Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 83756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
“Wait? The Brookses? Are those her parents?”
I gaze up at the heavens and pray that my grandpa and grandma send me some strength and grace. Ava has no reason to hate or even give two shits about Emery. This isn’t a love match. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life with Ava. Or have kids with her. Or watch her smile. Or have her come apart on my cock as I drive into her.
No. All that is saved for the girl who has always been the one for me.
The one who pushed me away three years ago. But now, I’m doing the pushing.
And it’s honestly gutting me.
I swallow past the emotion in my throat and nod. “Yeah, they sold their house and are staying with my parents.”
She searches my eyes. “That’s interesting.”
“How so?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think my parents would open their home or not go to dinner with my future in-laws because of friends.”
I bring in my brows. “It’s more than friends. We’re a family.”
“It’s weird,” she says, waving me off as she leans into the Bugatti. I almost ask her to get her ass off it. I tell myself it’s because I’m worried about the paint job, but truly, the only ass I want on that car is Emery’s. “But whatever. Fine.” I only nod as she strokes her fingers along the black paint. “I didn’t know you bought a new car. Real nice.”
I don’t lie. I don’t have a reason to. “It’s Emery’s.”
Her brows furrow ever deeper. “Why do you have her car?”
“She came back from California.” More scowling comes from my fiancée. “She knows I love Bugattis and offered to let me drive it while she’s working.”
“When did you plan on telling me she was back?”
I shrug. “Didn’t know I needed to.”
“It would have been courteous of you.”
“She’s back, been back for four days now,” I answer, tucking my hands into my pockets. “She’s staying in Benson’s room since her parents sold her house.”
“Isn’t that convenient,” she muses. I look everywhere but at her, not feeling guilty but feeling used. Ava doesn’t care what I do as long as it doesn’t affect our upcoming wedding. “I don’t like the idea of her living with you.”
My face wrinkles up as a soulless laugh leaves my lips. I meet her gaze with an arched brow. “But it’s okay for Yvette to live with you.” It’s not a question; it’s an accusation.
“We were roommates before you and I got engaged.” I give her a knowing look, and she shrugs. “What? We were.”
“And Emery and I have history, just as you and Yvette do,” I point out, but she doesn’t like it one bit. I can see the annoyance swirling in her eyes, the way her lips press into a tight line, and how hard she’s shoved her shoulders back. It’s her “don’t fuck with me” stance, one I’m very familiar with and not scared of in the least. “It’s nothing. I hardly see her.”
She doesn’t believe me. Hell, I don’t even believe myself. “Yet she’s letting you drive her five-million-dollar car?”
“She knows I like fast cars,” I say simply, and Ava’s eyes gleam with anger.
“Do you have her on a tight leash?”
I guffaw. “There is no leashing Emery.”
But damn if that isn’t a sexy idea. Emery on all fours, collared by me and captive to all my desires. Knowing her, though, she’d bite my dick off if I suggested it. Or tried to collar her.
Though, she does like it when I collar her neck with my hand.
I press my lips together to hide my smirk as I look away, but I feel Ava’s eyes on me. “Does she know?” she asks, catching me off guard.
I shake my head. “No one knows on my side.”
“Keep it that way,” she demands, anger and disdain in her expression.
I hold her gaze, and something breaks inside me. “When did you stop liking me?”
Her eyes narrow. “What? I like you just fine.”
“No. Ever since we decided to do this, you’ve been really bitchy to me.”
“Because you’re dumb,” she throws at me, glaring. “This is supposed to be easy. We go through the motions, we do what needs to be done, yet you keep letting feelings get in the way.” She pushes off the car, crowding my space. “I respect you, Quinn. All I ask is the same in return. You don’t have to like my parents—hell, you don’t even have to like me—but please respect me. We’re almost there. Thirteen months and we’re done.”
Before, it didn’t seem that long, but now, as I stare down at her, it feels like an eternity.
My heart is pounding in my throat. “We don’t have to do it.”
Ava’s eyes narrow to slits. “Oh no, you don’t. You can’t back out now,” she sneers. “You wouldn’t have that residency if it weren’t for my family. You wouldn’t have graduated without me.” Her eyes dance with rage. “I can make it all go away like that.” She snaps her fingers.