by Lisa Simmons
"Oh, and one more thing..." he said, his voice dropping to a whisper. I held my breath in my lungs as his face ducked by the side of my head, a cold chill running down my spine as his lips tickled against ear. "If you don't want him hurt again, I wouldn't say anything about our little conversation."
I could feel my eyes widening, my nostrils flaring as I tried to breath despite my jaw being clenched shut. Fear flooded through me, terrified of the numerous threats Samuel had just made and his warning not to tell Reece. I couldn't move a muscle, not even to open my mouth to take a full breath. Just when I thought I couldn't feel more afraid and uncomfortable, I felt his lips press into the skin of my neck just below my ear, his mouth lingering for a few seconds before he pulled back.
I watched in sickening horror as he pulled back, his eyelid dropping in a wink before he turned from me and sauntered back to his eagerly waiting group. He was almost all the way back to his group before I sucked in a gasping breath, my lungs filling with the air I had deprived them of for so long because of my frozen terror. My chest heaved as I took another rattling breath and focused on not bursting into tears in the middle of the mall.
To the many passersby, our interaction probably looked like two casual acquaintances chatting about anything in the world. Maybe they assumed he had a thing for me from the way he leaned down to my ear and kissed my skin. People probably figured our conversation had consisted of plans for the night, homework, anything. There was no way anyone walking by could have felt the cold undertone to the conversation, heard the numerous threats uttered by this otherwise very attractive man, or felt the chills running down my spine when he so much as looked at me. There was no way anyone looking on could tell that he was actively trying to ruin my life, but that's exactly what had happened.
My legs finally regained their feeling as I took a few shaky steps in the opposite direction of Samuel. My movement was jerky, unnatural, but it was all I could manage with the fear running through me. I had to get out of this mall and as far away from Samuel and his terrifying gang of 'friends' as soon as possible.
I managed to make it all the way to my car, which I had been fully expecting to be vandalized but was somehow untouched, before I broke down and let out a gasping sob. Fear, anger, frustration, confusion, but most prevalently, terror all flashed through me at once.
Why couldn't they just get over their issues and let us be? Why did they have to be so bent on destroying the best thing to ever happen to me? It wasn't fair, it wasn't right, and it made me physically sick to my stomach. There was no way I could ever leave Reece the way Samuel had suggested, because I actually started to shake at the mere thought of it. I loved Reece beyond what I even thought was possible, and their constant threats to his safety made me feel so weak and helpless.
Tears flooded down my cheeks as I sat pathetically behind the wheel of my car. I had to get out of here before they came outside and saw me. Wiping vigorously at my eyes, I managed to clear away the wetness before I took a shuddering breath to try and reign in my sobs. I blew a heavy breath out of my lips before starting my car and whipping out of the parking spot.
I had to get home, but more importantly, I had to get away from Samuel and all of his sick, sadistic words.
"Maybe I should cry for help... so blame it on my ADD, baby."
Chapter 53
Reece’s POV
The second Abigail left, a little bit of the warmth seemed to leave my body. That always happened whenever she wasn’t around- it was like her physical presence made me a few degrees warmer. I wished she could have just stayed with me all day, laying around and cuddled into my chest without a care in the world. I would have been more than content to just sit around doing nothing all day with her.
I didn’t like the idea of her going out alone. After what had happened last night, it made me anxious to think of her being by herself, vulnerable to any sort of attack, whether it be verbal or physical, with no one to protect her. The only thing that comforted me was the fact that I knew she’d be home all day doing homework. She would be relatively safe at her apartment, hopefully with Emily and not by herself. The reminder of what had happened to her last night made me angry, my blood boiling in my veins at the mere thought. I could feel my sore fists clenching by my sides as I tried not to see the image that would be permanently burned into my brain- Jack and his filthy hands touching my Abigail, contaminating her beautiful body with his unworthy touch. He had no right to even look at her after everything he’d done, much less try to force himself on her. My hands started to shake by my side before I shook them vigorously. I needed to stop thinking about it before I did something drastic. I was lucky the only thing that had happened was getting thrown out of the club and not getting arrested. I’d seen a few fights in the bars before, but they only called the cops about half the time. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes as I told myself to calm down. It was like the second Abigail left, the wall I had built up to block out such thoughts crumbled down. Now that it was reduced to rubble, the thoughts bombarded my brain, forcing their way into my every thought and demanding my attention. When I opened my eyes, I was greeted by the still messy state of my house.
Abigail had managed to clean up most of the kitchen before I’d stopped her. She’d giggled when I wound my arms around her, pinning hers to her side to stop her from cleaning. Her body had wiggled against mine, fighting my hold as she laughed and insisted it wasn’t a big deal for her to clean. She’d fought against me playfully until I had to physically throw her over my shoulder and carry her back to my bed.
I remember looking down at her as I pinned her body beneath mine, the beautiful way she glowed up at me searing through my body and lighting me up from the inside. I was struck by how incredibly lucky I was to have her- this perfect, angelic girl with a crazy side who had chosen, for some reason beyond my understanding, to love me. She had a wide grin on her face, blissfully happy to be there with me. I remember the way my heart had hammered in my chest, the pace increasing simply from looking at her and letting all my feelings for her flood through me. It didn’t seem possible that I had gone from not giving a shit about anyone to being so completely in love with her in the time that I’ve known her. Every day, I was reminded of how insane she made me feel, how alive and crazy and for once, unselfish. For once, I wanted to do whatever would make her happy, would make her better, whatever it would take, I wanted it for her. She was what was most important to me, replacing myself in my devotion. Before, all I’d cared about was myself and that was it. Now, she was my everything; everything I did was for her. I shook my head vigorously, clearing the sappy thoughts that bounced around at the memories from this morning. My eyes settled on the very sticky, cup covered coffee table and I moved forward to start cleaning. I had just moved into the kitchen to grab a garbage bag when I heard a knock at my front door, followed almost immediately by it opening. My heart jumped into my throat at the thought of Abigail returning but was quickly disappointed when I heard Luke’s voice booming through the house.
“Reece,” he called loudly before moving into my line of vision. “Hey man.”
“Hey,” I greeted, leaving the kitchen and tossing him a garbage bag as I walked by. “Make yourself useful, yeah?”
He chuckled before joining me in the cleaning up process. I leaned over the table to start collecting the cups while Luke started on the end tables.
“Where’s your girl?” he asked, surprised to find me alone.
“She had stuff to do,” I answered unhappily.
“Surprised you didn’t go with her,” he noted.
“Yeah, me too,” I said vaguely. I didn’t like the reminder that she was alone, without me to protect her. I was very quickly developing a strange separation anxiety. A knot existed in my stomach, the constant irritation of it lingering there whenever she wasn’t around. What bothered me most about it was that I knew it wasn’t unwarranted. Jack and Samuel had, on several occasions that I knew of, made it
a point to seek her out when she was alone, a fact that haunted me now. I had the sudden urge to go find her but I resisted, not wanting to appear crazy or overbearing. If I had my way, she would never leave my sight.
“Dude,” Luke said, bringing my attention back to him.
“What?” I got the sense I’d missed something he’d said.
“I asked what you’re gonna do,” he said patiently. My bag was nearly full now as I moved around the living room, continuing the cleaning.
“About what?”
“Her ex... what’s his name again?”
“Jack,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Yeah, him, what are you gonna do?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. I had been thinking about that same issue.
“Do you think he’ll leave her alone now?” he asked. I appreciated that he was trying to help me figure out what to do but this conversation was only serving to piss me off. “No,” I said honestly. He had a sick determination that I knew wouldn’t waver just because I’d fought him once. The thought of something like that happening again made me positively sick to my stomach. Luke was silent as he thought over possible solutions. I was at a loss. Not only did I have to deal with Jack’s constant pursuit of Abigail, but I had to worry about he and Samuel sudden friendship and the fact that Samuel had apparently reunited with his dangerous old group of friends. I paused my cleaning to run my hand over my face, the stress of the situation grating on me. I pinched the bridge of my nose between my fingers, squeezing my eyes shut in a grimace. Luke seemed to notice my distress because I could fell him watching me.
“Dude, you need to relax,” Luke observed. I blew a heavy breath out between my teeth.
“I can’t, there’s too much shit to deal with,” I answered.
“What do you mean?” Luke replied. I forgot he didn’t really know all the details linking Jack and Samuel.
“Well fucking Jack is stalking Abigail, you said Samuel is apparently hanging out with Liam and those guys, and I guess Jack and Samuel are all buddy-buddy now,” I said, listing off the numerous things that were stressing me out. “Wait, what?” Luke said, his mouth falling open in a gape as he stared at me. “Jack and Samuel are friends?”
“I guess so,” I sighed heavily. “That’s what Abby said at least.”
“What the fuck, since when? I’ve never heard of Jack from Samuel...” he pondered, expressing a similar confusion I had when Abigail had first told me. “I guess they grew up together or something, I don’t fucking know. All I know is if Jack and Samuel are suddenly such good bros and Samuel is hanging out with Liam and those guys again, it can’t mean anything good,” I tried to explain. I was starting to get a headache from all the thinking, and the acrid scent of the stale alcohol spread throughout my house wasn’t helping matters. I gave up on cleaning for a moment and flopped down onto my couch, the bag of garbage I held clinking against the wood floor when I set it down. I put my head in my hands and let out yet another heavy exhale. Luke sat down opposite me and remained quiet as he tried to make sense of everything I’d just told him. “Well fuck,” he finally said, his tone sounding surprised and slightly overwhelmed.
“Tell me about it,” I replied. “All I’m really concerned about is Abigail though. If they even touch her again I’m gonna lose it, man.”
My fingers rubbed at my temples in an attempt to ease the growing headache. I looked at him to see him watching me closely, a concerned look on her face. “You don’t think they’d really hurt her, do you?” he asked cautiously.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Jack already tried to...” I couldn’t even say the words. A shudder ran through me at the memory.
Luke seemed to be at a loss for words and short of ideas, because yet again he didn’t say anything.
“You could call the police?” he suggested weakly.
“And say what? ‘Hi, officer, my girlfriend’s ex boyfriend is stalking her and tried to touch her in the bar so I beat the shit out of him.’ I don’t think so,” I replied sarcastically. “You don’t have to say the last part...” he trailed off. I felt bad for shooting down his offer so quickly; he was only trying to help, but I was too on edge to consider it. “Yeah but you know if I did they’d just say he never actually did anything. There’s nothing they can do unless he actually does something, you know that,” I said. He pinched his lips together, knowing I was right. “They can’t do shit about a threat until he acts on it.”“Yeah you’re right,” he admitted.
“As for Samuel hanging out with Liam again... there’s nothing we can do. If he wants to hang out with those fuckheads it’s his choice,” I said, shrugging. It did make me nervous, the thought of him re-associating himself with the dangerous crowd, but there was really nothing I could do about it. “Yeah, also true.” He frowned before his expression changed completely, a grin stretching across his lips. “Wait, did you say girlfriend?”
I blinked, trying to recall the words I’d used without really thinking. Had I said girlfriend?
“Yeah, I guess so,” I said thoughtfully.
“So it’s official now? She’s agreed to take your sorry ass for real?” he joked.
“Not yet,” I admitted. “I haven’t asked her or anything.”
“Well come on man, grow a pair and do it already,” he prodded. My heart gave a nervous thump at the mere thought of asking Abigail to be my girlfriend. It would be yet another first for me- I’d never had a girlfriend before. “I’m planning to, don’t rush me. I wanna take her somewhere nice to do it,” I said, feeling slightly embarrassed to admit my plan to Luke. As expected, he let out an obnoxious ‘oooooh’ before grinning at me. “Cute,” he teased.
“Shut the hell up,” I griped, heaving myself off the couch to start cleaning again. I felt really uncomfortable discussing these things with Luke, especially sitting directly across from him while he smirked at me. He laughed at my embarrassment. “Hey, I’m just messing with you. That’s great, dude,” he said sincerely. I smiled softly at his approval, my back turned to him as I bent to pick up a nearly full beer sitting on the floor. “Thanks,” I replied. “I’m probably gonna sound like an idiot though.”
It felt weird to admit these fears to Luke, because we had never really had reason to discuss such things before; Luke was a lot like I used to be- cocky, player, never settling down with one girl. Between the two of us, the only feelings either of us had ever had for anyone were mine for Abigail. “Probably,” he joked. “But you know she’ll say yes, why are you nervous?”
“Because... I dunno, I just am. She does things to me,” I admitted somewhat awkwardly.
“Clearly. But seriously, there’s no way in hell she’ll say no so just ask her and you’ll be fine,” he said. He tied a knot in his now full bag before going to the kitchen to grab another. We had managed to clear the living room and were starting on the rest of the house now. “Hope so,” I said insecurely. This was so unlike me that I felt like I was watching myself from the other side of the room. I was never insecure. I knew she loved me- she admitted it all the time and I could feel it in every touch and look she gave me, but I was still nervous. “Oh shut up, you’re being such a girl. Frankly I’m surprised you haven’t done it already,” he said from down the hall now.
“Fuck off, I’ll do it, alright?” I said, my tone light. His deep chuckle echoed down the hall. I paused before I remembered something Abigail had said and grinned. “Speaking of girls, what about Emily?”
“What about her?” he answered vaguely. I didn’t miss the purposefully casual tone to his voice. I smirked. His tone held the same note of denial mine had held every time I thought about Abigail when we were first starting out. I had had feelings for her, but didn’t want to acknowledge them as I tried to deny them to myself. “Abby has a theory,” I told him as I joined him in the hall to continue cleaning.
“Of course she does,” he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes at me.
“She
thinks you like her,” I said, not waiting for him to ask to hear the theory.
“Hmm,” was all he said, avoiding answering me but confirming my suspicions.
“I knew you did,” I gloated, a smug smile pulling at my lips.
“I didn’t say that,” he argued childishly. He avoided looking at me as he moved to the bathroom to clear the few cans and cups that always ended up in there. People went in there to use the bathroom and forgot their drinks all the time. “But you didn’t deny it either,” I pushed. I wanted him to admit he finally liked someone after all his teasing about Abigail.
“Hmmph,” he grumbled, once again not saying much.
“If you like her, ask her out or something,” I said, shrugging. “Look what happened to me.”
“You think I wanna end up like you? All love sick and pathetic whenever your girl isn’t around? No thanks,” he joked. I shrugged again. He had no idea what it felt like to love someone who loved you back.
“Just saying, you don’t know what you’re missing.”
“God, will you stop? You sound like my mom,” he griped. I laughed loudly at his obvious discomfort. “It’s not like you and Abigail. You two are so weirdly magnetic about each other and I just think Emily is fun.”“Fun,” I repeated, choosing not to reply to his comment about Abigail and I. I remembered something she had told me a long time ago, about how most people don’t feel like we did. Clearly, she had been right now as I listened to Luke describe the differences between me and him. This isn’t how most people feel when they’re in... relationships. That was what she’d said. The vague words we used to describe our relationship had been going on for what felt like ages now, and it only made me more nervous to officially ask her to be my girlfriend. “Yeah, she’s fun,” he defended. “And I guess she’s cute but that’s all you’re getting out of me.”
