Page 54 of Honest With You

She shivers beneath me, her body rolling against mine causing her to let out a delicious moan that I feel right to my bone.

“But you went through a traumatic experience tonight. You need rest. You need—”

“Ineedyou, Jesse.”

The sharp intake of breath could have come from either one of us, but as soon as she says that, I know I can’t say no. I could never say no to this girl. She is everything I ever wanted. The one person who understands all of me just like I understood her. And right now, she needs our connection to feel something other than the fear and anxiety that’s currently coursing through her. She needsus.

Hell, I need her too.

So I kiss her on the lips.

And every other part of her.

Until there were no more barriers between us and the outside world had been forgotten.

There was justus.

Iwake up, conscious of three things all at once.

A heavy arm wrapped around my waist, a nose nuzzling my hair and my phone ringing.

Then a fourth demands my attention, rousing me from sleep.

A warm breath tickles my ear followed by Jesse’s sleep ridden voice. “Ava. Your phone.”

The huskiness of his baritone voice sends shivers up and down my spine. I feel his lips form a knowing smile on my shoulder where he presses the gentlest of kisses.

He grabs my phone from the bedside table, handing it to me. Then he swings back, chuckling as he kisses the top of my head. “I’m going to put some clothes on, freshen up and give you some privacy.” He untangles our legs before easing off the bed. Grabbing his clothes piled on the floor, he marches to the bathroom, completely confident in his skin. But right before he shuts the door, he turns to shoot me a wink over his shoulder, fully aware I just watched his exit without blinking.

My phone has stopped ringing, so I take the moment to cover my face with a pillow and squeal into it. Last night sucked. In more ways that I can even count. But what followed after? I’ll never forget it. If, for some reason, Jesse decides that he no longer wants to be with me, at the very least I’ll have this memory. No matter what, he is my first in everything that mattered before I did something to extinguish his need for me or the notoriety of my family is no longer something he can deal with.

My phone starts ringing again and I emerge from my cocoon. Checking the phone screen, I don’t bother stifling a groan when I see it’s my dad calling.

The same one who waited a whole–I check the time–ten hours to call his daughter.

“Hi, Dad.” I do my best to tamp down the anger and disappointment in my tone.

“AVA MARIE. Do you mind telling me why your face is plastered all over the tabloids, wearing close to nothing?!”

I fly off the bed hastily, putting my dad on speaker and muting my microphone at the same time while he continues to berate me. His anger spurts out in huffs of breath. I hastily put my pajamas back on while I scroll through social media and—fuck my life—there I am. For the first time since I was born, my picture was there for all the world to see. Seeing the amount of pictures that are currently blasted all over social media, I doubt even my dad’s best “fixer” could erase last night from the internet.

Ava Torres, daughter of Lucas Torres, CEO of the Torres Entertainment Group caught with her shirt off at Halloween party, revealing herself as America’s newest “It Girl”.

The elusive children of Lucas Torres, Ava and Stephen Torres - who had evaded the public eye until now - caught exiting a police station in northern San Diego.

Ava Torres, daughter of the Torres Entertainment Group founder, Lucas Torres, allegedly caught in a fight at a high school party in San Diego suburb.

And the list of articles goes on and on… Not to mention the amount of messages, mentions and follows on all of my social media accounts. Even the ones I kept private. There are thousands of them.

“I THOUGHT YOU HAD THIS HANDLED. Was it not you who convinced me to let you and your sister move down here to California when I specifically said it was not a good idea? THIS DOES NOT LOOK HANDLED TO ME, AVA MARIE! What thehellwere you thinking? What the fuck—” Jesse rushes into the bedroom from the bathroom, and in an instant, his arms are wrapped around me. I didn’t even realize I had sunk to my bedroom floor, my phone in one hand while the other is clutching the bedsheets. Tears are clouding my vision and Jesse tries his best to wipe them off, but they keep streaming. Out of control, exactly how I feel. “--were you wearing? Is this how I raised you? Is this what you—”

My door slams open and my brother is standing on the other side, his face and neck beet red from anger. His hands curled into fists, chest heaving and his eyes zero in on the phone in my hand, where my dad has resorted to screaming at me now.

A fully coherent Vanessa stands right behind him, tears streaming down her own face, a silk robe wrapped around her body.

Stephen takes one look at me, then snatches the phone off my hand. He takes it off speakerphone, marching out of my room. He almost knocks over Vanessa and Ryder, who had just run in. Stephen ignores both of them as he crosses the hallway to his bedroom, across from mine.

“W-w-w-ait… S-s-s-Stephen!” I try to stop the shaking, trying to form more coherent words, but nothing comes out. I know I need to get up and do something.

---