Page 48 of Call It What You Want
“I heard the way your wedding went down last night, and I hope you’re not expecting a rainbow at the end of all this. Ava doesn’t strike me as the forgiving type.”
“I don’t need her forgiveness,” I answer bluntly.
“If you want my advice?—”
“I don’t,” I bite out, cutting him off.
I mean, shit. The guy has been in love for less than six months, and now he’s ready to hang up his shingle as a relationship guru?
“—Just be honest with her, man,” he continues, like I haven’t even spoken. “Trust me. The secrets, the lies, they just make everything worse. I learned that the hard way.”
Yeah, well, he and Lux weren’t dealing with the same shit. If Roman were in my shoes, he’d do the same exact thing. Guaranteed.
“Thanks,Dr.Rush,” I say, my tone snarky as fuck. “I appreciate the lecture.”
Roman rolls his eyes, mutters some half-ass excuse, and slips off to find Lux. I grab a beer from the ice bucket, pop the tab, and take a step back from the crowd. Across the beach, Chase stands up and walks away, leaving Ava alone on the lounge chair.
I watch her for a minute, trying to read her expression, but the light from the bonfire only catches fragments—the curve of her cheek, a flash of her lips—leaving the rest in shadow.
Ava McKnight.
My wife.
I can still feel her, like her body is imprinted on mine—every breath, every moan, every claw mark she left behind. The taste of her lingers on my tongue, sweet and fucking dangerous, like a poison I should’ve spit out, but instead, I swallowed it down and demanded more.
As I watch her, I can’t help but wonder if she realizes the full implications of what happened during that ceremony. As smart as she is, she was also drugged, so she probably missed the finer details of what happened.
For a few minutes, she watches a group of drunk idiots stumble through a game of cricket before she gets up and heads toward the water. I drain my beer with one long pull, crush the empty can, and follow her.
By the time I reach her, she’s shin-deep in the water, staring out at the dark, endless horizon. The water is ice-cold when I wade in and pause next to her. She doesn’t immediatelyacknowledge me, just continues to stand there as small waves slap against her bare shins. Sharp laughter from the party drifts on the breeze, emphasizing the silence between us.
“I’m not sure if I ever told you this,” she begins, her voice almost drowned out by the ocean, “But…when we were dating, Iactuallybelieved we were meant to be together. Yin and yang. Light and dark.” She kicks at the water, sending droplets scattering across the glassy surface. “But then what happenedhappened,and I suddenly realized…that happy, carefree version of us was just an illusion.”
“What we had was real,” I say cautiously.
She glances at me, and in the darkness, away from the light of the bonfire, I can’t read her expression. And I fucking hate that. My chest tightens, and I feel the itch of curiosity, wanting to know what she’s thinking, what she’s feeling, even if it stings.
She shakes her head. “I saw a different side of you…”
“That morning…” I clear my throat. “Were you afraid of me?”
That one question has tormented me for three fucking years. She’s seen the darkness inside me, watched it consume everything decent I once pretended to be. And yet…some small, twisted part of me wants her to stare into that darkness without flinching.
“During the ceremony, why did you call me your wife?” she asks, completely sidestepping my question. “What does that mean?”
I can’t help but smirk. “It means exactly what you think it means, Doe-Eyes.”
She pulls in a sharp breath. “It can’t be legal…”
“It is,” I say. “You are legally Mrs. Jackson Alexander McKnight. Your name is being added to all my bank accounts as we speak.”
“How? It’s practically the middle of the night.”
“Not in Switzerland.”
“My God.” She turns abruptly and walks back to the beach. I’m right behind her. “You areseriouslypsychotic,” she says.
When we reach the sand, she spins on me. “Tell me, was all this—” She motions to everything around us. “—just some elaborate scheme to trap me into marrying you?”
