Finally, I found my voice. “Fuck.”
Boys sucked.
THREE
I was going to fucking kill him.
The thought was a raw, red loop in my brain—a drumbeat of pure, unfiltered hatred for the pretty-boy dipshit still standing in front of me. Ava disappeared into the women’s restroom down the hall, and the rage that had been boiling inside me since the moment Chris stepped out of that room with his pants still undone and that fucking hickey on his neck finally broke.
I closed the distance between us in the blink of an eye and pinned Ava’s cheating piece of shit ex against the wall with my arm at his throat. His eyes went wide, but I was stronger than he was and we both knew it.
Strength aside, I was pretty sure I had enough rage to beat him to a bloody pulp even if he had been bigger than me.
“You fucking stupid piece of shit. You willneverfind a woman better than Ava. You just lost the best thing you’ll ever have in your entire pathetic existence. No piece of ass is worth what you just gave up.”
I pushed harder against his throat for just a secondbefore I stepped away. He wasn’t worth any more of my time. The only person who mattered was Ava.
Without another glance in his direction, I walked toward the women’s restroom Ava had disappeared into and knocked gently on the door.
No response.
“Ava?” I kept my voice low, erasing the anger I’d just felt for Chris and trying to inject it with the calm she needed. “It’s me. You okay in there?”
A choked sound answered, a sharp, ragged inhalation that was definitelynotokay.
My chest tightened, a fierce, aching pain that had absolutely no business being there. Ava had been in my life for as long as Drew had. She’d always been a bright light to everyone around her, me included. There were only two women who inspired the protective instincts that surged inside me—my mom and Ava. I hated knowing she was hurting and feeling useless to fix it. It made me want to go back and pummel that useless excuse of a man she’d been dating for the last four months.
I’d never liked him.
He was too smooth. Too put together, like he was pretending to be a good guy when actually he was a dick. Which turned out to be the truth.
Ava needed someone who would push her and challenge her, but who would also fall on his sword for her. I was pretty sure a storybook prince was the only one good enough for her, and those men were unfortunately fictional.
I hated even more that she was crying over this guy. He didn’t deserve her tears.
I’d make him pay for that later.
Right now, I needed to coax Ava out of this bathroom.
“Aves?” There was a sniffle that sounded like she wasright on the other side of the door. “It’s okay to be pissed and hurt. But that lowlife isn’t worth one single tear, Ava. Not one.”
Silence. Then, a shuddering breath that sounded like she was trying to hold back a sob and failing.
I couldn’t stay out here listening to her cry. “If you don’t come out, then I’m coming in there.”
There was another sniffle and what sounded like a watery laugh before the door opened. Her eyes were red rimmed and glassy, and I despised the pain in them.
“He’s not worth it, Aves. You deserve so much better than that scumbag.”
“I know,” she said, her voice throatier than normal. “I just feel so stupid and blindsided.”
“You are not stupid. Don’t talk about yourself like that. This is entirely his loss.”
She didn’t look like she believed me. Her gaze skittered past my shoulder, and I realized there were other people walking around, likely looking for a place to study.
“I just want to go home.” Her voice lacked the usual confidence she carried, but I nodded. Whatever she wanted, I’d make sure she got it.
“Come on. I’ll walk you home.”
