Julian’s POV
“Get in the pool.”
The words just barged out of me, low and ugly and thick with whiskey and smoke and every bad thing I was feeling. They just hung there in the air, like I had thrown a long rope around her neck instead of speaking.
Ava went completely still. She curled her fingers tight on the door handle. I couldn’t see her face, but I'm f*****g sure I saw the way her shoulders jerked with one hard breath. She knew that tone. She knew when I stopped playing.
She turned her head a little bit, just enough for me to catch the flash of blue flames in her eyes. “I’m walking out this door right now,” she said, her voice was sharp and cold, but it was trembling underneath. “And you can’t stop me.”
I laughed. It came out rough and broken, more animal than man. Water sloshe
