Ethan Whitmore
When I got the call from Ace about Ava, that shit caused my blood pressure to elevate.
On the outside, I held myself together. But on the inside, I was fuming.
I was mad as fuck. I understood we were just kickin’ it and having fun, but in the back of my mind, Ava was my girl.
I mean, once that divorce was finalized, I would make sure that happened.
The way I felt, all types of ways to punish her ran through my head.
Had we been official, shit would’ve gone differently.
But since our relationship was fresh and developing, I had to calculate my moves in another way.
Either way, I made my point. I broke her down just the way I wanted.
She was facing some serious charges. Assault with a deadly weapon, vandalism, and child endangerment.
I had Charles pull a few strings to get more information about what happened.
After getting the full story, Charles was able to have all the charges disappear as if nothing happened.
That’s one of the perks of being a billionaire.
Money always talked. Plus, Charles was owed a few favors, so it wasn’t nothing for him to make shit shake.
It took a little longer than I expected for her to be released, but I got her out of there.
I could understand why she blacked out, but what pissed me off was the fact that she had Savannah with her.
“Are you sore?” I asked.
She had just come out of the bathroom. We were up early because I had a few things to take care of, and I had to get her over to Julia’s to pick up Savannah.
“A little bit.” She slid her shirt on.
“Good.” I smirked.
“That’s not funny, Ethan.” She rolled her eyes.
We continued to maneuver around the room, getting ready in silence. I watched as she fixed her hair in the mirror. So beautiful. If I could stand and stare at her all day, I would. The sound of my phone ringing broke my gaze, and I answered. It was Julia.
“Good morning!” She sounded cheerful.
“Good morning.”
“How is she?”
“She’s good.” I glanced over at Ava. “We’re about to head your way in a few minutes.”
“Oh, okay. Savannah is up watching cartoons. We just got finished eating breakfast.”
“Alright, cool. We’ll see y’all in a minute.” I ended the call.
I had a lot of shit on my plate for the day.
After I dropped Ava and Savannah off, I had to go to the nursing home to meet with a team about discharging my mother.
For a while now, I had wanted to bring her to live with me.
Now that I had more free time, it put me in the position to make those moves.
I had already lined up a schedule for home healthcare to come in and help.
I knew she would need around-the-clock supervision, although she didn’t move around much.
I had even started changing stuff around in my guest bedroom and ordering all the right equipment to make sure she’d be comfortable.
I had another idea in mind, but I wasn’t sure how that would work out until I asked. Ava was talking about resigning from the company, which I didn’t want her to do. Either way, I had an opportunity to keep her around and even closer to me.
“Have you thought about when you’re coming back to work?” I asked.
“Not really. I’m too embarrassed to show my face after everyone has literally seen me naked.” She rolled her eyes.
“Your body is a work of art. There ain’t shit you should be embarrassed about. If anything, I should be the one feeling a way about it.” I slapped her ass.
“I’ve been thinking about rebranding my catering business. I mean, right now, it’s just a thought. I want to get the house and a new car out of the way first.” She shrugged.
“What kind of car do you want?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “I haven’t laid eyes on what I like and can afford yet.”
“Take the price off the table. Tell me what you like.”
“Ethan…I don’t know. I’m not a picky person. I just haven’t decided what I want yet. Looking for a place to stay is overwhelming enough. I’m just not trying to settle on anything.”
“I feel you. I asked you about work because I have a proposition for you.”
“I’m listening.” She glanced at me.
“I’m in the process of making arrangements to have my mom discharged and moved in over here.”
“Really?” She smiled. “Ethan, that's great. I’m sure she would love that. Awww, I’m happy for you.” She came toward me and kissed my lips.
“Appreciate that. How do you feel about coming around to help me? Nothing major, though. I’ll have private nurses to come throughout the day to assist. I’ll pay you to just be here. That’s all you have to do.”
Although I had cameras installed around my house, I wasn’t trying to leave strangers posted up when I had to step out to handle shit.
Big Momma had already expressed that she would come and help as much as needed.
At first, she suggested that I not hire help because I had her.
She also suggested that I just move my mother in with her instead.
I wasn’t trying to put all that pressure on Big Momma.
Plus, she had enough on her hands when I needed her to keep Zoie.
“You don’t have to pay me for that. I don’t mind,” Ava spoke.
“Nah, I’m definitely gonna pay you with money and dick.” I smirked.
“Oooh, I like the sound of that.” She winked.
“I know you do.”
“So, a quick change of subject. I heard you had a run-in with Rob.” She glanced at me.
“Yeah, we talked,” I said while responding to an email.
“That’s it?” She eyed me.
“For the most part.” I smirked.
“That video we did… Why did you show him that? Like, I’m trying to understand the purpose.”
I could hear a hint of attitude in her tone, which made me put my phone down.
“How does it feel when I’m deep inside you? Hmm? How does it make you feel?” I questioned.
She stood quietly, facing herself in the mirror.
“It feels good. It makes me feel good,” she said, looking in my direction.
I could see the lust in her eyes. She couldn’t hide that shit even if she tried.
“Exactly. He needed to see and hear how good I make you feel. He needed to see a real man handle you correctly. I apologize, though.”
“It’s okay.” she shrugged. “Now I know why he sent those pictures.”
“Yeah, that was a bitch move.” I smacked my lips.
“I have a feeling that’s only the beginning. He’s not going to make the divorce process easy.” She sighed.
“If I were you, I wouldn’t even worry about all that.”
“It’s kind of hard not to worry because I know him. He doesn’t like to play fair. He’s going to prolong this shit for as long as he can. He’s not going to just sign the paperwork and move on. Especially not after what just happened yesterday.”
I sighed, stepping into her space.
“It’ll work out fine. I promise.”