The Awakening: Liam (Entangled Covet) (18 page)

Pressing his forehead to hers, he gently rubbed her pulsing clit, loving the way her body jerked and her

breath hitched with each pass over the sensitive bud. At length, her eyes slowly opened and she gazed back

at him. He withdrew his fingers and released her wrists to brace both hands on either side of her head. Still

she looked at him, said nothing. The only sound was the panting from her heaving chest.

Then she launched herself into his arms, latching her lips onto his as she jumped and wrapped her legs

around his waist. With a groan, he kissed her back, pressing her against the wall as his hands cradled the

sides of her face, their tongues desperate.

The phone rang again, and Ava froze.

“Don’t answer it,” he murmured against her lips. Not this time.
Stay with me.

She pulled back, blinking. Passion cleared, and he knew he’d lost her again.
Fuck!
She pushed against

him, straining, until he was forced to release her, his aching body rebelling.

Cursing, he gave a short punch to the wall as she hurried away from him and grabbed the phone. “H-

hello?”

Her eyes shot to his, the pink from her arousal leaching out of her skin until it was a deathly white.

Liam froze with his fingers still entangled in his hair, watching her, unnerved by her reaction. He tried

to siphon through the line, but only heard the distinct mumble of a man.

A forced laugh came from her. “Jimmy. Hey.”

Then she turned her back on Liam.

He stiffened. Wasn’t that the name of the guy she’d been on the phone with weeks ago? The same man

who’d been outside her house the night he’d decided to fight for her? “No,” she said to whoever it was.

“You don’t have to do that..” He stepped toward her, and she spun around, holding up a hand to stay him.

“I know. I miss you, too.” Tears glistened in her eyes, and she closed them for a moment before she

reopened them and stared straight at him. “I can’t wait for you to get home, either. I love you, too. See you

soon.”

Having his heart torn out of his chest would’ve been less painful. He stumbled back, and as she hung up

the phone, he asked, “Who the hell was that?”

Though he feared he already knew the answer.

Her fingers tightened around the receiver before she released it and turned to face him. “Jimmy,

my...boyfriend.”

His beast howled, enraged.
No! She was lying
. It was another pathetic attempt to push him away. “Then

what the fuck was
that
?” He gestured to the wall.

“A mistake.”

“It sure as hell didn’t feel like a mistake.”

“I got caught up in the moment, Liam. It shouldn’t have happened, and it won’t again.”

“If you love this asshole so much, where the hell has he been? You almost
died
. Doesn’t he care? I

haven’t ever seen one hair of this boyfriend of yours. And now you suddenly have one?” He crossed his

arms across his chest. “Don’t play me for a fool, Ava.”

Between clenched teeth, she said, “He doesn’t
know
. He’s been out of the country on business.”

Liam scoffed. “Likely story.”

“You can believe whatever the hell you want, Liam. But I love Jimmy.
You
were the mistake. I won’t

hide what just happened between us from him. But I don’t want to ruin what we have. So you need to

leave. I don’t want you to be around when we talk. And you better hope you haven’t messed things up for

me.”

He stepped closer and was shocked when she actually took a step back. “I’m not going anywhere, Ava.”

“Jesus, Liam, what is it going to take to make you see I don’t want you here!”

“You
do
want me here!” He pointed at her. “I refuse to believe otherwise!”

He stormed past her and back out into the garage, slamming the door behind him. His body vibrated,

tingled, threatened to shift from the rage. Closing his eyes, he inhaled deeply until the sensation passed.

Until all he was left with was a growling, pacing, furious beast.

He hadn’t gone into
Bahrraj
. Instead his beast had threatened to emerge, needing to run off the

overload of anger.

You don’t believe her, either
.

His beast roared, tail whipping.

Tension left him, as did his worry about going into a
Bahrraj
episode in front of her. His beast didn’t

believe her lies any more than he did. If she could throw another man in his face without consequences to

his condition, then there was nothing she could do to make him believe she didn’t want him.

…

Ava hugged the tattered remains of her shirt around herself as she shuffled into the living room. She

stood there, staring into space, then collapsed onto the couch.

He’d called.

No yelling. No sinister threats. Just a quiet admonishment that had terrified her to her very core.

What are you doing, Ava?

Soft. Inquisitive. And more petrifying than if he’d been enraged. The following conversation had been

done in the same tone.

Emma is at school, right? Geometry. Mrs. Potts class. Class is almost over, Ava. Lunch is about to start.

What does Emma do for lunch?

He knew, of course. He knew every detail of Emma’s schedule, her routine, but he was reminding her

of what an easy target her sister would be in those moments, even with the dog there to guard her. Emma

took her lunch and her sketchpad outside to draw in the sun. Ava realized how unprotected her sister still

truly was. One shot. That was all it would take.

It wasn’t until he’d told her that she had to fix it while he was on the phone that his tone had changed to

an ugly eagerness that had made bile rise in the back of her throat.

And she had. God help her, she had. She’d looked Liam in the eyes and pretended to tell another man

she loved him.

The disgust of saying those tender words to the madman was nothing compared to the agony of

watching the pain explode across Liam’s face. Ava wrapped her arms around her stomach.

There’d been so much hurt and anguish in his eyes.
Hurt and anguish
. Ava froze, then blinked,

recalling everything he’d told her.

Wait.
How
was she hurting him?

Wasn’t he supposed to be able to feel her emotions inside his body? Wouldn’t he have felt her terror

when she’d picked up the phone and demanded to know who had frightened her so badly? Months ago, it

would’ve been the same thing. He would’ve known, as she ended their relationship, she had been dying

inside.

Yes, he
had
felt her fear before, her ‘death’ and also smaller things like her regret and happiness, but

how could he miss an emotion that had been overwhelming her while he was standing right in front of her?

God, would she ever understand his world.

Looking down at the ripped T-shirt still fisted in one hand to keep the material from gaping open,

memories flooded through her. Memories of her breasts brushing against Liam’s chest as his fingers delved

wickedly into her body spread warmth through her. She would’ve allowed Liam anything, if—

She shook her head. No if’s. Their captor, her tormentor, had called, interrupted…threatened. Nothing

had changed that. Nothing would change that until he was stopped.
Made
to stop. An uninformed person

couldn’t stop a mastermind. Come hell or high water, she wasn’t going to be uninformed anymore. If she

had to she’d go to the damn dog following Emma for answers, she would.

After she carefully made her way upstairs, she discarded the ripped T-shirt and tugged on with a white,

high-neck shirt and headed back downstairs.

Two heated voices outside stopped her in her tracks

Liam’s and…Jimmy’s.

The real Jimmy.
Oh, crap
.

She hobbled to the door, yanking it open. Liam glared down at Jimmy, barricading the steps to the

porch with his massive body. Jimmy might be a good five inches shorter than Liam, and definitely not as

muscular, but he was all puffed up, too, not backing down.

“Get the hell out of my way,” Jimmy demanded.

Liam’s shoulders shook. “You’re not going near her.”

“What’s going on?” she asked.

Jimmy peered around Liam. “This buffoon won’t let me on the porch.”

“Liam, let Jimmy by.”

His fingers curled into fists before he shouldered by Jimmy, knocking him back a step, then stormed

across the yard and around the house. He didn’t look back once.

She closed her eyes, hating herself for hurting him again.

When she opened them, Jimmy was staring at her He mouthed, “Oh. My. God.” as he climbed the steps.

“Was that who I thought it was?”

“Yeah.”

He lifted a brow. “Girl, we have a lot to talk about.”

After he brushed by her into the house, she followed and closed the door behind them. “How was your

trip?”

“Good. Now tell me what happened.”

“Good? That’s all you have to say after going on your first romantic getaway with Adam? You can do

better than that.”

“I think your story will be more interesting than me talking about the vineyards and ruins.”

“I had an accident. Not much to tell.”

“And the sexy beast that came storming out of your garage the minute I got out of my car?”

Beast
. If he only knew. “He heard about the accident and came over.”

“That’s all? That dude was furious. All I could think about as he stormed at me was Hulk-Smash. Since

I didn’t do anything but get out of my car, I don’t really think that anger was directed at me.”

“We just had a fight and I told him to leave.” She considered telling Jimmy what it had been about, but

decided against it. He would kill her if he knew she had used him to put distance between herself and Liam.

She hadn’t meant to use him, it had just popped out because she was terrified, but she couldn’t tell Jimmy

that part, so it was just better to keep it all to herself.

He sat down on the couch. “Why’d you do that?”

“For the same reason we broke up. I told you.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard the spiel. He wanted more from you than you were ready for, blah, blah, blah. I also

saw how shook up you were when you saw him a few weeks ago. That sure didn’t look like a woman

who’d been afraid of having more with that man. There’s something you’re not telling me, so spill it.”

If only she could.

She sat down beside him, thankful to have him there. He wasn’t Liam, didn’t make her feel as safe, but

his presence was still a comfort. She’d met him about two weeks after she broke up with Liam, when

Jimmy applied for the café’s assistant manager position she’d posted. During the interview, they’d clicked

instantly, she’d hired him on the spot, and he’d become her right hand. Also her best friend. She wouldn’t

know what to do without him.

She curled up against his side. When he immediately put his arm around her, she laid her head on his

shoulder. “It’s one of those toxic relationship things,” she murmured. “We’re just not good for each other.”

“Seems as if he disagrees with you on that. He was pretty protective of you.”

“Liam has always been overprotective.”

“I can think of worse things than having someone that hot being overprotective, Ava.”

She sighed. “You don’t understand.”

“No. I guess I don’t. I know you still have feelings for him. I don’t understand fighting feelings, hon.

Adam fought his feelings for me for months, and we’re happy now.” He peered down at her. “There’s no

way the two of you could be happy?”

Yes
. That was the saddest part of it. She could be so very happy with Liam.

“No. Someone will end up getting really hurt.”

Emma
.

He squeezed her close. “All right then, you know your relationship better than I do.” He pulled back and

she tilted her head up to look at him. His gaze lowered, and his eyes narrowed dangerously. “Ava…what

kind of accident did you have, again?”

“I fell into a ravine while hiking.”

He pushed her up, cupped her chin, and tilted her head to the side, tugging down the neck of her shirt.

When she yanked away, pulling the fabric up, anger sparked in his eyes. “What really happened, Ava?”

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Damn it!

“Was it him? Is
this
why you said your relationship is toxic?” he demanded.

The notion that Liam would ever hit her was so absurd she simply blinked at him.

“I’ll frikkin’ kill him.”

Before she could even grasp what was happening, he was up and out the front door. “Jimmy!” She

hobbled after him, cursing the fact that her crutches were still in the garage. She came out of the house just

in time to see Jimmy disappear through the garage door. “Jimmy! Wait!”

There was the sound of fist hitting skin, and a grunt.
Shit! Shit! Shit!
She stumbled toward the garage,

wincing as pain stabbed through her ankle. She refused to slow down, knowing she had to get to them

before things went really bad. When she rounded the corner, she saw Liam advancing on Jimmy as he

rubbed a hand over his jaw.

“No!” She hurried between them, spreading her hands out.

A growl came from Liam, but he at least stopped.