AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“And you actually asked? You’re not assuming?”
“What do you take me for?”
“Do you want me to answer that for real?”
“It was one of the easiest conversations we’ve had, actually.” Not that she was exactly with it after I fucked her so hard, she could barely move.
I can’t help but grin at that, because we had to take it easy the next day.
“Oh Jesus, you fucked her into it, didn’t you?”
I smile wide at her.
“Oh man…” Getting up, she puts the kettle on her stove and goes about making us a drink. All the while I keep trying to reason with my relentless niggling worry.
Chapter 21
Damon
Ava leaves my office a little drawn and sad. She seems better, more herself; her color has come back some, but there are times where she’s distracted. I know she’s desperately trying to mend things with her mother, but the woman won’t even give her shit.
Maybe I should’ve written that into the contract with her father. Forced them to be better parents. Forced them to care. To love her like she needs them to. Even if they don’t deserve her. Maybe I don’t deserve her after the way I reacted last week—doubting her even though she’s never given me reason to.
Still, it’s water under the bridge, and I’ve had her new assistant send me her schedule so I can plan something for us, away from the city and all our responsibilities.
“Is there trouble in paradise?” Dex saunters in, a grin cutting his face like he’s about to win a bet or something. “Is that why Miss Monroe is looking for a job elsewhere? On a different continent?”
“What are you talking about?”
He sits in the chair Ava just vacated. It’s probably still warm given her scent is still lingering in the warm air.
“Did you know Hart Campbell is looking for an editor?” he asks simply. “I thought they were going broke, but it seems they have one last hurrah up their sleeve.”
The fucking nervous habit I’ve had since I was fourteen comes back. Frantically tapping my thumbs on my desk, I wait for him to get on with whatever he’s about to tell me.
“Hayden’s in town for the awards.”
“Hayden Hearst? Since when is he in publishing?”
“Since Hart Cam restructured and merged the management for press and media. They cut management costs to invest in a new editor. Someone that could bring big business their way.”
My chest tightens with the way he’s so fucking jolly over whatever is coming.
“Word is they were seen together last week.” His smarmy grin finally fades, and he straightens in his seat. “Hart Cam was one of the houses she approached when she left Monroe. So why the fuck is your girlfriend entertaining them now?”
Shit. All the fucking worry and suspicion from last week blast me, and all I can do not to lose my shit in front of him is swallow it down. Push it right down until I’ve had a chance to clear it up with Ava. Because she wouldn’t go behind my back like that.
Would she?
Not my Ava; she’s too honest, too good. But then, she came to me. Ava left her family’s company for CPM, so what’s to stop her from leaving me for another house? Truth is, she’s been distracted and distant. As if her fire dimmed. What if there’s more to it than her relationship with her mother? What if it’s something other than her workload?
Fuck.
Why was she even talking to Hayden fucking Hearst?
“Get the fuck out, Dexter.”
He doesn’t say anything else, but the shake of his head and his low laugh is enough to tell me he thinks I’m a fool.
