Page 41 of Hard To Stay

Donnie shuffled on his feet and gently placed a hand on my shoulder. “Dude, come on. Let him go, nice and easy. Tell me what happened.”

My eyes were still trained on Colton watching his face turn red. A part of me would have been happy to end it right here so Lexi would never have to worry about this piece of shit again. Blood was coursing through my veins so fast I felt every muscle in my body pop. Frustrated, I released the pressure off his neck and shoved him against the wall.

He collapsed to his knees, holding his neck while trying to catch his breath.

“Want to tell me what the fuck is going on?” Donnie asked, placing his hand in his hips looking between Colton and me.

Colton pushed himself off the wall and pointed in my direction. He looked like he could barely walk as he stumbled toward us. “This man attacked me and I want to press charges.”

Donnie shot me a look as I wiped the spit still clinging to my face then he looked back to Colton. “Spitting bodily fluids on a police officer is a felony assault charge. From what I saw he was just defending himself. If anyone is going to be arrested today, it’s you.”

Colton tugged on the strands of his hair in frustration. “Are you shitting me? He tried to kill me.”

Donnie shook his head. “Didn’t look like that to me.”

“Motherfucker. You guys are so fucking corrupt!” Colton shouted leveling his gaze on me. “You can’t keep her from me. You are just a blip on her radar. I’m the one she will end up with. Mark my words, she always comes back to me!”

His words pissed me off more than I cared to admit. She may have once been his, but she was mine now.

Donnie stood between us. He knew I had fucked up today and was covering my ass. This was not the kind of report that an Internal Affairs officer needed in his file. But my priority was to protect Lexi, and the bastard had given me enough reasons to escalate our conflict.

After witnessing firsthand the kind of animal he was, there was no way I would ever let him near her again. I didn’t give a shit what happened to me personally.

I gave Donnie a nod, confirming that I had everything under control and that I appreciated him intervening. He flashed me a look of sympathy before addressing Colton. “Sir, you need to walk away before your ass finds itself sitting in the back of a police car.”

Colton edged towards me, snorting almost under his breath. “This isn’t over. Not by a long shot.”

Donnie held out his hand, stopping him from coming any closer.

I ground my teeth together. “You stay away from her.” I hissed out making sure my voice was lethal. I didn’t care about threatening him in public. He fucked up today. Lexi has had to deal with his bullshit for too many damned years. He needed to understand that he had just declared war. His days of controlling her were over.

Colton shook his head. I could see some of that arrogance make its way back into his features. “You just fucked with the wrong person, my friend.” He turned on his heels to walk away. “Tell my fiancée I’ll be seeing her soon.” He called over his shoulder, which caused me to charge towards him.

Donnie blocked my pursuit. “Let him go, Morgan.” He admonished.

I let him get the last word. As much as I wanted to destroy him, I knew I had to let him go.

“Thanks, Donnie.” I said holding out my hand to shake his, which he pushed away.

“No need to thank me. That punk is obviously messing with you. You sure you got this all under control?” He asked.

“For right now I do.”

Understanding worked its way into his features. “Better watch your back. That guy has a little psycho in him.” He said, as he checked the time on his watch. “Time to go. If you need anything you know where to find me.”

My shoulders were slumped as I walked back into Lexi’s apartment building. As soon as I saw her, she rushed towards me throwing herself into my arms. I kissed the top of her head letting her know she was safe, for now.

I brushed the hair off her face and kissed the tip of her nose. “He’s gone. He’s not going to hurt you.” I said, not completely believing the words myself. The look in her eyes ate at my core. It was the same look I saw the first night we met. It was the look of primal fear. It destroyed me because she had every reason to be concerned. What she didn’t understand though, was how far I would go to protect her.

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