by Lexy Timms
Like an animal in the wild, Tim grew even more eager as he neared his prey. Katherine shocked even herself by the speed of her transformation back to the weakened victim she always reverted to when Tim was around. His controlling and dominating character overshadowed her shy demeanor, taking complete advantage of her kindness, and her fear.
Looking to Ben, Katherine was reminded of the new life she had the privilege to witness over the past few days. Ben had shown her a glimpse of what was possible, of the intimacy a relationship provided. Being around him, she felt safe and valued. And she knew she wanted more.
Now, Ben stood watching her with a confused expression on his handsome face. His two friends stood at his side, all three watching with concern in their eyes. Katherine felt the embarrassment in her cheeks, certain she had turned three more shades of red as Tim got closer to her.
Wishing she could send Ben a message with the longing in her eyes, Katherine recalled the safety net he had provided for her, making sure she was protected everywhere they went. He constantly complimented her, on her beauty, her intelligence, but even more importantly on her strength.
Ben wasn’t intimidated by Katherine, and she needed the encouragement he offered, a welcome contrast to the barrage of criticism and insults Tim had subjected her to. Dating Ben had been a breath of fresh air and a torturous reminder of all that she could never have.
With Tim now only inches away, Katherine was only sorry she had ever believed she could escape. He was going to make sure she wasn’t happy, no matter what. It might be time for her to accept that. With one last glance at Ben, Katherine tried to forget all they had shared in the days since they’d met.
His eyes searched hers for some type of permission, but Katherine had no idea how to respond. She was too embarrassed to mouth even a single word of assurance to him. Certain that he would now want nothing to do with her, she braced herself for what she knew would not end well.
“We can do this the easy way, or the hard way, but Katherine, we both know you’re leaving with me.” Tim smiled as he spoke, watching Katherine cower beneath him.
She used to love the way he towered over her, his height was actually one of the first things that attracted Katherine to him. She noticed him from across a room and wondered about the clean-shaven man with the dangerous look to him. When she learned that he played professional football, Katherine felt she understood him better. Like his story finally made sense.
Everything about Tim was athletic and competitive, including the way he gripped Katherine’s arm, pressing even harder to emphasize his final words before releasing her so roughly she fell backwards half a step.
“You better answer me before I embarrass you in front of your new friends,” Tim said as he glanced around the party, his vision hovering on the table where Ben and his two friends stood watching.
“I’ll do whatever you want,” Katherine felt the words tumble heavily off her tongue.
She knew Tim wanted her to go back to LA with him, and although she had no intention of doing so, she nodded before following Tim’s lead towards the exit. He gripped her arm as they moved through the shocked crowd, fearing she might be putting on an act.
As she walked through the hall, Katherine was reminded of how wonderful she had felt walking in on Ben’s arm, and meeting some of the people who now watched her exit with worry on their faces. She smiled her nervous smile, hoping to give them some sort of relief as she made her way to the front doors.
When the cool evening air hit her face, Katherine was forced to accept that she wasn’t asleep. This nightmare was actually happening, and Tim tugged roughly at her arm as he forced her to face him. He was livid, she could see it in his eyes as he spit out the words.
“Don’t fuck with me, Katherine. You know I’ll do whatever it takes to get you back,” he growled.
She was speechless, feeling trapped in the paws of a lion as she looked fearfully around, aware that no one could save her. When she finally locked eyes with a younger girl watching their interaction, Katherine found the courage to pull her arm from Tim’s grasp as she stepped back swiftly.
They were away from the audience, he didn’t need to hold her any longer, and she wasn’t going to quietly cower to his dominance. It was strange to feel the older version of herself battle with the new emboldened woman who wanted to go toe to toe with this man who had ruined her life.
She was ready to fight for the life she wanted, but Tim’s presence was so overpowering she couldn’t find the words to confront him. When he glared at her, Katherine knew she needed to say something to save herself.
“What are you doing here? These people know me,” she lied.
“I don’t give a fuck about these people, Katherine. If you want to shout out, I’ll slap you in front of every single one of them,” he threatened, his voice too loud for comfort.
She could see heads turning to find the source of the outburst, and she grew still more embarrassed as time went on. There was nothing she could do to get out of there fast enough. Glancing over her shoulder, she peeked at the doors once again, praying Ben wouldn’t come looking for her.
“What do you want, Tim?” Katherine asked, looking up into his eyes, which appeared to soften for a second as he looked down at her.
“We need to talk, Katherine,” he said, taking one slow step towards her. She matched his move with a step of her own in the opposite direction, maintaining the distance between them as she turned her back to the door.
“Talk about what?” She tried to stall, knowing there was nothing the two had to discuss.
Tim wasn’t interested in talking, and he definitely wasn’t going to listen to anything Katherine had to say. He wanted her to obey him, and he had come to collect on what he felt she had taken from him. She knew he wasn’t making empty threats about hitting her, or humiliating her in front of everyone. Tim had always got a big kick out of shaming her.
Feeling trapped, Katherine didn’t move the next time Tim took a step closer. Satisfied with her submission, he wrapped his fingers tightly around her bicep, squeezing the small muscle with ease. Katherine took a deep breath, unsure of what the future held, but certain she would find a way to survive.
Chapter Two
Ben
“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?” Will asked, turning towards the exit of the gala. His charity event was going perfectly until that man had barged into the party screaming from across the room.
Thankfully, Will’s awesome staff had quickly diverted the guests from the outburst by kicking up the bass from the band. The party had moved so swiftly, hardly anyone in the conference room was thinking about the brief chaotic moment by now.
“I don’t know—” Ben answered, his words fading as he watched the front doors, waiting for some sort of explanation.
“She knew who he was,” Rachel noted, her face twisted quizzically, like she was trying to figure out a puzzle. Ben paused, watching the wheels turn in the minds of his two oldest friend, as they tried to help him make sense of the night.
Rachel had been as excited as he was when he’d decided to bring Katherine to the charity event. And after Ben had played the matchmaker, getting Rachel and Will together after years of harmless flirting, Rachel was happy to have Katherine there to add balance to the group.
“She look frightened,” Ben mentioned, recalling the look of fear in Katherine’s eyes when he had followed her from the bathroom.
He had watched her spot the man who had caught his attention. Ben could just sense there was something wrong about the large man storming through the party, well before Katherine had seen him. He didn’t fit in with the rest of the party, his overly muscular frame more reminiscent of jocks, while the gala featured some of the most intelligent minds in the tech industry, typically known more as nerds. Momentary distracted by memories of high school and college, where people tended to be lumped into categories like jocks and nerds, he shook his head.
“I’m going to check on her,” Ben dec
lared.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Will said with a frown, while thinking of his friend’s temper and the way he used to get riled up in college. Will and Ben had been friends since they shared a dorm room their freshman year of college, and he knew how aggressive Ben could be when he felt challenged.
Most people only knew Ben’s easy going and laid-back side, because with his career taking up the bulk of his life, he rarely had time for anything else. In business, there was never a reason to get emotional, or at least that was the way that Ben saw it. He was always a fun boss because he never let his business become personal.
Now, with Katherine all but being dragged out of the party, he felt his heart strings being tugged as he struggled with the urge to rush to her defense. Able to see the superhero coming to life in the eyes of his friend, Will was trying to talk him off the ledge, though he already knew it was a lost cause.
“If she’s in trouble, I want to be there for her,” Ben reasoned, but his mind was already made up.
“Just be careful,” Will added, as Ben made his way around the table and headed for the door.
With each step, he questioned if he was making the right decision. Katherine had been a sorely needed bright spot in his life since he’d met her, but it was always obvious that she was hiding something. From their first encounter, Ben had noticed her timid behavior and now he wondered if he was seeing the explanation.
She had a lot going on, that much he had to admit. But never in his life had he seen a date of his pulled from their evening together, and he wasn’t going to stand for someone treating her that way. Especially not when things were going as great as they were with Katherine. She was the highlight of his night, making his friends laugh and ogle at her stunning beauty.
Wearing his favorite shade of purple, Katherine looked absolutely regal parading through the event with elegance that couldn’t be bought. Ben knew there was more to her story, and he decided that she was worth going the extra mile to get to the bottom of things.
Pushing through the heavy glass doors, he stormed outside the convention center and saw Katherine, the woman who had captivated him over the past week. Gone were the bright eyes he was used to, replaced by fearful pools brimming with the tears that threatened to roll down her reddened cheeks.
Katherine’s shoulders were rounded as she ducked her head with shame, the big figure in front of her yelling as he jabbed his finger so close to Katherine’s face, she flinched.
Before he could stop himself, Ben was jogging down the steps as fast as he could move, placing himself between Katherine and the strange man intent on humiliating her. Ben was eye to eye with the man, though not nearly as bulky as the stranger.
Without words, the two men introduced themselves as Ben sized up this man who was threatening his date. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the excitement on Katherine’s face and it was all the encouragement he needed to stand tall, ready to defend her.
She had found a way to excite parts of him he didn’t know existed anymore, and that was a major reason Ben loved having Katherine around. She made his life exciting, and with her the most mundane tasks had become adventures. But standing on the front steps of the fancy hotel, Ben wondered if it had been a bad idea to bring Katherine to the charity event.
She was in need of help, that much he could see, but Will was right about her knowing this man who had dragged her out of the gala. It was clear they had some kind of history, and Ben wasn’t sure if he wanted to get up in the middle of that.
Just then, he remembered Katherine revealing her troubled relationship, and he looked to her innocent face trying to see if she was afraid. After determining that she was, Ben widened his stance, narrowing his eyes as he glared at the man who was single handedly ruining his night.
“What the hell is going on here?” Ben barked, showing his aggressive side.
“This ain’t got nothing to do with you, pretty boy,” the man answered, cutting his eyes to Katherine. Ben noticed that man wouldn’t meet his eyes, and could tell he was the cowardly type, eager to yell and scream at a woman, but quiet when a comparable adversary came around.
“It has everything to do with me,” Ben insisted, stepping around Katherine to block the man’s view. He wanted to completely shield her from the nonsense.
“Katherine, you better tell your little friend to go back into the party before I put you both in your place,” he said, saying the last words to Ben directly with a menacing tone.
With adrenaline coursing through his body, Ben tried to fight the overwhelming instinct to punch the man in the face, sending him tumbling down the steps as everyone watched in awe. It was the audience that was deterring him from getting too aggressive.
As the CEO of a successful company, he would embarrass more than himself if he were to allow things to get physical with the overly aggressive man, so Ben forced a deep breath before finding the calmer words to respond.
“Katherine is here with me. Unless you want me to get security involved, you need to leave right now,” Ben warned.
Ben watched, not receiving the response he had hoped for. Not only was the man not leaving, but he was laughing loudly as he clapped his hands to emphasize his amusement. Ben could sense the secret between the two of them, something he obviously wasn’t privy to.
From the look on Katherine’s face, the second shoe had yet to drop. Ben knew that whatever it was she had been holding in was seconds from finding its way to his ears. Though it was all happening, there was enough time for him to take in all the details around him.
Katherine cowered with one hand resting on the back of his arm, while the large man glared at her with a stare too intense to not have a deep history. She refused to look at either of the men,
“I can handle this, Ben. I’m so sorry.” The weakness of her voice shocked him. In fact, he barely recognized the voice he so loved to hear.
“No, you can’t.” Ben decided, using his arm to wrap her body around his. He didn’t want her within reach of this man who was determined to take her from him. She was terrified, he could feel the shivers deep in her body.
“You know what? We got off on the wrong foot,” the man said, interrupting Ben’s thoughts as he switched tones, suddenly sounding more professional. “I didn’t mean to cause a scene. You see, I’m Tim Marshall, and I’m here to speak to my wife, Katherine.”
The words might as well have been punches, each catching Ben less prepared than the last. He was speechless, searching Katherine’s face for an explanation, but if she had one she wasn’t sharing it with him. When her icy blue eyes finally found his, they were empty, and helpless.
Frozen with disbelief, Ben didn’t budge when the man pulled Katherine’s arm, freeing her from his grip. It was all moving in slow motion now, the strange man yelling at her about running away as he pulled her down the stairs, heading towards the valet.
Ben couldn’t believe his ears or eyes, allowing his mind to replay the events of the past minutes as he tried to make sense of what he had learned. Katherine didn’t confirm that the man who introduced himself as Tim was her husband, but she didn’t deny it, either.
How could she have kept something so important from him? There was no way he would do the same to her. Though Katherine had let on that she had something to hide, Ben had hoped it was more innocent. Now that he had the truth, he was finding it hard to accept.
The way she was when she was with him, it was like there were no secrets between them, so he doubted that this man was telling the truth. Flipping from one argument to the next, Ben struggled to make sense of this woman who had captivated him.
Her carefree spirit had evaporated right before his eyes, and now he watched as she marched down the steps, tugging to free her arm while following her husband. The title didn’t sound right to Ben, but when he remembered the man’s last name, he took note.
Katherine had his name, so as far as Ben was concerned, it was all but confirmed. She had made her choice,
leaving with the man who had stormed into the event hall and rushed her out. Defeat had never felt so bitter in his life.
The front door swung open, and Tim and Katherine left the building, though the audience watching them had long since scattered. It was only Ben left, watching them from the stairway with a confused look on his face.
Katherine glanced over her shoulder to find Ben’s eyes before shrugging her apology. It was all she could do, but it left him feeling more remorse than relief. He wanted to help her, but without a plan, he sat watching helplessly. If only Katherine would ask for his help, he could act, but she didn’t, so there was nothing he could do.
Now standing alone in his custom-tailored tuxedo, Ben felt blindsided. Devastated. More than being lied to, he felt fundamentally deceived. Even worse, he couldn’t find it in his heart to be angry at Katherine, which would have felt better than what he was experiencing at the moment.
Instead, he felt like he had let her down, and his conscience worried about her safety. There had to be a reason why Katherine shrunk so in front of the man, but Ben had failed to learn why. Without answers, he felt lost, and terribly guilty that he had let the asshole get away with his girl.
Chapter Three
Katherine
WITH THE LEFT SIDE of her body pressed against the car door, Katherine fought for as much space as she could find in the backseat of the taxi. Thankfully, Tim had been able to hail a driver pretty quickly, adding a quick ending to the worst night of her life.
It was surreal, watching the city she had grown to love fading by as Tim hurled profanities in her direction. In the darkness, San Francisco looked gloomier than usual, and Katherine wondered to herself if it was a sign. Could she have been wrong in thinking this city was for her?
Just when she began to doubt herself, the concern in Ben’s green eyes burned into the forefront of her memory. When Tim led her out of the charity event, squeezing her arm in a way that was sure to leave a bruise, she glanced back to see Ben standing like a statue, watching with a fiery gaze.
