Page 131 of Slaughter

“Hey, babe.” Mitch greets her.

She takes a step back, her eyes widening for a brief second.

Vaughn laughs. “It’s okay, Pres. Mitch told me your little secret.”

“What ...?” Her wide eyes go back and forth between them.

Mitch tosses his pool stick onto the felt and then walks over to her. He grabs her face and presses his lips to hers. The video ends.

“She wouldn’t do this …” I swallow. “We are …” I stop myself. No one knows. We didn’t wanna tell anyone. It’s our little secret.

“The baby?” Lance asks.

My head snaps up, and I stare at him in disbelief. “What did you just say?”

“The baby. Avery, I … She had me …” He stumbles, looking for the right word.

My father steps forward. “She had it aborted, Avery.”

No. “She would never—”

“I did it,” Lance interrupts me.

“What?” I ask, trying to understand what they are saying.

“I performed the abortion yesterday afternoon.”

My chest tightens at his words. “She wouldn’t …” But how would they know about it? It was our secret. But it has to be … my legs threaten to buckle, and my father places his hand on my shoulder.

“She didn’t belong here, Avery. She didn’t want to be with a man who was like her father.” His words stab me in the chest. ’Cause she had said those words before. Not that way, but how many times did she beg me to help these poor, innocent girls, and I never did a fucking thing but play my part.

She left me with absolutely nothing but a broken heart. Of all people to hurt me, I never thought it would be Bunny.

I pull away from my father and grip my cell in my hand. “It was bound to happen, son,” he says, handing me a whip. I hold the black leather in my hand and feel the weight. For years, I’ve played a part in hurting women. Even if I didn’t physically hurt them, I never tried to save them. But for once in my life, I want to hurt someone. The only woman I’ve ever loved. Who just fucking ruined me. While holding the whip in one hand, I dial her number one last time. But this time when it goes to voicemail, I don’t hang up. Instead, I leave her a message.

PRESLEIGH

I wake up on the couch. I slept down here all night. After I poured my heart out to Chloe, I couldn’t move. The weight of myself too heavy to even crawl. Sometime during the night, I remember opening my eyes to see Tristan pick Chloe up off the floor. Then I went back to sleep.

I roll over to face away from the couch and see Avery sitting on the opposite one, staring at me.

I sit up and push the messy hair from my face. He still wears the same bloody clothes from last night, and his eyes are red. His hair standing up every which way as if he’s been running his hands through it. He doesn’t look like he slept at all. And the stubble along his jaw tells me he hasn’t shaved in days.

“I don’t apologize,” he says roughly.

I nod and stand. “I never expected one from you, Avery,” I say and turn to walk away from him. Not wanting to be around him.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what happened to you. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you. I’m sorry I didn’t track you down and demand an explanation.” I turn back around to face him. “But I don’t apologize for watching the tapes.”

“Avery—”

“I hated you, Bunny,” he interrupts me with a growl. “I hated you so fucking much it hurt. The thought of you with another man drove me off the deep end, and I buried myself in anything I could find.”

I swallow, knowing he means women and alcohol. I hate how jealous that makes me feel. And how mad it makes me. While I was mourning the loss of our child, he was out fucking random women.

“The thought that you didn’t want me or our baby … I wanted to hurt you,” he admits shamelessly. “I had thoughts of finding you and hurting you. I didn’t want any other man to find you attractive or to see your smile. And the fact that you had just … aborted our baby and erased any part of us …” He lets out a long breath. “And I never once hated myself for those evil thoughts. Until now. When I found out what my father did to you.”

I know what he means even if he doesn’t say the words. “You’re not like him.”

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