Page 69 of Theirs to Desire (Club M: Boxed Set)

MADDOX

“ H ello, Avery.”

She stands in her doorway, wearing an old t-shirt that stops at mid-thigh, showing off her impossibly long legs. Her hair is tousled in careless waves around her face. Her face is free of makeup. She looks glorious, and my cock hardens.

As much as I’d like to pretend I don’t want Avery, I can’t lie. She’s a thirst I can’t quench.

Then I look closer and see the signs of distress Xavier mentioned. Her eyes are red-rimmed and wary. Her shoulders are set in tense lines. She leans against her front door as if she doesn’t have the energy to stand up.

Xavier was right to call us.

“What do you want, Maddox?” The words are combative, but her voice is flat and emotionless.

“Do you want to hear my apology in person?” She takes a deep, shuddering breath.

“I’m sorry, okay? I would give anything to go back in time and make different choices.

What I did was stupid and selfish and greedy, and I will regret it for the rest of my life. ”

I have many conflicting emotions about the two weeks we spent with Avery Welch, but regret is not one of them. If I could go back in time, I’d make exactly the same choices. I would willingly have my heart broken all over again.

You heard her. She doesn’t feel the same way. Let the past go.

Of course, I’ve never been able to be sensible about Avery Welch. “Invite us in, Avery.”

She steps away from the door, and we follow her into the small, cheerful living room.

It’s painted a turquoise blue. Two couches sit at right angles to each other.

One is bright red and covered with black-and-white cushions, and the other is navy blue.

She’s hung photographs on the wall, close-ups of flowers, mostly, with an odd painting thrown in.

The effect is colorful, eclectic, and lived-in.

“Nice place,” I tell her, moving some of the cushions aside to sit down. “Though it’s not what I would have expected.” I pictured Avery living somewhere more pretentious and sterile.

“I’m selling it,” she replies tightly, perching on the couch across from us. “If you like it so much, it’ll be on the market soon.”

Xavier’s right again, damn it. From the undertone of bitterness in Avery’s voice, this isn’t a choice she wants to make.

Kai sits down next to me, looking around curiously. Despite her outsize impact in our lives, neither of us really know Avery. We don’t know what’s important to her. What makes her tick. All we have is glorious, combustible chemistry.

“Why are you selling?”

“For the usual reason most people sell their possessions, Maddox.” Her voice is caustic. “I need money.”

That’s an answer that reveals nothing. I don’t know why I expected anything different. Avery has never volunteered information. She concealed her engagement from us, after all.

“Is that why you asked Xavier to refund your membership fee?” Kai asks bluntly.

Her cheeks go pink with mingled anger and embarrassment. “He had no business telling you about that.”

There’s a half-full bottle of wine on the coffee table. A chocolate wrapper. An opened bag of chips. I’ve been with enough women to know comfort food when I see it. All that’s missing is a tub of ice-cream.

Avery needs help, and damn it, though it makes no logical sense, I want to be the person that she turns to. “Why do you need money, Avery?” I persist. “Are you in some kind of trouble?”

“It’s really none of your business.”

She’s right. It is none of my business. If I had any sense of self-preservation, I’d get up and walk out her door. Then again, as events have shown time after time, when it comes to Avery Welch, I am not a rational person.

“The truth, Avery.”

She lifts her chin and glares at me, refusing to tell me anything.

“You’re so stubborn,” Kai murmurs, exasperated. “If you were mine, I’d put you over my lap and spank you for it.”

Fuck. I don’t have to close my eyes to picture Avery bent over Kai’s lap, her t-shirt pulled up to her waist, her fair skin growing pinker with each stroke, her body wriggling with pleasure, her soft moans of arousal like music to my ears.

In my fantasies, she begs for my cock. She wraps her pretty lips around my thickness and takes my length deep in her throat.

It’s not just me that’s turned on.

Avery’s pupils dilate, and her breathing quickens, just for an instant. Then she catches herself and stiffens. “I’m not yours,” she snaps, her cheeks red. “As you made abundantly clear on Saturday. And I have no interest in being your mindless drone, obeying every one of your whims.”

We shouldn’t have left her alone. It was a mistake, a bad one.

I’d been thinking of myself, trying to protect myself against the hurt that was bound to happen, and I hadn’t been thinking of Avery at all.

What I did was the equivalent of sneaking out of her bed in the middle of the night.

I rub my hand over my face, deeply ashamed.

“Is that how you see submission?” I ask her quietly. “As something that’s mindless?” She had been visibly turned on; I would have sworn she was enjoying herself. Did I read her wrong?

“Are you going to tell me that hanging naked in the middle of a room is empowering?”

“Oh, you’re talking about Nadya.” Kai shakes his head with a chuckle. “She’s a top-flight estate lawyer who bills five hundred dollars an hour. I’m pretty sure she’s empowered.”

Avery rolls her eyes. “Of course. And you respect her for her mind. Yeah. I believe you.”

Something else is going on. Something’s upset her. This discussion about submission is a diversion. “I do respect Nadya for her mind,” I reply calmly. “She’s my lawyer, and I’m not in the habit of hiring people unless I think very highly of them. Now, forget about her. What’s really bothering you?”

She lowers her gaze to the floor. “It’s nothing,” she mutters tonelessly. “It’s a long, complicated story. Victor’s being his usual charming self. I’ll take care of it.”

“Victor? As in Victor Lowell, your ex-husband?” Why is he back in her life?

She nods slightly, her shoulders slumped.

A spiral of anger coils tight inside me. Avery looks tired and defeated; Victor Lowell made her look like this. I’ve never met the man, but I feel a sudden, burning urge to punch his face. “How much money do you need?”

“Look, it’s not your problem, okay? It’s mine.”

Damn it. She needs to let me help her. “How much, Avery?” I bite out.

“Half a million dollars.”

“And Lowell’s offered to give it to you?”

She doesn’t answer.

Money, a small, bitter voice inside me says. Avery married Lowell for money. Gage sued me for my portion of my father’s estate. It’s always about money.

The thing about money? I have a fuckton of it. “What’s your bank account number?”

Her head snaps up. “What are you saying, Maddox?”

Am I rescuing her or punishing her? Fuck if I know. All I know is that there’s no power on Earth that’s going to stop me. I won’t stand by and watch Lowell take her from us. Again.

I smile coldly. “I’m loaded, sweetheart. Don’t you know? I’m tossing my hat into the ring. Five hundred grand is the asking price, isn’t it?”

She gives me a steady look, one that seems to see into my soul. “I’m not your whore, Maddox.”

No, you were the woman I loved.

The magnitude of my loss ten years ago makes me cruel. “But you’ll be Victor’s?” I throw back at her.

Avery goes white with shock. At my side, Kai stiffens and gives me a furious look. I’ve gone too far. “You don’t know anything about me,” she whispers. “You never did.”

“Here’s what I do know. In my world, I’m honest about my control. The terms are negotiated and agreed to by both parties.” I stare at her. “Can you say the same thing about Victor Lowell?”

She draws in a shuddering breath. “What are the terms?”

“Club M. Every Saturday for the next fourteen weeks. From four in the evening until two in the morning, you are mine.”

“And you’re going to hurt me?”

“If that’s what you want.”

“That’s quite enough.” Kai’s voice cracks like a whip. He gives me a death glare. “It’s at Club M,” he says, turning to Avery. “There are rules. There will be monitors on the floor. Security cameras in every room. If you take Maddox’s deal, nothing will happen that you don’t want. Nothing. ”

Her expression remains unreadable. Finally, she nods. “I accept your deal.”

An unexpected surge of relief rushes through me. The strength of my emotions rocks me. Even now. Even after all these years.

But I’ve learned to hide my emotions well. “Good.” I get to my feet. “Give me your bank information. The money will be there in the morning. I’ll see you on Saturday.”