First and Forever (Heartache Duet #2) - Jay McLean Page 0,122
responds, retaking my hand. We go to the housewares section, where I pick up a vase. “This is cute, right?”
“It’s a vase, Ava,” he deadpans, his shoulders lifting. Sweat lines his hairline, and his eyes shift. First left. Then right.
“Are you feeling okay, because you look—”
“I’m fine. Get the vase.”
The man reappears, waving a stack of papers in the air. “Connor Ledger!” he beams. “I knew it was you! I never forget a face.” He stops in front of us, pointing to the receipts in his grasp. “That’s you, right?”
Connor swallows.
“See, we take copies of the driver’s license for people who come in and spend as much as you did.”
Connor’s lips thin to a line, and I can see the annoyance in his eyes.
I place the vase back on the table and step forward, my mind spinning. “Can I see that?” I ask.
“No,” Connor snaps.
“Sure!” says the man, happily handing it to me.
I look at the receipts, and sure enough, Connor’s ID is attached. Then I look at the items, one by one, my chest tightening with every line. Next to the descriptions are images of the products, the same products that fill my entire apartment. My stomach twists, my mind clearing as my heart pounds against my ribs. I look up at Connor, anger forcing the words: “What the hell did you do?”
He swallows, releases a breath. “Ava, it’s not—”
I slam the papers against his chest, my voice rising. “What did you do, Connor?!”
He refuses to take hold of the receipts, so they fall to the ground when I march off, my arms crossed. “Ava!” he calls after me, grasping my elbow to stop me from running away. Confusion pulses in my veins and I spin to him, my lip forming a snarl. “Did you get me that apartment?” I shake my head. “No, that apartment came with my mom’s care… they told me…” I lower my gaze, my eyes scattered as I try to make sense of everything that’s happened from then to now. I look up at him at the same time I release a staggering breath. “You bought the furniture to fill the apartment, but how did you—and why—and where did you get—”
“I’ll explain everything, but you just need to calm down.”
“Calm down?!” I screech. Shove his chest. “No more secrets, Connor! We agreed!”
The fucker laughs. Right in my face.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Because you’re so angry and you don’t even know why yet.”
“That’s not funny!”
He laughs again.
I spin on my heels, walk away. But he’s only a step behind me. Air fills my lungs the moment I step outside, and he’s talking, begging me to stop, but I won’t. Can’t. Tears of anger fill my eyes. All I can think about is how I forced someone else into financial debt. But it’s worse this time, so much worse, because—“Ava!” Connor grasps my elbow again, turning me to him. We’re on the sidewalk, blocking other pedestrians, and so he pulls me to the side, leans back against a truck—his truck—and I didn’t even know we were back where we started. Figuratively and literally. Hands on my waist, he pulls me between his legs. “Are you done?”
“Fuck you.”
He chuckles.
I slam my fist against his chest. “Stop laughing at me,” I cry out, hitting him some more.
He grasps my wrists now, holding them to him. “I’ll talk when you settle the fuck down.”
I growl.
He raises his eyebrows.
Then I take a few calming breaths. “I’m settled. Talk.”
His mouth parts, but nothing comes. And I wait, one second, two.
“You’re an idiot,” I snap. “You can’t afford to be buying—”
“I can,” he cuts in, shrugging, and he’s so cool and so calm and why can’t he see how much this is affecting me? He sucks in a huge breath as if preparing his speech, and then he says, “My mother came back into my life because her mom, my grandmother, was dying.”
Anger’s suddenly replaced by sympathy, and I wipe at the residual tears. I pout up at him. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be; I didn’t know her. I mean, I’m sure I did at one point, but it didn’t really affect me. But the point is, my mom was in hiding, and so when my grandmother died, all of her money went to me, and my mom wanted to make sure that she could still access that money through me.”
“Wait.” I struggle to breathe. “She only came back for money?”
Connor nods.
“Okay, so…” I try to clear the fog in my brain, try to wrap