Magnus was trembling, his arms tightly banded around her. Because she’d gotten this far, Ava decided to finish.
“I didn’t even flinch, didn’t cry. I think that pissed him off more than anything. I was numb. I didn’t care anymore. I knew he was going to put my mother away no matter what he said. And I couldn’t stand the thought of living with him another minute. He’d made sure I knew he would kill me if I ever tried to leave him. I figured I might as well let him. At least then I wouldn’t have to see his face ever again.”
She took a deep breath, more of her anger and fear dissipating.
“All I remember after that is him yelling and screaming. The more I ignored him, the more he shouted. I’m not sure when he got the electric shaver, I only remember looking him in the eye as he held me by my hair and began to shave my head. It didn’t matter at that point. I knew I was dead, so why would I care? He left for a little while after that. I was hoping he was calling the doctor.”
She took another deep breath. “I didn’t consider the fact that he’d beaten me so much he couldn’t risk anyone seeing me at all. Not until he returned carrying a thick rope in his hand. He clutched it so tightly, lifting it to my face. He snarled at me, said if I didn’t get up, he’d make sure I never got up again. The pain had disappeared, so I didn’t move. I knew when I did, the fires of hell would blaze through me again, and I’d lost the will to live at that point.
“The next thing I remember is waking up in the dark. I could feel something pressing in around me. I tried to move, but I was wrapped tightly in something. I thought it was a coffin at first. I thought maybe I was dead, and that was how you went to the afterlife. I don’t know how I got out, but I did. It was dark outside. I tried to stand up, but I couldn’t. I decided to crawl but realized I couldn’t do that either because my wrist was broken. It was then I realized I wasn’t dead. No way the afterlife would be so painful. I heard a noise. Could’ve been an animal, I don’t know. But I got scared. There were lights off in the distance, so I started limping toward them.”
“Gloria Steiner found you,” Magnus whispered against her neck.
“She did. She got me to her house. I begged her not to tell anyone because I knew he would find me.” Ava pressed her hand against Magnus’s arm, which was still banded across her stomach. “Then you found me, Magnus. You saved me.”
“You saved yourself, Ava.”
She shook her head, but she didn’t argue.
***
Magnus held Ava for the longest time. He couldn’t let go. He needed the warmth of her body against his so he could reassure himself that she was alive, that Harrison Rivers no longer had the power to hurt her. If the bastard hadn’t been dead, Magnus would’ve killed him without batting an eye. He’d never wanted to hurt anyone as much as he wanted to hurt that man for what he’d done.
Ava was the first to move, shifting his arm from around her waist, but she didn’t get up. Instead, she turned around and faced him, her arms wreathing his neck.
“I’m alive, Magnus. The only way to move on is to accept that. Neither one of us can change what happened.”
No, they couldn’t.
“I’m not broken. Not my body and not my spirit.” She pulled back and stared into his eyes. “And now that you know … you have to let it go, too.”
He cupped her beautiful face. It was ravaged with tears, her nose and eyes red, but she was still the most beautiful woman in the world.
Magnus held her stare. “You’re so precious to me, Ava.”
Her eyes softened. “I know.”
“Do you?”
She nodded.
Magnus couldn’t resist the urge to kiss her. He leaned in and pressed his mouth to hers. Softly at first as he waited for her to kiss him back. When she did, he pulled her onto his lap, cradling the back of her head as he lost himself in her, his tongue dancing with hers in a soft, sensual embrace. He held on to her, circling her in his arms to soothe himself. As far as he was concerned, this was where she belonged. Nothing and no one would ever hurt her again because he would make sure of it.
It was the first of many kisses that spanned the next few days as they fell into a routine, one that didn’t involve him hovering over her so much. She didn’t bother trying to hide how much she appreciated that, and he understood.
But while they were becoming closer that way, Magnus didn’t make love to Ava although he wanted to. He just wasn’t ready because, try as he might, he couldn’t get past his conversation with Trey. When the man thought Magnus was having sex with Ava, he told him he didn’t love him anymore. Trey had ripped his heart clean out of his chest with those words. Since then, he’d felt flayed open.
Taking care of Ava allowed him to forget about it for a few minutes, but the pain would eventually return. Every time his anger would get the best of him, an image of Trey’s cocky smirk would pop into his head, and tears would spring to his eyes. He wanted him to come back. He loved the man so much. Magnus wasn’t ready to let go of Trey completely.
Eventually, he would have to, but he hoped to heal a little before that happened.
Chapter Twelve
Friday, August 5, 2022
On Friday morning, Trey woke up andchecked his text messages as he always did. Every other Friday was payday, and he was used to getting a message from the bank that his paycheck had been deposited, but he never received a notification. Then when he checked his account, he found that Magnus hadn’t fucking paid him.
It wasn’t that he needed the money, because he didn’t. He was lucky in that he didn’t live paycheck to fucking paycheck, but by God, when someone promised you something, Trey expected them to follow through. He figured this was Magnus’s way of paying him back for what Trey had said. He couldn’t recall the entire conversation, but Trey knew he’d drunk-dialed Magnus. He remembered hearing Ava’s voice in the background. It had cemented the fact that Magnus had moved on, that Ava had already moved into his bed. It had only been a week, and Magnus had forgotten him already.
