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CHAPTER33
Giventhat he’d practically moved into her house, Gavin had been asleep in her bed when Ginny arrived late that night. Other than the text to let him know she’d landed, Ginny hadn’t kept in touch or updated him and Gavin had spent the whole day going a little stir-crazy. He’d cleaned his office at the shelter and put everything in the right place just to keep himself busy. So when he finally heard her fumble around the bathroom, Gavin ushered Copper and Cedar downstairs. He sat up and waited for her in bed, covers turned over so she could crawl in with him. The minute she tucked into his side, Ginny was crying.
And she cried forhours.
They stayed in bed the whole day and except for when Ginny was asleep, Gavin ignored his phone. He let his family know they’d be missing Sunday lunch, he updated Spencer on how Ginny was doing and then put his phone on Do Not Disturb for the rest of the weekend. When she did wake up, it was to lie in bed and stare at the ceiling for a long time.
“I yelled a lot. I said some pretty harsh things,” she whispered, voice scratchy from the crying and clearly all the yelling. “But she refused to see reason and I was so angry.”
“I’m proud of you for doing something you knew would be difficult, but I’m sorry that you had to do it at all.”
Turning her face into his chest, Ginny sighed. “They pretended like all the shit he did hadn’t happened. Like it was a figment of my imagination. And my mom…” she trailed off, shaking her head as she looked up at him. “She kept telling me to showhimsome respect when he’s been the most disrespectful. There were moments when I was tempted to claw his eyes out. He even tried to scare me, can you believe that? The audacity.
“The worst part is that she kept defending him,” Ginny said, her voice quivering and Gavin squeezed her shoulder slightly, holding her against him. “He’s got her so twisted up in his lies that she can’t see how bad he is for her. How dangerous taking him back could be.”
“You did what you could, baby. Sometimes that’s all you can do.”
“Was I being unrealistic by thinking I could save her?”
Gavin shook his head. “No. You went in with the best intentions. But she wasn’t ready to see things your way. That’s not on you.”
“I’m so scared of what he’ll do. That when he breaks her, it’ll be worse than the last time.”
“And we’ll be there to help her, okay?”
A sob escaped her lips and he felt tears against his chest. “I told her that I wouldn’t be there when he hurt her. I told her I wouldn’t come running. Oh my god, I abandoned her.”
And then Ginny was bawling again, the sound of her pain a pinch in his chest. Seeing her hurt like this, knowing how much this whole thing fucked her up was going to weigh on Ginny for a while. But Gavin was going to do everything he could to ease her mind.
“Whatever you said, it was in the heat of the moment. I know that you’ll be there for Elsa no matter what,” he whispered against Ginny’s forehead. Even though she nodded, Gavin knew that Ginny didn’t believe his words. But he held her as her cries petered out and eventually she fell back asleep.
Tucking her into bed, Gavin got ready and took Cedar for a walk with Copper in her backpack carrier. The fresh air cleared his head, but it didn’t really ease the tension in his shoulders. He knew that this would take some time, especially for her to accept that she had done the right thing. When he got back, Ginny was sitting on the kitchen floor with a mug of coffee.
“How do you feel about a fuck on this floor? Might make me feel less miserable.”
Gavin sat down beside her, but didn’t say anything. Ginny leaned against him and they stayed like that for a while. Until she wasreallyin the mood for sex, by which point Gavin had zero control to stop her. The sex was messy and rough, fingers digging into sides hard enough to bruise and teeth scraping against skin to leave more marks. They had rough sex now and then, but that morning, it had been a roughfuck. He got two orgasms out of her and had one himself—because when the woman you loved squeezed you so hard you blacked out, it was impossible to not come—but he knew that it was a fuck just to erase her pain and not for pleasure.
Afterwards, while he brushed a hand along her back as they lay on the kitchen floor, Ginny fell asleep again. In a way, he was glad that she was sleeping, because at least she was getting some rest between bouts of frustration and sadness, even if all of this was turning out to be absolutely unhealthy. But he’d let her have one more day of wallowing before he’d force her up and back into the real world.
* * *
The next day, Gavin woke up alone in bed. From the state of the room, Ginny had been awake for hours. She’d cleaned their things up, the bedroom smelled like her shampoo and perfume. He went through the motions of getting ready and came down to find her sitting at her breakfast nook already working. She looked better and given that she’d had a shower, she also smelled better.
“Good morning,” he greeted her, bending down to kiss the top of her head before he went to get himself some coffee. “Got an early start?”
“Been kinda ignoring my workload this past week, so I figured I should get stuff done when I can.”
Humming in acknowledgement, Gavin sliced up two bagels and put them into the toaster while he watched Ginny. From the look of her clothes—baggy sweats and tank top with holes, plus the tight bun on top of her head—she had no intention of leaving the house. He knew better than to say anything about it, because he was glad that she was getting work done. When the bagels popped out, he slathered cream cheese over them and plated one. Pouring the remainder of his coffee into a travel mug, Gavin slid the plate to Ginny before grabbing his bagel to go.
When she mumbled a thank you, Gavin chuckled and set his things down. He walked over to where she was seated and dropped to his haunches, forcing her to look at him.
“Have a good day, babe.”
Her face softened and Ginny dropped her pen to grab his face, pulling his mouth to hers. “I’m sorry,” she whispered as she broke the kiss. “Very preoccupied.”
“I get it. Please make sure you eat, though. Do you want me to take Copper?”
Both of them glanced at the calico who was playing with Cedar’s wagging tail. Ginny laughed, the sound making his heart race. “That might be a good idea. I’ve got so much to do and she’s needy.”
