Magnus flinched, the memory of how she’d looked when they found her made his throat close. He could still see the rope burn around her neck. It was the first thing he’d noticed when they’d found her at Gloria Steiner’s house.
“Or when he raped me every single night I lived in that house with him because he said I was his wife and I owed it to him?”
Magnus kept his ass on the cushion, but he wanted to jump to his feet. He wanted to dig Harrison’s cold, dead body out of the ground and beat the shit out of him because the bastard hadn’t deserved to die the way he had. Being shot in the head while asleep had been a mercy the man damn sure didn’t deserve. He hadn’t paid for what he’d done to Ava. Magnus hadn’t even gotten the chance to make the bastard pay for it.
And to top it off, his own family had distanced themselves. Harrison’s father had made a blanket statement to the press, not confirming or denying whether they believed he was at fault. The only positive was they hadn’t pointed the finger at Ava. If they’d done that, Magnus would’ve lost his shit.
“I hated him with a vengeance, Magnus,” Ava said, her tone softer. “I wanted to leave him every single day, but I couldn’t. He threatened to kill my mother, and forgive me, but I believed he would.”
Magnus swallowed past the constriction in his throat.
“I don’t want to spend the rest of my life remembering all that,” she stated firmly. “I want to move on, and I thought I was gonna do that with you. I thought that’s what you wanted.”
“It is,” he said quickly. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
“So why won’t you touch me?” she repeated, her words more of an accusation than a question.
He couldn’t come up with a reason.
“What you have with Trey—”
“Had,” he corrected.
Ava’s expression softened. “That’s what I want, Magnus. I want that undeniable chemistry. I want a man who walks in the door and can’t keep his hands off me because I can’t keep my hands off him. Do you know how many times I’ve fantasized that you come home and I’m in the kitchen making dinner? You spin me around and kiss me so hard I’m breathless. And then you strip off my shorts, pick me up, and set me on the counter so you can do to me what you did the other day.That’swhat I think about when I think of you, Magnus. I don’t expect you to be gentle, because I know that when you take me, it’s because youwantme, not because you want to control me.”
Now Magnus had that image in his head, and he’d be damned if his cock didn’t harden.
“Once, I even imagined that…” She stopped herself and took a deep breath. “I saw you once. When you were sucking Trey’s cock. It was an accident, but I saw you. I couldn’t look away. I was fascinated by it. The hunger I saw on his face as he stared down at you. I fantasized that I was on my knees beside you, and we were both giving him pleasure.”
“Ava…” Magnus wasn’t sure he could handle more of her fantasies.
“I’m not broken, Magnus.” She lifted her arms and then dropped her hands in her lap, staring down at them. “I’m really not.”
“I know.”
She didn’t look up or acknowledge that he’d spoken. “You think I ask you to sleep on the couch with me because I don’t want to be in a closed room with you. “
Since she didn’t ask a question, he didn’t answer. She was right, though. He had come to the conclusion that Ava felt safer with him on the couch than in her bedroom. It made perfect sense considering all she’d been through.
“That’s not why I suggest the couch.” She glanced at him from beneath her lashes. “It’s because my bed is too small, and I don’t want you to think I’m assuming anything if I ask to sleep in your bed with you.”
He inhaled sharply. That had never occurred to him at all. There’d been so many times, at least recently, when he’d wanted to suggest they go to his bed so she could be more comfortable. He hadn’t, and he never would have because Ava’s sense of security was the only thing that mattered to him.
“What I’m trying to tell you is that I want you, Magnus. And I want you to want me, too.”
She continued to stare at him, but he wasn’t sure what she wanted him to say. He wanted her more than his next breath, but he didn’t want to rush things. He’d learned what happened when he did that. Look at what had happened between him and Trey. They’d lasted for a year and a half because Magnus had been the one to pursue Trey.
And in the end, it had backfired in his face. Trey didn’t want him because he didn’t understand him. He knew he wouldn’t survive if Ava came to that same conclusion later on down the road.
Ava sighed softly, then got to her feet. “Good night, Magnus.”
He was still rattled, staring after her as she disappeared down the hall and into her bedroom.
Chapter Ten
Saturday, July 30, 2022
By Saturday night, Trey was getting onhis own nerves. He’d spent the entire week wallowing in self-pity to the point he wanted to punch his whiny ass in the face.
