's all that surprised really.
"Like I said, it's all up to Ava, but I will talk to her. See if she can at least call him," Luke says turning off the soup.
"When's she coming back from Amy's house?" Tara asks trying to find out where Amy lives.
"Ava's gonna do home-schooling for a week or two. She thought that it would be better until things settle down with the whole Clyte mess. She'll be back, she's just taking some time to reconnect with some friends outside of Charming, that's all," Luke replies.
"It's the beginning of the school year," Tara tells him thinking it's an awful strange time to take a vacation since summer break ended recently.
"Ava's unconventional. She gets into these moods where she just wants to do something else," Luke says.
Tara stands looking at him and knows he's hiding something.
"Do you mind if I see Ava's room?" Tara asks suspiciously pulling her hair behind her ear.
"Why?" Luke asks.
"She's my son's girlfriend. I'm curious," Tara says watching him open the garbage lid and throw some hand towels away. She's sees opened up gazes sticking out that have been used recently.
"Ava likes her privacy. I'll be sure to let her know you asked though. By the way, she may or may not still be Abel's girlfriend after his stunt," Luke tells her.
"We'll see," Tara says and starts to walk back to the front of the house. They say their goodbyes and Luke keeps watching her until she gets in her car and drives away. He locks the door and makes sure Ava gets everything she needs.
The next Morning…..
The next morning, Luke called Abel and told him he heard from Ava. He covered for her and told Abel she was fine. She was just staying with some friends. Abel asked him when she was coming back and he told him exactly what he told Tara.
Meanwhile, upstairs, Ava was just waking up. Last night was plagued with shakes and shivers as the nightmares came. Once, she even screamed out loud and Luke came rushing in. She opens her eyes and its pitch black except for the light coming in from the hallway. She hears the thunderstorm going on outside and the rain on her window is like a rake just constantly scratching. She drags herself out of bed to use the bathroom and change her bandages.
She comes back out and notices her phone on the night stand. She goes through her missed calls and messages and sees half of them are from Abel. She rushes back into the bathroom and looks in the mirror wondering how long she can put off seeing anybody. She has to go to school eventually. Luke can only buy her so much time before she either goes back or pulls out from Charming High indefinitely and considers homeschool.
A new message comes in and she sees its from Maddie.
I don't know where you are or even if you have your phone, but we need to know you're okay. Abel's worried and regardless of what he did, my brother loves you. You're compassionate enough to just let him hear from you that you're okay. We miss you, honey.
"Shit," Ava says to herself.
She walks out of her room quietly and notices the blinds in the hallway are closed with a curtain pulled across. She quietly goes down the steps planting one palm on the wall to keep her balance. She gets downstairs and sees Luke already up.
"Morning," Ava says coming into the low-lit kitchen.
"Hey, sweetie. How you feeling?" He asks her giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"Better. I feel human again," She says and they both crack a smile.
"Abel cheated on you," Luke says breaking the peace in the room.
"Yeah, he did, I guess. How's you find out?" Ava asks knowing she didn't tell him.
"When Tara came over, she said I should convince you to talk to him. She said he feels real guilty. Although she also said it was just a blowjob," Luke tells her watching her walk over to the table and sit down with her legs picked up on the edge of the seat.
"Blowjob, huh? Isn't that considerate of him," Ava says in a sarcastic tone.
"What are you gonna do? He'll come over here and he'll ask about you. They all will. You gonna hide in your room for the next few weeks or until you heal up?" Luke asks her taking a drink of his coffee.
"I don't know what I'm gonna do. What do you think I should do? Besides go to the hospital which isn't necessary?" Ava asks starting to chew on her thumb nail.
"Talk to Abel, sort this shit out. Tell him what happened because Clyte's not gonna stop. Who knows? Maybe next time to piss Abel and the Sons off, he'll go after Maddie," Luke says seriously.
"That can't happen," Ava replies with tears forming in her eyes.
"Then you tell Abel. The cheating issue needs to be put aside for now. Your safety has to come first," Luke says going up to bring her some breakfast.
Later, just as Luke was getting ready for work, Maddie pull into the driveway in her Volkswagen beetle. She knocks rapidly on the door and rushes inside the house as soon as he opens the door. Luke has no time to stop her.
"Sorry, I'm sorry, but it's pouring outside as you can see, and…holy shit, Ava?" Maddie says facing the kitchen table.
"Hey," Ava says softly knowing what Luke said was all true and this is much bigger than her and Abel.
"Oh my God, what happened to you?" Maddie says looking her up and down.
"Clyte happened," Luke chimes in and decides to grab a beer.
"Is this where you've been? This whole time? Ava, we need to get you to a hospital. My mom can check you out," Maddies says pulling out her phone.
"No! No. I'm okay, I don't need the hospital so just take a breath," Ava says taking the phone away from her.
"Take a breath? The lunatic took you and beat you to a pulp. Take a breath? My mom came over last night, did you tell her?" Maddie asks looking at both of them.
"No, Ava got away yesterday. She needed some time before she told everyone," Luke chimes in again receiving a glare from Ava.
"I'm okay, just bruises and scratches. I'll heal," Ava says. "I didn't want everyone here last night."
"We need to tell Abel. He's not doing all that well with not knowing where you are," Maddie says rubbing Ava's leg in comfort.
"He knows where I am. I'm with Amy, and that's what he's gonna know until I decide what and when to say. I just need today to figure it out. I'll call him later," Ava compromises.
"They need to know, now," Maddie says strongly.
"I just need some time to figure out what I'm gonna say and I just need some time before everything gets crazy. I'm not ready for any Dr. Phil moments just yet," Ava says getting up slowly and going to lay out on the couch.
"What did he do?" Maddie says coming up behind her. Ava looks up at the ceiling and tells her that he did nothing she can't move on from.
"Did he try to touch you-?" Maddie says not sure of how to put it any easier.
"No," Ava says turning the TV on and flipping through channels.
Outside, Abel drives down the street and sees his sister's car in Luke's driveway.
Parking his truck, he gets to the porch and rings the doorbell and Luke tells the girls it's Abel after looking through the curtain.
"You need to talk to him now. Waiting won't change anything. He knows I'm here and he won't go away," Maddie tries to convince her.
Ava puts her hands over her face trying to drown everything out if only for a second before the doorbell rings again.
"This is so not how I planned this day to go," Ava says to herself. Abel's gone from ringing the doorbell to banging on the door. "Jesus Christ, I'm coming already!"
Ava gets up fast and clutches her side.
"Ava, easy, babe," Luke says helping stabilize her.
"What's wrong with her side?" Maddie asks worrying.
"Clyte shot her," Luke says picking up her shirt to see if there was a lot of bleeding still occurring.
"Oh, man. Ava, your whole side looks really bad," Maddie says looking at the bruises on her rib cage.
"Yeah, who you telling?" Ava tells her. "Okay. Luke, you need to go to work and Maddie, you need to leave this house. Do me a favor, don't tell anybody just yet, okay? Let me talk to Abel first."
"Are you gonna be okay with him here alone?" Luke asks her sighing roughly when Abel reverts back to the doorbell again.
"It's fine, really," Ava says walking with all of them to the door.
Ava stays behind out of view of the door and Maddie steps out first before Luke steps out and closes the door behind him.
"What's going on?" Abel says sensing something's happened.
"Ava's inside and before I let you go in, me and you gotta get some rules set. Don't raise your voice at her, don't touch her, and if she tells you to leave, you leave. No questions asked," Luke tells him.
"What the hell do you mean? What happened? Is she okay?" Abel says trying to push through to get at the door.
"Abel listen to him. He's serious," Maddie says placing her hand on his arm.
"Tread carefully, son. She needs you to be careful right now," Luke says opening the door for him and letting him pass.
Abel walks in and calls out her name. He walks into the living room and sees her standing behind the couch.
"Oh my God.." Abel says losing his voice as he sees the girl he loves. He takes a step closer and she moves to the edge of the couch further away from him. "What happened to you, baby?"
"Clyte kidnapped me the night you called me from Tacoma. I went for a walk and he grabbed me. It's just bruises, nothing that won't heal," Ava says thinking she sounds like a record player on replay.
"He's had you this whole time?" Abel asks slowly walking up to her.
"I got away yesterday. I'm fine," Ava tells him looking up thinking she sees tears in his blue eyes.
"You're not fine, Ava. He hurt you. I'm sorry. God, I'm sorry for everything," Abel tells her.
I'm not standing here to punish you. This isn't about you cheating," Ava says pushing his hand away when he tries to take hers.
"We need to get you checked out. My mom can come and-"
"No, I don't want to be checked out. I don't need to be. I just need a few weeks for the bruising and swelling to go down. It'll go away," Ava says.
"Did he do anything else? Did he-?"
"Nothing happened. I got out, that's what matters. Now what?" Ava asks sitting slowly down on the couch.
"Tell me what you need, Ava. How can I help you?" Abel asks kneeling down in front of her in shock.
"I don't know, I don't know," Ava tells him honestly. Abel takes her hand and he sees the bruises on her wrist.
"He tied you up?" Abel says pushing her sleeve up.
"It doesn't matter what he did now. I'm here," Ava says. Abel keeps staring at the bruises and he tries to not give into his need to go and kill Clyte right now very slowly and painfully. Abel sits down on the floor in front of her and rubs one hand on her feet and the other is still holding her hand. Ava leans back and closes her eyes focusing on the feel of his hands.
"I love you," He whispers to her. "I love you, and I'll make sure he never gets near you again."
"I love you too," Ava confesses before she turns her head to face the couch.