CHAPTER 2
Ava’s pov
A soft tap on the shoulder caused my eyes to pop wide open. Soft rays of sunlight streamed into my bedroom from the window adjacent to me and seated beside me on the bed was no other person but my best friend, Celia Jerkins.
“Good morning, beautiful. I see that you had a great night.” She winked with a knowing grin on her lips.
I grinned hard at her words as I sat upright on the bed. “Stop it. You are such a bad influence.”
“What? Me? How?” She yelled out, pretending not to know what she had done.
“I would never have done something that wild if it were not for you. Do you know what it meant for me to step foot into an institution like Studio Casanova and have sex with a total stranger? I may never know who this guy is. She is a crazy girl.” I complained.
“But at least you enjoyed it, didn’t you?” She raised her brows already knowing the answer.
I blushed hard and covered my embarrassed face with my palms. “God, girl, it was the best sex of my life. No man has ever made me feel that good.”
Memories of last night flooded my head. Images of me clutching a fistful of the bedding in the throes of my pleasure were etched on the back of my head. My toes curled from the recall of the multiple orgasms I had experienced last night.
Honestly, I had no regrets about last night and a deep part of me wished I could go back and have the same experience all over again.
“I knew it would be. There was so much tense energy, hurt, and pain in you and I am glad this helped in easing out the pain you felt. It has been so long since I saw you smile this brightly.” She clasped my hand.
Memories of all the terrible things that had happened to me three months ago filled my head, dampening the smile on my lips.
I had been through a lot and I doubted that I was going to completely forget about it anytime soon. There was no way I could forget losing my mom to the cold hands of death on the same day that my boyfriend broke up with me. My life had turned upside down in one night and somehow, a part of it was all my fault.
“Hey, it is okay. I didn’t mean to remind you of all the things you are trying to forget about.” Celia quickly said as soon as she noticed that I was being silent.
“It's okay. I don’t think I can ever forget losing my mom, but I can learn to live with it. At least, last night showed me that much.” I said, returning to the present and refusing to dwell in the past.
“Exactly.” She beamed widely and nodded eagerly.
I stared at my best friend and honestly, I could not think of anything I would be able to do without her. She had been my anchor these past months and without her, I would have completely drowned in the sea of my sorrows.
I was just about to say something when my phone beeped really hard. One look at the screen and I let out an annoyed groan. It was time for me to start packing so that I could go over to my aunt’s place.
Yeah, I was moving.
You see, after my mom’s death, my mom’s elder sister officially became my legal guardian. Before my mom’s death, I had only seen her twice.
In all honesty, mom was not really close to most of her family and the fact that I was adopted meant I didn’t have too many obligations to get to know other family members.
But with mom’s death, Aunt Clara had extended an arm of invitation to me but I had refused it. I was too sunk in my misery then to take any help offered.
However, about two weeks ago, an eviction notice had come in from the landlord of the apartment I shared with my mom and I knew without a doubt that I had to take whatever offer I was being presented with. Celia had housed me while I made arrangements to go live with my aunt and today was the D-day.
It was also part of the reasons I had agreed to have sex with a total stranger. It was a way of saying goodbye to the terrible life I had here in Atlanta. At my aunt’s, I was going to have a fresh start and that was all that mattered to me.
“I can not believe that you are really leaving me,” Celia complained as she helped me load up my luggage into the ride that would take me over to my aunt’s place.
“It is an hour's drive from here. We can make plans to meet. I am sure we would work something out. You are my best friend. We can not afford to stay away from each other.” I said to her,
“God, I am so going to miss you.” She moaned and pulled me into a bear hug.
“I am going to miss you too, but we are going to keep in touch, so don’t miss me too much.” I pulled away from the hug and got into the ride.
“Call me when you get there.” She said as the journey started and I waved goodbye at her.
An hour later, we arrived at the giant mansion where my aunt lived. At first, I was skeptical about the location, believing that I must be in the wrong direction, but the driver of my ride had assured me we were at the right location.
We rolled to a stop at her front door and I could not help but take in the entire majesty of the exterior of the house. It was a vintage house and I genuinely loved it. It was no secret that she was rich, but at the same time, I didn’t know that she was this rich.
I was still admiring the beauty of this house when a voice yelled behind me, “What the hell are you doing here?”
I was thrown off guard by the tone of the voice and when I turned my head in the direction of the voice, I was immediately met with a strikingly handsome man.
