“Ava’s right.” Will placed a hand on Gina’s shoulder. “Salem’s clearly happy. What we want is to make things right, not to widen the rift that exists between him and ourselves.” He gave Gina a meaningful glance that made her mouth snap shut. But I knew Gina, I knew that wouldn’t be the end of it.

It wasn’t that Gina would be jealous of Ava. No. But she had a very strong sense of entitlement, believed that not only was she due whatever she wanted but that it should remain hers and only hers. She was possessive in a venomous, spiteful way. She would choose to keep something purely so that no one else could have it. Like a spoilt brat who refused to share her toys just to be cruel to others.

As such, she would get a kick out of fucking things up for me. Out of playing with Ava like a cat with a mouse. Which meant I’d probably have to kill her at some point.

Ava and I were new; we were treading a fine balance, and I didn’t need anything tipping the scales into ‘this won’t work’ territory. I doubted that Gina’s presence or behaviour would make Ava withdraw from me, she was strong enough to deal with this and anything else. But she shouldn’t have to, and I didn’t want her to.

“How about you and I take a walk, Salem,” proposed Will. He took a few steps, obviously expecting me to follow.

“Maybe tomorrow.” I sensed through our blood-link that my words both shocked and offended him, and it was clear then that he believed he still had some authority over me. I’d be happy to correct that assumption, but that could wait. Right now, Ava was angry and upset. There wasn’t a chance I was going to leave her alone like this. And I had a pretty strong feeling that it would go very badly for me if I did.

Will went to speak again, but Jared overrode him. “Salem’s right. It’s probably best for you all to get settled into your apartments first. Let everyone cool down.” The authority with which he spoke couldn’t be ignored. Will, Blythe, and Gina all nodded respectfully – albeit reluctantly. “Sam and I will show you to the residence hall you’ll be staying in.”

“Tomorrow evening, then, Salem.” Affronted, Will cast me an odd glance before he, Blythe, and Gina – who shot Ava a hard look – were escorted away.

Once the visitors were out of hearing range, Ava looked at her supporters. “Thanks, guys.”

“Gina’s going to be a problem,” predicted Jude. Fletcher nodded fiercely in agreement – no doubt the Empath had picked up a lot about Gina.

Alora’s narrowed-eyed stare was focused in the direction that Gina had left. “We’ll keep an eye on her.” The other girls nodded.

I closed my hand around Ava’s wrist, needing to be alone with her. “Come on.” She hesitated. “I know you’re pissed, but it isn’t really me you’re pissed at, is it?”

Alora literally shoved Ava at me. “Go have fun with Salem. Don’t let that bitch ruin a night of hopefully hot sex.” Evan laughed, kissing Alora’s temple.

As Ava and I were leaving, I heard Chico’s voice behind me. “Jude, put the knife away. She’s gone now. We’ve talked about this before: your Michael Myers vibe freaks me out.”

That got a giggle out of Ava. “So where are we going?”

In answer, I scooped her into my arms and travelled at vampire speed to my apartment, making her giggle again. Finding herself standing in my bedroom, she arched a brow. I shrugged. “Like you said earlier, I’m a presumptuous bastard.” I went to thread my hands through her hair, but she stepped back.

“You know, it would have been nice if you’d given me a heads up about all this shit with your Sire.”

“Coach only discussed him moving here earlier. I didn’t rush to tell you because I didn’t think he’d show up so quickly.”

She raised a hand to ward me off when I moved to close the small distance between us. “Wait. We need to talk.”

Talk? “I’m not a talker. You know that.” And I certainly didn’t want to talk when I finally had her here, where she belonged.

“Yes, I know that. But this is important.”

The anxiety in her eyes kept me where I was. “All right, what is it?”

“I need to know what happened between you and Gina.”

Way to kill the mood. I didn’t know much about relationships, but I was pretty sure that discussing your ex with your current partner couldn’t go well. “Ava…”

“I’d prefer not to waste time out of my life talking about her either. But this is what she’s going to do: every chance she gets, she’ll say a little about your relationship with her; she’ll tell me things that she thinks will hurt me or make me doubt you. And she’ll believe it gives her some sort of power over me; some power over us.”

Okay, she had a point. I’d seen Magda do the same to Sam…which was a big reason why Magda had eventually ended up dead.

“If I already know what there is to know, there can’t be any surprises. I’ll know whether the things she says are lies or truths. I’ll be prepared for what she might try to use to hurt me. I need that if I’m going to keep from smashing her nose into her brain. Besides, if this was the other way around and my ex was here –”

“He’d be dead by now.” And I was totally serious.

She rolled her eyes. “Just tell me so we can forget about her and get to the good stuff.”

“Okay, we’ll talk…but I have a condition.” At her questioning – and pretty suspicious – look, I explained. “Here’s the thing, Ava: you’re right here, in my bedroom, so close I can practically taste you. There is no fucking way I can get through this ‘talk’ without touching you.” I backed up until I reached the bed, and then perched myself on the edge. “Get your hot little ass over here and straddle me. Then we’ll talk.”

She narrowed her speckled brown eyes. “If I do that, you’ll try to distract me and we’ll never see this conversation through to the end.”

“We will, I swear.” Because I wanted it over with as quickly as possible. “Come here.” After a few moments, she came to stand between my legs. I lifted her by her tiny waist and positioned her to straddle me; making her dress ride up her thighs. “That’s better. Now…what do you want to know?”