Page 17 of Boss' Obsession

“Someone is waiting for me. I have to leave. Now, let me go.”

He twists my arm behind my back and pushes me against the car. I open my mouth to scream, but he covers it with his other hand.

“Don’t be a bitch, Beth. You owe me something for the way you led me on. You’re not leaving here until your attitude changes.” He pulls me into the bushes behind the building.

I don’t know what he’s planning. My heart races and tears fill my eyes. I know I have to fight him somehow, but he’s so much bigger than me. Is this it? Now that I have a life worth living, is he going to take it all away?

He pushes me against the wall so hard that my head bounces off and I see stars. I try to focus on his blurred face and see that he turns his gaze toward the parking lot. What is he looking for? Is there someone there? I close my eyes and do my best to focus. There’s a faint sound in the distance. It’s a man’s voice crying out, but my ears are ringing from the blow and I don’t know what he’s saying.

The pressure that’s built in my head suddenly pops like a firework, and my hearing returns just in time to hear what it is that caught the professor’s attention.

“Beth? Beth, where are you?” I hear Bryan call. “Beth, can you hear me?”

The professor tries to cover my mouth, but I bite down on his hand. As he draws his hand back, I cry out, “Bryan, help! Over here,” before he shoves his bloody hand back in my face.

“You have a man here already? You acted like you were untouchable with me. You’re just a lying whore, aren’t you?”

The professor pulls me by the arm and drags me further into the shadows. For a second, I think he’s going to toss me in his car and drive away with me, but Bryan is bigger and faster and easily catches up to us. He moves around us and blocks our path, forcing the professor to let go of my arm and try to escape alone. Bryan stands toe to toe with him and glares at this smug face.

“Did you think you were going to get away with my girl?” His shoulders heave and his biceps twitch as he asks the question.

“Your girl?” The professor turns his head to look at me, and Bryan smacks his face.

“Don’t look at her!”

The crazed professor lunges at him. “She’s mine. She’s always been mine! Who do you think you are?”

A strange smile appears on Bryan’s face, and he catches the man. He wraps his arms around him, nearly squeezing all of the air from his lungs then drops him to the ground.

In a desperate attempt to get the upper hand, the professor pulls a knife from his pocket. He grabs my ankle and pulls me to the ground. The sharp blade sparkles in the moonlight as he points it toward my chest, but Bryan grabs his wrist and drags him away from me.

Rage contorts Bryan’s face, and he strikes the man with an onslaught of lefts and rights. He’s like an animal who’s been drooling at the bars and is suddenly set free from his cage. I see his rage and think I should be horrified, but that’s the furthest thing from my mind. He came to my rescue. He saved me and that’s the only thing that matters. If he beats the tar out of this man, it’s nothing less than he deserves.

“She’s not yours. She never was and never will be. Now, you get to know what happens to anyone who touches what belongs to me,” Bryan says as the beating continues and the professor’s body heaves on the ground beneath him.

7

BRYAN

Beth should be settled into the lecture by the time my workday ends.

I consider going home to wait for her, but I haven’t eaten all day and I suspect she hasn’t had dinner either. I decide to surprise her when she comes out of the session. I grab some Chinese takeout and head for the campus. We can eat under the stars, and she can follow me back home.

I arrive on campus and see that the lecture hall lights have been dimmed. “Damn, I missed her,” I say aloud. I pull into the parking lot to turn around and see the Porsche parked under a street light.

It’s one of two cars still in the lot, and I pull up next to it. I hop out and peer through the window. Beth isn’t inside and the doors are unlocked. My pressure spikes and I scan the vacant lot for any sign of her.

“Beth!” I cry out. “Beth, where are you?”

She doesn’t answer, so I turn to check inside the building. The hall is empty and the doors are locked.

“Beth!” This time, I hear an answer. It’s faint but I follow the sound of her voice. She’s calling for help. She needs help! I extend my gait until I find myself running through the wet parking lot. I skid to a stop and turn to follow the path behind the building into the trees.

I see her pulling with all of her might, trying to escape the clutches of a man who’s dragging her. My panic morphs into rage as I think he's dragging her away from me. My first objective is to get Beth away from him and that’s easy enough, but he pulls a knife on her and I lose any self-control I may have been holding on to. I’m gonna beat this man senseless now and ask questions later. If he dies, he dies. I don’t have the will to stop myself.

My blood-covered hands begin to slide off his skin, but I keep on punching. It’s only when he loses consciousness and I hear Beth ask, “Is he dead?” that I come to my senses. I could kill this man right now, but I don’t want her to see me like this. “Beth, call the police. Are you hurt? Did he hurt you?”

“No. You got here in time. You saved me.”

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