Page 73 of Rook
Her pulse spiked, a cold rush shooting through her limbs. Her fingers went numb. For a split second, she was back in their old apartment — the dim kitchen light,the silence that felt like punishment, the way he’d say“You’re overreacting again, Avery”whenever she cried.
Not again.
He straightened when he saw her, a slow, smug smile sliding onto his face. “Avery. Finally.”
Rook stepped in front of her so fast she barely saw the movement. One moment she was staring at Ryan’s silhouette, and then she was staring at the back of Rook’s cut, his broad shoulders and tense posture forming a wall of muscle and fury that blocked her completely.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Rook growled, voice low and dangerous.
Ryan lifted his hands in mock surrender. “Relax, man. I just want to talk to her.”
“You don’t get to speak to her,” Rook snapped.
Avery touched Rook’s arm, her fingers trembling despite her best effort to steady them. “It’s okay,” she whispered. “I can handle it.”
Her voice didn’t sound like hers. Too thin. Too tight. But she forced herself to breathe.
Rook didn’t move. Didn’t step aside. Didn’t even blink.
Ryan scoffed. “Seriously? You need a bodyguard now?”
Avery stepped around Rook before he could explode. Her legs felt unsteady, but she kept moving. She refused to hide behind someone again. Not even Rook.
“What do you want, Ryan?” she asked.
He looked her up and down, frowning like she was a problem he needed to solve. “I heard you moved back here. Thought we could talk. Maybe… figure things out.”
Avery blinked. Her heart hammered, but her mind sharpened.Figure things out?He always talked like that, vague, gentle words that twisted into traps. Words that made her doubt herself. Words that made her apologize for things he’d done.
“Figure what out?” she asked.
“You left without giving us a chance to fix things.”
Avery laughed, sharp, humorless, nothing like the girl who used to swallow her reactions to keep the peace. “You cheated on me. For months, probablyyears. There was nothing to fix.”
Ryan’s jaw tightened. “You’re being dramatic.”
The old Avery would’ve flinched. Would’ve apologized. Would’ve wondered if maybe shewasbeing dramatic. She remembered standing in their bathroom, mascara smudged, whispering“Maybe I misunderstood”while he told her she was imagining things.
But the new Avery felt something hot and fierce rise in her chest.
Rook took a step forward, murder in his eyes. “Say that again.”
Ryan swallowed, but his gaze slid back to Avery, the way it always had, like she was something he could talk circles around. “Look, Avery, I messed up. But you don’t belong here. You belong with someone who understands you. Someone who…”
“Someone like you?” Avery asked, voice quiet but cutting.
Ryan nodded, relieved she’d said it for him. “Yeah.”
Avery inhaled slowly. Her hands shook, but she didn’t hide them. She let herself feel it: the fear, the anger, the years of being talked over, minimized, dismissed. She let it all rise, all gather, all burn.
And then she let it go.
“No,” she said. “I choose myself this time.”
Ryan froze.
Avery continued, voice stronger now, rising from somewhere deep inside her. “I’m not going back to someone who made me feel small. I’m not going back to someone who lied to me. I’m not going back to you.”
