Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 91840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Charly, Vaughn, and Julian are still here, sitting on the sofa, and there’s some guy I don’t recognize.
When Gucci sees Charly, she goes bounding over to her and jumps into her lap. Charly proceeds to give her the attention she was after.
Charly stops stroking her and looks over at me. Are you okay? she mouths.
I smile and nod in response.
“Gabe, this is Martin. He’s worked security for me in the past. He’s one of the best in the business. I called him to come and sweep the apartment for you.”
“And?” Gabe says.
“I ran a spectrum analyzer over your apartment, and I found a bug in here. It was under the sofa, just tacked to the base. There was one in your office, under the seat of the desk chair. One in the kitchen, in the light fixture. One in the guest bedroom, behind the mirror, and there was one in your bedroom, tacked to the base of a lamp.”
His bedroom.
Oh God. They recorded us having sex.
My eyes fly to Gabe. His jaw is working angrily, his eyes lit with rage.
“Gabe…”
His eyes come to mine, and they soften on me. His hand comes around my cheek. “It’s okay, baby.”
“No, it’s not.” Tears fill my eyes. “They invaded our privacy. Things between us…private things, and they heard it all.”
Gabe pulls me to him and presses his lips to my forehead.
“Is there any way we can trace these bugs back to those bastards?” Gabe’s voice rumbles through his chest.
“It won’t be easy…but leave it to me,” Martin says. “I know a few people who might be able to help. Are there any other places that could be bugged? Do you have any other properties? What about your car?”
“No other properties. And that bitch, Sandy, didn’t have access to my car.”
“You’d be surprised,” Martin says. “I’ll check it out just to be sure.” He gets to his feet.
Gabe lets me go momentarily and gets his car keys from the coffee table. He hands them to Martin. “Could you check Ava’s car as well, just to be sure?”
“Sure thing.”
“Thanks, man. I appreciate you coming down and doing this for us,” Gabe says to Martin.
“Anytime,” Martin replies.
Charly gets my car keys from her bag and gives them to Martin.
“I’ll take you down to the garage,” Julian says to Martin.
We watch them leave. I can feel Gabe’s silent rage vibrating through him.
“Fucking Digby,” Vaughn bites out. “I hate that bastard. I can’t believe the lengths he’ll go to for a story.”
“Nothing surprises me anymore,” Charly says. “Ava, you doing okay?” she asks me.
“Yeah.” I meet her eyes. “Just feeling…violated, I guess.”
“That’s understandable.”
“I need a smoke.”
I glance up at Gabe. I can see the frustration etched into his forehead, his jaw clenched so hard that it might shatter.
“Okay.”
“I’ll be out on the terrace.”
I watch him walk out onto the terrace. He leans against the railing and lights up a cigarette.
“He’s feeling helpless,” Vaughn says to me. “I know that’s how I’d be feeling right now, and if there’s one thing a man hates, it’s feeling helpless. If someone had done that to Charly and me…recorded us doing…well, fuck. Put it this way, I’d want to tear the fucker apart with my bare hands.”
“I should go talk to him,” I tell them.
“I’m going to make some drinks.” Charly gets up from the sofa. “I think we could all do with a little something strong right now.”
Leaving the living room, I go outside to Gabe. I can see how tense he is. His shoulders rigid. His body taut with anger and frustration.
“Hey,” I say in a quiet voice. I rest my arm on the railing, standing next to him, and stare out at the sky. “You okay?”
“No.” He takes a drag of his cigarette and flicks the ash off the end. “I want to kill Digby. I want to get in my car, drive to his house, and beat the ever-loving shit out of him. And I would never hit a woman.” His eyes come to mine. “Never. But that bitch…”
“I know.” I put my hand on his arm. “I want to kick her ass, too. But getting angry isn’t going to change anything.”
“I can’t help it.” He grinds his teeth, working his jaw. “Having sex with you…making love to you, it was the first time in my life that sex actually meant anything to me. And, now, they’ve fucking cheapened it.” He takes a pull on his smoke, drops it on the floor, and stubs it out with his shoe. He turns to face me. The sadness in his eyes hurts me. “They’ve made me feel like a whore all over again.”
“No, Gabe. No.” I take his face in my hands, forcing his eyes to me. “Feeling like that means they win. And I refuse to let them. Those moments with you—you making love to me, you fucking me, all of it—aren’t cheap. They’re everything.”