Love Me Never

10| Dress

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Dress

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Chapter 10: Dress (Rhys' POV)

I stared down at her.

"Choose," she repeated. She folded her arms across her chest that heaved up and down a little. She let out a breath like she'd been dying to snap at me and finally got the chance to. But she didn't. I know she didn't. She has so much that she wants to say to me, probably three years of pent-up anger, frustration, and hurt. 

I just walked out on her. I fed her lies and then left without even giving her a proper reason as to why. I left in the worst way possible because I needed her to hate me. I needed her to hate me so she'd give up on me, on us. And she did. And now it's back to bite me in the ass because ironically, now I need her to marry me. "You know I don't have a choice," I said through gritted teeth. 

"Then suck it up," she replied. She pushed at my chest and walked back into the living room. 

I huffed, leaning against the counter while scratching the back of my head. What the hell have I gotten myself into? I chose Brooke. Despite what my parents wanted, I chose Brooke so I wouldn't have to face Ava. And now fate's brought her back to me, dropped her right in my lap, as my wife. Where she has full authority to question me about the past. I never wanted her to know what really happened back then. I'll make sure she never finds out. 

I walked back to the living area and everybody seemed much more relaxed now. I figured they were convinced that Brooke was safe, since she's with her boyfriend, and now my problem has been resolved. 

"Ava, honey, why don't you get dressed? We'll leave in a while, hmm?" My mom smiled at her. 

"Leave for where?" I questioned, looking between them while my father shot me a nasty look, still angry about the way I was acting. 

"Wedding dress shopping," Mrs. Pearl replied. 

"Do you want to come? You can see the dress," Mom offered. 

Ava stiffened, turning to look at me. 

I looked at her and her eyes were screaming at me to say no. So of course, naturally, I said yes. "Sure," I shrugged nonchalantly. 

"Oh, okay," Mom grinned, seeming surprised. 

"Ava, why don't you just change, and then we can head out?" 

"Yeah," she mumbled, glancing at me and then turning around, heading upstairs to her room. 

Her room. I haven't seen it in three years, I wonder if it's the same or if she changed it up a bit. I wonder if she still has that picture of us placed in the back of her favorite book. I'm curious now, I want to know. "Ava." I turned to look at her. 

She stopped near the staircase at the call of her name and spun around, seeming surprised that I called her. "What?" 

I glanced at our parents, saw that they were busy chatting and Ashton had gone into the kitchen, and then I met her at the staircase. "There's something I need to check." 

"Huh?" Her nose scrunched up in confusion. 

I ignored her and walked past her, upstairs, and into her room. 

She followed behind me. "What makes you think you can just barge into my room with my permission?" 

"The fact that I just did," I replied, closing the door behind her. I looked at the room, surprised that it looked the exact same.