Chapter Three.

~AVA's POV~

It's been exactly four hours since I arrived in Evermore Town, and the weather here was freezing in the morning but the good thing about it was that I loved it!

The town itself was small and quiet, the kind of place where life moved slowly. People went about their routines with ease, and there was something comforting in that simplicity.

It was undoubtedly what I needed right now. Just some peace and quiet. A sense of safety without the constant dread that had haunted me for so long.

“That punk showed up at my house exactly ten minutes after you left. He made a fuss when I told him I didn’t know where you were. Even went as far as to threaten me with the same dagger he almost used on you,” Cas gisted over the phone, and I was stunned but not exactly surprised. “But guess what?”

“What?” I asked curiously.

“I gave him a taste of his own medicine for hurting you. And no, don't tell me anything because he didn't just hit you, he almost scarred your face! Letting him off so damn easily would be over my dead body because he deserved nothing less, and you know it!” She cut in before I could say a word.

I sighed, shaking my head, but not in surprise. This was Cas after all. Even if Kayden hadn’t come to her door, she would’ve gone straight to his just to settle the score.

She had done the same thing back in high school when she nearly choked one of my bullies and left him limping for a week. He never dared to cross paths with me again.

“Anything that makes you have a good sleep at night, Cassie,” I laughed, shrugging my shoulders as I spotted the coffee shop I had seen earlier. It was some blocks away. A good spot to grab a cup of coffee in the morning.

Suddenly, someone bumped into me, and my phone slipped from my hand.

“NOO!” I exclaimed, reaching out, but it was too late.

“Oh my goodness. I'm so sorry!” a girl my age blurted, quickly picking and handing me the phone. “I didn't mean to. I genuinely apologize. I promise to make it up to you sometime!” she said before running off.

Slowly, I looked down at my phone in my hand. “Shit. The screen’s cracked,” I cussed under my breath.

“Great! Now where am I supposed to fix this?”

---

“One cup of coffee for Table Five, please,” I said to the cashier as I slipped some bucks over the counter.

“One cup of coffee coming up. Please give us five minutes,” he said to me professionally and I nodded subtly.

“Sure.”

I made my way back to my table and took a seat. The coffee shop was filled with unsatisfied customers who seemed to be waiting for their orders too.

I knew those five minutes was definitely going to take longer than that from the look of things so staying idle wouldn't help. Instead, I used my phone to while away time.

“Please, stop. I have lots of customers to attend to,” I heard a feminine voice whisper. I glanced to where the voice came from.

It was at the table next to mine, and I was shocked to see the same girl who bumped into me down the block some minutes ago. She looked embarrassed as she struggled to free herself from him.

“Why are you so scared? I'm not gonna hurt you,” the man coo in a perverted voice that made my stomach twist. I could see the way he held her wrist with his nails digging into her skin.

“I know girls like you very well. You act pure and decent, but are very slutty in bed. So quit the pretense, Archie. I know you want this. Stop acting innocent,” he persisted.

She was being harassed and the other men who seemed to be the harassers friends, laughed like a pack of hyenas. They were clearly enjoying the damn show.

She was uncomfortable and seeing his nails digging into her skin…the way he treated her…it all reminded me of someone I badly wanted to forget.

I couldn't stand another girl getting harassed by some scumbag while everyone else acted like it was a norm. It was a vile act and I felt very disgusted!

I darted my gaze around quickly and saw a man who had been recently served a brewing cup of hot coffee. He was nonchalantly reading a magazine.

She whimpered, “You're hurting me. Please.”

Swiftly, I snatched the coffee, went over to their table and splashed it on the harassers face then pulled the girl away, hiding her behind me.

Everyone in the coffee shop gasped, while the creeps who had been laughing earlier suddenly went quiet, astonishment written all over their faces.

I raised my finger to his face with a stern expression as I spoke through my clenched teeth. “Don't you dare mistreat a woman again, asshole. Or else next time, you'd have an acid being thrown on your grotesque, ugly face!” I spat in his face.

“Such audacity! I bet she doesn't know who she'd messed with,” one of the astonished men managed to say once he found his voice.

“Her face is new, but I bet she'd regret it soon,” another man added.

I snorted, ignoring them and pulling Archie along, but a sudden pain shot through my scalp as I was yanked backward and forced to face him. He made sure his nails dug deep into my scalp.

“Ow!” I winced. “Let me go, you bloody asshole!”

“Who do you think you are, Bitch!” He tugged on my hair, forcing my head back. “Some sort of hero in broad daylight? You thought I'd let you off so easily?” He snarled. “Too bad for you, now you've made me crave a different taste in girls. You've just made yourself a better snack for me to feast on—”

CRACK!

He didn’t finish speaking when a fist slammed into his jaw so hard it launched him backward. He flew over several tables, crashing down with a loud thud, lips torn and blood spewing from his mouth and spluttering everywhere on the ground as he coughed violently.

I froze in place, shocked by what just happened. I couldn't even breath.

What? No. I literally forgot to breathe!

The man beside me stepped forward with his terrifying glare that could make one pass out before he makes a move. His body build was so huge that it blocked my front view.

“Touch her again,” he said coldly, shaking blood from his knuckles, “and I’ll rip out your tongue next.”

The group of men were frightened by his threat as they backed off from the table to a large distance.

Slowly he raised his gaze, scanning them with his lazy icy-gray eyes, then drew out a chair from Table Five, the exact one I sat on earlier.

He leaned back, lighting up a cigarette as he spoke calmly but with irritation, “While coming here… I had no plans of saying more than just a few words, but because of you, dickheads, my plan got ruined!” He unexpectedly kicked the table out of place.

They all flinched. Then the harasser quickly crawled to him, “I—I’m so sorry. I didn’t know she was yours. If I had, I wouldn’t have dared to lay a hand on her. Hell, I wouldn’t have even looked—”

“Enough.” He puffed a wisp of cigarette into the air before focusing his eyes on the harasser. “I don’t want to see either of your faces in my favorite coffee shop anymore.”

The man looked up, stunned.

“And that wasn’t a suggestion,” he added coolly. “If I see any of you cowards again… you all will be dead meats.”

So much authority…I couldn't help wondering why everyone feared him.

“Who is he?” I thought aloud, too loud because Archie had heard me.

“T-thats…he is Jaxon Cross. The most feared man in Evermore Town,” Archie whispered behind me in a shaky breath, and my brows drew together as I memorized the name in my mind.

JAXON CROSS…

“But this is the only coffee shop that's close in town. Walking all the way to the neighboring town every day will be so much work. Exhausting. And the weather is freezing." He pleaded.

“You've got ten seconds to exit here before I start snapping those pathetic bones alphabetically.” Jaxon warned.

It didn't take a second for the men to run out of the coffee shop like some headless chickens. It was so humorous that I didn't realize when a small smile tugged on my lips while watching them run out like that.

They acted so tough with me earlier, but they turned out to be spineless cowards with their fellow man.

"Ha! Assholes," I scoffed, wearing a grin on my lips. They totally deserved it!