Page 41 of Unhinged Cravings
Damn, she was sexy and from the look in her eyes, she was offering exactly what I needed, only she wasn’t what I wanted. Against all rational thought, I swirled my alcohol in my glass and let my eyes rove over her body as she stood, thinking how she looked too thin and didn’t have the hips I wanted to grip. I could have easily taken her into the lower part of the club and fucked away my cravings for the spirited blonde and pink haired woman in my house, but I knew it wouldn’t help. That I’d be disappointed and somehow left feeling guilty because that amazing woman looked at me with eyes that trusted. Screwing some random woman in the dark corners of my club might damage that look, and the idea of that happening killed me.
Waving her away, I muttered, “Go find someone else to flaunt that sexy body to. I don’t want it.”
I gulped down the rest of my drink, averting my eyes from her gaping mouth. Rising, I adjusted my shirt cuffs and walked past her, hearing her complaints and ignoring them.
This was bad. Really bad. Pack said nothing as he drove me home and I stayed silent, my mind playing through why I had given up a night of sex with a gorgeous woman when any other night I would have used her until she left with wobbling legs and I was drained. That man seemed like someone else. A mansearching for something and never finding it. Just like Ava had said. Searching for her all this time and now that I’d found her, no amount of temptation would compare.
It was late when I returned, and Ava no longer slept on the couch. I glanced down the hall where I knew she was likely reading and forced my feet to take me to my room. Standing under the shower and scrubbing off the smell of the club and perfume belonging to a woman I hadn’t even touched, my mind drifted back to Ava. I wanted her desperately. To go to her room and ravage her, to have her come undone around me, to taste every inch of her and hear her scream in pleasure and not pain.
The thoughts flooded me, and I pictured her under me, skin to skin, mouth to mouth, our bodies moving as one. Stroking myself only worsened the need until a desperate hunger gripped me and my hand flew to the wall to stabilize myself. Every stroke I imagined was her pulsing around me, clenching in the throes of orgasm. My hand moved faster, my body rigid with the release that was so close it hounded me. Grinding my teeth, I silenced the roar that sought to flee as I came, splattering my desire for Ava on the shower floor, only for it to be swept away with the water.
Left only partially satisfied and irritated that I’d resorted to using my hand instead of taking the real thing from a woman who had been more than willing, I settled into bed. No amount of scrolling on my phone or answering emails helped to halt the sensation that something was missing. I looked over at the empty side of my bed, realizing only then that I had gotten into the side I never slept on, as if I had expected Ava to take my usual side. With a sigh, I looked at the time. One in the morning. Ava would still be reading. She was like me—a night owl. Her demons, like mine, made sleep a fleeting thing. I could count on one hand the number of nights I’d slept well, and they included the nights I’d held her through her nightmares.
With a sigh, I tossed my phone on my nightstand and threw the covers back. Pulling a pair of sweats on, I stalked from myroom, annoyed at this newfound dependency for a woman who was only in my life by chance. An idiotic mistake. Or maybe a fortunate turn of fate. Whatever the reason, I knew two things: Ava would sleep in my arms tonight and I had completely lost my mind.
Chapter Fifteen
GREYSON
My phone shattered when it hit the floor, causing Riley to jump. I smoothed my hand over her leg, taking breaths to calm myself.
“Your brother?” she asked, her green eyes rimmed with concern.
She had come in mid-call, perching on my desk as she listened to my side of the conversation. Her soft skin calmed me, and I pushed my hand higher, the silky material of her nightgown scrunching with the movement.
“Unfortunately.” Something was off. I sensed it in my bones, in that annoying connection I still had with Emerson, even after decades of our rift.
“Hey.” Riley took my face in her hands and searched my eyes. She was too attuned to my moods. “Tell me what he said.”
I brought my hand up and slid hers from my face, taking it in mine. A nagging thought kept returning to me and I let it churn in my head.
“Grey, is Ava all right?” Riley asked, too impatient to wait for my answer to her initial question.
Exhaling, I said, “I’m certain she is.”
A frown marred her features. “Then why did he call?”
I sat back, taking her hand with me, the move forcing her into my lap where she curled up. My hand aimlessly caressed her leg as I spoke. “To ask me about her stepfather.”
Her eyes crinkled as she tried to figure it out.
“You’ll have to ask Ava when we have her back. It’s her secret to tell, not mine.” One she had clearly shared with my brother. But why?
“Then how would your brother know about him? I’m her friend and I don’t,” she said, voicing my thoughts.
My hand smoothed lazily over her leg, her soft skin soothing me. “I don’t know. Den and I are the only ones who know.” He had no choice but to tell me, getting my blessing to retrieve Ava when she was just a teen. She’d never known, but I funded everything, ensuring she had anything she needed after what the bastard had done to her. She assumed it was Den, although now that she knew me and knew Den worked for me, I was sure she had put the pieces together.
“Why would he need to know about her stepfather?”
“Good question. The man’s been dead for fourteen years and before you ask, I can only tell you he deserved every bit of torture he received.” Understanding lit her eyes, but as much as we shared everything, this was Ava’s past, not mine. “It’s out of character for Emerson to bother to ask something like that.”
“Unless…” She chewed her lip, and I could see her thinking through it just like I was. It was a shame Mason hadn’t brought her into the business earlier. She was smart, often seeing things from a perspective I didn’t.
“Unless what?”
“Well, Ava is…well, Ava.”
Even with the strain in my muscles, I couldn’t help but chuckle. “And what does that mean?”
