Chapter 190: Sexual tension

Chapter 190: Sexual tension
Dario's POV

“Hey, Avery.” Dario called as he opened the door to her bedroom, where she had promised she wasn't going to sleep tonight. “Come down for dinner, would ya?”

“Ugh.” She groaned and rolled her eyes. “I just got to the really good part.” She whined about her novel as she looked up at him.

“Can I just finish this chapter? It's just twenty four pages left. I'll be down immediately after.”

“No, Avery. What's so special about that book that you can't let go of? You know what? Maybe I'll read it once you're done.”

Her head jolted up at those words.

“What? No. No, you don't have to bore yourself by reading this boring ol’ thing.” She laughed nervously as she spoke in a hurried tone, causing Dario's curiosity to pique even more than it was before. “You know what? I don't even want to read again tonight. Let's go down for food.”

She hopped out of bed and literally shoved Dario out of the room, leaving him chuckling at her flushed face.

“What's that book about that you don't want me to know? Or what's in it that you do not want me to see?” He looked up at her with laughter in his eyes.

“Nothing. Like I said before, it's just a boring book.”

“Hmm, I see. Well, that's good. Let's go down and eat.” Dario acted as if he didn't care about the topic anymore, but he made a mental note to himself to read that book later.

As they got down, Dario went straight to the dining table and took a seat, while Avery made her way to the kitchen to see if there was any little thing she could help the cooks and kitchen hands do, seeing as they didn't want her doing anything. Even something as little as doing the dishes, was regarded as too much work for her by them.

Dario got a dishwasher, so he'll be mad if he finds out that any of us is doing it by hand.” One of them had said after she insisted that doing the dishes wasn't hard labor. Since then, she had given up the topic.

“Hello.” She greeted in a merry tone as she waltzed into the kitchen. “I came to see if there was anything I could help you do.”

“Everything is done, but you could do one thing for me.” The plump cook turned to Avery with a kind smile on her face.

“Really?” Avery grinned. “Of course, just name it and I'll get it done right away.”

“I need you to go sit your ass down and I'm going to come serve you a delicious meal, okay?” The woman snapped, causing Avery's smile to turn into a frown.

“Ugh. Fine.”

\~~~~~

Avery was supposed to be sitting on the other side of the table, opposite Dario, so she made her way there.

“Oops. Sorry.” She jumped out of the way of a server she had almost bumped into and instantly froze.

In an effort to jump out from the way, she brushed against Dario's shoulder. It was a very light touch, but it felt like an electric current had passed through the both of them.

Avery sat down and she knew this dinner wasn't going to be an easy one.

Everyone's food was served, and after they said their prayers, they started eating. Avery kept her head down because she knew that right across from her was Dario, and she didn't want to look at him. She had no idea why she was even feeling this way, because she'd been seeing Dario throughout the day, so why now?

Dario on the other hand just couldn't stop looking at her. He monitored every spoon of food she put in her mouth, the way she chewed, the bob of her throat when she swallowed, everything, but he noticed that she wasn't looking at him at all, and it looked like she was avoiding his gaze on purpose, like she just didn't want to do it. He kept staring at her though, because he knew she could feel his gaze on her, and in no time, she looked up and accidentally locked eyes with him.

“Fuck.” She whispered as she looked back down, her face heating up.

It went on a few more times, and Avery actually kind of began to enjoy looking up at him with a little smirk on her face.

“You guys should remember that we're all eating on this table. Because you, Dario, look like you're about to bend Avery over right here and fuck her senseless.”

Everyone laughed except Dario who was slightly annoyed, and Avery who was so embarrassed, and looked like she wished for the ground to open up and swallow her up, thereby making Dario more annoyed.

“Yeah, well you're one to talk.” Dario countered. “And that's only because I haven't told anyone that you're fucking Liam, isn't it?”

Liam gasped in shock and Vince's head instantly swung to Avery whose mouth was also hanging open in shock as she looked between smirking Dario and raging Vince.

“I didn't say anything, I swear.” She raised her hands in surrender.

“Oh, so you knew.” Dario chuckled. “I just put two and two together and figured it out. It was just that simple.”

Everyone looked to Vince to hear what he was going to say. To see if he'll confirm or deny it, although Avery's words already confirm everything.

“I didn't say anything, because I didn't know how you guys were going to take me. I thought you guys will begin to see me differently.” Vince said and Liam nodded in agreement

“I'm not going to lie, I'm a bit surprised that you're dating Liam, but I'm not surprised that you're gay. Man, we've known you for years, I think most of us already had the thought or idea and we were just waiting for proof.”

“Mhmm.” They all agreed and nodded, and everything was settled. That was that.

Avery felt a little bit sad that it had to come out that way, but she was glad that the attention was no longer on her, but on someone else. That was when she realized that Dario had done this for her. At that moment, she had never felt safer.

\~~~~~

“So what movie do you want to watch?” Dario asked, happy that Avery was in his bed at last.

“I don't know. Anyone.” Avery's voice was almost a whisper.

She couldn't help wondering if Dario's voice had always been that deep and that sexy. Her mind went back to when she and Dario used to have crazy sex and he used to say the dirtiest things to her — she didn't even realize when she started biting her lips.

She looked at Dario, and she could just tell from his glazed gaze that he too had a similar memory. Her first urge was to look down at his pants to see if there was anything to backup her thought, but she fought the urge.

She knew what she wanted, Dario wanted it too, but none of them dared cross the line. Dario found it more difficult to hold back though, but he still did. He refused to act first, because he was terrified of triggering her trauma or feeling like he was taking advantage of her vulnerability.

Avery just laid there watching her movie, and less than thirty minutes into the movie, she fell fast asleep.

For hours after that, Dario held her in his arms, unmoving as if she was some very fragile thread that he was scared of breaking.

She leaned in further into his grip as she was still asleep and let out a small smile that pleaded Dario greatly.

If this was what life was about now, then he was happy to live it.