Beneath This Man (This Man, #2)(80)

‘You’re pathetic.’ he snarls.

‘No Matt. I’m making up for four years of shit sex with you.’

His face drops a little. He doesn’t know what to say. I lean down to get the box from the floor and whip my head up when I hear the thunder of heavy footsteps charging up the stairs.

Oh f*ck!

‘Ava!’ he roars.

Any hope I had of leaving Matt and his bewildered expression kind of commotion free has been well and truly trampled. How does he know I’m here? I’ll kill Kate if she’s tattled on me.

He comes bulldozing through the door and any notion I had that I’ve seen him in all of his challenging ways has just been thoroughly obliterated. He’s rampant, and I’m actually afraid. Not for myself, for Matt, and I hate him. Jesse looks capable of murder.

He doesn’t pay any attention to Matt. He looks straight at me and I wilt under his intense, furious stare. ‘What the FUCK are you doing here?’ he shouts.

I physically tremble in my heels. I’ve really waved a red rag under his irate nose this time. He’s not supposed to know I’m here. How the hell does he know I’m here? Has he got a tracker on me? I elect not to ask, though. Instead, I stand with my mouth firmly shut.

‘Answer me!’ he roars.

I flinch. It’s pretty obvious what I’m doing here, he doesn’t need my confirmation, and he must have seen the bags in the back of Kate’s van.

Matt wisely stands back and keeps his cocky mouth shut. His eyes are flicking from me to Jesse, and I know he’s thinking that this is not the behaviour of a man just f*cking a woman.

Hey, meet my God!

‘I f*cking told you! Don’t ring him, don’t come here. I said John would do it!’ He waves his arms around like a deranged screwball. ‘Go and get in the f*cking car.’

I hear a snigger escape Matt’s lips, and I whip my eyes around to him. He looks at me and I see a glint of sick satisfaction in his eyes. It tips me over the edge. I’m not standing here being screamed at, especially in front of my twat of an ex-boyfriend. I grab my box and steam out of my apartment, thanking all things holy that Jesse didn’t walk in a few seconds earlier.

‘We kissed.’ I hear Matt’s smug voice and then Jesse’s unmistakable fist in his face.

I could cry. Does Matt not know when to shut the f*ck up? I hear Jesse’s thumping footsteps behind me as I walk out onto the street and see Kate and Sam – oh, and John too.

John’s leaning up against his Range Rover – wraparound sunglasses in place – looking as menacing as ever, but his face is completely impassive, while Kate is pacing besides her van with Sam standing to the side looking a bit concerned. Is it really necessary for everyone to be here? I give her a don’t stare as I approach her.

She takes the box from me. ‘Holy f*cking shit, Ava.’ she whispers, throwing it in the back of her van.

‘Did you tell Sam I was here?’ I ask shortly.

‘No!’ she screeches. I believe her. She wouldn’t do that to me.

‘John!’ Jesse yells as he emerges from my building. ‘Put her stuff in the Rover.’ He shakes his recovering hand and a flash of concern twangs inside me. The bloody idiot. Couldn’t he have used his left hand? And then his referral to me registers.

Her?

‘Leave it John!’ I shout, halting John in his tracks. ‘I’m not going with him. Kate, come on.’ I start towards the passenger side of Kate’s van and when I get to the door, I look up and see Sam with his hand on Kate’s arm. She looks at Sam and he shakes his head faintly, then she looks back to me. I can see she is torn.

‘Get the bags, John!’ Jesse thunders down the steps.

‘Leave them!’ I shout.

I see John blow out an exasperated breath of air and look at Jesse for guidance, but he must decide that my wrath is the lesser of two evils because he starts transferring my things into the Range Rover. He can take my things. It doesn’t mean I’m going. I get in Kate’s van and throw myself back in the seat in total aggravation.

Within two seconds, the door is flung open. ‘Out!’ His voice is shaking with anger. I couldn’t give a toss.

I grab the handle to yank it shut, but he moves his body to block me. ‘Jesse. Just f*ck off!’

‘Mouth!’

‘FUCK OFF!’ I scream. My throat is sore, my vocal cords pleading for some calmness. I’ve never shouted so much. I’m shaking, trembling with fury. How dare he? How dare he behave like this after everything I’ve been through with him.

‘Watch your f*cking mouth!’ He leans in and grabs me.

I fight him off, but my strength compared to his is pathetic. He manhandles me out of Margo Junior and stands me with my back facing his front, while I persistently struggle to bat him away. He wraps an arm around my waist and lifts me clean from the ground, carrying me to his car while I kick and scream like a three year old.

‘Get off me!’

‘Shut your filthy mouth, Ava.’ he grates, which only assists in encouraging me to fight him some more.

I’m being manhandled in the middle of Notting Hill under the observation of my best mate, her boyfriend and John. I’m mortified! I can’t believe he has gone off the rails like this. I was handling it fine. I was on my way out, and then neurotic arse here rocked up and threw the shit right in the fan. I want to throw my head back and scream to the heavens.