After a beat, I nod. “I’ve taken some precautions. I have an insurance policy.”
“But why waste your time with someone you know you need one with?”
“I’m not sure I know that about her.”
“What?” He leans forward. “I mean…what?”
“What happened back then…I don’t think it was ever malicious. She woke up from being blackout drunk. You know how that is. So do I. You can’t even be sure what you’ve done, how are you gonna be sure of what other people did? She wasn’t thinking straight.”
Declan’s brows shoot up to his hairline at my defense of her. I’m not bothered. It’ll take Dec a while to stop thinking the worst of Avery, if he ever does. First, because his family’s got the kind of money that leads to contested wills, messy divorces, and vicious custody battles. There have even been some mysterious deaths. The Heyworth family is like aGame of Thronesreality show, where blackmail and backstabbing are competitive sports. The unspoken family motto istrust no one.
And then there’s the second reason he’ll be skeptical much longer than me. He hasn’t kissed her at a moment when she’s trying like hell to keep her distance. If she was just out for what she could get from me, she would not play hard to get the way she is. And her mouth wouldn’t taste the way it does under mine. So fucking sweet that I could make a meal of kissing her and nothing else.
There is something to us, the way there always has been, and now, after being dormant for two years, it’s come back stronger than ever. Avery is meant to be mine. I don’t know how long she’ll belong to me, or if things will end worse than they did two years ago, but I know that right here, right now, she’s mine and I cannot let her go.
I lean in, making sure I infuse some due respect into my tone because I’m about to disagree with Declan, which he doesn’t get often from anyone. “I know you thought Avery let me twist because she was trying to keep attention off her own wrongdoing and because she couldn’t resist feeding the drama, but that’s not the way it was. It’s not how she operates.”
“Right.” His skepticism carries some of the Heyworth arrogance, but not the full force of it because we’re friends. “What do you know about how she operates?”
“Not as much as I’d like to,” I quip.
His expression shifts to one of surprise. “What did she do for you yesterday?”
I smile. “Exactly.”
Movement above us draws my eyes up, and time slows down because Avery is toe-to-toe with Bardoratch. From their expressions, I can tell neither wants to be friends. Then she reaches out and grabs his rose, jerking it and tearing his suit.
“Oh shit.” I break for the stairs and fly up them.
By the time I reach the top, three rose guys surround her. Two of them are Lambda Delts, which, since we’re in their house, doesn’t bode well for picking a fight with them.
Avery’s way past the point of no return. She jerks another guy’s flower from his lapel, throws it to the ground and stomps it to paste.
“How dare you?” she says, eyes blazing.
On Bardoratch’s command, Cyborg reaches out to grab Avery.
I whistle, which causes Cyborg’s attention to shift to me. I point at Avery and shake my head.
The guy steps back.
Todd swivels angrily toward his muscle. “I said to toss her out!”
I shoulder my way into the fray and shove Avery behind me.
“You didn’t say your problem was with Moran,” Cyborg says.
“What difference does that make?” Bardoratch snaps.
“Whatever he’s paying you, I’ll double it if you take a walk,” I tell Cyborg, knowing my leverage isn’t really about money. It’s in the fact that he knows who I really am. Not only do I control the underground fight club where he makes serious bank, but I’m also Joe Sullivan’s grandson. No amount of money from a limp dick college guy is worth taking on Boston’s Irish Mafia.
Cyborg nods at me and lopes off toward the stairs. Bardoratch looks like his head might explode.
Wilson, the Lambda VP, steps forward, puffing out his chest. “Does this little bitch belong to you, Moran?” He leans close enough for Avery’s hand to snake out and get his rose. She yanks it from his chest and throws it down, emerging from behind me to smash it in front of him.
She’s out of fucking control.
But wild does look good on her.
