8 Protective

Avery was still extremely embarrassed about this whole thing as she sat there with her continuously bleeding nose but Christian was a valiant companion and didn't let her sit there in an awkward silence and stew in it. He did his best to keep her distracted by talking about random things and, despite her mortification, she could appreciate the effort.

He was surprisingly funny too. She hadn't expected that from him since he seemed kind of dull the only other times they talked.

Even so, she had never been so relieved to see Angelo when he showed up. Worry was written all over his face when he saw how clammy and covered in blood she was despite her cleaned-up arm. If he had seen that, his reaction would have been much worse.

He had always been protective of her when things like this happened because she ended up in the emergency room a few times needing stitches for small cuts as a kid but it had gotten worse since they lost their fathers. He wasn't terribly concerned about her in the suit because he knew it was basically indestructible but out on her own she was unfortunately rather fragile and he knew it.

When he was stressed, he tended to ramble in Spanish. Having grown up with the Cruzes, Avery knew what he was saying but Christian looked rather confused.

"What happened to you, white girl? You look even whiter than usual! How much blood did you lose this time?! And who's this guy with you?"

For as long as she could remember, he had called her Güera as a semi-affectionate nickname. It was Mexican-Spanish slang for white girl because she was an albino. The last time he called her by name was at her father's funeral when he was expressing his condolences.

The nickname stuck because everyone in the extended Cruz clan ended up calling her that too. She was used to it at this point. It wasn't offensive to her; she knew she was the literal embodiment of the color white.

Avery sighed and replied in Spanish as well. "More than I should have for a nosebleed. I'm fine though. He's the guy I knocked heads with when I fell but don't get mad at him because I would have gotten hurt a lot worse if I hit the ground instead of him. He softened my fall."

Angelo rolled his eyes at this before looking up at Christian and speaking English. "Thanks for sticking with her until I got here. I'll take her off your hands. Can you walk, Güera, or do I need to give you a piggyback ride?"

"I can walk." She stood up and immediately began swaying. Okay, maybe she couldn't walk. "…actually, I think I'll take you up on that after all."

He sighed heavily and she could practically hear his inner complaints about carrying her because of how heavy she was. She was three inches taller than him but was positive he weighed more.

"The things I do for you. Hop on," Angelo said as he crouched down for her to climb on his back.

Avery's humiliation couldn't possibly get any worse. She climbed on miserably and tried her best not to look pathetic. "Thanks again for helping me, Christian. See you around."

He had been watching the two of them in concern this whole time without saying a word. "Any time. I hope you feel better soon."

Angelo took the escalator rather than braving the stairs with her on his back and, with great difficulty and many Spanish swear words under his breath, they made it to his car. She felt bad that he had to carry her such a long way since the parking structure wasn't very close to the station.

"Sorry for burdening you."

He scoffed. "What's new? I've helped you so many times now it's a given. Honestly though! How can one of the most successful villains in this city be such a damsel in distress at the same time?"

"Because I don't have superpowers? Duh," Avery deadpanned.

"Whatever. I'm glad you're okay. Did you know that guy though? Because it's totally weird a random stranger would stay with you that long."

"Sort of. He's a frequent customer at Carmine's and he ordered a custom cake from me once for his brother's birthday. We usually say hi when we see each other but that's about it. I'm as surprised as you are. I guess he's the do-gooder type. He seemed pretty worried when he saw me bleeding."

"Huh. Are you sure he isn't interested in you? Because no guy I can think of would waste so much time on a woman for no reason."

"…didn't you just waste about an hour of your day and most of your stamina helping me?" Avery asked wryly.

Angelo let out a single sharp bark of a laugh. "That's different! You're family. I would do the same for any of my cousins. I wouldn't have done that for someone I hardly knew; I have better things to do."

"He could just be a nicer person than you."

"Okay, wow. Way to thank the guy that carried you several blocks."

Guilt pricked her. "Which I do appreciate. All I meant was that I think he was being genuinely helpful with no ulterior motives."

"Whatever. But if he asks you out later, I have full rights to say 'I told you so.' You should eat if your nose isn't bleeding anymore. I got you a sandwich and water bottle to help with your wooziness," Angelo said gruffly as he tilted his head toward the backseat.

Avery turned around and saw the bag sitting there from her favorite sandwich chain and felt affection flood through her. "You're the best!"

"Yeah, well, it's a good thing you know it."

"It would be hard not to since you never let me forget it."

She checked and was relieved to find her nose had stopped bleeding so she dug into her sandwich with gusto on the ride back to her apartment. It took a while because of traffic. When she got there, Angelo saw her all the way up and waited around for her to take her makeup off, get changed into her pajamas, and lie down on the couch.

"You're not getting up until you stop being dizzy," he said firmly.

Avery sighed. "Okay. Are you planning on staying here until that happens?"

"Yes because traffic will probably be a little less terrible by then. Don't mind me. Pretend I'm not here."

That was easy enough to do considering the fact that all he did was sit in her dad's old recliner and mess around on his phone while she watched TV. They both sat there quietly doing their own thing for about two hours before Angelo finally left. His parting shot was to avoid taking the stairs for a while.

She rolled her eyes but knew he was saying it because he cared. He wouldn't have made sure she was okay if he didn't. Like he said earlier, they were family. She knew he would always have her back, even if he did complain about it.