Delaney’s voice carried softly throughout the room. “Do you want to talk about it, Ava?”
My arms automatically tightened around her waist, and even though all the people in the room were here for her, I wanted to sweep her away and just let her hide out forever. I wanted to do what was best for her, but I didn’t want to watch her suffer for it, either. I could feel her take a deep breath, and my heart cracked down the middle.
She was going to talk.
Her hands clasped over mine and I turned my palms outwards, so she could intertwine her fingers in mine. “It started like it always does for most children,” she said, her voice low and steady, but because everyone in the room was deathly still, we could all hear her clearly. “I remember feeling happy around him because, before him, none of Elise’s boyfriends had wanted anything to do with me. I was used to…my mom not being around often, but I always became invisible the second she got a new boyfriend. Oh, she’d introduce me, and pretend to be a doting mother, but the second the introductions were made, she’d leave me with the house staff and run off to do whatever it is she did.”
Ava’s hands tightened in mine and I felt like I was bleeding everywhere. I brushed my lips against her ear. “You can stop whenever you want, baby,” I told her.
I felt a small nod, but she continued, “So, when Peter showed up in the picture, I had been so starved for a family, I had felt positively ecstatic that he wanted to drag a nine-year-old girl around with them. He actually forced my mother to be around more.” Ava let out a painful laugh. “I had actually felt grateful to the bastard for paying attention to me and making my mom spend more time with me.” She shook her head at the unbelievable memory. “There was no ‘aha’ moment where I can pinpoint when he crossed the line that first time. People see an adult holding a child or rubbing their back and it looks innocent because it’s supposed to be. Your mind and eyes don’t register that there could possibly be anything inappropriate in those small acts, you know.” I glanced around the room and the girls had tears in their eyes, whereas the guys looked feral. “He had been touching me for a while before he finally made me touch him, only I hadn’t seen the sickness coming. Up until he had me put my hands on him, his touching had always been rubbing my back or brushing my hair or massaging my legs…things like that. He had never touched my…intimate places, so I didn’t think there was anything wrong with all those caresses.”
Ava jumped out of my lap, and I watched, along with everyone else, as she paced the room. “He said…” She let out a deep swoosh of breath like she was going to lose it, but she didn’t. “He said, ‘You know how you like it when I brush your hair and scratch your scalp? You know how you like it when I rub your back? Well, you want to know what makes me feel good?’ I remember being excited to hear what he liked.” She let out a heartbreaking, strangled laugh. “I remember wondering if it would make me feel good, too.” We all watched in silence as Ava sliced herself open to bleed all over place. “I told him I wanted to know what made him feel good. Jesus fucking Christ.”
I stood up. “Ava-”
She threw her hand up, palm facing forward to stop me. “It’s okay, Ace.” She went back to pacing and continued her story. “He had pulled his pants down and showed me his dick. I knew what it was, but I hadn’t known what all it was, you know. He wrapped my hand around it and, when it started to grow, he had made it sound so fascinating as he explained what it was doing. It was…unbelievably sick how I knew it was wrong, but I wanted to please him. He had been so nice to me and had helped Elise be a better mother, I…I convinced myself that it wasn’t wrong.”
“You were nine,” Emerson snapped. “You didn’t convince yourself of anything, Ava. You are not responsible for this even if you knew it was wrong.”
“No, Emerson,” she argued. “I twisted reality to suit what I needed at the time. I might have been young, but I knew boys were different from girls by then. I’m not saying it’s my fault, at all. What I’m saying is that…his manipulation worked. He was so nice to me I went through all the typical phases of wanting to please him back to not wanting to get him in trouble.”
I watched Emerson cross her arms over her chest and Ramsey pull her closer. “Fuck that,” she muttered.
I was surprised by the small grin on Ava’s face. I’d have to say she was probably feeling warmed by Emerson’s complete defense of her. “It didn’t turn dark and violent until he penetrated me for the first time. That’s when my true reality sunk in and I turned my back on everything I had been allowing. By that time, he’d become spoiled by how I let him use me to feed his depravity, he took what he wanted.” Ava stopped pacing and sat on the table, much like I had been earlier. “When it was over, he said if I told Elise, she’d disown me. She’d blame me and she’d send me off to foster care. And because Elise had been such a shit parent, it wasn’t a hard to believe his threats.”
“Oh, Ava…” Delaney whispered, visibly torn apart.
Ava looked over at her. “It went on for months until one day, Elise walked in on Peter with his hand up my skirt and his other hand wrapped around his dick.” Ava shook her head. “Elise had acted mortified, and all I could think was, this is it. Mom’s going to save me.” Another deep breath. “She didn’t. She told me I had better not say anything and accused me of instigating what happened because Peter was such a good man. Pedophiles were trash and Peter was not trash. He had a good job, came from a good family, and had money, so it had to be my fault.”
Deke let out a dark, sinister laugh. “I swear to God, Ava. If I ever see your mother, she better run the other way.”
Her features soften and she gave Deke a tender smile. “Thanks for that, Deke, but that’s not necessary.”
“The fuck it’s not,” Emerson snapped.
Ava looked around the room until her eyes landed on mine. They were wet, but clear. I think after being along all these years to deal with this shit on her own, finally having people she could lean on, was opening up a new world for her.
She was finally feeling worthy; loved.
Ava stared at me for a few seconds before asking, “What would you do if I walked away from everything in this house, my mother, school, this town, everything? What would you do if I just walked away from everything?”
That was easy.
“I’d follow,” I told her. “Wherever you go, however you want to get there, I’d follow you, Kit.”
Ava looked back at Delaney. “I love you, Delaney,” she said. “You’re the only reason I ever had to stay here. Now that you’re going off to Blaineview, I think it’s time I…move on, too.”
“Funny you should mention that, Ava,” Liam chimed in. “We know you’re registered at Georgetown, but we got you in as a late registration for Blaineview if you want to go to school with the girls.”
Ramsey smirked. “That’s another reason we came by today,” he added. “You don’t have to go to Georgetown unless that really is the school of your dreams.”
“Can…can I think about it?” she asked, unsure.
“Sure,” Ramsey granted.
Ava looked over at me and with no embarrassment, whatsoever, she said, “I’m tired, Ace. Can you just take me up to bed?”
I stood up and picked her up in my arms. I scanned the room and said, “You guys can stay, leave, whatever. We’ll be upstairs.”
Emerson stood up. “We’ll go ahead and leave and give you guys some privacy,” she replied. “But we expect you guys at Deke and Delaney’s tonight for their party.”
I chuckled. I imagined not a lot of people told this girl no. “Sure thing, Your Highness,” I teased as I threw a wink at her.
Ramsey rolled his eyes next to her and said, “Christ, don’t get her started, dude.”
With everyone laughing, I walked Ava out of the living room and up the stairs. Once I got her in her room, I sat her on the bed and knelt down in front of her. I ran my hands up and down the top of her thighs as I looked into her blue beauties. “I can’t
imagine how difficult that was for you, Kit.”
“The hardest thing I’ve ever done,” she agreed. “But also the most…liberating.” Her face was soft and emotional. “But…did you see? Did you see how they didn’t judge me or pity me? Ace, they defended me. They treated me like I mattered.”
I couldn’t promise I wouldn’t kill Peter Scranton if I ever saw him, or Elise, for that matter, if I ever saw her again. “Ava, baby, that’s because you do matter,” I growled before slamming my lips down on hers.
Chapter 25
Ava~
It was almost six o’clock, and we were supposed have been at Delaney’s by now, but Ace had let me sleep the day away after making me lose my mind-twice-and now we were running behind.
Telling everyone what had happened to me this morning had been the hardest thing I had ever had to do. The sexual abuse was something I’d had to endure but exposing my demons had been something voluntarily grueling.
But these past few days have showed me that I had never been in control of the effects Peter had on my mind and emotions. All I had managed to do, all these years, was become an easy victim versus a reluctant one. I had been so afraid of being raped again, of being helpless again, that I had become an accomplice instead of the fighter everyone thought I was.
I didn’t want to be that anymore.
I didn’t want to be an accommodating victim.
I wanted to be better.
I needed to be better.
I needed to be what Ace saw in me.
That’s the girl I wanted to be.
“I’m registered to go to Stanford in the fall,” Ace blurted out from where he sat on the bed, putting his shoes on.
I turned away from the closet and looked over at him. “You are?”
He sat up, planted his hands on the top of his thighs, and looked over at me. “Yep.” That was in California, close enough to Blaineview. “But I’ll follow you to Georgetown if that’s where you want to go, Kit. I can figure something out when I get there.”
I walked over to where he was sitting, picking out an outfit all but forgotten, and knelt down in front of him. “It’s been three days, Ace,” I reminded him. “You’re really willing to rearrange your future to follow me to Georgetown?”
His golden eyes blazed as he said, “I’m willing to rearrange my future to follow you anywhere.”
“I’m going to have setbacks, you know,” I pointed out as if he needed reminding.
“I’m strong enough for that, Ava,” he stated, no doubt at all. “I’m strong enough for whatever you’ve been through and whatever you’ll ever go through.”
My eyes watered as Ace reached out to caress my face. “Complete honesty here?” He nodded his head. “I’ve survived a lot, but I’m not sure I could survive us not working out, Ace.” His hand clasped my shoulders, and he pulled upward, forcing me to stand in front of him. He placed a kiss on my navel as I was only wearing a bra and panty set. I had been over by the closet looking for a dress when he had announced where he was registered to go to school.
Weaving my hands through his hair, I looked down as he pulled back and looked up at me. His hands were roaming up and down over my hips and this felt like one of those random perfect moments in time. “Baby, I might not be ready to marry you, just yet,” he smirked, “but I’m not going anywhere. Ever.”
I stepped forward until he was forced to lean back, and I climb onto his lap. His cock nestled perfectly between my legs as I straddle him.
Screw it.
We were just going to have to be really late to the party.
Ace knew exactly where I was going with this. “Baby, we’re never going to make it to that party if you don’t get up from my lap,” he warned.
I wrapped my arms around his neck. “We can be late,” I whispered as I ran my body across his already hardening length.
“We’re already late,” he pointed out, his lips dancing across the skin of my collarbone.
I reached down and started unbuttoning his jeans. “I don’t care,” I told him honestly. This beautiful boy just told me that he’d rearrange his entire future to follow me anywhere. That kind of declaration couldn’t go unrewarded. I braced my weight on my knees as Ace lifted his ass to push his jeans and boxer briefs down to his knees. His cock sprang free, and I was already foaming at the mouth. His lips touched my navel as he reached in between my legs and ripped the white lace clean off my body. The second his hand cleared, I sank down on his cock as far as I could take him.
“God, you feel so good, baby,” he muttered against the swell of my tits.
“Not as good as you feel,” I countered.
“Not as good as you feel, Kit,” he volleyed.
I started riding his cock, and because I was doing it for pleasure instead of control, it was like all the other times I’ve been on top-mesmerizing.
Ace made work of my bra while I yanked his shirt up over his head. His hands went to my hips and the lust on his face was something I didn’t think I’d ever get tired of seeing.
“Nothing feels better than your pussy riding my cock, baby,” he grunted.
“Nothing?” I teased as I braced my hands against his shoulders and really started working my hips over his. “Nothing at all?”
His eyes darkened as he looked up at me. “Maybe your tight, little asshole wrapped around my cock, but I’m not sure,” he growled, and I shuttered.
That’s one of the things I’ve never done before, but I quickly realized I didn’t want anything off limits between me and Ace. He was my chance at a new beginning, and I wasn’t going to hinder it before it even began. He was unlike anyone else I knew, and he deserved to be treated special. And that included sexually as well as emotionally and mentally.
My hips started moving faster. “I’ve never…I’ve…is that something you want?”
The next thing I knew, Ace’s hands tightened around my hips before flipping us around and dropping me on the bed with his hot, heavy body covering him. He slammed his cock deeper into my body and my eyes closed in ecstasy.
Ace’s breath was hot against my ear as he fucked into me hard and deep. “Yes,” he rumbled in my ear. “I want you bent over on your hands and knees, opened for me, as I work my hard cock into your tight fuck hole, baby.”
I let out the dirtiest moan. Ace was phenomenal with his dirty talk, and he never failed to work me up by telling me all the things he wanted to do to me. “Yeah?”
His rhythm didn’t falter as he said, “I can’t wait to watch my cock stretch you wide open.”
“Ace…”
“Fuck, Ava,” he hissed. “Your pussy is flooding the sheets, baby.”
My orgasm came out of nowhere. It exploded inside every cell of my body and I was clenching around him as if my body would never let him go. “Ace!”
Ace grabbed the back of my thighs, pushed them up and started slamming so hard into me, my head started pounding with pressure. “Fuck, baby, I’m going to cum,” he warned me. “I’m going to cum in your hot, tight cunt and you’re going to wear my seed to that fucking party.” I exploded again with the filth he was spewing, and I felt him give in a few seconds later. “Motherfucker…”
I wasn’t sure how long we laid there spent and high, but Ace finally rolled off my body and dropped on his back next to me. “Christ, if I can make a career out of just fucking you all day, I think I’m going to go with that,” he muttered.
I barked out a laugh that genuinely came from a happy place. “I think that’s called prostitution,” I chuckled.
“Hey, everyone needs to make a living somehow,” he quipped.
I rolled over until my head was resting on his chest. “Nothing feels better than when you’re inside me, Ace,” I whispered seriously. “Nothing and no one can touch me when you’re claiming me.”
He rolled us over until he was covering me again and looked down at me. “I promise you, Ava, I will always be what is standing between you and the world. Anything or anyone that want
s to get to you will have to go through me first.”
My eyes watered and my chest caved. “Promise?”
“I love you, baby,” he said openly and honestly. “I love you, Ava.”
“I’m going to do my best to make sure I’m worthy of your love, Ace,” I told him. “I’m going to always give you the best version of myself. I’m going to get help to work through my issues and make sure you get the good parts that are left.”
His face broke. “Oh, baby,” he whispered, “I don’t want just the good parts. I want all the good, the bad, the ugly, the damage, the insane, the beautiful, the poison, the wonder…I want it all. I want all of you.” He shook his head. “I won’t settle for less, Ava. I just won’t.”
“Then they’re all yours,” I vowed. “Every broken shard is yours, Ace.”
“I love you, Ava,” he repeated.
“I love you, too,” I replied. “And, one day, I’m going to love myself just as much.”
Epilogue
Ava – (Ten Years Later)~
“Stop it,” I hissed at my husband.
“No,” he hissed back like a petulant child.
“There are children present, Ace,” I scolded. “Behave yourself.”
He removed his hand from my ass and placed both of them on his hips. “First of all, there are no children present,” he declared. “Being the wonderful godparents Delaney and Deke are, they have our girls occupied somewhere, engaging them in mental stimulation and motor skills and whatnot.”
My brow rose. “Really?”
“I refuse to let your sarcasm derail me, Kit,” Ace insisted assertively.
“I don’t care what crazy is residing up there in your head, Ace, we’re not having sex,” I replied.
“It’s our anniversary, woman,” he growled. All I could do was gawk at the man because, after all these years, I still didn’t understand how his mind worked.
That summer when he had walked into my life, Liam had married Roselyn in June like he said he would, and Deke had married Delaney in August like he said he would. Ace and I hadn’t gotten married in September like they had all hoped we would, but we had gotten engaged that September. It wasn’t until two Septembers had passed that I had finally married Ace in true Ramsey and Emerson tradition.
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