Nine
Kai
It felt like my entire universe had spun on its axis.
Fuck, I needed a drink. After unlocking my office and storming inside I ransacked the drinks cabinet, annoyed to establish my emergency stash of vodka was gone.
Ava and I had kissed, her mouth like heaven and sin all wrapped into one. I was still turned on. My cock was raging again in my joggers and I knew I needed to calm the fuck down before Nico got there.
“Someone needs a cold shower,” came the amused drawl from the doorway. Collapsing into the leather chair I glared at my friend and second in command. He had one large arm raised above his head resting on the frame.
I was usually well versed in schooling my reactions but I lost it, “What the fuck Nico?”
“I think I should be the one saying what the fuck?” Nico batted back. He sounded personally offended, but surely that ship had sailed?
When we first met at school, I’d immediately had my suspicions about his preferences in the sack and eventually Nico confessed he had been attracted to me. However, after realising sharpish that I was straight, he behaved like a racist dick; a self-preservation thing (a one-size fits all technique it appeared).
The situation had resolved itself when he started the name calling and I knocked him out cold. Since then, we’d been close friends without any of that other shit getting in the way.
I narrowed my eyes, attempting to read his expression. Surely, he wasn’t jealous?
In a beat, he put my mind at rest.
Nico dropped his hand and crossed his arms over his chest, “And you can wipe that expression off your face. You missed your chance mate,” he added with unbridled sarcasm, to which I rolled my eyes. I knew he was joking.
“Did she get the tape off?” I replied, changing the subject.
“Yes.”
“Was she OK? Did she say anything about me?” Fucking hell, why did I suddenly feel like I was in high school. Ava was screwing with me, she was everywhere, under my skin, in my head. It was like I suddenly had a sickness I couldn’t shake. Where the hell was that famous Kinlan control?
Nico was now looking at me like I was batshit crazy, “She didn’t say anything. She was embarrassed and skittish. Ava couldn’t wait to get me out of her room. Good job I came in when I did huh? The last thing I want to see is your naked arse.”
“It wouldn’t have come to that.”
“Really? The woman had her hand on your dick. You were all over each other. Another minute or so and you’d have been fucking your stepsister against the wall. I may be as gay as the day is long, but I know how these things work.”
“She isn’t my stepsister anymore.”
“Not officially, but you know what I mean.”
“Look, it didn’t mean shit,” I lied, dashing a hand down my face as he was right. When Ava kissed me, I’d come alive. She tasted so fucking sweet, better than I could ever have imagined and yes, I had thought about it in the past. At sixteen, Ava had been stunning and of legal age. But I had managed to keep her at arm's length. Upstairs, not so much, the second her mouth met mine, my rules went out the fucking window. Had Nico entered the room a few minutes later who knew? The thought of being balls deep inside her made my dick twitch. FFS.
And you plan to force her into marriage and then not touch her?
A rush of blood left my brain and flooded my groin, my cock at full mast again. I so didn’t need those images in my head. It was as dirty as fuck up there. Me, taking Ava up against the wall and tasting parts of her tight little body. Yep, I was perving over my ex-stepsister aka, the forbidden fruit.
But she wasn’t forbidden any longer, not really. That thought made my body ache for her like some type of sick addiction. My dick pressed further against my sweatpants.
And why shouldn’t you, considering your plans?
As Nico pushed off the doorframe into my office and slung his body into the chair opposite my desk, he cocked me a wry expression. “You’re welcome by the way.”
“If you think I’m going to thank you for barging in and discussing business in front of Ava, you can think again.”
“She has no idea ‘our visitor’ is Quinn,” he rasped, taking out his cigarettes.
“It’s not that hard a code to crack, Nic. Ava’s astute and could easily put two and two together.”
“Anyway, I have an update,” Nico said, nudging my foot with his shoe beneath my desk.
“Just spill it and stop wasting time,” I growled, losing patience. It’s almost like Nico was begging for me to lose my shit. I needed to calm down, if I lost it, if I let my emotions slip for just a second, I may never get them back behind bars. Maybe I needed to speak to the Doc about increasing the dose of my meds.
“I looked into his background and found a motive for going after your father.”
Leaning back, I quirked him a look, “Surely, he did it for Ava?”
“No. Well, not entirely.”
I sat forward, biting back that urge to snap, all ears as Nico gave me Quinn’s background.
It turned out that Anton was the son of Sheridan Quinn, a woman who had been one of my father’s mistresses in the past. From the sounds of things, he had treated her appallingly. Emotional abuse, gaslighting, the works. He even allowed his men to take turns with her. It was pretty fucked up stuff, especially coming from her son. Knowing shit like that could not have been easy and he would have been a boy at the time and unable to prevent it.
Shit.
The revelation bled into the room like a sliced artery. It was yet another piece of information that confirmed my father was a sick fuck.
My head must have been well and truly up my arse to have missed so much.
But you weren’t around that much.
After school, I was sent to work in the USA and then when I returned, I had shit going on. I was building a business. My focus hadn’t been on Gerard and certainly never on his fucking love life.
More regret rocketed through my mind; fucking up those better memories I had of my father.
The last kick in the balls came when Nico explained that Anton Quinn’s mother was the woman who had attempted to commit suicide.
Remorse for beating him pulsed through me but I shot that shit down. He sent your father to fucking prison. You had to make an example of him if nothing else.
And now the fact that I had done that, made me feel like shit.
What the hell was happening to me, I wasn’t a nice guy; reasonable and rational. The fucker still sent my father (no matter how big of a cunt he had been) to prison. And he’d involved Ava, which had resulted in her shooting me and running away.
“Hamish messaged to say Quinn is asking to see you.”
“Does he know why?”
“It appears he is now at the ‘begging for his life’ phase. He also wants to see Ava.”
“Shit.”
“Exactly. I would say your attempt at seducing her is well and truly fucked when she sees what you’re capable of,” Nico chuckled. His comment pissed me off.
“There was no attempt at seduction, Ava kissed me,” I pointed out with affront.
Nico raised his eyebrows in surprise.
Just saying those words took me back there.
“So, how was it? You’ve waited long enough.”
“What?” I snapped enraged, but the bastard just grinned at me.
“You looked good together. Pretty damn hot. If I were straight, you’d have given me a boner.” I hated that he called me out on the kiss.
“Your boner is the last thing I want to think about,” I snarked.
He was right though; Ava and I were hot together. That forced me to think again about how amazing it felt to kiss her bratty mouth. Ava’s small, tight body fit perfectly against mine. I had fought my attraction to her for years and even now I was allowed to have those X-rated thoughts, I still felt guilty. Fucking guilty! Especially now I knew that Gerard had tried it on with her.
But how far had he taken it? Had my father forced himself on his stepdaughter? He said not. That didn’t bear thinking about.
Nico broke that chain of thought, “I don’t think your plan for a ‘business’ relationship will last long. What about consummation and all that shit? I bet you keep it in your pants all of five minutes. If you get her to agree to the marriage that is. Have you even mentioned it yet?”
I ignored his question and went for, “She’ll agree.”
My second looked at me, stone-faced, “What makes you so sure?”
“Because at the end of it, Ava will have her freedom. Complete independence and a new life elsewhere. Away from me and mine. Just like she’s always wanted.” As I delivered my speech, I felt like smashing my fist against my desk. Luckily, I managed to stop physically lashing out, but my usual poker face was crumbling.
A quiet lull fell between us and I knew Nico’s gaze was drilling into me, trying to see inside my head and steal all my fucking secrets.
“And you really intend to let Ava go at the end of it?”
I mentally wired my jaw shut, giving myself time to respond.
After a brief silence, I inhaled before saying, “Yes.”
With a cluck of his tongue, Nico slowly shook his head and said, “Then you're more stupid than I thought.”
After that comment, I didn’t want him in my office a minute longer and I didn’t care if he felt that shit rolling off me in waves.
I exhaled. Hating myself and my friend for rubbing my nose in the shit of my making.
“Fuck off, Nico. You’re not helping,” I said on an exhale. Frustration pumping through my shoulders. I suddenly felt as stiff as fuck.
Nico lit up the cigarette he’d been holding. I didn’t stop him, fuck, part of me wanted a drag. Anything to claim some control back.
I pulled out my phone and messaged Hamish who was still at the casino. Prepare Quinn to see the Doc.
Yes, boss.
I then turned to Nico, who was watching me with deep interest in his eyes. “What do you need?”
“Take Farmer to see Quinn. I want him patched up as soon as possible.”
“Tonight?” he said, taking a huge drag on his cigarette.
“Tonight,” I confirmed, pushing to my feet, and sliding open a drawer on the desk. Quinn’s phone was exactly where I had left it. I lifted the device and slid my thumb across the screen. My tech guy Miles had unlocked it within seconds. My eyes narrowed as I saw a missed call from an anonymous number.
Ava.
“Make sure he has food and water and the usual shit.”
Nico also stood, smiling at me from across my desk. “Do you want me to read him a bedtime story too?” Cheeky fucker.
“Just do it,” I replied.
With a nod, Nico turned and left and I released a sharp breath.
My humanity had nothing to do with Quinn and everything to do with Ava. I didn’t want her hate, not any more.
Having Ava back had fed a hunger inside me. She was now the closest thing I had to a family. But I still couldn’t allow my feelings to cloud my intentions.
I was Kai Kinlan and I had no qualms about anything. I could overpower Ava and bully her into doing what I wanted, but I knew that was no longer the way.
I needed Ava on my side but to get her there, I would have to become more of the man and less of the monster.
Ava
The kiss kept me awake that night. I had dreams of Kai. Sweating limbs, twisted bedsheets. I woke up covered in sweat to the point where I had to shower. I partly wondered if the drug was still in my system. Either that or I was losing it all over again to a man I wanted to be immune to.
Over the next couple of days, I didn’t see Kai. He was out on business. Nico had also done a disappearing act, leaving me and Suki to rattle around the house.
I didn’t return to the gym, knowing it would only remind me of how Kai’s mouth had felt against my own. I couldn’t lie to myself, the feelings I used to harbour towards him were returning, slowly pushing through the baggage that came with him. That underhand kind that I wanted nothing to do with.
The burner phone in my room had also run out of battery, it wasn’t an iPhone and Suki didn’t have a charger. It was complete radio silence and I couldn’t see if Anton had messaged. That constant feeling of dread rose to the surface. I knew Anton wasn’t safe.
It was Friday evening and Nico had returned to the house with a package for me. Inside it was a new iPhone. I wondered if Suki had mentioned that I was moaning about not having a mobile phone.
As I removed it from the box, I noted that a glass protector had already been placed over the screen and the phone was set up. Kai’s number was programmed in, as were Suki’s, Dr Farmer's, and Nico’s. I wasn’t stupid, I knew the thing would have a tracking device attached to it somewhere.
Once Nico left, I changed the screen lock from the code he had given me to facial ID. It was pointless, as Kai’s tech man Miles could probably access the phone anyway.
After another round of Sex and the City, a TV show I was now coming to hate, Suki excused herself and explained that Cillian was taking her to dinner.
I was checking the perimeter of my prison for weak spots when the phone vibrated. I pulled it out of my jeans pocket and saw a text from Kai.
Have dinner with me tonight. We need to talk.
After a smug look between two of Kai’s security men, as I tried one of the kitchen patio doors, I gave in. It was useless, I was watched everywhere I went and the place was locked down like a fucking fortress.
Heading to my room, I pursed my lips, staring at the text. I wanted to rebel, the bastard had left me alone for two days and hadn’t responded to the first message I’d sent him asking where the fuck he was. Talk about cooling my heels.
As I got to my room, I keyed in, Fine. What time?
Be in the kitchen at eight.
Throwing the phone on the bed, I pulled my sweater over my head and made for the shower.
They say if you can’t beat them. Join them. After thoroughly washing my body and hair, I picked out nice underwear and a plain black dress. It was a short strappy number and I added black ballet flats. I left my dark hair loose and put on a thin layer of lipstick. Maybe I could seduce Kai into letting me go? Yeah right, just like I did on my sixteenth birthday!
Slipping the phone down the front of my dress and into my bra, I set off for the kitchen. And what I saw when I got there almost floored me.
As I reached the bottom of the stairs, I could smell the hint of garlic and spices. As usual, two of Kai’s men were by the front doors. I smiled sweetly, and they exchanged puzzled looks, unsure how to take me.
When I entered the kitchen, Kai stood on the other side of the counter; behind the section that would be used as a breakfast bar. I eyed the tall bar stools pushed under there as I warily approached. Kai had his broad back to me, and a tea towel was slung over his shoulder. God those were wide, and I suppose they needed to be considering the burdens they held.
Kai was chopping herbs and sliding them into a pot on the cooker. Pans and cooking equipment were strewn around. It appeared Kai was the chef tonight.
Clearing my throat, Kai turned, his handsome features softening as he saw me. I could see he appreciated my effort to dress up and a twinge of pleasure darted through me, my skin warming.
Kai looked amazing , he wore black tailored trousers which hugged his gorgeous arse and a white shirt with the sleeves rolled back, showing off his inked, muscled forearms.
As I approached, he placed the point of the knife against the chopping board on the counter, facing me. He smiled as he leaned one strong tanned hand on the handle. Danger leaked from every pore but he was still as attractive as fuck.
“You cook?” I said, surprise evident in my tone.
“I do. I’m quite the Chef, so I’ve been told,” he replied with a cocky twist of his mouth. “Please,” he added, motioning me to take a seat. I walked over, fluffing my hair as I went.
“You look beautiful. I’m glad you decided to obey my rules for once,” Kai stated.
“I see you are wearing your arrogance like a crown as usual. Should I call you, your majesty?”
Kai mocked me, “If it pleases you.” Fuck me, the last time we’d lived together, he hardly ever smiled. It should have been disconcerting, considering I still didn’t know where I stood, but it wasn’t. I liked it.
I could see the kitchen table had also been laid out ready. It was covered with a white cloth and two places were set. An open bottle of red wine was in the middle, next to a candle that had been lit. The atmosphere oozed romance.
“Is it stupid to say, I hope you like Italian?”
Tucking myself onto one of the stools, I placed my hands flat on the surface. “You mean because my father was Italian?”
Kai wobbled the knife, “Yes.”
My eyes skirted over the tanned column of his throat. Kai had removed his tie again and the buttons were open there. I so watched to touch that space with my mouth.
“You’re in luck. I love it,” I replied, telling my lustful thoughts to get a grip.
“Would you like a glass of wine before we eat?”
My heart started to beat faster and taking a deep breath, I narrowed my eyes, “I don’t know. Do I need my wits about me?”
He chuckled, “You should always have your wits about you around questionable men,” Kai smirked.
He was so fucking sexy and he knew it. My eyes fell to the side where I had shot him, I wondered if it still caused him pain.
“Yes, please. A glass can’t hurt.”
Kai poured two glasses of wine from a bottle on the counter and briefly turned to stir the pot. It looked like a Bolognese sauce and smelt divine. As he walked over and handed me a glass, I thanked him and took a large sip. It was clearly expensive and I welcomed the rich taste as it ran down my throat.
I wasn’t used to such luxury. I had earned such a small amount of money working in the shop and couldn’t afford nice wine. Anton and I would usually drink cheap plonk from the supermarket.
“So, you admit you’re a questionable man?” I said as he turned back to face me.
“Of course, I never said I was the good guy. I’m bad to the bone. Why would I want to be anything else? Being good is dull. It takes class and balls to be the villain.”
“You weren’t always that way. I remember a nice guy once. The type to sit and watch movies with me and play video games. You even picked me up from school before I got sent away to that hell hole.”
“I know, I remember. You were a clingy little thing.”
“Is that why you pushed me away? I was too much for you?” I asked, taking another sip of wine.
I chewed the inside of my mouth, remembering what Kai had said in the gym the other night. He’d admitted that he’d messed up our relationship by being a dick to me.
He must have read my mind as he said, “Why do you think I pushed you away all those years ago.”
And now we were getting somewhere. “I know why. You didn’t want to be close to me, to anyone. I didn’t realise that then but I get it now.”
“You had too many expectations, Ava. It was better for you to keep my distance.”
I shook my head, “Better for me, you’re wrong. You left me alone, exposed.”
A silence stretched between us as Kai’s expression became pained. It only lasted a few seconds before it switched to a look of empathy.
At that moment I had a flashback of myself as a little girl; upset and alone, hiding at my mother’s wedding. Memories of a young boy who had saved me. Hidden with me so the bullies wouldn’t find me. We ate cream cakes together.
“I know, and I’m sorry,” his apology rocked me from my past into the present.
What the actual fuck?
Those words leaving Kai’s mouth made me feel like I was running into oncoming traffic. Was he saying he believed me about Gerard? And then his next words confirmed that.
“I know what my father did and I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.”
A cocktail of emotion swirled through me, “You’re sorry?”
“More than you could ever know,” he replied stiffly. I could tell that Kai struggled with apologies which didn’t surprise me.
My breath whooshed from my body as Kai tensed and a growl fell from his lips.
“Motherfucker,” he snarled.
Like lightning, Kai snatched up the kitchen knife from the chopping board and threw it. I reared back as the blade flew past my face, turning to watch its journey. The knife stuck in the centre of a newspaper article attached to a corkboard on the far wall. The grainy picture showed Gerard as he was being arrested. The blade rested in the centre of his father’s head.
I gasped and slid from the chair, looking from the knife to Kai, he was leaning with his palms flat on the counter with his head bent over.
“Kai?” I questioned. The words left my mouth like vapour. Anger rolled off him in waves and I felt a twinge of fear.
The pan with the spaghetti started to boil over, dragging him out of his daze.
His expression was tortured, “Please, take a seat,” Kai said gruffly, motioning towards the table.
Moving away, I lowered myself onto one of the chairs, wide-eyed as Kai used the tea towel from his shoulder to take the pan off the burners.
I’d lost my appetite as the atmosphere changed in the kitchen; the memory of Gerard tainting the air. It made me feel sad. But raking up the past had always done that and part of me wished he hadn’t said anything.
But he’s apologised and accepted he was wrong. You should be happy.
So why wasn’t I?
I could tell from Kai’s shoulders, that he was furious. But for once, I knew it wasn’t directed at me.
Kai was torturing himself for the past.
As he placed a well-heaped plate in front of me, I could feel electricity pulsing from his arms.
“Black pepper?” Kai said as he brought over a pepper mill and what looked like Parmesan cheese.
“Why not.”
Experience told me to remain silent. I knew Kai was building up to say something.
After adding pepper and a smattering of cheese to my meal, Kai took his seat. I glanced down at the spaghetti, my stomach suddenly waking up.
“It looks great,” I said softly.
He appreciated the compliment. One side of Kai’s mouth tugged up and then we started eating. It was odd as I knew it should feel weird, behaving so civilised and sharing a meal, but it didn’t. It was like old times but much more grown up. When I was an early teen, we’d eat cheeseburgers together.
Halfway through the meal, Kai stopped and raised his chin. His face looked strained and I wondered what he was going to say.
I didn’t have long to wait.
“I can’t turn back the clock, Ava; all I can do is apologise for not being there.”
“Thank you, I guess.”
“If you want to tell me exactly what happened I’m ready to listen.” I could tell from the expression on his face how much it cost him to say those words. To encourage me to share the sick way Gerard had behaved towards me. Gerard, Kai’s father, the man he used to look up to.
I realised that I didn’t have to share the gory details. Kai believed me and that was enough.
“It’s done now, Kai. It’s in the past,” I explained.
“Maybe it would help to talk about it. To give you some closure,” he suggested.
My lips twisted, “But I can’t get closure, Kai.”
His brow creased and I pointed out, “The only way to get closure would be to face him and that’s impossible now,” I pointed out. “I will never be able to get justice for what he did.” I hated the painful truth of that, the way Gerard had cheated me out of my revenge by dying.
“Justice?” Kai repeated, placing his fork down. His tone of voice sounded off.
I raised my chin, “Yes. Because he’s dead.”
A strange expression crossed Kai’s features and he opened his mouth to say something but stopped.
“What?” I asked, wondering what he had been about to say.
Pushing back in his seat, Kai rolled his shoulders. I had probably made him uncomfortable. The death of a parent would never be easy to talk about, even if the guy was a scum bag. He was still Kai’s father.
“I’m sorry, Ava. On behalf of both of us.”
I felt a twinge of annoyance that he thought I’d accept an apology from Gerard but I needed to move the conversation on to my future. Surely, he’d let me go now he knew the truth. Gerard’s treatment of me was a motive for sending him to prison. Kai had asked for my reasons and now he had them.
Leaning back in my chair I placed my cutlery down, “I just want to move forward with my life now, Kai. Without having to look over my shoulder.”
“I understand that but it’s not that simple, Ava.”
Kai’s words forced my insides to churn. I knew it wouldn’t be straightforward, nothing about Kai ever was.
“But I’ve told you why I did what I did,” I pointed out, flustered.
“Yes. But you haven’t told me who helped you.”
Shit. I should have known he wouldn’t leave it there.
I evil-eyed Kai across the table but he only smiled, a slight tug to his lips but it was there.
Kai’s eyes dropped to my mouth and he raised his hand and tapped the side of his, “You’ve missed a bit,” he said.
Great. Now I did have egg on my face. I lifted the napkin and wiped my mouth before throwing it onto the table.
“I think moving forward, we need to be honest with each other,” Kai began again.
The atmosphere was tense, “So if I tell you I had help, you’ll let me go?”
With a dangerous sparkle in his eyes, Kai replied, “Is that your way of admitting you didn’t work alone?”
My shoulders slumped. I was so tired of the cat-and-mouse act.
“No.”
“You’re lying to me, Ava. I know you had a partner.”
Fear jetted up my spine, forcing me to straighten in my seat
Admit nothing. He’s bluffing.
Kai was now watching me with an intense look. He slowly shook his head and again I saw that flash of regret.
“What you did to my father was understandable, Ava. Men in this organisation understand an eye for an eye. However, as you know, we live by a code and there is a protocol that I must follow. If I don’t, I appear weak.”
“What does that even mean? You lose face if you let me go? It’s not that big of a deal.”
“It isn’t as simple as losing face, Ava. You committed a crime against a figurehead of the organisation and involved someone from the outside to assist you. That cannot go unpunished.”
“I said I did it by myself.”
“And I don’t believe you.”
“So, I’m to be punished for sending a sexual predator to prison?”
“He was the head of the family, Ava. A highly respected man in several countries.”
“Clearly, not behind closed doors,” I muttered. “And who do you look weak in front of? Nobody knows I was responsible,” I pointed out breathlessly.
“And it’s to stay that way. If the truth came out that Gerard was brought to his knees by a woman and a teenager, we’d become the laughingstock of the criminal world. And as for no one knowing, yes, it’s contained but some know it was you. And no, they do not know why you did it. Not the real reason anyway.”
“So, tell them then. Let the whole world know what a lecherous bastard he was.”
“I can’t do that. There is too much at stake. The entire reputation of the Kinlan name would suffer. That would affect me and everyone who works for me. Men who have families to support. It could even endanger lives. If news of who my father truly was came out, it would cause all the families that have supported us over the years to unpick everything we ever did. They would turn their back on us and I can’t allow that to happen. It would fuck with too many people.”
“But he’s dead. Why would they care?”
Again, Kai’s expression switched at my words before he replied, “Because I am now the owner of the Kinlan legacy.”
Closing my eyes, I felt weary. Like I had just suffered an information overload. Pushing my chair back, it scraped along the floor, the sound felt like nails down a blackboard. Turning from Kai, I walked over to the patio doors and stared into the darkness.
“You said you wouldn’t kill me,” I reminded him in a small voice.
Kai’s voice sounded behind me as I heard him rise from his chair, “No. I would never hurt a woman and you are too valuable to me alive.”
I felt his presence behind me as he approached and stood beside me.
“How the hell am I valuable to you? I’m nobody. No one.”
“We’ll come to that. You haven’t finished your meal,” he said, standing tall and looking into the night.
“I can’t eat anymore. I’ll be sick. So much has happened in such a short space of time.” I then turned to look up at him.
As Kai twisted his body, our eyes locked. “I am sorry about what you’ve been through but I can promise that nothing like that will ever happen again. Not under my watch. You are safe with me, Ava. And as far as Gerard goes, you won. You did something that no other man was able to do. You brought him to his knees; take your justice from that.”
But I couldn’t. The fact that Kai’s father was no longer walking the earth was one of those things that continued to hound me. As a girl I feared him, as a woman, I would have made him pay.
A chill ran down my spine, “Fine. What do you want then? And if you ask me again whether I brought Gerard to his knees alone, my answer will be the same,” I informed him, managing to retain my poker face. I would never tell him about Anton. If I did, he was a dead man, I knew that now. The only reason I was still standing was because I was a woman. Kai’s cold, businesslike reasoning had blown any idea that he may have feelings for me out of the water.
Kai lifted his hand and ran the back of his knuckles over my cheek, it was such a tender gesture and my heart squeezed. He was such a walking, talking contradiction. How could he have kissed me back with so much feeling in the gym and then threatened me with fucking punishments?
“You can trust me, Ava.”
I closed my eyes as his fingers dropped, “Can I?” The loss of his touch was almost painful. I needed to remind myself to breathe.
“Yes,” Kai said as he rolled his shoulders. I couldn't help but notice how the muscles in his arms tensed and flexed.
I turned away and glanced back out at the night sky. Its bleakness suggested it would be cold but I felt hot and bothered, uncomfortable in my skin.
“Why don’t you take a moment to freshen up? I imagine you have the square footage of this place mapped out perfectly in your head so I don’t need to say there’s a bathroom through there.” Kai said this with a nod towards the downstairs toilet which I already knew about.
“My staff have told me about your ambitious attempts to leave,” Kai said with a trace of humour.
I moved away and placed my back against the counter, crossing my arms over my chest, “Can you blame me?”
Kai pursed his lips, “I would have been disappointed if didn’t try and leave. You’re a fighter, Ava. You always have been.”
“It doesn’t feel that way,” I confessed, feeling a twinge of sadness.
“Meet me in my office. That’s the door which is always locked. The one I believe you have tried several times. And please, relax. What I have to say isn’t so bad, and in the end, you will get what you want, Ava.”
“And what is that, Kai?” I questioned with a head tilt.
“Your freedom.”
“Really?” I said with a smidge of hope.
“Yes.”
A moment fell between us, it was silent but the atmosphere wasn’t unpleasant, like a semi-truce.
I watched as Kai turned away and walked to the table, picking up the dishes, and placing them on the counter.
“Shall I bring the wine?” I said as he deposited our half-full glasses near the sink.
Kai gave me a not-so-subtle sweep of his eyes, “No. We’ll have something stronger. Whisky, I think,” he replied with his broad back to me as he walked away.
“Stronger? Why?” I called out. My words stopped him and he turned in the doorway with a dark expression.
“Because you’re going to need it.”
Fuck.