Page 40 of My Weakness

“Go back to sleep, pipsqueak. I’m going to stay right here until morning.” He wraps an arm around my waist, pulling me tightly into him and keeping his cock buried deep inside me. Where — just like he said — he stays until morning.

***

We pull up outside a large plot of land, that looks an absolute mess. There’s fencing around it, but through the wire mesh Ican clearly see machinery everywhere, piles of beams and bricks, and what looks like a very large concrete floorplan. Some of the rooms already have the beginnings of walls being put up, but it looks like it’s going to be more of an open plan design. What has my attention, though, is the view behind it all. The plot is adjacent to the beach, it’s stunning and my dream location for a house.

“What do you think?” River asks me as he helps me from the car.

“I think this is going to be amazing. Who’s is it?”

I know he said he’s building a house, but this can’t be it. Surely not. This is incredible and will have cost a fortune. I know River does well, but I can’t imagine he can afford somewhere like this. Can he?

“Ours, pipsqueak.”

“Holy shit, River. Can we go in? Can you show me everything?” He reaches back into the car and pulls something out, but I’m too engrossed by the foundations of the house to see exactly what he grabbed. Then his words register with me.

Ours?

“Wait, what do you mean ‘ours’?”

“Exactly what it sounds like. You’re going to live here with me, baby. I’m building this house for you. For us.”

“River that’s… You can’t have… What are you talking about? This started long before we got together.” I gesture to the site in front of us. This is years of planning that River has done, there’s no way I was factored into it.

“Pipsqueak, look at me.”

I pull my gaze away from the ocean and look at the man in front of me, the man who is looking decidedly nervous. “Every part of this house, every brick, every pane of glass, every tile laid is for you. I didn’t think I’d ever get to live in it with you, but I knew I wanted to be surrounded by you in some way. I’ve paidattention over the years, baby, to everything.” He pulls the very folder I tried to look at weeks ago in his office from behind his back. “I’m hoping this shows you how much I love you; how real this is, and how you’ve always been the one for me.”

He holds it out in front of him, offering it to me. I’ve got no idea what to expect, but it certainly isn’t to open it to the first page and find cut outs of houses collaged onto the page — houses I recognize, houses I’ve admired and always imagined mine looking like. The whole book is full of the same; kitchens, bathrooms, patios, tiles, flooring, sketches and drawings that I know are River’s work. Every single item in this book is something I’ve liked over the years.

What I think is meant to be a laugh leaves my body, it’s more of a wheeze, though, more breath than actual laughter. I go back to the beginning and flick through all of it again, completely overwhelmed by what I’m seeing.

“I don’t understand.” My words are whispered. I’m having a hard time processing what I think he’s telling me. His hand comes up to cup my cheek and his thumb brushes over my skin.

“Yeah you do, pipsqueak. You just don’t want to admit it.”

“River…”

“I’m building you your dream, baby, because you’re mine.”

Chapter Twenty-six

Ava

Ava: CODE RED!!!!!

Chapter Twenty-seven

Ava

I’m in a bar surrounded by three of the best friends a girl could ask for. As soon as I sent the emergency message to our group, I knew they would come running.

River showed me round the building site, explaining what everything would be and where things would go, asking me to let him know if I wanted to change anything. But I couldn’t concentrate on a single thing he was saying. My mind was reeling and he could have been showing me a cardboard box for all the attention I paid it.

He’s building us a house,mea house!

“What did that fucker do?” Mia demands from across the table. She’s ready to go to war thinking he’s done something wrong, but it’s the opposite and I’m not sure how to cope with that.

“Nothing, not like that anyway.”