I’m trying to fucking help. To enlighten her. Prepare to give her information she desperately wants. “Yes, you do,” I grate, my voice shaking with my building frustration. “I’m trying really hard here.”

She snorts. It’s an insult. “Trying hard to do what?” she asks, genuinely interested in what my answer might be. “Send me crazy? It’s working.” She knocks me out of the way, and knowing she’ll fight me if I resist, I let her go, unwilling to get caught up in a physical tangle as well as a verbal one.

I sigh. “Well, this is going well,” I mutter, going after her, accepting I have only one choice here if I want the outcome I’m wishing for. Let her win.

“Okay,” I call to her back, catching up with her. “You’ll wait here. I’ll be as quick as I can.” I’ll sort out the shit with Mike, mark it off my list of things to do, and then deal with Ava. Hopefully by the time I’m back, she’ll have calmed the fuck down and be acting more reasonably.

“I’ll go home.” She disappears into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her, and I, as a result, slam my palm to my forehead.

“For Christ’s sake.” I don’t go in after her—I don’t need this to escalate further, but she’s not leaving this penthouse. Not until we sort this out.

I drop my arse to the bed and try to rub away the building headache, dialing Kate. “Hey, big man,” she says, sounding wary. “Everything okay?”

“Not really. I could do with your help.”

“What for?”

“I need to go out and Ava is threatening to leave. I need her to stay here.”

“Why?”

“Can you ask questions later?”

“What’s going on?”

“Kate,” I say over a sigh. “Please, would you just do me this favor and come over?”

There’s a long pause, and I wait, hopeful that she’ll relent and kill her curiosity for the time being. “Okay,” she says slowly. “I’ll head over now.”

“Thank you. See you in a while.” I cut the call and toss my phone on the bed, getting up and looking to the heavens for strength, for help, for anything to get me through today. Yesterday was perfect. Today feels like it’s going to be anything but perfect.

The skin on my back tingles, and knowing what I’ll find, I turn to face her. She looks uncertain. Worried. I pass her, feeling her eyes follow me to the bathroom. She’s wondering where my fight is. I’m running out of fight.