Page 44 of Hers to Tame
“I flew to Kansas City so we could discuss it. It’s good, we made up.” When they all sit waiting for more, I roll my eyes. “Fine, we really made up. As in, all over his apartment and at least twice in his car.” Now they’re all staring at me like I’m the second coming of Elvis.
“You had sex in the Maserati?” Lily asks in astonishment. “He never does that. He loves that car. He doesn’t even let me drink in the stupid thing.” I just shrug, feeling the red creeping up my face. I have always had the bad habit of oversharing.
“Whoa, I think our college fuck fantasy has fallen in love. Damn, Maggie. Now we need a lot more anatomical details than before.” Everyone begins to laugh when Dia is done.
Except Lily, of course, “Gross! Can we just not, please. Besides, I think we need less information on my brother’s love life and more on the hottie Claire was with at the reception. I think everyone will love to hear how Claire spent her time from Thanksgiving until now.” Claire flips Lily off, but it does no good. Happy to turn the attention away from me, we pounce on Claire.
By the time Matt sticks his head back in the condo, we’ve solved all of life’s problems. Well maybe not all of them, but we’ve got a pretty good head start. I wouldn’t miss these nights for anything. If Colin had been in town, no doubt it would have included poker night. Matt would be throwing up and Colin would be waiting pantless to alligator roll me. Lily holds me back waiting for the others to leave before motioning to Matt.
“Hey, Maggie,” Matt says by way of greeting.
“Hey, Matt.” He is so easygoing, it’s always fun to tease him. Lily smiles as he gets flustered. Clearing his throat he tries again.
“I called Colin earlier to see if he wanted to spend Spring Break in Belize with us. I rented a three-bedroom house. My oldest brother and his wife are going. We thought you would like to join us also.” I’m stunned. I’ve never been outside the country. Hell, I’ve never been to many places inside the country.
“What did Colin say?” I ask, my excitement growing.
“He said he would go if you were agreeable. You have to come, it will be so much fun. Just the beach and shopping for a whole week,” Lily adds, doing that thing she does when she gets excited. The words rush out of her mouth while she bounces on her toes. Matt just stands smiling at her while she does it. I don’t think the universe could have picked a better man for her. He seems to be able to handle all of her impulsive quirks.
“I would love to!” I squeal. Lily keeps bouncing so I decide to bounce with her. After getting instructions on how to get a rush passport, I head home to start the paperwork. I’m so excited I can hardly wait to talk to Colin tomorrow about it. Normally I would call him, but it’s after midnight, so I don’t want to take a chance on waking him.
When I pull into the driveway, I notice the light over the back door is burned out again. I make a mental note to change it tomorrow. Pulling my keys out, I fumble in the dark until I get the door open. Before I realize what’s happening, I’m pushed into my house with a hard shove.
“Where the fuck have you been?” The voice sends terror racing through me. The door is closed before I can really assess the situation.
“Brett?” I ask, trying to catch my breath. “What are you doing here?” He’s trapped me in my house with him. I haven’t heard anything from him since the wedding because I had his number blocked on my phone. He looks around the kitchen before his eyes settle on the flowers sitting on my table.
“I see you like the flowers I left. I waited for you on the front porch, but you never showed up. Where were you? You hung up on me. I’ve been trying to call you but your phone won’t let me through.” I try to stop my hands from shaking. I thought I loved this man once, he won’t hurt me. Will he?
“I thought we could start seeing each other again. I left my wife, so we can be together now.” He stands looking at me with desperate eyes. He’s never acted this aggressive before. I also know he’s lying, his wife kicked him out after everything came out.
“Brett, I’m sorry but I can’t go back there. I think we should just not have any more contact. It looked like you had someone new at dinner. She seemed nice.” His eyes glaze over with something close to madness. He moves toward me quickly, pinning me against the wall. I can smell the alcohol on his breath.
“Please, Professor Marx, just leave,” I whisper. His hand wraps around my neck, squeezing until he cuts my air off. I try to scream but nothing will come out. His other hand is digging into my arm.
“She could never be you. That pretty boy will get tired of you soon, then you’ll come crawling back to me. Remember, I had you first. You’ll always be mine.” I can feel my vision starting to dim as I desperately claw at his hand. Right before I pass out, he inexplicably turns me loose, stalking out the door.
Sliding to my knees, I crawl to the door, slamming it shut and securing the deadbolt. I’m shaking so hard it’s hard to pick up my phone. When Lily answers her phone with a sleepy voice, I can’t get any words to leave my throat.
“Sweetie, do you know what time it is?” After a few seconds, I can hear her voice become more urgent. “Maggie, are you okay? What’s going on? Where are you? Maggie!” I try to answer all of the questions, but nothing will come out. I hear her say something in the background before she comes back on the phone. “Maggie, we’re heading your direction. Stay on the phone with me until we get there.” All I can do is nod my head slightly. It seems like only seconds before I hear sirens coming down the block.
When Lily and Matt arrive, I’m sitting in the living room being checked by an EMT while a police officer is asking me questions. I do my best to answer them even though my throat feels like it’s on fire.
“Don’t tell me I can’t go in there. Who do you think called you in the first place?” I hear Lily as she bullies her way past the rookie cop in the kitchen. One look at the concern on their faces when they enter the living room sends the tears streaming down my face. Lily walks straight to the couch, throwing her arms around me in a ferocious hug, while Matt talks to the police officer in the kitchen.
“I think you’re just going to have a nasty sore throat and deep bruising for a while,” the EMT tells me before packing up his stuff. “I would go see your doctor tomorrow just as a follow-up.”
“We’ll pick him up tonight. Do you have somewhere else to stay?” I nod numbly at the officer’s question.
“She’ll be with us,” Matt says from behind him. After giving the officer their address, Matt shows them out. Lily packs me a quick bag before I leave with them to stay for a few days at their apartment. “Just so you know, I talked to Colin on the phone earlier. He’s on his way down. I told him you’ll be staying with us for now.”
“You shouldn’t have worried him,” I croak out. “He’ll be so angry with me. How could I have been so stupid. This is all my fault.” The second round of tears stream down my cheeks. Or is it the third?
I can still feel the anger that radiated from him when he caught me on the phone at the wedding. Now my stupidity has brought it all to my door. Is Brett really so delusional to think I would want him back? Lily spins around in the car to stare at me.
“Sweetie, he’s not going to be mad at you. He loves you. But Matt was right, he would be absolutely furious if he found out later and no one told him when it happened.” She takes my hand squeezing it. “You also have to know that this could never be your fault. He’s a slimeball that preyed on a sweet, vulnerable student of his. He deserves everything bad coming to him.”
She’s right, but I also know Colin. This will gut him. He’ll take the responsibility for not being here to protect me as a personal failure. I try to text Colin when I get to Lily’s apartment, but when an hour passes without hearing from him, I finally fall asleep in the guest room.
