Given everything I had just been through, I should have been more guarded, more skeptical about putting so much faith in him. My parents would’ve called me a fool. They would’ve warned me that trusting too easily only leads to more hurt. But deep down, I knew there wasn’t any reason to build walls with Mythic. With him, it felt different. My heart told me he was the one place I didn’t need to keep my guard up, and despite everything I’d learned the hard way, I believed it. Completely.
I smiled, leaning into him. “Yeah. Let’s stop before you have me bent over the lettuce.”
“Yeah. ’Cause you got my dick harder than life right now,” he teased with that cocky grin still playing on his lips. Before I could even respond, his hand slid from my waist, gently cradling the back of my head. He pulled me in, and when his lips met mine, soft yet commanding, a moan escaped my throat. I got lost in the way his lips moved against mine, like he knew exactly howto make me melt. All I could do was savor the way he kissed me, as if he owned me.
My lips were still pressed against Mythic’s when I heard my father’s disapproving tone cut through the air like a whip.
“Aviana.” The way he said my name sent an ice-cold chill down my spine, just like when I was a little girl caught doing something I had no business doing, knowing I was about to get in trouble.
I froze. My whole body stiffened against Mythic’s. His hand was still on the back of my head, but I was snatched out of the moment. I reluctantly turned as my stomach knotted up. My father stood a few feet behind us with a cart with disappointment written all over his face like he’d just seen something he couldn’t unsee.
My voice was small and nervous as I greeted him. “Daddy.” I couldn’t even look him in the eye. My eyes kept bouncing between his and the floor.
“Come here,” he said with a flat tone.
I stepped away from Mythic, the heat of his kiss still lingering on my lips, and moved toward my father.
Mythic didn’t back down. He nodded at my dad, saying, “How you doin’, Mr. Bennett?”
But my father didn’t even look at Mythic, didn’t acknowledge him—nothing. He just ignored him, eyes locked on me like Mythic wasn’t even standing there. My cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
“What the hell are you doing, Aviana?” he gritted, full of judgment. “So, you’re dating him?”
Despite the utter disappointment in my father’s eyes, Mythic had been too good to me for me to ever deny him. “Yes.”
My father scoffed, frowning. “Are you serious? After all you’ve been through, you make a decision like this? He’s who you wantto be with? Do you remember how he treated you? How he broke your heart?”
“Daddy, that was a long time ago. We were kids back then. Things are different now.”
He shook his head, his face hard, like he wasn’t hearing a word I was saying. “A man like him doesn’t change. He hurt you before, and he’ll hurt you again. I don’t care how much time’s passed.”
I swallowed hard. “Daddy, I’m grown now. I know what I’m doing. I wouldn’t be with him if I didn’t trust him.”
He sighed, looking at me like he wanted to say more but was biting his tongue. “You can think you know all you want. But I’m telling you, a man like that, he doesn’t care about you the way you deserve.”
I felt the sting of his words, but I stood my ground. “I hear you, Daddy, I do, but you don’t know him like I do now.”
My father’s eyes looked toward Mythic for the briefest second, then back to me. “You’re right, Aviana; you’re grown. All I can do is pray for you.”
With that, he turned and pushed his cart past us, leaving me standing there, feeling like I was ten years old again, caught between the man who raised me and the one who had my heart held hostage.
As my father walked away, I felt Mythic’s presence come closer. His eyes were filled with sympathy and concern. He didn’t say anything, but I knew he wanted to. I wasn’t sure how much of my father’s conversation he had heard.
Just as he reached for my hand, my phone rang. I glanced down at it, and my heart sank when I saw the nameDetective Randallflash on the screen.
I stood there frozen for a second, not wanting to deal with more stress after that confrontation with my dad. I knew DetectiveRandall could only be calling about Damar’s case. The thought of it twisted my insides. That case had been like a constant storm over my life I couldn’t escape.
Without saying a word, I answered and fixed the volume so Mythic could hear too.
I sighed heavily, answering, “Hello, Detective Randall.”
“Hi, Aviana. I hope that I’m not disturbing you. I only need a moment of your time.”
Mythic stepped closer and leaned down so that he could still hear.
“I’m doing some grocery shopping, but you can go ahead.”
“I just wanted to inform you that Damar confessed to Mia’s murder.”
