by Jess Dee
Telling him as much was impossible. How could she find her voice when Jared had taken her breath? How could she utter audible words when her lips were plastered to his?
So Ava told him how she felt in the only way she could: with her body. She kissed him as though her existence depended on it. Like his mouth fed her oxygen and his tongue fed her soul. And she rocked on his cock with a passion that had him moaning. She twisted her hips this way and that, taking him in as deep as she could, squeezing her pussy muscles around his shaft and sliding off before enveloping him all over again.
Ava had to forcibly unclench her fingers. She’d dug her nails into Jared’s shoulders, and feared he’d have marks there tomorrow. Instead she wrapped her hands in his hair, holding his head as close as he held hers.
God, she adored this man. She’d loved him almost her whole life—as her closest friend. But tonight she loved him…differently. The feelings she’d hidden from Jared as a teenager burned in her all over again. Tonight those emotions seemed a lot more adult than her adolescent yearnings.
Perhaps the love Ava felt for Jared tonight was similar to the love he felt for her.
Whatever it was, with each stroke of his cock, the emotion seemed to bury itself in her heart, taking root there and spreading. There was not another man in the world Ava would choose to be with now. Or ever.
Jared was the only one she wanted. The only one who made her feel secure, cherished, happy…and loved.
She squeezed her inner muscles a little harder, rocked a little more vigorously.
It was Jared who broke the kiss. “Driving me wild, baby. So hot. So…sexy.” He nipped at her neck, the scrape of his teeth against her skin just sharp enough to send a tingle through her without causing pain. “Love being inside you.” His voice was rough and vibrated against Ava, making her shiver. “Love being with you.”
A jolt of longing pulsed through her. “Love being with you too, Jar.” And she loved having him inside her. Loved the way he filled and stretched her. Being with Jared made Ava feel whole.
“Can’t hold on much longer.” Jared pumped into her harder and faster. “Need you too bad.”
Ava groaned as sensation built within.
“Been away from you too long.” Jared wound his fingers through her hair and stared at her through passion-darkened eyes. “You’re the only woman I ever want to make love with, Torres. You’re…the one.”
Emotion engulfed Ava, and a sob built in her throat. Unsure how to respond, she pressed her lips to his, throwing her soul into the kiss.
As his tongue slid into her mouth and his fingers stroked her hair, the lust and emotion overwhelmed her. With her senses and body besieged by the wonderfulness of her friend, Ava came.
Sensation ripped through her loins. Wave upon wave of pleasure consumed her, and she rode each one of them, glorying in the perfection of the moment and of the man holding her.
Jared gave a hoarse gasp and then he too was coming, pulsing inside her as his shoulders stiffened beneath her palms. Not once did either of them break the kiss. As their ecstasy swept them away, Ava remained rooted to the world by his sensual tongue, firm lips and tender mouth.
Chapter Thirteen
“What happened when you went to the hotel the night he broke your rib?” After their incredible walk to Bondi, Jared was almost reluctant to ask. They’d only just found each other again. He hated the thought of throwing any walls between them now. But Ava had only told him part of her trauma. He needed to know all of it.
She frowned. “Somehow I knew you’d bring it up.”
The waitress had just removed two empty plates of pasta from the table and set down a bowl of mixed gelato and sorbet they’d planned to share. By the time they’d walked into the little Italian restaurant on the corner, both Jared and Ava had been starving.
“I’m not asking to upset you. I need to know the whole story. Filling in the blanks and guessing at what he did to you is killing me.”
“The truth isn’t pretty.”
He didn’t expect it to be. But it couldn’t be worse than the scenarios he’d imagined over the last ten days. At least he prayed it couldn’t. He threaded his fingers through hers. “Tell me. Share your burden.”
Ava took a deep breath, and the light that shone in her eyes dimmed. “Anthony found me. He traced my credit card back to the hotel. I don’t know how he knew the room number, but three days after I checked in, I opened the door to room service, and there he was, looming in the doorway.”
“You must have been shocked.”
She shrugged. “More resigned than anything else. I knew he’d come, I just didn’t know when.”
“And he convinced you to go home with him.” Jared carefully tempered his voice to reflect no emotion. Inside his gut churned.
Ava gave him a half smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “I was reluctant. But he was his charming, contrite self. Oh, so apologetic. He told me he’d had time to think and knew he’d behaved terribly. And here’s the clincher. He promised to get professional help. He’d contacted a counselor and was starting therapy and anger management classes.” Ava dug her spoon into the apple sorbet and helped herself to a mouthful.
Jared watched as she swallowed, not in any mood for dessert—or for releasing her hand so she could eat more easily.
“I believed him. I wanted my husband to be the good man I’d married, and I wanted our marriage to be the happy union I’d imagined. So I went home with him, and I thanked him for doing his bit to improve our relationship. I was grateful he’d signed up for the classes and for therapy without my ever prompting him. It was solid proof of his commitment.”
“Was he? Committed?” The only thing Anthony should have been committed to was a psychiatric institution. The guy had serious mental health issues.
She snorted, the sound humorless. “There were four or five times over the next few weeks, when I feared he might strike me, but he held back. I thought the therapy must be working.” She took another spoonful and ate it slowly. “It only came out later, during one of his attacks, that signing up was as far as he’d gotten. He never attended a single session.”
Fuckwit. “Did you feel safe with him in that time?”
Ava put down her spoon and her eyes filled with tears, but she blinked them back.
Jared squeezed her hand, encouraging her. Even though she was teary, she spoke with way less emotion tonight than she had before, as though she’d managed to distance herself from her trauma.
“I was terrified every single day. Whenever he got that mad gleam in his eyes, I cowered, expecting the inevitable. It came eventually, about ten days later, when he came home reeking of alcohol.”
Ava stared over Jared’s shoulders, her gaze hazy. He wondered if she was reliving the memory and hated himself for making her go through it again.
“He never said a word. He just taunted me with his evil looks and laughed that jeering laugh.” Her nostrils flared. “He stank of liquor.” Ava’s eyes closed, and she was quiet for a very long time.
“Tell me,” Jared whispered.
“I asked where he’d been, said I was worried about him. He answered with a swift punch to the solar plexus, leaving me winded for a good minute. The jab to first one kidney and then the other, as I was bent over gasping for breath, gave him enough time to remove his jacket and pour himself a brandy.”
He’d had a drink while she’d writhed in agony? Jesus, the man was a fucking lunatic.
“I would have walked out that night—had I been able. But I couldn’t get off the floor and Anthony wasn’t exactly lending a hand.”
Jared compressed his lips into two thin lines. A vein pulsed so hard in his forehead, he thought it might burst. “What about the next day?”
“I found myself without money. Anthony informed the bank my purse had been stolen and asked them to stop all activity on my cards. I couldn’t go anywhere.”
He’d trapped her in her own home. “Your parents?”
&n
bsp; “I wasn’t ready to tell them what was happening. Not then.”
“So you stayed.” Jared could only imagine how desperate Ava must have felt.
“I did.” She opened her eyes. “But something changed in me that night, an intrinsic altering of my state of mind.” She looked at him, emotion flaring in her face. “I began to hate him, and I made no secret of it. He thought it was hilarious. Laughed when I refused to talk to him. Smacked me a few times—when his dinner was late or the flat was a mess. Kicked me as often. Never drew blood, mind you, or left marks where people could see them. He targeted my chest and stomach, which he knew my clothes would cover. Or my back. My kidneys were a favorite.”
Sickened, Jared gaped at her. “Why did you stay?”
She straightened her shoulders. “Because the day the bank manager told me my cards had been canceled, I finally believed Anthony’s actions instead of his words. His beatings were no mistake. He intended to hurt me. Over and over and in any way he could.” She inhaled deeply. “With that realization, I found my backbone, and I came up with a plan.”
Jared sat up straighter even as his eyes narrowed.
“In retrospect, I can see it was stupid. I should have just left. But at the time it made perfect sense. I documented everything. Every punch, every strike and every word. I took photos of my bruises and went to the hospital after every attack—when he was at work, so he wouldn’t be the wiser. I recorded his verbal abuse without him knowing. I planned it all so carefully, determining exactly how much proof I’d need before I could act. I was going to leave him, and on the day I did, my first stop would be the police station.”
Jared clenched his teeth together so hard his jaw ached.
“It didn’t take long. Maybe two or three weeks, and I had enough evidence. I finally picked up the phone and called my parents, told them I was leaving Anthony and why.” Ava’s voice broke for the first time, and she had to clear her throat before she could continue. “I hated doing it, but at that point I had no other choice. I needed help.”
“What did they say?”
“They were suitably shocked. Wanted to come right over and get me, but I needed to walk away from him on my own two feet.” Ava swallowed and her cheeks turned pale. “Only…”
“Only what?” Jesus, Jared could hardly breathe for fear of what she’d say next.
She took a deep breath. “Only I never had a chance. Anthony came home early that day, before I left.”
“What did he do?” His voice was hoarse.
“He saw my suitcase and went ballistic.” Ava flinched visibly. “The blows came so fast, I didn’t have a chance to protect myself. The first one landed …” She touched her nose. “I heard the crack as it broke, felt something wet splashing on my lips. I only realized it was blood when I put my hand in front of my face to ward off his punches and it came away red.”
Jared gaped at her.
He had no idea what the jail term was for the premeditated murder of a psychopathic son of a bitch. A life sentence, minimum. Whatever it was, killing Anthony would be worth it. A slow painful death, starting with a broken rib. Or a broken nose… “There was no deviated septum, was there?”
She shook her head. “There was nothing wrong with my nose—before he broke it.”
Jared knew his eyes were open, but fury and heartache blinded him. He had to blink several times before he could see clearly again.
“The rest of the assault isn’t so clear. I remember an ongoing flood of pain. Hands, feet and elbows coming at me, landing…everywhere. The broken nose I heard. The broken arm—not really.”
Jesus, fuck.
“The snap-snap was squelched by Anthony’s abusive tirade. And by my screams. By the time he cracked my clavicle, I had no tears left to cry and no breath left to scream.”
And there it was again. That crippling sense of impotence.
Greg had told Jared to fix Ava. Fuck knew, there was nothing he wanted to do more. But listening to her ordeal, hearing the torment she suffered, left him floundering. How could he ever fix something this broken? “The pain…”
“It was constant. Agonizing.”
“Ava.” Her name was a ravaged whisper. He couldn’t say more. If he did, he’d break down in front of her, and the last thing she needed was to be the strong one. Jared was here to support her, not the other way around. But his stomach was rigid with horror and grief, and his face must have given away his shock.
“It’s okay, Thurston. I lived to tell the tale.”
“Christ, baby.”
“He left after a while. Just slapped his hands together once or twice, as though his job was done and walked out. I managed to call Triple Zero.”
“You could move?”
She shrugged. “I needed an ambulance. The only way to get one was to reach the phone. I used my good arm to drag myself across the floor.”
“You called them yourself?”
“I must have passed out immediately after, because I remember saying ‘help’ and nothing else. I woke up to machines beeping and pain slicing through my arm and my back. My parents were there, in the hospital with me. A couple of policemen too.”
Jared couldn’t contain his anguished moan. A shudder racked his body.
Ava leaned closer. “I’m okay, Jar. I survived, and I’m stronger for it.”
He tried to say something, but it emerged as a wordless croak. So much for him being the strong one.
“I’m safe,” she assured him. “Promise. He can’t harm me anymore.”
He searched her face, as though looking for proof of her words.
“I’d collected all that evidence, remember? They arrested Anthony a few days before I went to Melbourne.”
Knowing he’d been arrested provided Jared with a modicum of relief. “Why did you go to Melbourne?”
“To recuperate. I needed to be some place far away from the trauma of what he’d done to me.”
“He went to prison?”
“He’s out on bail.” She toyed with the now-melted ice cream, mixing it into a rainbow of color. “His trial comes up in a few months. I’ve been assured the case is cut-and-dried. Anthony will pay for what he did.”
So much for that relief. “And in the meantime? He’s out on the streets, free to see you whenever he wants?”
Ava shook her head. “I have a restraining order. If he comes within a hundred meters of me, he’ll get thrown right back in prison. I haven’t seen him since that last time he hurt me.”
Ava was safe. She was okay. She’d faced the devil and survived.
Contrary to Greg’s wishes, she didn’t need Jared to fix anything for her. She’d fixed it herself. This tiny slip of a woman, whose loyalty and dedication to the wrong man had destroyed her life, had picked up the pieces and moved on. She’d devised a plan to get him thrown in prison and learned to defend herself the instant she was free of him.
She’d risen above the odds and become stronger for it.
Now she just needed to be free of Anthony once and for all. Free of any last tie binding her to him. “What’s happened to your marriage, legally speaking?”
“It’s over. As soon as I can, I’ll be filing for divorce.”
“You can’t file yet?”
Ava sighed. “We have to be separated for at least a year.”
“That’s totally messed up. The motherfucker beat you.”
“The law’s the law. The only dispensation I get is the right to file after less than two years of marriage. And that’s because he beat me. Special circumstances. I’m filing in December. Then it’s about four months before the process is finalized.”
“Seven months in total.”
“Hopefully he’ll spend the last half of that in Long Bay.” The correctional facility in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs.
Jared studied her for a very long time, taking in the determined set of her chin, the fire that now lit her eyes and her straight spine. Her obvious beauty aside, she was magnificent in her victory. �
��Do you have any idea how incredible you are, Torres? How damn proud I am of you?” Jesus, his chest was about bursting.
Her face creased in confusion.
“Do you know how much you’ve accomplished? Anthony did his best to beat you down, yet you came back with guns blazing. He hurt you, but he couldn’t destroy you. You’re…extraordinary.”
Ava snorted without a hint of amusement. “I let a man I loved beat me senseless, more than once. The only thing extraordinary about that is my stupidity. And my weakness.”
“You loved someone enough to give him the benefit of the doubt no matter how many times he disappointed you. And when you realized he didn’t deserve your loyalty, you had him arrested. He hurt you, baby, but ultimately, you triumphed over him. Look at you. You’re strong, physically and mentally. You’re spectacular.”
She blushed. “Okay, now you’re just embarrassing me. And yourself.”
“I wish you could see yourself the way I do. I wish you could know how truly remarkable you are. My God, look at you. You took your life back—and made it even better than before. Only someone with a backbone of steel could do that.”
“I took a long time to take my life back. First I changed it. I changed everything. My flat. My work. Even the way I dress.”
“And grew stronger as a result.”
“If I’m so strong, how come I’ve never found the courage to tell my friends what I went through?”
Jared frowned. “I can’t answer that one. They’d have helped you.”
“They’d have perceived me as weak.”
“Powerless as opposed to weak. Big difference.” Anthony had taken her power away.
But she’d taken it back. She’d overcome the very issue she saw as an inherent weakness in herself.
Ava didn’t look convinced.
“You’ve rediscovered yourself, Torres. I’ve just told you how incredibly strong you are. They’ll see it too. They want to understand. Everyone knows something happened, just not what. They’re worried about you.”