Chapter 10 Ava
AVA
“You thought you were pretty smart, didn’t you?” Berry smirks, sitting beside me, his eyes on my exposed legs. “It’s not your fault. Your brain just isn’t the size of a man like mine’s.”
I want to snap back at him. Spit in his face. But I just don’t have the energy.
My body feels heavy. Like my soul has been crushed to pieces and pulled out of me.
Why didn’t Rick fight for me back there?
He’s done it before. Why not now?
It’s been almost twenty-four hours since Berry took me, and Rick’s just gone. Was all that talk about me belong to him now just that—all talk?
I screamed for him as Berry’s men snatched me up, their filthy hands all over me, dragging me out the door. But he did nothing.
His T-shirt and shorts are all the cover my body, and it pains me to think that what we had together was nothing…
…just a game. A game with no conclusion.
No. It can’t be. He loves me!
Tears swell in my eyes, but I hold them back. I can’t cry in front of Berry. He can’t see my despair. He’d just enjoy it.
We’re in the living room now. He sits like a king in his recliner while I have my knees curled up to my chest on the couch.
Like always, he’s proudly puffing a cigar. Everything about Berry—from the silk shirts to the gold chain necklaces and cigars—is like a man who styled himself from the movies.
With Rick, it’s like I could feel his strength and his soul radiating out from within him. But with Berry, it’s like sitting across from a black void of nothing.
“I’m going to bed,” I tell him, standing. But before I can move, he’s up and has his hand around my wrist.
“That’s what you think.”
My body trembles as I stare up at his threatening eyes.
“Let go,” I tell him sternly, hoping my tone will have some effect. It doesn’t.
Berry simply laughs. He slips his hand up beneath the hem of Rick’s T-shirt, finding my hip.
“What are you doing? You know I don’t want you. Go get one of your countless escorts.”
I jerk hard against his grip, trying to slip away. But his hand is like a pair of pliers, holding me tight.
“You’re right. I don’t want you,” he tells me, moving his hand up my stomach. “But it’s time you realize who you really belong to. And how to behave in my bed.”
Panic hits me like a brick to the head. My heart starts to race painfully.
“What are you doing!?” I yelp, struggling to pull away.
His hand moves up. He’s almost at my breast.
A wave of nausea rolls through me as he blows cigar smoke in my face. He stinks like sweat and smiles at me, relishing my disgust.
“Don’t fight it. You’ll only make things harder on yourself.”
I’m just about to scream when I hear the door open, followed by the sound of heavy footsteps coming toward us.
Berry turns but barely has time to open his mouth before a fist strikes him in the nose, sending him sprawling back.
My eyes go wide as I fall into Rick’s arms.
“It’s okay, baby. I’ve got you.”
I look up in disbelief. “Am I…dreaming?”
“No.” He smiles, eyes blazing. “I’m here to take you home.”
Warmth floods through me. Safety. Protection. It’s all there.
He’s here. The man I love is here. He didn’t abandon me.
“Like hell you are!” Berry snarls, staggering to his feet. “That bitch is mine! Legally she’s—”
Rick strikes him again, knocking him back. Berry collapses into his chair and topples over the back to land hard on the floor.
“You son of a bitch…” Berry grabs something from his pocket and presses it.
Two of the men who brought me here appear out of nowhere and rush Rick.
He drops the first one with a knee to the stomach, but the second one manages to leap onto him like a wrestler. The coffee table shatters beneath them as they crash to the floor.
“Gotcha,” Berry’s man hisses.
Rick’s response is an elbow to the face, which knocks the man out completely. I lean down and grab him, rolling his body off Rick’s.
He is actually smiling as he stands and pulls me into his arms. “Thanks, partner,” he teases, kissing me deep. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t do anything back at the house. They had guns.”
Ah, so that’s why…
“I’m so stupid,” I cry, tears rushing from my eyes. “I thought…I thought…”
“What? That I didn’t want you?” Rick asks, causing me to cry even harder. “Don’t ever think that. Understand? You are all that matters to me, baby.”
“Really?” His words fill me up, making me feel like it’s just him and me in the world.
“Of course,” he smiles, glowing with strength. “I love you, Ava.”
My heart skips several beats. My jaw drops.
He said it. He finally said it. And not just minutes ago I was thinking he didn’t care. I never should have doubted him.
“Ava?” he asks, tracing my jaw with his thumb. I look up, realizing I’ve been stuck in a stupor.
“Yes?”
“Did you hear what I said?”
I nod slowly as a smile crosses my lips. “I love you too, Rick. So much. I can’t believe I ever doubted you.”
We’re just about to kiss when a loud crash startles me. I look over Rick’s shoulder just as Berry is rising to his feet, his face red as a tomato.
“You’ll never keep her,” he snarls, unsteady on his feet. “We’re married!”
Rick lunges forward and drives his fist into Berry’s gut, sending him to his knees.
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out papers, which he spreads on the floor. Then he wraps Berry’s fingers around a heavy pen.
“Divorce papers,” he growls. “Sign here.”
I gasp. So that’s what Rick was doing until now. Formulating a plan so we can be together.
I melt inside, wiping my tears with the borrowed T-shirt.
“You bastard,” Berry says through gritted teeth. He tries to get up, but Rick crushes him down again.
“Sign.”
A deep sense of retribution flows through me as I watch him scribble his signature on the form. It’s like invisible prison bars being lifted from around me.
Rick looks up at me and smiles, solidifying our bond. I almost want to laugh I’m so happy.
Once Berry is finished, Rick takes the pen and papers and stands. He brings them to me, and I quickly sign where I’m supposed to.
One of my tears falls and wets the paper. Rick caresses my neck, and I have no doubt that everything will be all right.
“Come on,” he tells me, taking my hand. “Let’s get you home.”
“No judge will ever approve that,” Berry shouts as head for the door. Rick stops and turns back to him.
“You’d think that. But being a big-time contractor means you get to know people, and I’ve got a judge who owes me a favor after I landscaped his house for half price.”
I’m absolutely beaming. My body’s so warm I’m on the verge of overheating as I look back at the living room, completely ruined, Berry and his two men lying on the floor.
I look down at my finger, at the wedding ring I’ve worn like a shackle since our sham of a marriage.
I rip it off and hurl it at Berry, striking him in the head.
“Bye,” I say, waving spitefully back. “See you…never.”
I’m with who I truly belong with now.
Rick. My love. My forever.