Tijan. Ava and Zeke

I watched him in high school. Knew his reputation. Knew he was wealthy, privileged, and mean. He ran the show back then, a partier and a player. Then he came back from college, back to the town I never left. He's different now. He comes into the bar, and I know his routine. I know which stool he'll pick. I know his favorite drink. I know which sports team he'll want on the television screen. And I watch as he gets hit on. Sometimes he leaves the bar with a woman. Sometimes he doesn't. But I'm always there, tending to his drinks. He gives me a smile and a polite nod back. Then one night, after a long appraising stare, he asked, "Ava, why are you single?" I leaned in, told him a lie, knowing the truth. What I didn't know was that my world was about to shatter after that night. Something else I didn't know: would the man I watched all those years help put my heart back together... or smash it into pieces? ** A 42k novella written as a standalone from two characters in the Fallen Crest/Roussou universe

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