Page 151 of Brutal Collateral

“Shhh.” He brings our mouths together again and punishes me with a fiery kiss, our tongues tangled and dancing. “You scared the hell out of me. Twice. Earlier today because you didn’t fight for me. And then just now, making me endure a phone call from your guard that you had vanished. I fucking flipped out.”

I take a breath and add gasoline to the fire. “I have something to tell you that will really make you flip out.”

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

Griffin

Ihold Ava’s face.“Are you still upset because of Wren?”

“No,” she scoffs, but her hands are ice cold and she’s shaking.

“What’s going on, siren?” I pinch her chin. “I’ve been fucking you for weeks, you don’t tremble.”

As much as I’d like to make her a trembling, messy puddle of lust.

“I... I saw Rand Miller today.” She strokes her throat. “The guy who—”

“I remember that name.” My hands fall to my sides in a stupefied shock. “And what he did. Where did you see him?”

“In a restaurant. At the bar. Watching me.” Her cheeks redden. “I... I thought he was dead.”

I tilt my head, my heart pounding. “Why would you think he’s dead?”

“He... He left in an ambulance that day.” She backs up and wraps her arms around herself. “And I never saw him again.”

It hits me, why the training center closed. “What happened later that day, Ava? Before you and I met up at the bar. Did he fucking lay a hand on you again after I caught him touching you on that platform?”

“No.” She shakes her head. “We should go home.”

“What are you not telling me?” I grip her, knowing there’s more to her past with Rand Miller.

“I don’t know where to begin. But it doesn’t matter.”

I guess itdoesn’tmatter. And I’ve learned not to push her.

What I have with Ava and how we connect have outgrown those people who found pleasure in a motel room between sunset and sunrise. She’s all mafia princess right now with a taste for blood because she’s a badass deep down inside.

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