92
I heard the front door open and close and I smiled as I thought to myself that Link didn’t waste time tonight. I looked up as Megan walked past my office with her head down and I looked at my watch again. It was three am.
“Megan?” I called out to her.
“I’m fine,” she said and I heard her on the stairs.
I sat there for a few minutes frowning before I stood up and followed her upstairs. Something was off, why would she say she was fine. I hurried up the stairs and stopped in front of her bedroom and knocked on the door. I could hear the shower and I could hear her crying.
I pushed the door open and saw that she had left the bathroom door open. I sensed too many emotions to make sense of them. I walked into the bathroom not worrying that she might be naked, my only worry was why she was crying. I opened the door and found her sitting in the corner hugging herself and she lowered her head quickly when she saw me.
“What the fuck,” I whispered as I looked at her.
She started crying again as I shut the water off and I climbed into the shower with a towel and wrapped it around her. I picked her up as she buried her head against me and I carried her into the bedroom.
“He’s fucking dead,” I said as I put her down on the bed and she grabbed my hand.
“Don’t leave me alone,” she whispered and I fought against my natural instincts to go kill someone and lay down beside her.
I wrapped my arms around her and it took a while before she stopped crying and it was breaking my soul to listen to it. She was lying with her back against me and I could feel her body shaking as she cried. There was nothing else I could do but be there for her and Abeloth had told me to stay as well. We would kill this motherfucker tomorrow.
“He asked me to move in with him and I said no,” she said in the quiet of her dark room. I stayed quiet but I squeezed her hand to let her know that I was listening.
“He accused me of being in love with you and when I didn’t deny it he freaked out,” she said and I felt even more murderous now.
I had only had glimpses of the bruises on her body, he hadn’t touched her face except for a split lip but he had given her a beating and a half. She hadn’t wanted to see the doctor and I wasn’t about to push her. I kissed her lightly on her head as I tried not to move my arms.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
I stayed with her until the sun rose and I heard Link return. I knew he would have questions later because he’d be able to smell me and figure out that I was in her room. I was awake but I still didn’t move, not even when I heard Joanne, the cook, arrive.
“What are you planning to do? I can hear you thinking,” Megan said as I turned my head towards her.
“You know exactly what I’m going to do,” I said to her as she turned around and looked at me.
“I should get up,” she said as I pushed a tendril of hair behind her ear and I gripped her hand.
“I want you to be okay,” I said as I rested my forehead against hers.
“I’ll be okay,” she said softly.
“I’ll always be here for you,” I said.
“You can’t promise me that,” she said.
“I can because I love you,” I said as she looked away.
“You really believe everything you said the other day?” she asked me.
“I do, I want to make you mine, I want you with me every day and every night. I want to see your face as I wake up every morning and go to sleep every night with you next to me. I want to belong to you just as much as you belong to me,” I said to her.
“Wow, when did you turn into a girl?” she asked and laughed as I looked at her.
“Nice Megan, real nice,” I said and stood up as she kept laughing.
“I’m sorry,” she said in between her laughs.
“No, you’re not,” I said as I walked to her door.
“You’re right, I’m not sorry, I’ll make you coffee as an apology,” she said as she sat upright in bed.
“Yeah, you’ll be okay,” I said as she laughed again and I left her room.
I took another shower and dressed for the day but more casually as it was Saturday afternoon by now and I wasn’t planning on doing anything or going anywhere. I headed to my office and twenty minutes later Megan brought me coffee as I narrowed my eyes at her and she laughed again.
I smiled as she left my office because her laugh was what I had missed and it meant that she would be okay. I was still going to hurt him though. Link popped his head into the office and sat down as he looked at me questioningly.
“What?” I asked him.
“So how the hell did you end up in Megan’s room?” he asked me.
“I want to know everything there is to know about Alex Redford,” I said to him.
“Megan’s boyfriend?” he asked.
“The prick who dared to put his hands on her last night and beat the shit out of her,” I said to him.
“That motherfucker,” he said angrily.
“I want to be creative with him,” I said and Link smiled as he nodded his head.
“I have a few ideas,” he said and rubbed his hands together.
“Of course you’d run back here to him!” I heard his voice as it echoed through the foyer and into my office. Link and I had both jumped up at the sound of his voice.
“If you want to keep breathing I’d suggest you leave,” I heard Megan say.
“You smell like him,” he sneered and I saw him as his hand went for her throat.
I didn’t even think about it, I just launched myself at him as we stumbled out of the front door and down the steps that led up to the patio. I was on top of him and hitting him wherever his arms didn’t try and block me.
“Ryder! You’ll kill him!” Link yelled as he tried to pull me off.
“Ryder, stop, he’s not worth it,” Megan said as she placed her hand on my arm and I stopped hitting him as I stood up and spat on his face.
“Alex Redford, you are hereby banished from this lair and my territory. You have twelve hours to leave and if you ever set foot here again I’ll make sure that by the end of it you’ll be begging me to kill you,” I said as I kicked his one leg out of my way.
Link pulled him up to his feet and literally threw him towards his car as I turned to Megan and took her face in both hands as I looked at her.
“Did he hurt you?” I asked her and she shook her head.
I could hear him muttering under his breath but I could care less. Banishment wasn’t even a proper punishment for what he’d done to her but I could be patient. I would get him sooner or later and he would suffer at my hands.
“I’m sorry,” she said as I led her back inside the house.
“What for?” I said as I frowned at her.
“I didn’t think he’d come here to make trouble,” she said.
“It’s not your fault, don’t ever think that something like this is your fault. He’s an asshole,” I said to her.
“I’ll have to quit my job now,” she said looking as if she might start to cry.
“Why?”
“He works there as a teacher, I’m just part-time, I can’t go back to work and know that he’ll be there,” she said.
“Megan, I just banished him, that means he just got fired,” I said to her.
“Why are you doing all this for me?” she asked as we sat down on the couch in the living room.
“Because you’re my girl, I thought I made myself clear this morning,” I said to her.
“I’m not your girl, Ryder,” she said as she looked at me.
“I know you like me, not just as friends, that kiss the other night, you wouldn’t have responded like that if you felt nothing,” I said to her.
“It’s not that I don’t like you, I do and that’s the problem,” she said as she looked me in the eye.
“How is that a problem?” I asked her.
“You’re a player, you go through women like I go through clothes, I’m not setting myself up for that heartbreak,” she said honestly.
“You don’t think I can be faithful?” I asked her.
“I don’t know, can you?” she asked me.
“Of course I can!” I said vehemently.
“The proof is in the pudding, I don’t plan to be another notch on your belt,” she said and I was actually really offended by that, I wasn’t that bad.
“So what exactly are you saying? I’ve already told you that we belong together,” I said to her.
“Those are just words, you probably say them to any girl willing to take her clothes off for you,” she said.
“No it’s not, after Tia I didn’t trust easily and I’ve never even come close to admitting feelings for anyone because I didn’t have any. With you it’s different that’s how I know, why are you so afraid to give me a chance?” I asked her.
“Tia was right, I did have a crush on you in high school because you were a nice guy. Now it’s like you and Chase switched personalities, you’re still you but a different you. When I give myself to someone, I do it completely and with you I might just fall so hard that I won’t be able to stand up again,” she said.
“Give me a chance to prove you wrong. You call the shots, I’ll do whatever you ask, however you want me to prove myself, I’ll do it, because this, between you and me, this is the real thing so I’ll do whatever it takes to make you mine,” I said to her.
“Are you serious right now?” she asked me.
“Completely,” I said as I looked at her.
“Fine, let’s see how long you last,” she said and I smiled.
“Challenge accepted,” I said and put my arm around her shoulders.
“It’s not going to be easy, I’ll go places with you as your girlfriend but we won’t be sleeping next to each other and there will be no sex until I say so. There will be no more parties or bars unless I’m with you and there will definitely be no other women. If you really mean everything you say I want to see it, through your actions, not your words. Treat me right and I’ll treat you right, do me wrong and I’ll leave, no second chances,” she said.
“Deal,” I said to her.
“You didn’t even think about it,” she said as she looked at me skeptically.
“I don’t have to,” I said as she laughed.
“This is going to be fun,” Link said as he watched us from the doorway.
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