Letting Ava take the lead, I follow her down the hallway toward my room, reaching past her to push the door open. Her head swivels to take in my space as we enter, everything neat and orderly, the bed crisply made.
“Not what you expected?” I ask, closing the door behind us. “I forgot you’re used to Ford’s room, that place looks like a bomb went off in it.”
“No kidding,” she snorts, advancing further into my space and stopping in front of the bulletin board above my desk. She squints at the family photo pinned at the bottom, lips pursing in consideration. “Is this your family?”
“Not anymore,” I grumble.
Ava turns toward me, her eyes searching mine for more of an answer. When I don’t give it, she steps over to sit down on the edge of my bed, my hoodie swallowing up her small frame.
Closing the distance in a few strides, I sink down next to her, sweeping a strand of chestnut hair behind her ear. “You probably wanna take a shower, huh? You can use mine.”
She looks down at the markings on her bare legs, features contorting in disgust. “I guess I should,” she mutters. Taking another few seconds to collect herself, she pushes up to stand, heading for the bathroom and shutting herself inside.
I ease back on my bed, staring at the closed door and listening to the water running, still surprised she trusts me enough to be in my space. My mind drifts off as she takes her time in the shower, then I finally grab a t-shirt and a pair of boxer shorts from my dresser for her to wear before taking out my contacts, stripping down to my boxers, and climb into bed.
When Ava finally emerges from the bathroom she’s like a damn vision, steam billowing out behind her as she floats across the room wrapped in a towel. Her skin is bright pink from how hard she’s scrubbed it, but the ink’s gone, the evidence of her torture washed down the drain.
“You can put those on, if you want,” I offer, pointing to the clothes folded at the foot of the bed. “Or you can sleep naked. Think you already know which option I’d pick.”
She rolls her eyes, padding over to the end of the bed and snatching up the t-shirt and boxers I laid out for her. My pulse skips when she drops the towel and starts pulling them on, climbing into bed beside me and tucking her legs under the covers. She smells like my soap and shampoo, giving rise to some primal sense of possession.
I slip and arm around Ava and she curls in toward me, her body warm and soft against mine, hair damp from the shower.
“Tonight was horrible,” she rasps, voice muffled as she nuzzles against my chest. “I hate him.”
I make a scoffing sound in my throat. “You should hate all of us.”
“I do.”
“Ouch.”
Ava’s wry chuckle vibrates against my skin, her fingertips tracing the dips of my abs. “Don’t act like you care. Everyone else was picking me apart tonight, but you guys have been doing it from day one.”
I heave a sigh, tossing an arm up on the pillow beside my head and letting the full weight of that truth settle over me.
“You have no idea what it’s like to be looked at like that,” she mutters, biting out every word. “For people to see you at your worst, take one look and pass judgment.”
“Yeah I do,” I murmur, staring up at the ceiling as I stroke a hand down her spine.
Ava pulls back just enough to look at me, brows drawn in. “Yeah right.You, of all people, have no clue.”
“You think I’ve always looked like this?” I growl, her accusation picking at the scabs of old wounds. “Back in the day, girls would fuckinglaughwhen I asked them out. Ford and Raf had chicks crawling all over them, but I was a skinny fucking dweeb who nobody looked twice at.”
Ava blinks at me, like I just told her the earth is flat. “You?”
“Believe it or not,” I grumble. “I woke up one day and decided I was done with rejection, so I hit the gym hard. I bulked up, got contact lenses, and stopped being such a goddamn pussy. Now I can’t keep the ladies off me.” The corner of my mouth twitches up in a smirk as I nod down at the way she’s snuggled in against my chest. “Case in point.”
“Shut up and turn the lights off,” she quips, rolling off me and flipping the other way. “I need to sleep.”
I reach over to the nightstand and tap the lamp, my room descending into pitch black darkness as the bulb extinguishes. Ava’s breath hitches, and I roll onto my side, banding an arm around her waist and tugging her body against mine.
She may think she’s proving some sort of point right now by turning her back on me, but I have zero complaints about the way her ass is molding to my cock.
I have no idea how I’m gonna sleep tonight with her hot little body pressed against me, but it feels like she belongs in my bed.
And that’s an issue I’ll just have to wait to sort the fuck out another day.
CHAPTER 42
