“So I can bounce it off this.” A playful slap landed on my ass, rekindling some of my attitude.
I dropped the bags at his heels and wriggled in his hold. Looping my arm backward around his head, I snaked my other arm under my torso until I could link fingers with the opposite hand. Using all my weight and arching back, I slid down his chest while my hold around his neck did all the work for me.
When Avery tapped out, I released him immediately and snickered lightly. “Gets you every time.”
“You’d think I would have learned by now,” he drawled, rubbing at his neck.
Plucking up the bags and giving me the stink-eye, he inclined his head toward the bedroom. “How about you go lie down while I unpack?”
Exhaustion pulled in my bones. “I feel like I could sleep for weeks.”
“You’ve got one day,” Avery called over his shoulder, leading the way to the master bedroom. He dumped the luggage by his dresser and unzipped his. “Tomorrow, we start training again. You’ll find it tough to begin with, but we’ll ease into a routine.”
I crawled onto his bed and lay sideways across it, resting my chin on the back of my hands while watching him unpack. “Up at 5:30 a.m., ten-mile run, and weights afterward?”
“We’ll start with the six mile and see how you do. Increase it from there and add a second afternoon workout once you’ve got your stamina back.”
“My stamina is fine,” I murmured.
He had his back to me, but a snort and a soft chuckle sounded. “Says the one already getting sleepy.”
“I’m not.”
Avery faced me and lifted his brows. “Your slurring tells me otherwise. I’m in need of a drink—do you want one too?”
I struggled to my feet while telling him no, then tucked under his arm when he lifted it.
“Feeling a little needy, huh?” He snickered, then oomphed when my playful punch landed on his ribs. Ayve pulled me tighter against his side. “Don’t start something you won’t be able to finish, Hellcat. Come chill on the couch while I grab a soda.”
“Sure.”
We stayed as one as we returned to the living area, and Avery stopped us in the middle of the open space. He turned and gathered me into his arms, embrace crushing me to his chest and securing me tight. The air shifted and grew thick. I hugged him back while listening to his rapid pulse beneath my ear.
“For a second there I thought I was too late,” he confessed into my hair.
“I would have found a way to escape. I would have been gone the first night if I didn’t have to find Mom. I kicked out a window and rappelled from the second story using bed linen.”
Avery pulled back and eyed me with amusement in his gaze. “Third window from the right?”
“Yeah. How do you know that?”
“It was boarded up the day we got you,” he said wryly.
Leaving my mark on the beautiful manor gave me satisfaction. Like a residual “fuck you” to my father for forcing my return to his world.
Avery’s hands smoothed from my lower back to my shoulders, then slowly up my neck. He cupped my face—jaw nestled against the mound of his thumbs as the pads rhythmically brushed the corners of my mouth.
“When I said that I thought we were too late, I meant that I thought you’d already officially wed. I got this feeling in my chest that…” Avery shook his head. “... I thought I’d lost you and my chest almost split because of it.”
I hugged him tight and squished my eyes closed, hating that he’d gone through that because of me.
“I was about to,” I confessed. “I was adamant about not marrying Reinhardt, but as soon as my father blackmailed me with Mom’s safety, I agreed. I simply couldn’t let her be collateral.”
A hum of acknowledgment came from deep within Avery’s ribs and he gently smoothed down my hair. “I understand, Hells. I would have done it too if my mom’s life had been in danger. You did the right thing, but I won’t deny that it kills me to know his hands would have been on you that night. I used to be okay with your arrangements—hell, I was one of them. But now… I can’t fucking stand the thought of another man touching you.”
“Which makes what happened even worse.”
His soothing movements stopped, and his fingers clamped around my torso. “Babe, that’s on the guy who assaulted you, not you. You’re allowed to break. I’m here, giving you a safe place to fall apart while I hold you together.”