40. Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty
Stephen
“Something is going on,” Ava says to me when we get into bed that night. “You need to talk to me. We don’t shut each other out anymore.”
I draw her close, and I run my hand along her back as I consider how and what to tell her.
But I’ve never been good at doling out snippets of the truth to people I love, which is why Vanessa’s betrayal stings.
When you love someone, you let them in, even when the version of you they see isn’t your best one.
Especially when they ask you to reveal your truth.
“Vanessa was one of the organizers for the unionization at The Nile.”
“Vanessa, your sister, Vanessa?” Ava asks in disbelief.
“Yes, and I knew she was part of that. A conflict of interest, given that I was employed by Raul. But I thought I could handle it.”
“You did.”
“I don’t know if I did. Vanessa was also part of the group threatening Raul.
She was…” My throat gets tight. “She knew about the car accident. She knew they were planning that.” Saying it out loud brings back the well of anger but also an unexpected grief.
Vanessa isn’t the person I thought she was. I don’t know her anymore.
“Oh, my god,” Ava says, drawing back to search my expression. “You just found out?”
“I suspected that night. Her behavior. And I knew she’d been involved in other things.
But I asked her, and she said she didn’t have anything to do with the accident.
Owen told me today that the police have proof she was involved in the planning, at least to some extent.
” Even if Vanessa denies the details, she knew the outline.
“Wow,” Ava breathes out. “I can see why you haven’t exactly been yourself.”
“I’ve kicked her out of the apartment. Told her to go somewhere else. I’m not having someone in this house who’s a danger to you or Landon.”
“She made a mistake, but that doesn’t make her a bad person.”
“She compounded that mistake by lying.”
“Will she go to jail?”
“I don’t know.” I take a deep breath. “I’d like to try to keep her out of jail if that’s all right with you. But I’ll understand if you want to see her punished in a bigger way. I’d understand.”
“Did she know Landon and I would be in the car?”
“She says she didn’t. The original plan was to have the accident happen when Raul was on his way home from work.”
Ava grows quiet against me, and I listen to her breathe, marveling that I get to do this, that my sister’s choices almost meant I wouldn’t hear this, feel this again.
“We’ve all made mistakes, haven’t we?” Ava whispers.
“Most of those don’t lead to people almost dying.”
“Mine did, though.” She draws back to look at me. “There’s a pretty straight line between me brushing you off and you almost dying.”
“That’s not true, Ava. I choose to run toward danger. That’s the job I had before I even knew you. Other people run away. I run toward.”
“But you were at that job because of me.”
“You cannot carry that. I made choices. Those choices led me there. You didn’t hatch any kind of plan to put me in danger.”
“If you can do something to stop her from going to jail, I think you should.” Ava scooches closer and presses her lips to a spot just under my ear that makes my stomach flip. “Protect her because it’s the right thing to do. Do it for your parents if you can’t do it for her.”
“When did you become the forgiving one?” I murmur against her temple.
“When you forgave me,” she says, “even though I didn’t deserve it.”
“I’d forgive you anything. You could probably stab me in the heart, and I’d come back from the dead just to tell you it was okay.”
“You would not,” she says with a little laugh. “You’d come back to terrify me.”
“That would just be a fun bonus. As long as I got to see you, either outcome would be a win.”
“I love you,” she whispers. “Now that I’ve said it, I can’t stop saying it.”
My favorite is how she says it over and over again when I make her come.
She’s not on birth control, and I don’t wear protection.
We’re playing with fire, and part of me hopes we get burned, that we have no choice but to accept the consequences of our actions.
Neither of us has said the exact consequence out loud, and I don’t want to ruin whatever unspoken agreement we’ve fallen into.
“Is the door locked?” I ask.
Now that we’re back together in every imaginable way, one of us locks the in-between door until just before we fall asleep. Then we reopen it in case Landon comes looking. He hasn’t so far, but there’s no need to take any chances.
“Yes,” she murmurs, rotating in my arms until her back is pressed against my chest.
“Like this,” I ask, dragging my hand up her thigh and bringing her negligee with it. Then I’m cupping her breast, rubbing my thumb against her nipple. I give it a little pinch, and she gasps, wiggling against my erection.
“Yes,” she says, breathy with desire. “You know exactly how I like it. Everything about you turns me on.”
I dip my hand between her legs to test her claim, and she’s soaking already. So ready for me that it makes my cock twitch, and I have to suppress the urge to rush us.
“Put your fingers inside me,” she moans, arching into me.
I hitch her leg on top of mine, opening her up, and I slide my fingers along her most sensitive areas, eliciting another moan before I dip a single finger into her entrance.
“More,” she says. “I need more.”
“That’s it, baby,” I murmur against her ear. “Tell me what you need.” And I slide a second finger in, marveling at her wet heat. “Fuck, I love being inside you. I think about it all the time. Wet and warm and all mine. Feels like coming home when I’m inside you.”
She reaches around and cups the back of my neck, and I flick her clit with my thumb. She writhes and turns her face in my direction, desire written all over her.
“Another,” she says. “I need more. I want more of you.”
I ease in a third finger, and with each entrance and exit, I brush my thumb against her clit, teasing her, taunting her. Now that I know I can get her off, I enjoy the push-pull of extending pleasure and seeking release. We were always so good at this dance of desire.
“Are you going to come like this, Ava? Is this how you want it?”
“No,” she whines. “No. I want you inside me when I come.”
“That’s my girl,” I murmur against her ear. “You want my big cock filling your pussy, don’t you? Then what are you going to tell me as I make you come so hard you can barely talk?”
“That I love you,” she says, moving with my hand. “That I love you so much.”
“What do you love, baby?”
“I love the feel of you inside me. Any part of you inside me. And I love how much you love me. How…” She moans when I bring her close to the edge before backing off. “How much you love…” She grips my neck harder, rotating her hips to force my fingers deeper when I draw away. “Please,” she pleads.
“Please what, baby?”
“I need you inside me. God, I need you inside me now. I need it so badly.”
When she gets like this, I don’t know how I hold it together, much less perform in any decent capacity. But I’m out of my boxers, and I withdraw my hand to angle my tip to her entrance.
“I’m yours to take,” I murmur against her ear.
She wiggles back and down, finding my head and pushing herself onto me. A moan of pleasure escapes her at the same time I release a guttural groan.
“Welcome home,” she says.
Those words almost make me lose it, and I have to deep breathe against her ear for a second. “Don’t move.” I fucking love being inside her, especially when she’s this ready, this turned on.
She puts my hand on her lower belly and laces her fingers with mine as she starts a steady rhythm that I’m not sure I’m ready for. But I’m going to cling to sanity with everything I’ve got.
“I can’t,” she says, frustration coating her voice. “I need you to…”
I thrust up hard.
“Yes,” she breathes out. “Like that. I want it rough like that.”
As I keep a punishing rhythm going, I take her hand down with mine to rub against her clit.
“Touch yourself,” I say against her ear. “Make yourself come for me while I’m fucking you just the way you like.”
She doesn’t hesitate. She licks her fingers and starts a circular motion that keeps pace with my thrusts. But even then, I can tell she’s edging herself, going so far and backing off.
“I could fuck you forever,” she says.
“You are going to fuck me forever,” I mutter. “You’re mine. Do you want me to come inside you?”
“Yes,” she says, and her hand begins to rotate faster. “Yes. Oh, god. I’m so close. I want all of you inside me.”
“My pretty girl, you were made for me,” I say. “You’re going to take it all.” And then I almost lose it. I catch myself just before I tip over. “I need you to come with me, Ava. I need you to come now.”
“Yes,” she says, and she starts to tremble. “Oh. Oh, god. Oh, Stephen.”
“That’s it, baby. Give it to me.” I thrust harder, and she arches her neck, almost twisting in my embrace with her release.
And then she’s crying out how much she loves me as she pulses around me.
Without hesitating, I chase my own release, holding her tight against me as I spill every last drop inside her.