Love Me Never

20| Story

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Story

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Chapter 20: Story (Rhys' POV)

"Have you officially resigned then?" I asked Ashton before taking another sip of my whiskey. 

"Yeah, I officially don't have to be here now every single day. Well, I haven't been doing that for quite some time, actually. But that doesn't matter anymore, does it? Because..." 

I tuned him out, my eyes finding Ava in the room. She was talking to Victoria until my mother came and pulled her away to introduce her to some people. 

"So does it really... Why?" Ashton mumbled. "Why? Why are you staring at my sister?" 

I blinked, looking back over at Ashton. "Huh?" 

He looked between us and then rolled his eyes. "God, you make me sick." 

"She's my wife, Ashton." 

"She's my sister, get ahold of yourself around me, man." 

"I didn't do anything but look at her." 

"Oh, but that's enough, isn't it?" We both looked over to Liam who walked over, joining us. 

I ground my teeth. "Because you know a lot about the way I look at my wife, don't you?" I lifted a brow. "What does that make you?" 

"A creep," Ashton scoffed. 

"Thank you, that's exactly the word I was looking for," I smiled at Ashton. 

Liam chuckled, "I don't need to be a creep to see the way you look at her. It's not like you two are a secret." 

He lifted a brow at me. "You're staring at her from across the room, I bet I'm not the only one who noticed." 

Ashton looked over at Ava and excused himself to go talk to her since she was finally free from tending to any other guests. 

"Explain something to me, Liam." I put my drink on the bar counter. "Your father left this family years ago, didn't he? Why are you so insistent on sticking around?" 

"Well, why not? Maybe not by blood, but we're still family." 

"We're not family," I gritted out. "Anything but." 

He sighed, "What are you so afraid of?" 

"I'm not afraid of you. I'm afraid of what I might do to you if you try anything," I clarified, glancing over at Ava, making sure she was still with Ashton. 

"Look at you. Aren't you two getting cozy?" He watched me in amusement. 

"Stay away from her. I mean it. It won't take a second to get rid of you and nobody would care." 

"Oh, I don't want her, Rhys. She's not the thing I'm after. We both know that. I think everybody sees it, no matter how much you two deny it, that you two are made for each other." 

I stared at him, anger bubbling up inside of me. 

"That might be the best thing about you two but at one point, it was the worst. Because it could ruin you both, couldn't it?" He smiled, glancing over at Ava. "Especially you." He faced me again. "That just happens to work for me," he sighed. 

"You and your father both, Liam, have a very bad habit of dragging the past into the present. That's why your father was kicked out, let's be honest, he didn't leave on his own accord and you know it. There's only so much you can hold against a person from their past, Liam."