Page 35 of The Billionaire's Bride

"We need to talk." He scowls back at me.

"Like hell, we do."

I am about to shut the door on his face, when he says, "It’s about Ava."

I glower at him, "We’ve already spoken with her about how she’s going to spend time with each of us—"

"She doesn’t want to see either of us."

"What?" I frown.

"She threw me out of the house."

I can't stop the smile that curves my lips. "She did, huh?"

"She wants time apart frombothof us." He shoves past me and I watch as he prowls over to the window in the far corner of my loft-apartment.

I shut the door, walk over to stand in the center of the room.

"What do you mean? What the fuck did you do?"

"I mean exactly what I said." He drops his backpack on the floor. "We’ve both been pushing her… Too much, too quickly… Of course, it was bound to happen."

"Don’t go putting the blame of your desertion on me."

"It wasn’t desertion." He bites out the words as he stares out of the window. What does he see? The view of London spread out before him? His past…our pasts...as intertwined as it is because of the incident and what happened to us? His future...my future? Which, for some reason, seems to be just as closely twisted together… Thanks to one auburn-haired, green-eyed beauty who has ensnared both of us.

"What do you call it, then?"

He pivots to face me. "It’s called putting distance to get perspective, which I guess is what she’s trying to do right now."

"Is that what you think?" I scowl.

"What I think is not important." He leans forward on the balls of his feet. "Nor is what you think of consequence."

"Is that right?" I growl.

He nods. "The only thing that matters is that we respect her wishes—"

I open my mouth to speak and he raises his hand "—for now."

I set my jaw. "I’m not sure that’s wise."

"Why not?"

"If she has time alone to sort through things, what if she decides that she wants neither of us?"

"You mean, what if she decides that she doesn’t want you."

"Ava belongs to me," I grit out. "She was mine from the moment I saw her."

"She saw me first."

I ball my fists at my sides, and his lips twist. "Hurts to hear the truth, doesn’t it? I am her first love."

"She doesn’t love you."

His smile widens. "She does."