Page 381 of Now and Forever

Immediately, I found him sitting behind his desk, still engrossed in a phone conversation. I entered his domain with loud commotion so he knew I was here, glaring at him. He chose to completely ignore me and pretended I wasn’t breathing the same air.

“Don’t be rubbish, of course I do.” He was grinning from ear to ear, pleased. “You’re perfect. I’ll see you tonight. Same time, yeah?” He paused, presumably because his chit was spouting something arousing to his senses, before he added, “Splendid. I look forward to it.”

I watched his face light up from speaking to her, aghast at witnessing him flirt his way with another woman on the phone. I felt small and irrelevant. —I knew it was a her not a him on the other end because he was not the kind to mess about on the other side of the field.

Adding more salt to my injury, I came to realize that what had occurred between us might not have meant anything other than his usual fucks. I had been partially convinced that, though he spouted hate and extreme loathing, a part of him would still remember the golden days and how magical it had been between us. However, as the seconds ticked away, I was starting to think otherwise.

Well, if that was the case, then I wouldn’t let him see how much it affected me, because that would only make him feel superior, knowing he had accomplished what he had sought out to do—hurt me the deepest he possibly could.

None of this mattered any longer, anyhow. I was here to confront him about the lies he had strung along for years. It wouldn’t even surprise me if he watched me suffer from afar, flourishing and basking in my own tormented misery, while he built his company and did what he had been determined to do—becoming powerfully rich.

My sights deadlocked on him just as he lifted his gaze to finally meet mine, seeming unfazed.

“You’re not one to pay heed with warnings, are you, Ava? You better have a very good reason to seek me out this time. I meant what I told you the other night; I don’t ever want to see you again.” He casually leaned back against his chair before bringing his legs up on the side of his desk, resting atop of each other while he lazily gazed at me. “I hope that brings my point across loud and clear?”

“You lied to me!” I flung my accusation in the air before I marched towards his desk, giving him a pointed look. “My father—how did you convince him to do such a thing to me?” My knuckles were white as I dug my nails inside my palms, feeling as powerless as a hopeless pawn in a world full of selfish men who had agendas only to benefit their causes.

“That’s a little harsh, don’t you think? Besides, I haven’t lied to you.” He shrugged, looking bored. “Maybe you should take this temper tantrum to your father. You know … since this is a family affair, after all.”

His obvious nonchalance made me ground my teeth together. I had expected more reaction than this apparent boredom. How dare he make light of this when I felt like my world just went crashing to smithereens? Everything I had thought and believed my father was all became a blur in a matter of seconds.

“I’m surprised you’re even here. I’d think your father would be the one to tell you—” He paused, eyeing me suspiciously before frowning. “If it wasn’t your father, then who told you?”

His manner seemed downright disrespectful, his voice laced with sarcasm and suspicion, like I was highly contaminated, and whatever I did or say wouldn’t redeem me in his eyes. It was all there, blatantly written on his scornful albeit handsome face. His eyes felt like they were skinning me raw, as if he was taking me apart, piece by piece so I would be defenseless and cower like I was supposed to have done after he had disdainfully treated me like I was some cheap tart.

One would expect I would be numb from it all. Needless to say, his evident contempt simply magnified the ache that was gutting me alive.

“I just barely found out …” I trailed off, feeling parched due to the fact that I couldn’t seem to cohesively think when he was giving me an intense expression, as if deep in thought. Licking my lips, I started to take a small gasp of air to loosen the tightened feeling around my chest. I felt as if he was suffocating me by merely existing. “Ashton … Uh, Ashton flew in this morning and told me about it. Then I immediately came here to confront you.”

His eyes became slits, piecing together the puzzle that was my life. “Ahhhh, did he now…?” He gave a nod before making a “tsk-tsking” sound that reminded me of an adult being disapproving of a child. “The mighty husband is here to save the day,” he murmured with utter derision. “Does he know that his beautiful, loving bride was fucking around with another man’s dick?” Taunting, he slowly made his way out, circling around his desk before half-sitting on it, arms folded and his face exhibiting great disappointment. “Marital bliss, is it all that it’s cracked up to be, Ava?”

His mockery of me was reaching my capacity. As much as I had previously endured his maltreatment, I was now endangered of snapping my overburdened patience. “Maybe you should try it yourself, Reiss, since you seem so curious about it.” It was the first time I had used his real name, and I must say that saying it aloud made me feel all the more nostalgic about the past.

He shrugged. “Marriage … I just might. If the right woman comes along, then why not?”

Lovely. Just what I needed to hear—not.

“If you’re done throwing daggers and making a mockery out of my miserable life, can we move along? I still have a lot of questions to ask of you.”

“Why, Ava? Did one of the daggers finally manage to prick your fine porcelain skin?”

Nostrils flaring, I threw my hands in the air. “You know what? I can’t bloody deal with your childish need for revenge because I have far more important things to do than listen to you rambling and spouting blasted bloody nuisance about clear pettiness and small victories.”

“You have far more important things to do,” he murmured, thinking out loud just as he made a big nod, as if the light had just turned on in his brilliant mind.

“I bloody do!” I sounded just as I truly felt, depleted after being completely, emotionally objectified by this loathsome rat.

He appeared confused, as though he couldn’t wrap his puny brain around it. “Like what?”

I wanted to hurl my purse at the blasted jerk. “You ought to be joking, surely?”

He shrugged, unperturbed. “You’re a bored housewife, and your husband just flew in to see you.” He was deep in thought. “Funny, ‘cause I have this hunch that this wasn’t a coincidence. Don’t tell me you told your loving husband that you let another man shag you senseless while he called you his whore?”

Thatcompletely broke the little patience I had left.

Like a rocket, my body shot towards him, aiming for his cheek and gloriously connecting with my palm. “I am no one’s whore, not Ashton’s and surely not yours—never yours.”

His eyes clouded with barely any of his emerald greens showing as they thunderously sliced me in to two while he brought his face a hairsbreadth away from my own. “Vicious, aren’t we today, Ava? Why so catty when I’m only speaking the truth?” he sneered as he took my breath away. “Is your memory faulty? Because, from what I can recall, you kept screaming into my ear that, in fact, you are mine to do as I please, that no man has ever made you feel the way I do when I fuck you. You sobbed the words into my ears as you begged me to come inside of you. Don’t you remember any of that?”

Images of us naked shifted my focus. Did I really say any of that? Maybe, maybe not. I mean, I was so out of it I could have prayed in French, and I wouldn’t have noticed. Confused, my rebuttal was lost as the picture of us rutting together wreaked havoc on my already confused way of thinking.

“You look lost, love. My cock must’ve done quite a splendid job, eh?” His eyes sparkled as he brazenly cupped my breast with his right hand. “If you came here for a repeat, I could grant you that wish.” The sensation he was making was muddying my common sense while his other hand reached down to gently rub my pussy with his fingers against the soft fabric of my jeans. “So sensual … so beautiful … especially when aroused.” His eyes lingered on my face, almost cherishing it. Almost. “Your body begs for my touch. It’s hungry for it.”

He was so wrong yet so bloody right about me always being hungry for him. I hated how he could mesmerize me without effort. Even though I had protested before, my body was eternally enslaved to him, much to my disdain.

“Tell me what you want,” he rasped out, hungry eyes adamant to devour me. “Do you want my cock to fuck you mad, princess?”

Princess, it was his terms of endearment for me, and the first time he had said it since we had met again after a decade.

When nostalgia hit you, it hit like it was hounding you to the grave. There was no escaping it.

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