Chapter 5
AVA REYNOLDS
“Why is he always here?” I muttered under my breath.
The second I cracked my bedroom door, I heard Saint’s loud ass, Big A laughing like whatever he’d just heard or saw was the funniest thing in the world, and Reek’s voice cutting through both of them, smooth and sexy as hell, but rough enough to make me freeze with longing before I even stepped into the hallway.
It annoyed me that Saint and Reek were so damn close. But it made sense since Saint worked so closely with Big A and Reek’s extension of the cartel.
I almost turned right back around. But my Uber Eats was at the door, and I was starving. Ever since I got back in town, I had been eating all of my favorite Chicago food; Italian Fiesta, Harold’s, gyro cheeseburgers, maxwell polishes, and Beggars. And little baby was loving every bite.
I slipped into the hallway, still wearing my oversized sleep shirt from this morning and bare legs, moving quietly toward the front. The den was off to the side, so I kept out of sight.
Then the front door opened, and the security system chimed.
“Shit,” I whispered.
I grabbed the pizza from the driver, thanked him, shut the door quickly, and started tiptoeing back toward my room. From the den, I could hear the football game and their voices bouncing over one another. But all I really heard was Reek.
I made it back into my room and shut the door with relief. Then I climbed on the bed and set the pizza beside me.
I hated how my body still reacted to him.
Even hearing his voice from another room undid me.
Knowing he was that close had need creeping through me because I remembered every perfect stroke and moan.
I couldn’t get out of my head the way he touched me, the way he looked at me, the way he had me open, wet, and purring his name.
My clit started pulsing at the mere memory.
I missed his touch, but I knew his touch was temporary, emotionless, and something he could give and walk away from like it meant nothing.
I opened Hulu on my TV, found a documentary about missing girls from Chicago, and grabbed a slice of pizza. But I couldn’t focus. All I could think about was how I needed to tell Reek, how he was going to react, and how ugly that reaction was probably going to be.
My heart was beating too fast by the time my bedroom door opened. I looked up so quickly I almost dropped my pizza as Reek stepped inside and shut the door behind himself.
I sat up fast, and the oversized shirt pulled against me, so I shifted to hide my stomach.
The air changed immediately with him so close. The tension came crashing down like it was waiting on this very moment.
Reek leaned against the door for a second and just looked at me. His stare was so intense it made me want to hide, but I couldn’t look away. There was something about the way he stared that always felt too perfect and direct, like right there in his line of sight was exactly where I belonged.
Finally, he spoke, “I smelled the pizza and knew it was you at the door since Zahra is asleep.”
“Mm-hmm,” was all I could mutter.
He tilted his head as he kept his eyes locked on me like he couldn’t look away if he wanted to. “You just gon’ ignore me now that you’re back?”
I set my slice down in the box. “What is there to say?”
The irony in that almost made me laugh.
He pushed off the door and came farther into the room. “Why can’t we be cool like we were?”
I looked at him like he was a fool. “Our friendship is exactly what it always was. We weren’t besties, on the phone gossiping and braiding each other’s hair, Reek.”
“We were cool. We had conversation. You didn’t speak to me at the shower.”
“You didn’t speak to me either.”
His jaw tensed as he replied, “I didn’t know what to say.”
I looked away first because if I kept staring at him too hard, I was going to keep focusing on how good he smelled, how his Prada tee fit so perfectly, how his beard looked, and how much I wanted him despite all my common sense.
Unfortunately for me, he stepped closer. “I missed seeing your pretty—”
“Don’t,” I cut in quickly. “Don’t do that. Don’t flirt. Don’t say things you can’t back up.”
His eyes stayed on me, and when he moved again, it was slow enough to make my breath hitch.
“I can’t help it.”
Yes, he could. But he was being pushy because I had ignored him when we were at the shower and he didn’t like that Wise was flirting with me. He didn’t like being shut out. That was all this was.
But, still, my body was reacting like I didn’t know better.
I kept my stomach angled away from him as he came to the side of the bed. “You need to get out before Saint and Big A catch you in here.”
He looked toward the door and back at me. “They’re out back smoking a blunt. They’ll be gone a minute.”
“That doesn’t matter. Leave.”
“Why?”
Because I’m pregnant with our baby. Because the second you touch me, I forget every reason I should tell you and every reason I should run.
Instead, I just said, “Because.”
He sat down on the edge of the bed, and my whole body grew too hot and weak at once.
“You miss me too, so why are you acting like this?”
I swallowed hard. “Because it didn’t feel good for you to admit your feelings, fuck me, and then dismiss me.”
He went still, and so did I.
We just looked at each other for a second, neither one of us knowing what the right thing to say was.
Then he looked at me in that way that always made me feel too seen and said quietly, “You’re so pretty to me.”
And just like that, whatever sense I had left started slipping.