Chapter Text
Driving to Ava’s parents’ home across a motorway, the silence in the car is one of shock. Did Beatrice expect…that? Nooooooo. That was something. What else can you say about it? Just wow. She’s speechless still.
She was so proud of Ava looking so confident striding into the Arqtech offices. She expected to deal with Michael’s rage with force if necessary. She wanted to hurt him for what he tried to do, but she never got the chance. The shock was too much.
She glances over at Ava. She’s a little in a daze watching the motorway ahead. And she looks stunning today. Cute and hot and gorgeous and Ava. Just a vision, and she’s her girlfriend. Beatrice can’t wait for tonight, but today isn’t over yet.
Next up are Ava’s parents. Ava wants to do this today, and Beatrice will be right there with her at Ava’s parents’ cottage.
She reaches over to stroke Ava’s knee as she drives. “You alright, princess?”
Ava places a hand over Beatrice’s. Eyes glazed. “Yeah, just a bit of a shock. I was ready for something else.”
“Who’d you think wears the pants in that relationship?” She speaks and purses her lips cheekily, awaiting Ava’s response.
Ava whips her gaze to Beatrice. Her lip quivering. “Neither wore pants.”
“You know what I mean.” She almost bursts out in a laugh as she keeps her focus on the road.
“Of all the things I ever expected to see, Michael getting pegged wasn’t one of them.” Ava does it.
Beatrice bellows in instant laughter. “Ava!?”
“I know! Fuck me!” Ava clutches her chest, wheezing in laughter. “What the fuck!?”
“Did…you see his face when he saw us?” Beatrice controls herself, but again she can’t. Too much. Michael’s face when they came in. His forehead vein was bulging so much it looked ready to blow. Crimson was going at it, and he was gripping the desk for dear life. Of all their interactions, Beatrice didn’t see that one coming from him. Well, it came from Crimson. He received.
Ava wheezes. “Yeah! And Crimson! She was like,“ Ava whips her head to make a dumb face. So utterly accurate.
Beatrice wheezes. “Ava! Stop! Please!” She bellows the biggest laugh she can.
“He’s never asked me to do that.” Ava palms her forehead, taking it in. “Yeah, I did not expect that. I mean, he definitely looked like he liked it.”
“Uhhhh. Yeah.” Beatrice cringes. “He did. I’m permanently scarred from seeing it.
“He has…” Ava gasps for breath, recovering. “Asked for some stuff in the past but never that.”
“Are you sure he isn’t interested in men?” She reaches the reasonable assumption now.
Ava shrugs with no clue. “I don’t think so; it could be something he likes with women he’s never told me about. I don’t know.”
Beatrice hums as she takes in some breath. One hand on the steering wheel. “So, um, I don’t think the infidelity thing will be an issue.”
“Yeah.” Ava glooms a little, drawing Beatrice’s worry.
“What’s wrong?” She drags her thumb around Ava’s hand.
“I just…do we have to hide? We’ll have to hide ourselves to not negate the clause. Divorce will take months. I want to be with you totally in whatever way I want.”
Beatrice softens. She wants that terribly too. Be themselves. “We can’t broadcast us. But it doesn’t mean we can’t go out for dates. I don’t think it’ll be a problem.”
“Really? We can?” Ava hopefully smiles.
“Of course.” She flashes Ava an encouraging look.
“Okay. Cool. That’s great.” Ava sighs in some relief. She looks far less in shock now. “I just expected today to be a bit turbulent. He’d be angry, and we’d laugh out of his office or something, or you would take him down a few pegs, and…” Ava stops. She smirks at her choice of words.
Beatrice bites her smirking lip at the choice.
“Okay, it’s over; that’s what matters. It lasted a few moments, and it’s done. Now for my parents. One down, one to go. First box ticked off. Not what I expected, but it’s done. Well, it will be. Filing divorce papers and yeah.” Ava takes a big breath, steadying herself.
“One more to go.” Beatrice encourages. It’s been a long road but there almost home. She let Jayden down as gently as she could. It was hard, but this time she thinks she did right by Jayden. She was never dishonest. They weren’t together, and as soon as she saw she and Ava were getting back together, she went to her straight away in person to tell her.
She took it gracefully, but she was, of course, down.
“I just wish I could’ve been with you a few years ago.” Jayden said. “I wouldn’t have had the competition.” Jayden grinned, and Beatrice grinned back at Jayden's place.
“I loved every second we shared, Jay. I’ll never be able to repay you for how you were with me. Could we…stay in touch? Be friends? I know you might not want that right now, but I don’t want you ever thinking you don’t mean a lot to me now. You’ll always be the person I got my first tattoo for, and trust me, it isn’t going anywhere.” Beatrice promised. She loves it. It won’t be going anywhere from her skin.
Jayden may have gotten some hope from that. But the tattoo is for herself. She likes it, and she’d like to be Jayden’s friend.
“I loved the other night, Bea. If that’s the last time for us, it was quite the time.” Jayden looked like she could’ve pounced on Beatrice from the couch they were on. Jayden's eyes raked over Beatrice like she was her favourite cake. "You were fucking amazing, incredible."
“Mmm, you were too, it was. But um…” She was going to mention how Jayden’s food utterly destroyed her tummy for a couple of days, but still she just didn’t have the heart. “Your cooking was so great, by the way. Loved it.” She gave a forced, pained smile. She lied through her teeth. It's harmless to not be unkind.
Jayden, fresh from the rain outside in the comfiest of jumpers, crossed her arms and hummed and grinned. “Yeah, I know. I do make a mean spaghetti and meatballs. What can I say?”
Beatrice squirmed inside when Jayden said that. It’s not entirely fair, but the experience left mental scarring. If she told Jayden, ‘No, you can’t cook,’ she doesn’t know if she’d take it well. When she looked at Jayden again, she felt her tummy twist in memory of her spaghetti meatball dish.
“Yeah, you really do.” She kept her fake smile going. Her body definitely agreed with Jayden’s words about her food being mean.
Just not in the way Jayden said.
“What’s wrong?” Ava sees Beatrice wandering off in thought of that. “Is it Jayden?” Ava’s voice, thick with jealousy, is a turn-on. Driving Ava wild is something Beatrice is loving once more.
“So you know I did tell Jayden it’s over. I just may have given her hope when there is none. Like I said, I don’t regret anything; I still love the tattoo. I’m worried she won’t think it’s over. Like she has no chance now.” She scratches her neck, then returns her hand to Ava’s lap. "But I don't know if she thinks that."
“Well, you do love that tattoo, and you don’t regret her. You handled it perfectly, baby. Don’t overthink it.” Ava kisses her hand, and it helps.
“Yeah.” She breathes in. She thinks it’s fine. Yeah. Jayden was let down easily. “I also, uh, lied about her food.”
“Yeah, but that’s just not being unkind. Though if it were me, I would’ve told her, “Bitch, you gave me diarrhoea.” Ava, scrunches her nose affronted in her made up scenario. Ever the minx.
Beatrice grimaces back at her girl. But she laughs. “Don’t; I can’t bear thinking of it still. Bloody traumatic, that shit.”
“Literally.” Ava teases her.
Beatrice deadpans. “Jerk.”
“Beautiful.”
“Minx Princess.” She bats back.
“Baby Boo.”
Beatrice thinks that’s a perfect win for Ava. Adorable. “Mm, I like that. But anyway, it was probably a major turnoff for me that meal. And she thought she was a good cook. That was a worry.”
Ava snorts. “For Rex, yes, she probably is.”
Beatrice hums, totally agreeing. “I don’t get her taste buds if she thinks she really is or her stomach.”
“Resistance to eating raw meat. Maybe she’s secretly a werewolf. JayJay the werewolf who steals people's Bea's in the night."
“Maybe Michael…” she tries to think.
“Bea, I’m waiting.” Ava’s impatient, funnily.
“Damn it, I can’t think of anything. Maybe Michael Backshot.”
Ava guffaws. “Okay, that was good.”
Beatrice wiggles a little, happy she found something. “So off to your parents we go.”
“Yeah. This’ll be much harder.” Ava’s calm. “I want to reconnect with Kai too. Ultimate F you to them.”
“I’m sure he’d love that. Tell me more about him.” She tries to keep Ava’s mind off the end of this drive.
“Did I tell you he was from Melbourne?”
“No. Do tell me more, though, please.”
“Well, he was, Bea. This is more. I’ll tell you more about him, but this is more to me.” Ava says words that melt Beatrice’s heart.
“I’d kiss you right now if I wasn’t driving.” She’s totally safe with her most precious cargo.
But Ava kisses her cheek, making her shy. “Love ya.”
“Love you back.” She brings Ava’s hand to her lips, and they head on to face this together.
She smiles at the road, small and gentle. With her person. Never having been like this with anyone. So natural and continuous. She could talk with Ava for hours without getting tired. It could be about this or Michael receiving back shots from Crimson. Doesn’t matter. Anything. She can talk with Ava about it, and she listens more to Ava telling her more about her first love with interest, like nothing else matters. Nothing else does. Just her and Ava on the road. Future car journeys excite her, like everything else about Ava does. Just one more stop today, then home. But it's the stop that'll be the toughest.