“Is it safe to sit?” I ask. “Can I sit on the bench while you sit in that chair?”
“I’ll take the bench,” he offers. “You take the chair. There’s no way in hell I’m letting you fall again, Ava. I’ll do everything in my power to never let that happen again.”
I believe him. I believe him so strongly that I know I can trust him with my story. It’s a story I’ve never told my family or friends, but I want Harry to know it. Suddenly, it feels vital that he knows everything.
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
Harrison
“It was six months ago,” she begins. “It happened in London.”
It.
It is painful and life-altering. I can see that in the way she’s fisting her hands together in her lap. She’s sitting in a faded blue chair with her feet tucked beneath her.
After she settled into it, she took a couple of minutes to gather her thoughts. I could tell that’s what she was doing because after she traced a finger along the outer seam of one of the legs of her jeans, she touched her bracelet. She twisted it in a circle, studying each of the charms before she sucked in an audible breath.
“I haven’t been with anyone since then.” Her gaze finds mine. “Until now. Until you.”
I stay silent because I want her to move through this at her pace.
“We were classmates,” she explains. “He’s from California, so we had a lot in common.”
I nod.
Her gaze trails over my shoulder to something behind me. I’d steal a glance, but I can’t tear my eyes away from her.
She may be incredibly strong, but there’s a vulnerability to her that is on display right now.
I haven’t seen it often, but it’s there now.
“What was his name?”
She looks at my face. “Otis.”
It’s not a lot to go on, but I have the resources to track him down. I want to so I can wrap my hands around the fucker’s neck.
“We were friends to begin with.” She shakes her head slightly. “He played the piano, too, so we often worked on projects together. I could bounce ideas off of him, and I’d do the same for him.”
I rest my forearms on my thighs and study her face.
“The sex just happened one night when I was at his flat.” She looks down at her lap. “Otis had bought wine, cheese, and bread. We sat out on his little balcony as the sun was setting. We ate, talked, and laughed.”
It sounds like a solid memory, but I know, based on what happened in my bedroom, that it’s going to take a horrific turn.
“We went to bed together,” she says, her voice faint. “I fell asleep after that.”
A few seconds pass in silence as she gathers her thoughts. I don’t interfere. I can’t. I can tell how difficult this is for her.
“I woke up in the morning, and everything seemed fine.” She looks at the ceiling. “We fucked again before school.”
If it’s a detail she feels I need to know, I’ll absorb it even though the idea of her in bed with someone who hurt her slays me.
“Otis wanted to remember our first time together, so he took a picture of us when we were eating breakfast.” Her hands jump to skim over the front of her sweater. “I was dressed by then. I had all my clothes on.”
“Yes,” I say.
“Yes,” she repeats. “Otis went to shower before school, and I decided to send myself the picture from his phone.”
A silent sob jerks her small frame. She covers her mouth with her hand.
“Ava?”
That lures her gaze to my face. She nods. “I’m okay. I want you to know.”
I nod, reaching forward to offer my hands to her. She eagerly accepts them.
“I opened the picture app on his phone, and saw them.” Her hands squeeze mine. “I saw all of the pictures. They were pictures of me on his bed.”
That little son-of-a-bitch.
“In the first picture, my breasts….they were just there.” Her hands tremble. “You could see them so clearly, and the second picture was all of me. I was naked.”
“Jesus, Ava. I’m so fucking sorry.”
“There were at least a dozen of them.” A tear streams down her cheek. “I had fallen asleep without any covers on, and he took pictures from every angle.”
Still holding tightly to her hands, I crouch at her feet. “I can’t imagine what you were feeling.”
“Embarrassed.” Her voice is soft. “Panicked. I wanted to smash his phone on the floor, but I was worried that he had sent them to other people.”
Christ.
“He came out of the bathroom then, and I lost it.” She closes her eyes briefly. “I threw the phone at him. It hit him square in the chest. I screamed at him. I was so angry, so hurt, so scared, Harry. I was so scared.”
“I know,” I try to reassure her by kissing her hand. “I know, Ava.”