What she said and the way she said it would probably make most people envious, I thought, but it didn't give me the relief I sought as we drove on. Buddy was out there waiting for his lover, believing I would give him the crown jewel of life, the most cherished and important reason to live deep, long, and everlasting love. He longed for me, while I approached with deception and the promise of deep, long, and everlasting betrayal.
I wanted to cry, but I didn't. I was as cold as stone. Every part of my body was attached to strings I could not see but know were there, strings that Daddy would pull, that he had been pulling all my life. I would dance the dance of seduction, and I would embrace Buddy with the iron grip my sex now could employ. He had no chance of escape. His own heart would blind him and bind him for deliverance into Daddy's waiting arms.
"The moment you drove over to his uncle's house that day," Ava said, "I knew this was perfect."
