I put on a cheerful demeanor, moving to exit the arena. “Well, if nobody compares to me, then you’ll be thrilled I’ve moved all my stuff back.”
He froze in shock. “Wait? You’re moving back in?”
“Yep! Came back last night!” I called over my shoulder.
“Last night— Ava!” He hurried to catch up with me as I rolled out the door. “When were you planning to tell me you were moving back in?”
“I’m telling you now,” I said. “I figured you wanted me to move back.”
Charlie gaped. “Of course I do, but?—”
“But what? But nothing. We’re in counseling, we’re trying to work it out, so I put my stuff back. End of story.” I continued down the hall, and he moved to keep up with me, I tell you.
Charlie babbled on, completely baffled. “Okay, so we’re back to living together. Are you sure we’re ready for this? We’ve only had one counseling session.”
I didn’t know why he was hesitating if we both wanted this. “If we’re fixing our relationship, we should try to be in the same space. We’ve spent enough time apart. It’s been months. We’ve gotten some distance, now we should try to close the gap.”
I paused. I hope I wasn’t misreading the situation. “Unless you’ve been enjoying our time apart. Then I’d understand.”
“No!” he said quickly, practically groveling at my feet. He obviously wanted me to stick around. “How did you move everything back so fast? You have a lot of stuff.”
“I just… took what I needed.” I wasn’t ready to tell him about the Hawkei tradition, or that I’d given all my things away in the hope we could stay together. My part of the ritual involved giving my trust to him completely, and I didn’t feel like my piece of the ceremony was complete. We had to rebuild that trust before I confided in him about what I’d done, before I asked him to get my things back. That was going to take time.
On top of that, I worried telling him about it now would look like manipulation, and I didn’t want him to feel pressured, forced to provide for me. This was my gift to him, not a way to trap him or make him feel obligated to take care of me. For now, I could get by with what I had. Our home, and our life together, was all I needed.
My worry caused me to come to a stop in the middle of the hall. “Look, if you’re upset I’m invading your space, I get it. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, and the last thing I want is to make you upset. I won’t infringe on your boundaries. If it’s too much, I’ll return to the Ladies’ Court, no questions asked.” Though I really didn’t want to.
“Don’t do that.” He jumped to stop me from moving out again. “If you’re ready to start living together again, then so am I. I just… want to make sure it’s the right thing for both of us.”
“I guess we’ll figure that out, won’t we?”
The corners of his lips twitched as he tried to hide a delighted smile. Clearly, Charlie was elated at the news. He practically started skipping beside my chair. “It’s probably for the best right now, anyway.”
“Good,” I said. “I’m glad we’re on the same page.”
“That almost never happens, so I guess that means we’re making progress.”
“I suppose we are, though I have to admit, there was never a dull moment when we were arguing.” By the ancestors, some of those fights had been so hot. Just thinking of those times he boxed me in, his hot breath passing over my skin and threatening an endless night of passionate make-up sex made my panties wet. One of my greatest fears was that once Charlie and I worked this all out, our relationship would get boring. I wished there was a way to keep that passion alive without taking things too far.
Charlie huffed. “Arguing never did us any good anyway, because Ava always gets what she wants in the end, doesn't she?”
I was taken aback at his sudden shift in mood. “What’s with the attitude? I thought this was what you wanted, too.”
Oberi barked loudly, signaling I was right.
Charlie shrugged. “I just roll with whatever happens. I’m here to serve, princess. Don’t mind me.”
What was up with him? He was acting so… sassy. It was a far cry from the depressed, desperate man he’d been a few days ago. This Charlie had a bit of bite and fire to him… like the person I used to know.
Then I realized… he was acting like a brat. The world opened up to me once I realized this.
Charlie was giving me exactly what I asked for and playing along, and he liked it just as much as I did, because Charlie loved giving me everything I wanted. If I said I was moving back and that was final, Charlie was going to lap it up because I finally made a decision. It was just done, and we could move on. Charlie wanted to serve me.
As twisted as it was, Kallie had been right— this dynamic worked exceptionally well for us. Charlie enjoyed arguing, and so did I. It's what made our relationship fun. But this time was different, because we both enjoyed the game, whether he knew we were playing it or not.
Being a brat was a great role— I’d gotten off on every second of tormenting him and telling him no, though his commands were secretly what I wanted in the end. It was all part of the game. If he enjoyed the bickering and the banter just as much as I did, he was going to get it.
“Oh, I’m sorry, your estranged wife is giving you another chance. That must be so upsetting for you!” My voice smacked with an edge of mockery. “If you want to make yourself useful instead of standing around, you can get me some water and go pour me a bath, because I’m dehydrated now and my muscles are sore. We’ve been training for hours.”
