Page 64 of Wild King

I take a deep breath in through my mouth and slowly let it out through my nose, wishing that by the time I’m ready to say something to her that she goes away. When that doesn’t happen, I turn my head and see she’s much bigger than I thought she’d be by now.

“Ava, I’d say it’s nice to see you again, but since you clearly are spoiling for a fight, I guess that wouldn’t be accurate.”

She stares bullet holes through me for a long moment before snapping, “What the hell is wrong with you? We were friends all our lives. You know me as well as you know your own brothers. Why are you like this with me now?”

God, she really does want to do this. Okay. I guess we’re finally going to clear the air.

Slowly, I swing my legs off my chaise lounge and sit up. “Do you want to sit down? You are pregnant.”

“No. I’d rather stand.”

Fine. She wants to do this standing up. I can work with that.

When I stand up, I tower over her, as I have since I had that growth spurt in seventh grade. Why she’d want to give me that advantage I have no idea.

“So now that we’re both on our feet, what exactly do you want me to say, Ava? That I’m wrong for thinking you betrayed Theo? That I can forgive you for what you did? Well, the answer is no to both.”

Tears fill her eyes, which of course makes me the bad guy immediately. I get she’s probably moody because she’s pregnant, but if she thinks I’m going to hold back this time, she’s crazy.

Her boyfriend stuck me here, and I’m done holding my tongue when it comes to him and her.

“I did not betray anyone. You know that. I know Theo told you what happened. Why do you insist on being cruel to Matthias and me?” she asks in a weepy voice.

“Of course, you did. He loved you. You knew that. You knew the type of person he was, and at the end of the day, he loved you and wanted to be with you.”

My words make her wince, although I don’t know why. Every single one is true. Perhaps the truth hurts.

“Why should I have to wait until the end of the day? Why was it okay that he could go with any girl in the world, but I was supposed to sit around and wait for him to figure out he wanted to be with me?”

I shrug, not knowing the answer to her questions. “All I know is he loved you, and you stabbed him in the back and went with his brother. As for Matthias, well, he’s even worse because Theo was his brother. He knew what he felt for you better than anyone else, but it didn’t matter. Just like with exiling me here, Matthias just took what he wanted, and fuck anyone else’s feelings.”

Ava doesn’t say anything to that and merely hangs her head. I wait for her to speak again, but she doesn’t. When she finally lifts her head, tears roll down her cheeks.

“I loved him, Kellen. I loved him all my life. I tried so hard to be with him because I thought I was supposed to be. You have no idea what I went through. Losing him devastated me. I couldn’t get out of bed for weeks. I didn’t want to go on living. That you think I could be so callous and not care about my best friend for my entire life hurts more than you can know.”

I’m not a completely unfeeling bastard, so I reach out to touch her hand, but she yanks it away. “Don’t!”

“Just tell me this, Ava. How could you go with Matthias knowing Theo loved you?”

“How could you ask me that? You were there all those times when it was Theo, you, and me, and he left me with you to go with some girl. I never said a word. I never complained because I loved him as a friend. If you were honest with yourself, you’d have to admit he didn’t love me romantically. He would have never been able to leave if he did.”

I shake my head at her excuses. “And Matthias would never leave. I guess I see why you decided to settle for him.”

Rage flashes in Ava’s eyes, and a second later, she slaps my face so hard I practically see stars. “I don’t care what you say about me, but don’t you dare disparage Matthias! He was there when your father died and everything had to be handled. He was there when Theo died and all of you were lost. Do you think he has no feelings? He lost his best friend just like I did. I won’t let you say another word against him.”

In shock, I watch her storm away as I rub my cheek. Little Ava has more fire to her than I thought.

Well, this has been a delightful day.

And it doesn’t take long for it to get much worse.

Five minutes later, Salem comes around the house looking like she wants to kill me. Before I can try to tell her what happened, she screams, “What the hell is wrong with you? Have you lost your fucking mind? She’s a pregnant woman, and you make her cry? I’m trying to show the world you’re a good person, and you turn into a fucking monster!”

“I didn’t make her cry. She cried. Don’t pregnant women do that a lot?” I say, desperately trying to salvage any chance that Salem will ever want to speak to me again in a tone that isn’t screaming.

The horror on her face tells me nothing I’ve said so far is helping.

“What is wrong with you? She’s going to give birth to your niece or nephew soon, and you think it’s okay and just something commonplace that she burst into tears when she was talking to you? Have you lost your mind, Kellen?”