I Never Meant To Be Your Pain

I parked in Ava's driveway and shut off the car, rushing over to her side to help her out before she tried to do it herself. I assisted her as she walked up to the front door.
“But… Gabe…” she cried, looking up to me with big eyes.
“It’ll be okay, I’ll tell him what happened.” I knocked first while Ava leaned up against me, laying her head on my shoulder. Gabriel answered, looking to me and then to her. Once he saw the condition she was in his eyes narrowed to me.
“Let me explain.” He stepped aside and let us past as I helped her into the living room. Jace sat up as soon as he saw us.
“Woah…” his eyes followed her as she fell back onto the couch, closing her eyes. “What the fuck did she take?” he asked, looking at me.
“Tell me what the hell happened Perry,” Gabriel demanded, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Someone slipped something into her drink.” That didn’t seem to calm him nor make him any happier about the situation.
“What!” he screamed. “How the fuck could you let that happen!” Tears ran down Ava’s face.
“Tony,” she begged, her hands roaming around the couch as she tried to look for me.
“I’m right here, Ave.” I assured. She covered her ears.
“Make the yelling stop.” I nodded, looking to Gabe who was pissed. He turned to Jace who was observing the state that Ava was in.
“Jace, keep an eye on her… I wanna talk to Tony.” I followed him into the kitchen as he leaned against the counter, sighing. He looked up to me.
“What the fuck man… did you see who did it?” I swallowed.
“No.”
“Tony-”
“I don’t know who it was, Gabriel. Jaime got her a drink and a few minutes later she wandered off to the bathroom. She came back to me crying and saying that she didn’t take any drugs. She was confused as to why she felt the way she did.” He paced around in front of me, locking his hands behind his head.
“Please tell me she stayed with you all night…”
“After that happened I left once, but she stayed with Jaime… the only time she was alone was while she went to the bathroom.”
“Anything could’ve happened between the time she left to the time she came back… You think we could ask?”
“There’s no way she’ll remember, Gabriel. She can barely remember who I am.”
“Tony! She’s getting sick!” Jace called from the living room. I rushed in to see Ava holding her hand over her mouth, looking rather pale. I wrapped my arm around her waist and got her to the bathroom just in time. I kneeled down next to her, holding up her hair as she gripped the toilet. She coughed and choked a couple times after throwing up once. I wiped her mouth with toilet paper when she came back up, and threw it into the toilet, flushing it and closing the lid.
“Where’s Tony?” she slurred, looking around the room.
‘I’m right here,” I squeezed her arm and helped her off the floor. “Let’s get you to bed.” We walked back out into the living room. “I’m gonna take her upstairs and see if she’ll fall asleep.”
“Can you spend the night with her?” Gabriel asked. I nodded, heading up the stairs slowly with Ava. Once we got into her room, I sat her down on the edge of the bed and told her to lie back. I roamed around her room, grabbing a pair of shorts and an old tee shirt that she’d be comfortable in. I walked over to her and slid my hands under her back, starting to unzip her dress. The second I touched her, she tried pushing me away.
“Tony! Someone’s touching me!” she screamed, trying to wriggle her way out of my grasp.
“Ave, it’s just me, calm down.”
“Tony! Where are you!” she started crying again. “They’re taking my clothes off!” I wrapped my arms around her and held her close to me as she struggled to get away from me.
“Sh, calm down…” I whispered, rocking her back and forth. “I’m right here, it’s just me.”
“Tony?” she asked, suddenly staying still. “Tony, someone was just in here… they were trying to take off my clothes.”
“It was me, Ava. You’re okay.”
“Are you sure?”
“One hundred percent; now let me take off your dress so you can get ready for bed.” She relaxed a little bit and laid down as I slid the dress over her stomach then down her legs. She pulled the shirt over hear head but struggled a little bit with the shorts. Once we got them on, she crawled under the covers and closed her eyes. She was done for the night.

Notes