Page 41 of Call It What You Want
I’ve imagined this moment for years—the moment I could finally call Ava my wife. Actually, three years, two days, and twenty-two hours.IfI were counting, and I’m not.
But in every daydream, every twisted version I played in my head, it never looked like this. Not even close. Forcing her to marry me, tricking her into it, never factored in.
Ava stares up at me blankly, those green eyes wide, confused. I can see the wheels in her head turning, like she’s trying to replay what I just said, convinced she must have heard me wrong.
“Did you—” She glances around the room, searching for what, I don’t know, then settles her gaze back on me, a little dazed from the effects of the drug. “Did you just say ‘wife’? We didn’t even say vows!” She shakes her head. “No, this is some weird society thing.” Her voice rises, high-pitched and frantic. “Tell me that’s some fucking weird society thing!”
“As much as I’d love to explain, we still need to finish the ceremony.”
I flick my chin toward Mason and Austin, who both step behind her, right on cue. We’d planned it that way. Once the deed was done and the marriage license signed, they’d get her upstairs while the rest of us closed out the ceremony.
Mason and Austin drag her across the room and out the door, kicking and screaming with what little strength she has left. It’s not much, but she makes them work for it.
A heavy feeling settles in my chest, but I push it away. Now is not the time for guilt or sentiment. I did what needed to be done, and even if Ava never knows why, at least she’s safe. That’s all that matters.
That’s all that’s ever fucking mattered.
After the ceremony ends, everyone rips off their masks and robes and heads down to Rush Beach, where the more junior members are already partying.
In the study, I strip off my robe and light up one of Christian’s blunts, then drop into one of the leather chairs. Lucas settles into the chair across from me, Wyn perched on the armrest, leaning into him.
“You’re a married man now,” she says. “How does it feel?”
Her tone is whimsical, hopeful. She’s not a senior member, so she wasn’t in the ceremony and wasn’t witness to the brutality of it.
Tilting my head back against the tufted backrest, I take a pull from the blunt, then push out a breath, watching the puff of gray smoke curl into the air before drifting into nothingness.
“Feels fantastic,” I say sarcastically. “My wife despises me, so we’re off to a great start. Wedded bliss.”
“Give her time. She’ll come around, eventually.” Lucas rubs Wyn’s thigh and flashes her a wide grin. “Right, baby?”
Wyn rolls her eyes and shoves Lucas’ shoulder. “You guys are assholes. Heaven forbid you seduce a girl like anormalguy. With the Sacred Sons, it’s always threats and coercion.”
“Oh, come on. Youlikethe coercion,” he growls, hooking her waist and pulling her off the armrest, onto his lap. She squeals and pushes against his chest with a laugh.
For fuck’s sake.
I tilt my head back again so I don’t have to look at them, and I take another pull from the blunt. But it does nothing to calm my nerves. It doesn’t even make a dent. My leg is bouncing, fingers twitching, mind chewing itself to pieces.
I’m still back in that ritual room. With her.
With Ava.
And fuck if I know what spell she put me under, but I can’t shake the way she felt—tight, warm, gasping beneath me like she didn’t know whether to fight me or fuckingbeg.Every movement, every shiver of her body against mine just reminded me how perfectly we fit together.
But what’s stuck in my mind is that look in her eyes—pure, undiluted hatred mixed with the raw beauty of surrender.
You’re the one in control,I tell myself.Don’t let her get inside your head.
Too fucking late.
Ava Baldwin crawled inside my head and took up residence years ago. We were both just seventeen when her dad started working for my mom in Missouri, and from the very beginning, she was defiant. Deference was a foreign concept to her, and the result was someone so shamelessly authentic, it set my adolescent brain on fire—a fire that quickly spread to my cock.
A silver lighter strikes my chest, and I look up to see both Lucas and Wyn staring at me. Lucas lifts his hands like,What the fuck?“Wake up, dude. I’m asking you a question.”
“What?” I bite out. Then, like skipping rocks, I chuck the lighter back at him. It flies past his head, clatters to the floor, then goes skidding across the hardwood.
“What’s the update on the article and all that?” he asks.
