Page 49 of Call It What You Want
I step in closer, grip the back of her neck, and pull her into my space. “I don’t need a scheme to take what’s already mine.”
“I’m not yours,” she says, wincing. “Not anymore.”
“You can try to deny it,” I whisper against her cold lips, taunting her. “But you’re mine in every sense of the word—emotionally, physically. And now,legally.”
She shoves at my chest with both hands, and I release her, watching as she stumbles backward, taken off balance by the uneven sand. When she speaks, her voice quivers a little. “I was drugged. The ceremony can’t be legal.”
“Anything can be legal if you have enough money.” And it’s the fucking truth. “You’ll see.”
Now that she has the benefit of both my money and my name, she’ll be fucking untouchable.
“God.You just do whatever you want, don’t you?” she whispers, backing up. “You justtakewhatever you want, and you don’t give fuck about the lives you destroy in the process…”
I’d argue with her on that, but we both know she’s right. I am a selfish cunt. I’ve always had to be.
“But I want you to know this—” she says, her words full of hate. “You may have bullied me into marrying you, but you’ll never own me, Jackson.Never.”
She doesn’t know it, but she’s hit her mark. Those words, spoken with such raw conviction, cut me deeper than a knife ever could.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Ava
I wish I could see his face, but it’s masked by darkness—just like his fucking soul—so all I can see is the outline of his muscular frame. He just stands there and says nothing, which makes me even angrier. Usually, he won’t fucking shut up, and now, suddenly, he has nothing to say?
“What, no snarky response?” I snap, desperate for him to say something,anything,so I can justify ripping into him again.
“You’re right.” His voice is so low, I can barely hear him. “I’m a selfish cunt.”
I purse my lips, beyond irritated that he agrees with me. How can I argue with that?Ugh.Fucking annoying.
“Exactly,” I say, the word blunt. Clipped. “At least we agree ononething.”
He goes quiet again, and I wonder if I’ve somehow managed to find a chink in that emotional armor he wears like a second skin.
For a split second, I feel bad. I know I shouldn’t. I know he doesn’t deserve my sympathy. But I’m not a heartless asshole,so…yeah, occasionally, I feel things I shouldn’t. Like guilt, or sympathy for monsters.
“Whatever,” I say, more to break the awkward silence than anything. “I’m going to bed.” I turn toward the party, but then snap back as a thought strikes me. “And, you know what, none of this really matters, anyway. I’m getting an annulment the literalsecondI’m free of this place.”
“Fine.”
That one word—flat, and detached—stops me cold. He says it like he doesn’t care. Like losing me means nothing. And that hurts more than it should.
I whirl back around. “Fine?” I spit. “That’s all you’ve got?”
He just shrugs lazily. It’s infuriating. “What do you want me to say, Ava?”
His indifference slices through me. I cross the space between us before I know what I’m doing. “You could start by acting like you give a damn!”
And then—snap.My palm connects with his cheek before my brain can catch up to my body. The sound splits the air. His head jerks sideways.
For a second, neither of us moves.
Finally, he drags his gaze back to mine, slow and dangerous. “Feel better?”
“No.” My voice shakes. “Not even close.”
“You really want to do this right now, Ava?”
