Tariq “Reek” Horton
I stayed on the pool deck after Ava walked off.
I watched her heels click away until the sound disappeared and the door swallowed her up.
I stood there trying to act like I couldn’t still feel her on me, and that pissed me off because I knew better.
I knew what I was. I knew I wasn’t built for soft love, long talks, and a woman needing consistency from me every day.
I got away with the bare minimum with Sienna because she was so starved for what she wanted that she ate the crumbs I gave her.
But Ava was different. Ava wanted something real.
And I wanted her.
I was standing on a dangerous line, and I could feel the ground shifting under me.
The other side was Ava. The woman who didn’t want my money. The woman who didn’t care about my status. The woman who didn’t even chase me. She just looked at me like she could see through me, and I hated how much I liked it.
Sienna had gotten clingy these last few months. It wasn’t subtle anymore. It was pressure. She was talking like we were building something and I never told her that. She was moving like she had rights to me, and every time I tried to remind her what it was, she smiled and kept at it anyway.
The worst part was, I didn’t even see how I could cut her off without there being residual drama, without it causing problems, without Langford taking it personal and acting like the project needed “re-evaluation” or “extra oversight” or whatever word politicians used when they wanted to punish you without saying it out loud.
Project 83 was too close to the finish line for me to start a war over a woman.
And Ava was too good for me to start lying to her to keep her.
I knew I had some feelings for her before, but I kept telling myself it was just lust. That was the excuse I used when I caught myself watching her too long and when her name stayed in my head at the wrong times.
But after tonight, I couldn’t pretend. Feeling her that close, hearing her voice moan my name, watching her take my dick confirmed it. It wasn’t just attraction. It was something else, something I didn’t want to name because naming it meant responsibility.
I exhaled long and hard and looked back toward the house.
I was glad she was leaving because it gave me an excuse to get my feelings back under control before I did something that made everything worse.
Distance could fix what I shouldn’t have started.
Thailand would get her out my face and head.
Time would cool the heat between us. Because if Ava stayed, I didn’t trust myself to keep acting like I didn’t want her.