He manages to straddle me, and I thrust around with my hips trying to get him off, but there’s no use, he’s heavy and he’s strong.
He grabs my wrists and pins them above my head, forcing me to come to a stop, forcing me to abandon my fighting. “Let me go!” I scream, holding his eyes, mine no doubt frantic. “Please, Cohen, I didn’t do this. I swear I didn’t do this. Please don’t cuff me.”
He looks down at me, his face hard. “I have to, Aviana. You know I have to.”
“Why are you doing this to me?”
My voice is pathetic and wounded.
“Because I have to protect my club.”
“What about me?”
He brings my hands over my chest and snaps the cuffs on them, officially trapping me. “I am doing this for you, too.”
“I hate you,” I hiss as he climbs off me and pulls me to my feet. “You will pay for this. Every single one of you will pay for this.”
He doesn’t say a word as he walks me back to the truck and pushes me into the back.
My heart, my wounded, damaged heart ...
It just broke for the final time.
11THEN – COHEN
Who the fuck is her family?
I have dug and fucking dug, and the shit I’ve found out about Aviana’s family is utterly fucking terrifying. Not only are they running some serious illegal shit, they’re doing it in her name. Every single fucking thing is in her name, every house, every account, every fucking thing belongs to her and she doesn’t even know it. Those smart mother fuckers, keeping themselves clean, keeping her unsuspecting.
She has more than she could possibly imagine.
Her father is smart.
He’s also incredibly dangerous.
I’m determined to find out more, to find out why everything is in her name, to find out what kind of show they’re running and how they plan on involving her in it. If someone found out everything technically belonged to her, they could take her and everything would be theirs. It would be terrifyingly simple. Is that how her father wants it? If anything comes back on them, it’s automatically directed to her and he can start clean.
I don’t fucking know, but I’m going to find out.
I walk up my driveway, head in the clouds, and I consider all the possibilities of what they might be doing when I look up and see Aviana sitting on my front step. She’s got her head down, staring at nothing on the ground. She looks ... hurt. I pick up the pace and walk up to her, asking, “Hey, what’s happened?”
She looks up at me, and she has a sore and swollen eye. She’s got tears running down her fucking beautiful face and she looks like she’s had a hell of a day.
“Who did that to you?” I growl.
“My brother’s pathetic girlfriend,” she mutters. “We got into a fight, and they kicked me out. My own family kicked me out and let her stay in my house.”
I sit down beside her, and she turns to me. “Can you believe that?”
I shake my head. Mother fuckers, they don’t deserve someone like her. Not even fucking close. “I can’t begin to understand it, but you can stay here for the night. Let’s get that eye cleaned up.”
I stand and take her hand, pulling her to her feet. “Lucky Briella is still moping about her broken wrist—if she saw me like this she’d flip. I’ll have to tell her I’m sick so I have an excuse not to see her for a week. She already hates my family.”
“Sounds like she has good reason to.”
“She does.” Avi smiles.
I walk into the massive house that belongs to my parents, and their German shepherd puppy that Briella so fondly named Germy when she was younger, comes bounding out. Avi kneels down and wraps her arms around his fluffy coat, nestling in, and I watch as a huge smile spreads across her face. “Seriously,” she exhales. “This dog is the absolute best.”
“Yeah, he’s alright.” I can’t keep the grin off my face.
I find an ice pack for Avi’s eye while she’s busy playing with Germy, and then I take it back to her and hand it over. She presses it to her eye and glances around the house. “This place is massive; I don’t think I paid enough attention the other times I was here.”
“Yeah, it’s a good place. Want a drink?”
She nods. “Yeah, that would be great.”
I go to the fridge out on the back patio and she follows me out there. I grab two beers out, handing her one. We take a seat and stare out. It’s fucking nice out here, the sun slowly setting in the distance, a nice wind blowing across our faces. Avi takes a sip of her beer and glances over at me. “Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.”
“That’s what friends are for.”
She giggles. “I suppose you’re right.”
I wink at her, and we sit in silence for a few minutes, just enjoying the afternoon. Only after we’ve done that do I dare to ask the questions burning on my mind. I want to know what she knows about her family, if anything at all. If she has no idea what they’ve done in setting her up, then she doesn’t know she could be forever in danger if people come looking for what she has.
“How come you’re not close to your family?” I ask.
She shrugs. “Ever since Mom died, I just became the invisible one. My brothers both help Dad run whatever shit he’s running, and I’m just a pain in the ass. They’re just the cold, selfish types of humans you never wish to end up with as family.”
“What business do they run that they have to keep so far away from you?”
She glances at me. “You know, the illegal shit. You’d probably know about it more than me. I do know they move a lot
