Joseph’s POV
I stood at Ava’s apartnt door, srized by the most beautiful woman in the world, wearing only a tight white tank top and matching thong. I couldn’t help but desire her.
"Joseph, Elle’s call woke up, then you called, and I forgot I wasn’t dressed. Since you’ve seen everything anyway, co in. I’ll get ready," she said embarrassedly.
As Ava turned away, I stepped inside, closed the door, and pulled her into my arms for a deep, passionate kiss.
When we broke apart, I smiled.
"Good morning, my love!"
I released her and she stumbled down the hallway, leaving grinning.
I prepared her breakfast in the kitchen. Black coffee, toast, and jam.
Half an hour later, Ava appeared in tight jeans and a black shirt, breathtakingly beautiful as always. I served her breakfast and poured coffee.
She remained silent during our ti alone, lost in thought.
When we arrived at the Carrie’s place, it was buzzing with conversations, laughter, and excited squeals everywhere.
Soon enough, Elle divided everyone into two groups: n in one, won in the other.
We went to Liam’s room to organize things, and during a break from moving boxes, Kyle ca over to talk to .
"How are you holding up?" Kyle asked softly. I looked at her, finding the question strange, but understanding what she ant.
"I’m in hell, just like Draven was," I whispered back.
"Ava is suffering, and she doesn’t deserve this. What you did is worse than what Draven did," Kyle said quietly.
"What are you two whispering about over there?" Ryan, ever curious, asked teasingly.
"Ryan, I’m thinking about organizing a get-together," Kyle quickly replied, then whispered to , "I need to tell you sothing important." I nodded.
When we returned to the living room, Nate burst in, breathless from carrying boxes to Draven’s car.
"Can soone explain why I just saw Ava getting into Theo’s car?" Nate asked, panting.
I nearly lost my mind when Nate said that, and then lost it again when Eleanor ntioned Ava being single. I wanted to chase after her, but my friends decided to "intervene" with an interrogation.
After explaining to them what Ava had witnessed at my place and listening to their well-deserved criticism, Draven finally decided we’d talk after finishing the move.
When we finally finished moving Caroline and Liam’s things, I couldn’t escape my friends’ "judgnt." We sat in the living room, with Eleanor leading the interrogation, of course.
"You man-whore, how many tis did you sleep with that devil’s minion?" Eleanor’s tone was anything but friendly.
"Man-whore, Elle?" I pretended to be offended.
"Exactly, you player. You should consider yourself lucky because I was thinking of saying sothing much worse," Eleanor shot back.
"Well, shit..." I decided to lay everything out.
I told them about the photos and showed them; I explained how I’d slept with Sophia several tis out of revenge; how I’d ignored countless calls from Ava; my argunts with my father at pack house and at the company; and what I discovered at the social club.
"You idiot!" Eleanor cursed. "Didn’t it ever occur to you to talk to Ava about this damn photo? You didn’t even have the balls to break up with her! Seriously, you’re such a player."
"I’ve been trying to talk to her since yesterday, but..." I attempted to defend my mistakes, but even I didn’t want to hear my pathetic excuses.
"Yesterday? You moron?" Ryan said, as if pointing out the obvious, "You got that photo weeks ago and didn’t contact her? Knowing your father’s character and Draven’s situation back then, you chose to ignore Ava and fool around with Sophia instead? No, Joseph, that’s just inexcusable!"
"Yeah, dude, I can’t defend you on this one," Draven’s words deflated .
"Joseph, you’ve actually outdone Draven," Caroline’s comnt made cringe.
"Oh, darling, I thought we were going to forget my slip-up," Draven complained, earning a glare from Caroline.
"I forgave you, Draven, I didn’t forget!" Caroline said firmly. "You’ll be groveling at my feet for the rest of your life, and that’s final!" This brought a round of laughter.
Suddenly, Ruby slapped Ryan.
"Watch it, baby, you try that shit again and I’ll gut you!"
"But baby, I only have eyes for you!" Ryan whined.
"Yeah, but you did nasty things with that devil minion , so you better watch yourself, baby, watch yourself." Ruby threatened, and I didn’t even want to imagine what she might do to Ryan.
Kyle sat lost in thought, seemingly detached from everything. She sighed and stood up, dusting off her pants.
"It’s worse than you think." Kyle said, drawing everyone’s attention. "Joseph’s father is stalking her. He sends her flowers and calls her. I don’t know how he got her number. I personally told him to stop harassing her, but you know what he’s like, especially now that you’ve declared war on him..."
"Damn! He just won’t stop." I said, understanding what Steward wanted.
"I can’t believe Ava’s been dealing with this alone," Luke said.
"I don’t think she has. I think Nina knows. She’s been acting weird lately, always walking away to take calls, looking worried..." Ruby was right.
"Yeah, Nina knows," I admitted. "She probably wants to strangle ."
"Wait, Nina knew everything and kept it from us?" Eleanor was red with anger. "Where is she, by the way?"
"She went back ho, Elle," I reminded Eleanor that I’d given Nina so ti off.
"But she was just doing what Ava asked. Ava didn’t want us to worry, saying Caroline and Draven’s situation was serious enough without adding more problems to our group," Kyle said, looking down.
"Wait, Kyle, you knew too? And said nothing?" Ruby asked.
"Ruby, it was Ava’s request. I noticed sothing was off and asked her. But she made promise not to tell you guys, and I respected her wishes, but I was keeping an eye on her," Kyle tried to explain.
"I feel so guilty. Ava was going through all this alone while I was taking up all your attention. Even Kyle noticed sothing was wrong, and I didn’t," Caroline said, clearly upset.
"We’re all terrible friends for missing the signs. But the real culprit is this idiot player!" Eleanor concluded.
"Yeah, I was a total asshole, but can you help figure out how to make her forgive ?"
"Oh, absolutely!" Draven said confidently. "Start groveling!" Everyone laughed at my predicant.
"But what I really want to know is, Kyle, what else do you know that we don’t?" Draven continued.
"What do you an?" Kyle looked confused.
"Well, you knew about Carrie’s pregnancy, you knew about Ava and our player friend here. Makes wonder what else you’re hiding," Draven eyed Kyle.
"Give a break," Kyle snorted. "I don’t know anything else, okay? Let’s focus on cleaning up this ss."
I groaned and collapsed onto the sofa. My phone rang with a ssage.
"Guys, I have to go. Flora wants to talk. We haven’t spoken since our fight at the office with Steward. I need to see how she’s doing," I said goodbye and headed to my pack house.
Another difficult conversation awaited , because telling Flora what happened at the club would sha her.
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