He quietly handed me a tissue. I took it and wiped my eyes, pulling mascara off in the process. I knew I looked like a mess but I didn’t care.
“I don’t like it. I want you to feel safe. If he does come back, you’ll be completely exposed.”
I closed my eyes for a moment and forced out a shaky breath. “Right now, I’m more afraid of you than I am of him.”
He narrowed his brows. “You don’t mean that.”
I looked at him directly. “I do. You don’t know what it’s like watching your boyfriend nearly beat your ex to death. I’m scared of you and what you’re capable of.”
Vincent staggered back for a moment, no doubt reeling from my response. “All right, fine. I’ll get rid of the security team. I’ll tell them to put a tracking device on his car so we can monitor his whereabouts.” He stared into my eyes. “But you should know that I’d never hurt you.”
“You already have. Maybe not physically like Marty did, but you hurt me emotionally. You betrayed my trust.”
“Okay. How can I make this right?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know if you can.”
“I really care about you Kristen and if you need space, I can do that.” He got up from the couch. “But if I had to choose between us breaking up and you being safe, without a doubt I’d choose the latter. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if you got hurt and I had the ability to prevent it. I’d even lie to you if it meant saving you from harm.”
“You can’t do that. You can’t take away my choice from me. I’m a grown woman who can make her own choices balancing her privacy and her safety. You made it your choice.”
“It’s what happens when you—” He cut his sentence short. “When you really care about someone. If you’re asking if I’d do it again. I’ll tell you right now: I’d do it in a heartbeat.”
After he left, I locked the door. Then I went to my room to cry.
***
I’d cried until I felt nauseous from everything and vomited. It was incredible the police didn’t show up. The commotion from the fighting, shouting, and cursing was probably heard on multiple floors. I didn’t know my other neighbors on the floor that well but I knew they were in their mid-twenties. They were probably out clubbing. It was Friday night after all.
I walked from the bathroom to the kitchen to get a cup of water. It was past midnight and I was exhausted from the evening’s events. I couldn’t wait to fall asleep and block everything out until tomorrow. During a long sip of water, the front door unlocked, opened, and clacked against the chain lock.
“Kristen? You left the chain lock on. Open up.”
I nearly choked on my water before I recognized the voice.
“Riley, is that you? Are you by yourself?”
“Uh yeah, duh. Were you expecting someone else?” She jiggled the door again but it wouldn’t budge. “Are you naked right now with whip cream on your ni**les waiting for Vincent to show up? Is that why there are flower petals all over the doormat?”
I breathed a sigh of relief. Typical Riley. “No, I’m not naked,” I hollered. “I’ll open the door.” I went to undo the chain. Once she was inside, I redid the chain.
The short blue dress she went out in was rumpled and there were drink stains on it. She must’ve danced pretty hard, even if she’d gotten in early. “So how was dinner?” she asked.
I groaned. “Bad.”
“Bad? Or badass?” Riley said, her mood chipper as she flung off her shoes into the corner.
When I didn’t respond, she looked at me and studied my face. “Whoa Kristen, were you crying? Oh my god, what happened?”
I told her about how I saw Ariel’s text message during dinner with Vincent and how I ran home and then Marty showed up.
Riley dropped her bags, gripped my shoulders, and shook me. “Are you okay? Did you call the police?”
“No. Kurt and Bernie tackled him. Turns out they were Vincent’s security team he assigned to watch over me.”
She squinted. “You mean the g*y couple across from us?”
I wasn’t sure about the g*y couple part. In fact, I didn’t know what to believe about Kurt and Bernie. They could’ve been Navy SEALs or trained killers for all I knew. “Yeah.”
“No way.” She put her hand up to my forehead to check my temperature.
“Yes way. They restrained Marty and Vincent showed up and beat the shit out of him. I thought Vincent was going to kill him.”
Riley gasped. “Wow! I’m sure he was just protecting you though, right?”
“Yeah, but it was way overboard. Marty wasn’t even doing anything threatening. We were just talking outside my door when he was tackled.”
Her voice lowered. “But he could have done something. It can happen in a split second.”
I shook my head. “Still. You don’t go as far as Vincent did. He was punching and kicking Marty so hard I thought he was going to die. Plus, he lied to me. He asked me before if I wanted a security team and I told him no and he ignored my answer completely. It makes me feel so small and powerless!” I began to cry.
Riley pulled me to her and hugged me. “It’s okay. You’re safe now.”
I sobbed into her shoulder. “I don’t know what to do, Riley.”
“Are you afraid Vincent’s going to hurt you?” Her words were careful.
“No, I don’t think he’ll hurt me. But then again I didn’t know he was capable of what he did to Marty. I don’t know if I can trust him. I don’t know what to think.”
“You said he cheated on you with that chick Ariel, right? Then f**k him. Let him go surfing with sharks and have his dick get bitten off.”
“I saw a text from Ariel saying she enjoyed riding his cock—and I freaked out. But Vincent explained that she was referring to his company’s new surfboard called the Shuttlecock.”
She pulled back and looked at me. “Are you serious? You have to be kidding.” She laughed. “That’s hilarious. What a clever name.”
“No it’s not! It’s stupid.”
“A shuttlecock in badminton moves back and forth through the air—kind of like how a surfboard moves across a wave. Plus it has the word ‘cock’ in it. You have to admit that’s pretty genius marketing.”
Apparently I wasn’t the target audience. “You’re the worst.”