“Cheers, love. Glad you’re seeing the big picture.” Placing an arm around me, he pulled me closer to his body. I then rested my head against his shoulder, imagining the future. “I must tell you, though, if it’s a girl, I’ll make sure no boy will come snooping when she’s of age. I’ll hound them until they’ve buried themselves inside their closets. No boy would make my baby their practice meat, not a bloody chance in Hell.”
Slapping his chest, I applied pressure to push myself to see his face. “I was practice meat?”
“No, of course you weren’t.” He paused, eyes fully wicked on me. “But, I dare say practicing with you was extraordinary.”
Extraordinary.
Hmmm. “I like that. I think that truly defines what you and I were back then.”
“How about we do one more practice before I head out to see mum?” he murmured, nipping my nape all the way towards the back of my ear.
“Tempting,” I giggled, feeling like a hopelessly in love idiot. “But I’ll take a rain check until I see you next. You’ve exhausted me. My vagina needs to recharge for a bit if you don’t mind, thank you very much.”
“I’ll definitely be back for a rain check. Count on it.” He winked at me before he attacked me on the sofa, kissing me towards oblivion.
Chapter 22
Ava
The next day, I went to meet Ashton for lunch. I hadn’t seen him in days, and frankly, a part of me was worried about how he was doing. Ten years of marriage, living with him as his wife, had made it my second nature to wonder about him. I supposed we both were going through the motions of letting each other go.
Whatever it was my father had said to him, it had done its job. I guessed there was one thing my father had done right. Apart from that, however, I was still cross about his meddling with Reiss and making his future grandchild being a bastard an excuse to save face because, if word got out that I was carrying someone else’s child, the gossipmongers would have a field day bashing our family. I cared less about their snotty indignant opinions than my mother; it meant the world to her. Someday soon, I would face him, and I wouldn’t hold back directing how livid I was at him making me believe Reiss was dead and all the secretive measures he had taken to ensure Reiss was kept away from me.
Arriving at the restaurant Ashton and I had agreed upon, I banished all my thoughts about my father and Reiss, hoping I could fully put all of my attention to Ashton and arranging what needed to be done for the divorce. Obviously there were assets in question.
I had enough from my trust fund to last the baby and me for a lifetime since I had paid heed when the financial advisor had suggested I reinvest the money that I had inherited from my grandparents. Thanks to his brilliantly sound advice, the reinvested money generated monthly dividends to support me.
Apart from taking my own money with me, Ashton could have the rest. Besides, it was mainly his money that had bought most of the assets we had together; thus, it made perfect sense for him to keep them all.
When I informed the hostess that I was meeting someone, she kindly took my name and informed me Ashton was already here and waiting.
“Let me show you to your table,” she offered, ready to lead me.
“Thank you, but I think I can navigate my way,” I kindly declined her offer before I strode towards the dining area, scouting for the familiar face that made me feel wretched for breaking his trust and love. The things was, I wouldn’t have broken it if it weren’t for Reiss. He was the one, and I had no sense of control when it came to him. He was my kryptonite—my Achilles’s heel—a weakness. He was the Camilla Parker-Bowles of our marriage, and even though I felt remorse and shame, this wretchedness that wouldn’t ebb away until I was with Reiss couldn’t be ignored.
I had spent years and years daydreaming, wishing and hoping, thinking it could never be, because the man was dead. However, all of those fancies had been brought forward the moment I had found him again, making it impossible, not to mention how unbearable it would be, to walk away from my fate. Any person who chose to walk away from what they were destined to live would forever be doomed. The damnation didn’t come right away, though. It trickled slowly in as it softly drained you out, taking your happiness and hope until any sort of positivity you had in your soon ebbed away, just like a receding tide. You’d be the fish, thrashing and spattering, wondering how to survive without water. With nothing to rescue you, you’d lie on the wet sand, staring, unable to breathe, hoping something could save you from dying. Yet nothing would come to rescue you, and therefore, you would wait … and wait … breathing as much as you could, though not really living. You stayed that way, hopelessly paralyzed as you watched the time pass you by, waiting for the moment your suffering would end.
That had been me not too long ago because I had made an unmistakable error and denied my fate what it was destined to have. Second chances didn’t come often, and when you were granted the opportunity, no one in their right mind would even think twice before they embraced it. This was me, embracing it even though I had no clue if I was doing the right thing or not. My heart was telling me that it was, yet my mind… Well, it was fickle.
However, it was of no matter since I knew the consequences of what one could go through after paying heed to their mind. I was trusting my heart and its instincts, knowing that, deep down, this was the right thing—the best thing—to do.
Spotting Ashton’s table, I made my way towards him. Halfway through, I saw him stand up, his face breaking into a smile with his arms wide open, ready to give me a big hug.
“Ava,” he said the second his arms closed around me. One word, yet so much emotion was invested in it.
For a while, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, memorizing Ashton’s smell and how it felt to be in his arms. My throat started constricting as I fought back the tears. Parting from him was going to be hard—I knew that—but going through the motions was simply twice as hard. He was a good man and a great husband who made sure I would want for nothing. But we weren’t working out any longer, and I must make things right again by setting him free as I should’ve done a decade ago. I had been a coward, though, miserable with my life and the colossal mistake I had made by throwing Reiss away. I had hidden behind my pain and hoped that Ashton could cure me of everything I had been going through. He had been my Band-Aid, the man who’d tried to give me everything. It was tragic to go through letting go, especially breaking a unity such as marriage. However, it was time—high time—to set us free.