Monthly Bonus Content #4—Well Hidden...(Ava version) (Patreon)

An unseasonal warmth blankets the Square, even with the sky overhead bruised with the colours of dusk. Thankfully, I don’t need a torch quite yet, which means our stealthy task can continue without bringing attention.

But my task is on hold as I watch Ava. With my lips pursed, I arch a brow and track her with my gaze as she strides in a strict grid pattern around the Square, reaching up high or stretching down low to dot bright paper mache eggs in far too difficult hiding places.

“I can feel your judgement upon me, Detective,” she says after a moment, pausing to turn to me with a trace of smile making her green eyes glisten in the shadow.

I hold up my hands, the egg-filled basket I hold in one of them swaying slightly in my grasp. “It’s not judgement, it’s just…well, this easter egg hunt is mostly going to be for kids.”

She folds her arms, her own basket bouncing against her solid stomach, but she ignores it to stare at me. “I am aware.”

“Are you? Really?” I make my way closer towards her, angling forwards. My body almost presses against hers, and I can feel the sharp breath of air she lets out at my proximity. But all I do is reach around and jab a finger up towards where an egg has been balanced between a crack in the building behind.

She turns to face it and shrugs. “It is well concealed.”

“Yes, I know. Way, way too well concealed. There’s no way a kid is going to be able to see it let alone reach it,” I state.

Another breath eases out of her, the feel of it dancing across my neck and making me shiver.

“If they do not have to work for it, then it is not a challenge,” she replies.

I rub at my forehead and close my eyes for a moment. “It’s a fun game, Ava. Not a trial.”

“How will they feel a sense of accomplishment or victory if all they have to do is reach out and take what they want?” she asks.

My mouth goes oddly dry. “Sometimes, it’s good just to be able to reach out and have what you want.” The words breathe over my lips in a way that sends a skittering of uncertainty through my stomach.

But that skitter turns to a flutter when her eyes pierce into mine, her gaze tracing every line of my face, the sensation so intense it’s as though it leaves small pecks of kisses against my cheeks.

“Is that what you would do, Detective?” Her voice softens, drawing me a step closer. Her hands shift forward just an inch, hovering near me and causing a surge of longing to erupt through every part of my body. “Is that how you would win?”

“It’s not all about winning.” My own fingers ache with the tension of keeping them planted at my sides, the urge to reach out and yank her close an almost overbearing yearning vibrating through them.

Her fingertips whisper against the backs of my hands. My eyes flutter closed, a sigh escaping me as a warmth explodes across my skin.

“How do you know I deserve what it is I want?” she mutters.

When I open my eyes, her focus has dropped to the featherlight touch of her fingers brushing against my hands.

Blood pumps a frantic rhythm in my ears, and I open my mouth to reply.

But she withdraws, swinging away and plucking down the egg that had started this whole conversation.

“I will do a better job at hiding it,” she states.

“The egg?” I croak out, my body weak from the sudden draining of emotions she had spurred inside of me.

A hollow smile catches her pale lips. “That too.”

She marches away, disappearing into the gloom.