*Ava*“So, what time are we studying today?” Noah asks on the phone the moment after I say hi.“Because otherwise, I have no idea how I’m going to pass this damn final.”I find myself smiling and shaking my head at his words. Noah’s no idiot. He’s much smarter than he gives himself credit for. After all, he’s always had my back through the years, and we’ve managed to get this far together. Studying with him sounds like a great idea. It’ll make sure that I’ve gone over the material and feel ready for this final.I look over at the clock, thinking. “How about we do it in a few hours? Come over, and we can set up in my room to get ourselves organized.”“You’re a lifesaver!” Noah booms. I can hear his smile coming through the phone. “Awesome, thank you, Ava. I’ll be over soon.”I shake my head again but hang up the phone before laughing. He’s a good friend to me, and I genuinely don’t know where I’d be without his help. It’s the least I can do to study with him before this s
*Ava*Before I can finish my sentence, I have people knocking into me, yelling, and nearly knocking me to the ground. I don’t even realize I’ve stopped in the middle of the street, too stunned at my phone to notice everything moving around me. “Watch where you’re going, airhead!” A voice snaps.“Move!” Another person barks.I regain my balance and quickly get out of the way of the grumbling patrons, moving to the sidewalk and out of the way of foot traffic. Better not to anger the people, and just do as they say.I continue my walk to work in something of a daze. Looking down at the phone again, I feel the same constriction in my chest that I did a few minutes ago. I’ve never had this much in one account before. I mean, I’m honestly surprised this is a real number that I’m seeing. Fifteen-thousand dollars? On my bank account? I must be dreaming or something. Should I pinch myself?Sure, I make more than that in a year at the bar, but not all together. Not all at once. What
*Ava*I look from Emma to my bedroom, searching for the right words to use so that I seem casual in my exit. “I’d love to keep chatting, but I am absolutely spent from this day. I’m gonna go to bed.” Thankfully, she doesn’t try to make me stick around and continue talking. “I’ll see you in the morning.” We give each other another hug, and I’m once again reminded of how she is the best friend I’ve ever had. I’m so glad she’s home. She wishes me good night, blowing me a kiss. What would I possibly do without her?I head into my bedroom before closing the door. As soon as the coast is clear, I pull out my phone to call Liam. The rush of nervousness and adrenaline that flows through me at the thought of hearing his voice again makes me smile to myself as I wait for Liam to pick up the phone. I don’t have any patience anymore. Everything I feel with him, I just want it to be happening all the time, now. Everything about him makes me feel … senseless.“Ava,” he says when he answe
*Ava*“What’s up, Dad? It’s really early,” I said, looking at the clock beside my bed. It was just rolling over to six a.m.“Are you prostituting yourself to get money for my legal defense?” Joseph Williams demanded without preamble.I held the phone away and looked at it, pinched myself, and decided I wasn’t dreaming. “Prostituting myself?!”“You heard me. I saw the pictures of you and that James Kincaid fellow. You were hanging off his arm like … like…” In his anger, my father seemed to have lost his words.“Like a sugar baby?” I suggested delicately.“Like an escort!” my father barked.I winced, both because he was loud and because I didn’t like the comparison he was drawing. “I’m not an escort. Or … well … not THAT kind of escort. I’m just arm candy, Dad. Just arm candy. Sometimes rich guys just need to be seen with a woman on their arm. It’s a business thing,” I said.“Business,” my father repeated doubtfully.“Yeah, business. There’s nothing physical or anything
*Ava*James stands in the doorway, smiling and dressed so well I have no choice but to be embarrassed by whatever I am wearing.I look down, see I’m wearing boxers and a camisole top with fuzzy bunny slippers on my feet, and blush from my hairline to my toenails.“Hey, gorgeous,” James says, his eyes following my blush. At least I hope they’re following my blush.Actually, his gaze makes me a bit self-conscious and I fold my arms over my breasts. I still smile, though. “What brings you here?” I ask. “Sorry about the uh … I wasn’t exactly … expecting company.”“No complaints here,” James replies and I get uncomfortable all over again. He isn’t Liam. I don’t want him looking at me the same way Liam does.With Liam, I’d be getting tingles. Now? My skin feels a bit clammy.“Um…” I try again, shifting from bunny slipper to bunny slipper.James grins at me, finally taking his eyes off my assets. “I wanted to take you shopping for our date tonight.”I suppose anyone would lo
*Liam*I pull up in front of Emma and Ava’s apartment just to see James Kincaid’s Corvette speeding off – with my Ava inside it. James is just putting the top up as they round the block and disappear from sight, tearing them from my sight.Jealousy twists in my gut. It shouldn’t, but it does. I know James is just a cover for me, so I can keep seeing Ava. And holding Ava. And making love to Ava. But it still burns that she is on his arm during the daylight in front of God and everyone. And not mine.I also had been rather hoping I’d see her before taking Emma out for our lunch date. Maybe steal a secret kiss. Hell, in my wildest fantasies, I’d imagined being able to bring Ava to a climax before Emma was even ready to leave. A man could dream.Emma came bounding out of the apartment, interrupting my sour thoughts. I guess if she was already ready, that would have squashed that idea anyway. Perhaps getting a glimpse of Ava as she went off with James is the best I can do today.“
*Ava*I am arm candy. That’s all I can say. I am standing in a room full of men who are talking and laughing and discussing business, and staring at other women like me who are vapidly hanging onto the men they came with and giving a little giggle – or even a little wiggle – when some other man’s attention turns their way.They sip champagne and they giggle.All. Night. Long.And now … now I’m one of them.As a graduate student studying management, this should be a golden opportunity for me to network. But aside from introducing me around to his colleagues when we got there, James has preferred for me to be a silent statue at his side.I hate it. I want out of here.I try to think of some excuse, any excuse, to leave this hell of being surrounded by Stepford women.I have a brain. No man here thinks I can use it. Least of all, it seems, James. James is all charm. Mostly. Actually, I start to think he might not be as charming as I originally thought, that first niggle
*Ava*A new day dawns and, after a morning shower, I feel like I’ve gotten enough of the dirtiness of James off me to concentrate on my finals.It’s just the two left before graduation. I’m excited I’ll be getting out in the real world soon. Making my own connections. Creating my own success.Of course, not all the yuck from that slimeball James comes off, and an image of him telling me I must be a wildcat in the sack creeps into my mind.Emma probably wasn’t wrong about telling Liam. Maybe I should tell him. James is going all stalker on me, and I don’t want to end up in a landfill in Jersey.But Liam’s already doing so much for my father. How can I burden him with this, too?I sigh and grab up my briefcase, heading to the Manhattan Institute of Management. Two finals. Just two finals and I could concentrate on other things.Like James.Like Dad.Like Liam.I make it to campus without incident and sit through my two exams. In between, I have about two hours for lun
*Ava***TWO WEEKS LATER**“Dad,” I say, sighing into the phone as I pace our new New York townhouse kitchen. “Calm down.”“I will not! What do you mean ‘I moved in with Liam’? The man’s old enough to be your father!” my father shouts.I hold the phone away from my ear. I probably could have heard him from Chicago without it. “Ouch, Dad, that was loud. And we already established that yes, Liam is a little older than me…”“A little?! His daughter is your age!” my dad continues fuming.“Yes…” I reply with failing patience. “And that’s kind of how we met…”“‘Kind of’?” my father echoes.I swallow. Maybe if he understands the context, he’ll be more okay with our relationship. After all, Mindy and he met at a mutual friend’s party. “Well, you see, there was this party…” I lay it out for him.“He called you another woman’s name and you’re still with him?” my dad grumps.Now I know he’s just trying to poke holes in my balloon. “Dad, I really thought you were over this. If y
*Ava*My arms have fallen asleep.I peek my eyes open and follow the long line of one arm as it goes up over my head, and realize I’m tied to the headboard.Panic gives way quickly to a blush of embarrassment. Ah yes, we did that last night.My blush deepens when I remember it in detail, Liam tormenting me while my wrists were tied to the bottom of the headboard with my own scarves. We must have both fallen asleep without remembering to untie me.I wiggle my arms and blood begins to circulate again. I can probably get out of this – I’m only loosely tied – but I don’t want to wreck my nice scarves and besides, I want to see Liam’s reaction when he wakes up and sees me like this.Since he isn’t awake yet, I take the opportunity to watch the rise and fall of his muscular chest and memorize every line of his face. He looks so peaceful in sleep.As though he can feel my eyes on him, Liam wakes with a yawn. His eyes lazily wander my body up and down, flaring with desire when he
*Ava*Two days. Two days and I still haven’t returned to EduRide.I can’t stomach the idea of walking past the bathroom, remembering when Noah jumped me there. How could anyone jump me there?Memories of the bathroom lead to memories of the warehouse and suddenly, I can’t breathe.Maybe it would be different if they’d caught Catherine. But no, she’d gotten away.A dark shadow left to lurk in the corners of my life.Lilian understands, though, and told me to take my time coming back to work.Noah made a plea bargain and is now sitting in prison for kidnapping me. He’s going to spend less time in prison than I want, but I suppose a few years is better than nothing. I just don’t like that he can get out early for good behavior.I shudder, thinking of him trying to kiss me. I’m glad I bit him.“Hey, baby, are you okay?” Liam asks, crossing to the sofa with a tray of hot cocoa.This man always knows what I need. And hot cocoa with a smiley face in marshmallows shakes me
*Ava*The cops ask me a multitude of questions, and I do my best to answer them. It’s frustrating trying to explain everything. I insist that Noah took me from my office, that someone was supposed to be watching over me. Even with all the precautions we still ended up in this situation.The female cop talking to me, who tells me her name is Kierra, is patient. “You’ve been through some serious trauma. I want you to take your time talking to me because otherwise, we’ll miss important details. Can you do that, Ava?” Her voice is soft, and I can see in her eyes, and posture, that she truly wants things to be easier for me. I have my hand still wrapped in Liam’s, but Kierra’s encouraging words surrounding the other cops listening make things easier.We only talk for about ten minutes, Liam insisting after that he’s taking me straight home. “If you’d like to talk to Ava anymore, then come back to my place and you can ask your questions there.”Hearing Liam think of me like that,
*Ava*It’s gotten much later, and the warehouse is mostly shrouded in darkness. Catherine and Noah refuse to turn on any lights. The only reason I can see anything at this point is because of the windows allowing moonlight through. There’s wood nailed to most of the windows, however, not allowing enough light through to really see well. The dilapidated building just stands silently.I’ve been doing everything to keep myself together. Hours of sitting in this chair have me sore in so many different places. My arms have gone numb at this point, same with my ass. My legs are screaming to stand, and my face is still tingling from the duct tape being ripped off. But it’s keeping myself from crying that’s been the most challenging.I refuse to give them the satisfaction of my tears, of my fear. These two really thought they could do this to me? Well, I won’t let them see me break. I’m nothing if not resourceful. Noah has been trying to talk to me, ask me questions, get my attention,
*Liam*Ava’s gone.The man I had guarding her didn’t notice anything. But when I went to pick her up, she didn’t answer my texts, didn’t show up, nothing.Now I’m on the verge of having an aneurysm, no clue if Ava’s safe, or…I swallow, knowing dwelling on the what-ifs is dangerous.The cameras in the lobby of her building have been tampered with. I spend a solid five minutes screaming at the man who’s supposed to be protecting her, but he just stands there, stoic, taking the insults and anger.It’s not very often I raise my voice like this. Keeping something of a cool head around others is important to me. Ava’s really been one of the only people I’ve allowed to see me lose even something of a temper.But the tail, Victor, just listens. He understands the severity of the situation, and when I finally take a breath and have nothing left to say, I point to the building. “Go find her!”He does what I say, and I groan, running my hands through my hair. I can’t believe this
*Ava*“Ah, Ava,” Catherine says, a bite to her tone. She’s wearing her Louis Vuitton heels, which I know from the flashes of red I can see when she walks. She wears a black tank top and a pair of black jeans to match, looking much more put together than Noah does in his dirty t-shirt and jeans. “It’s not nice to see you, but whatever.” Of all the people Noah could have brought into this, how did it end up being Catherine? They’re from completely different walks of my life. What would have brought them together in the first place?Even though I have no idea how she got here, I’m genuinely not even a little bit surprised Catherine has found a way to insert herself into something in my life that might benefit her. She was always very good at that.She continues talking, looking off to the side as if pulling from a memory. “But, I’m very happy you’re here. Now instead of trying to use your nothing father, I can use you. I mean, he was never worth anything to me. Good riddance to h
*Ava*Once I’ve gotten ready for work, I say goodbye to Liam.“I’ll have a tail on you while we figure all of this out. We’ll figure out this entire thing once and for all, put it all behind us,” Liam tells me before I’ve left the house. “I love you.”I kiss him, telling him I love him, too. Feeling more secure now, I head out to work feeling lighter. I don’t notice the tail Liam put on me, thankfully, which made it easier to concentrate on my work. If Lilian knows anything about my ‘tail,’ she doesn’t say anything. She treats today like any other day, which is … nice. I don’t want my job to know I have a stalker.Maybe I’ll meet Liam for lunch today. It would be nice not to eat alone.As though summoned by my thoughts, my work phone rings, and a familiar voice that seeps through me like warm honey comes on the line.“Hello, my love,” Liam says and I find myself blushing at my desk. “How is work going today?”“Liam!” I hiss into my phone, looking up to see Lilian just
*Ava*It feels good to get ready for work. I may still be staying at Liam’s, but it’s all temporary. I’d love to discuss staying here, but only if he wants to. I’m not sure how to broach the subject, honestly. But I wouldn’t have been able to get through any of this without him. So, somehow, I’m going to have to figure out my way to the question.Once I’ve reached the building, I look around for Noah. Since I’ve been in Chicago, I haven’t worried too much about him. But now that I’m back, I can’t stop wondering if he’s lurking around every corner. I don’t spot him anywhere. I check over my shoulder and try to notice anything suspicious periodically. Nothing. Maybe Liam really did scare him away. I wasn’t sure it could be done, but I’m glad I finally have a moment to exhale. One less thing to worry about. I get back into the swing of things, chatting it up with my co-workers, enjoying the work I’m doing. I’m feeling myself thaw little by little. It’s a great feeling, one I