Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 37733 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37733 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
He frowns. “I’ve been texting you, but you haven’t responded.”
“So, you let yourself in?”
“I was worried about you.”
“Right. Because I couldn’t be busy or anything.”
He walks into my room with a smarmy little smirk on his lips and wraps his arms around me from behind. At six-one, he towers over my slender, five-two frame, his lean, athletic body engulfing me completely. I’m not in the mood, so I struggle to get away from him, but he tightens his grip and holds me tighter. Truth be told, even though I’ve been with Ben for the last year, it hasn’t been the happiest of relationships. He’s volatile. He’s got a temper, and if I’m being honest, he sometimes scares me. He’s never laid a hand on me, but I often get the sense it takes a Herculean effort for him to restrain himself and that it’s only a matter of time.
I’ve been trying to find a way to break things off with him, but that fear keeps me from actually doing it. I don’t know what he’ll do if I try to break up with him. And much to my eternal shame, that uncertainty paralyzes me. Over the last few months, I’ve been trying to distance myself from him, picking up more shifts at work, taking extra classes, or spending more time with my girlfriends. It irritates him and I keep hoping he’ll decide it’s not worth it, but the cynic in me believes he’s hanging on because he wants to take my virginity.
The fact that I won’t sleep with him is a constant source of irritation for him, and he keeps pushing me to have sex with him. I only wish I could apply the same firmness in saying no to him to other parts of this relationship … like ending it.
“What’s going on, baby?” he whispers in my ear. “What’s wrong?”
“My grandmother had a heart attack—”
“Why are you packing?”
“Because I’m going home to help care for her.”
“No, you’re not. We’ve got tickets to that show tomorrow night.”
I finally manage to pull away from him and turn, an expression of absolute horror tinged with anger coloring my face. The nerve of this man to tell me I’m not going. The nerve of him to put this fucking show above the life of my grandmother.
“Yeah. I am. I’m leaving in a few hours,” I tell him.
“Is your grandmother okay? Is she alive?”
“Yeah, she’s okay right now. But she needs some help—”
“She’ll be okay for a couple of days,” he says. “We’ll go to the show and after that, I’ll go out there with you—”
“Ben, no. I’m not doing this. Get out. I have to finish packing.”
“Baby, you know how much I’ve been looking forward to this show,” he growls. “Not to mention how expensive the fucking tickets were.”
I’m so angry, I’m practically seeing red right now. I’m glad I don’t have a baseball bat near at hand because as angry as I am right now, I might bludgeon him to death with it.
“You know what? Have a great time at the show,” I shout. “I’ll PayPal you the cost of my ticket. And so you know, I didn’t want to go to the show, anyway!”
Ben grabs my hand and squeezes it hard enough to draw a pained yelp from me. It fuels the rage coursing through me, and before I even think about what I’m doing, I reach back and slap him across the face. My hand stings and the sharp crack of my hand hitting his cheek rings in my ears. He looks at me with shock on his face and my eyes widen when I see the bright red print on his face. As his jaw clenches and his eyes narrow to slits, I start to tremble. But that fear quickly subsides as my veins are flooded with fury.
“We’re done, Ben. I don’t want to be with you anymore. I haven’t for a long time. You’re selfish, cruel, and you only care about yourself. Getting together with you was a mistake. I never should have gone out with you in the first place.”
He recoils and looks at me like I’ve suddenly sprouted a second head and started speaking in some strange language he doesn’t understand. My anger is filling me with a strength I never knew I had—a strength I wish I could have summoned long ago. In this moment, I feel powerful.
“No. You’re upset, I get that. But we’re not breaking up—”
“Get out, Ben. Get out of my apartment and my life.”
“I’m not going anywhere. We’re going to talk this out.”
I snatch up my phone. “Leave now or I’m calling the police, and they can drag you out of here. And after that, I’ll file for a restraining order.”
His face darkens, and he glowers at me. There’s some small part of me that’s afraid he’s going to hurt me. But right now, I don’t care. Right now, the only thing that matters to me is getting him out of my apartment so I can pack and get to my grandmother. His jaw clenched tight, Ben takes a step toward me, and I make a point of showing him that I dialed 911 and leave my finger poised over the key to make the call.