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It was almost cute how she thought she could order me around.
“No.”
Ava narrowed her eyes. “If you don’t give it back, I swear to God I’ll walk out into the street wearing this outfit.”
Another bolt of fury sizzled through me. “You wouldn’t.”
“Try me.”
Our faces were inches apart, our words so soft no one could hear them except us.
Nevertheless, I lowered my head so I could whisper right in her ear. “If you step a foot outside this room in that outfit, I’ll not only delete every picture on this camera, but I will destroy your ‘friend’s’ career until he has to resort to advertising shitty five-dollar-an-hour headshots on Craigslist.” A wintry smile touched my lips. “You wouldn’t want that, would you?”
There are two ways to threaten people: attack them directly, or attack those they care about. I wasn’t above doing either.
Ava’s mouth trembled. She believed me, as she should, because I meant every word. I wasn’t a senator or a lobbyist, but an obscene net worth, thick files of blackmail material, and years of networking had granted me more than my fair share of influence in D.C. “You’re an asshole.”
“Yes, I am, and don’t you forget it.” I straightened. “Get dressed.”
Ava didn’t argue, but she also refused to look at me as she disappeared into the bathroom across the hall to change.
Blondie and Spectacles gaped at me like the devil himself had poofed into their house. Meanwhile, Jules grinned like she was watching the most entertaining movie of the year.
I finished deleting the photos and shoved the camera back into Blondie’s hands. “Never ask Ava to do something like this again.” I towered over him, relishing the subtle shake of his shoulders as he tried not to cower. “If you do, I’ll know. And you won’t like what happens next.”
“Okay,” Blondie squeaked.
The bathroom door opened. Ava brushed past me and said something to Blondie in a low voice. He nodded. She placed a hand on his arm, and my jaw ticked.
“Let’s go.” The words came out sharper than I’d intended.
Ava finally looked at me, her eyes flashing. “We’ll go when I’m ready.”
I didn’t know how Josh dealt with her all these years. Two weeks in, and I already wanted to strangle her.
She murmured something else to Blondie before she stalked past me without another word. Jules followed, still grinning.
I cast one last glare in Blondie’s direction before I left.
Silence permeated the car as we drove back to Thayer. Jules sat in the backseat, tapping away on her phone, while a stone-faced Ava stared out the window from the passenger seat, her shoulders tight.
I didn’t mind silence. I craved it. There were few things I found more irritating than incessant, pointless conversation. The weather, the latest blockbuster, who broke up with who…who the fuck cared?
Still, something compelled me to turn on the radio halfway through the drive, though I left the volume so low I almost couldn’t hear the music.
“It was for your own good,” I said over the teeny-tiny beats of the latest rap hit.
Ava turned her body further away and didn’t respond.
Fine. She could be mad all she wanted. The only thing I regretted was not smashing Blondie’s camera altogether.
It wasn’t like I cared about her silent treatment. Not one bit.
