Chapter 32: Confrontation

AVA

“Don’t waste your breath on him, baby,” Cyrus said. His eye was twitching.

I stroked his leg, trying to calm both of us. I cleared my throat.

“It’s okay. Timothy and I got together when we were fifteen. We dated all through high school and got engaged when we were twenty, when his father fell gravely ill.

“We rushed into it, hoping he could still watch his son get married.”

I took a deep breath before continuing. “His father succumbed to his illness before it got that far, so we decided to postpone the wedding until further notice.

“We needed some time to get adjusted to the new situation anyway. Tim had been his father’s apprentice, and now he suddenly had to take over his role as CEO at their company.

“I started working there too, as his assistant, because I wanted to help out desperately but knew nothing about tech myself.”

“What a surprise,” Roald scoffed, and Cyrus shot him a deadly look.

Cyrus pulled me to him. “You don’t owe anyone any kind of explanation. I’m sorry for having put you in this position.”

“It’s fine. It was time I told you this anyway.”

Roald grinned smugly at him.

I swallowed. “The more power Timothy had, the more it got to his head. He started to become more and more power-hungry and loud. He started drinking too.”

I looked at Cyrus, who squeezed my thigh and rested his lips against my forehead.

“And then one day I accidentally entered his office while he was in a meeting. I saw something snap inside him. After the client left, Timothy cornered and hit me.”

Cyrus was now seething, his chest rising and falling with each ragged breath he took.

“Like all abusive partners, he made up for it, assured me it was a one-time thing, a temporary loss of judgment, he would never lose his cool again.

“It didn’t stop until two years later, though, when a neighbor called the police because he was kicking my unconscious body outside our apartment.”

Gabby gasped, and Cyrus and Dominic stared at me, dumbfounded. I bore my eyes into Roald’s, who seemed at a loss for words for the first time.

“I swear I didn’t care about his title. I fell in love with him when he was just Tim, and I was very young.

“And I believed his lies for too long, thinking the old Timothy was still inside somewhere, while in reality he was long gone.”

I cleared my throat again and took a sip of water.

“I was in the ICU for a week, recovering from my injuries. As soon as I got back, I packed up my stuff and found an apartment and a job here.

“My parents and friends were devastated and blamed themselves for not having seen the signs. But Timothy had been slowly distancing me from them, and I was completely under his spell.

“Everyone else had heard about the incident too, and they all felt sorry for me, of course. But that weighed heavy on me as well.

“I desperately wanted to get away from it all, and I opted for a clean break, moving here.”

Everyone was silent for a moment, staring at me with that pitying look I had come to despise.

I downed the last of my water and looked up gratefully when Georgia entered the room, breaking the tension.

“What happened?” She looked at each of us, her smile slowly fading from her face.

Cyrus got up, pulling me up with him. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Ava… I’m so sorry.” Gabby’s eyes were glistening with emotion.

“Don’t be.” I tried to sound upbeat. “It’s in the past. I prefer not to talk about it, but it wasn’t fair I hadn’t even let Cyrus in on it. I’m actually glad you know now, Cy.”

“Me too,” Cyrus said hoarsely.

We said our goodbyes, ignoring Roald, and left. I could hear Dominic scolding his father when Cyrus pulled the door shut behind us.

“Aves,” Cyrus said as we pulled out of the driveway, “I had no idea it was that bad. I had some suspicions about an ex with a drinking problem, but nothing like that.”

“I should have told you sooner.”

“No, I told you to tell me in your own time. You never should have been pushed to talk about it, let alone in front of my family.”

His hands clenched the steering wheel. He seemed to notice them, and he shook off the anger.

He looked at me with a pained expression. “I’ve been so aggressive around you too. Have you been scared of me?”

I stroked his beautiful face. His concern healed a little part of my heart.

“Never,” I said. “Anger makes me nervous in general, but you’ve never expressed any kind of aggression toward me. You’ve just been protective, which is a nice change, actually.”

I was performing my optimism, manufacturing it, but I wasn’t lying. It ~was~ nice to have him in my corner. I felt safe with him, safer than I had in a long time.

***

We got back to Cyrus’s apartment, and as soon as I stepped over the threshold, a tiredness came over me. All the evening’s emotions were taking their toll.

“Let’s go to bed.” Cyrus guided me toward the bedroom.

“I didn’t bring anything.”

“We’ll swing by your place before work tomorrow.”

“I don’t even have a toothbrush.”

“Are your parents dentists?” He handed me a spare toothbrush. “I’ve never met anyone with such immaculate dental hygiene. You brush your teeth like five times a day.”

I just winked at him, feeling a little embarrassed about him having noticed that.

I slowly took off my clothes, and Cyrus sat down on the bed, leaning back on his forearms. When I had taken off everything but my underwear, he pulled me onto his lap to straddle him.

He ran his hands over my back, leaving a trail of hot sparks in their wake. I arched my back toward him, and he sat up, burying his face in my breasts.

“How could anyone hurt you?” he said.

“It’s in the past, Cy. Let’s not dwell on it.”

He kissed my neck and shoulder and the tops of my breasts. He looked up at me with a strange look in his eyes. His mouth opened and closed, as if he wanted to say something but kept changing his mind.

“What is it?” I ran my hands through his thick, brown hair.

He looked at me as if trying to gauge whether he could say what was on his mind.

“Did he…? Was he your first?”

Blood rushed to my cheeks, and I felt very exposed suddenly. I leaned back some more, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Don’t worry about it, baby,” he said. “You don’t have to tell me.”

I took a deep breath. “He…was.”

My stomach churned, and I tried to shake off the memory. Timothy had never truly forced me into anything, but it had never been loving. It always felt like a business deal, or a way to defuse his building anger.

Cyrus leaned his forehead into mine. “Forget about him. I’ll be your real first.”

All kinds of emotions overcame me, clouding my vision and stirring my insides. My heart fluttered, and I arched into Cyrus, craving his touch. His head dipped down as he continued to kiss my neck.

Then his lips claimed mine, and I couldn’t help but let out a soft moan as his tongue slid into my mouth. We kissed primally, letting go of everything we’d been holding back for the last couple of months.

His hands raced over my back, unclasping my bra with one hand and grabbing my neck with the other. I slid my hands over his beautifully sculpted abs and pecs before grabbing his broad shoulders.

He lifted me up and threw me onto the bed beside him, rolling over and onto me. He pressed his erection against my core, making me arch my back and gasp for air.

“Cyrus…”

He let out an actual growl before bending down and sucking on the skin where my neck met my shoulder. His teeth scraped against me, making heat pool between my thighs.

I wrapped my legs around his waist to pull him closer.

I unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans and slid them down his legs as far as I could reach with him still on top of me. Then I hooked my foot into the waistband and straightened my leg, pulling his jeans down with it.

He stopped kissing me long enough to give me a surprised smirk, and then he crashed his lips into mine again. My hands clawed at him, trying to pull him closer.

“I want you, Cy.”

“Don’t say that unless you’re ready.”

I ripped my lips away from his and brought them to his ear. “I am. I’m ready, Cyrus.”