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Author's Chapter Notes:
You guys are so great to keep up with the reviews and reading the chapters. Just wanted to thank you all again! Hope you enjoy this one! :)

 

“Alright, Anna, I’ll see you later.” I snapped my messenger bag shut and lifted it to my shoulder.

My friend looked up from the file she was going over. “Hey, what are you doing this weekend? We should get together.”

I stuck a pen into the holder on my desk. “Maybe we could double date.”

Her brows rose. “You mean, I get to meet Alex?”

I chuckled low. “Yeah, I think it’s about time I let him into all aspects of my life.”

“You’re pretty serious about him, huh?”

“Yeah,” his face flashed through my mind and I had to smile, “I am.”

Her own smile told me how proud she was that I was moving on. “Good, then we’ll definitely double date. I’ll find out what Greg wants to do and call you.”

“Sounds good.” I gave a little nod then glanced around the, now empty, office. “Don’t stay too late, kay?”

“I won’t,” she shook her head and turned back to her file, “Abigail’s with my mom so I need to get her by eight.” She glanced to me again. “Be careful, yourself.”

“Always.” Then I turned and strode for the door, stepping out into the balmy evening air and digging for the keys from my bag.

It was Tuesday evening and I had been caught up in some paperwork and ended up staying a couple hours past what I had intended. It hadn’t been so bad though because Anna had hung around as well. She had a few offers she was still waiting to hear back on and I had a feeling she probably wouldn’t be out of the place until at least nine. It was nearly seven-thirty now and I knew there was no way she’d be finished up and out of there in the next twenty minutes. I, myself, was supposed to be heading over to Alex’s. I had called him earlier and told him I was going to be late, but I’d try to be there before dark. And judging by the dusk growing in the air, that didn’t give me long.

I had just stepped into the parking lot and located the keys to Alex’s Cayenne, when a figure appearing to my left caused me to jerk and drop the keyring.

Andrew was within three feet of me, leaning against a post with his hands shoved casually into his pockets. He stood right when our eyes met and uncrossed his long legs.

“Shit.” I held a hand to my chest then scooped and grabbed up the fallen keys. “You scared the crap outta me.”

“Sorry,” he apologized, his piercing eyes raking me over.

I closed the flap on my bag again and watched him, a sudden uneasy feeling appearing in my stomach. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk.”

I made sure to keep my distance. “And you couldn’t call me?”

He shrugged. “I wasn’t sure you’d answer your phone.”

He had a point. Giving a sigh, I fiddled with the keys in my hand. “What do you want to talk about?”

“The text you sent me on Saturday.”

“What about it?”

“Morgan, I apologized. Did you get my flowers? I sent flowers. What more do you want?”

I sighed and glanced around then back to him. “Andrew, I just don’t think after what happened we’re going to be able to keep a level of friendship.”

He frowned. “Why not? I told you I was seeing someone else.”

“It isn’t even about that.”

“Then what is it?” He took a step forward and involuntarily, I took one back.

“Your behavior. I understand you were angry and upset…embarrassed even, but what you said and what you did…” I trailed off and ran a hand through my hair.

“Morgan, I’ve apologized for that.” He took another step closer. “What more do you want? I made a mistake and I apologized. I really am sorry I reacted the way I did.”

“Why does it matter so much to you that we remain friends? We haven’t even known each other all that long.”

He sighed and his eyes darted to the left before resting on me again. “Because I like you. You’re a really sweet and caring person and I want you in my life; even as just friends.”

“Andrew, I just…I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Why not?” He frowned and suddenly moved to me, forcing me to step back and bump into the side of Alex’s SUV.

I frowned; trying not to let the bit of fear that was creeping into my chest, show through. “Because it just isn’t.”

“Unfortunately, that isn’t good enough.” His clear blue eyes darkened and he grabbed my upper arm tightly. “I apologized, I sent you flowers and you tell me over a goddamn text that we can’t be friends!?”

“Andrew!” I winced some as his fingers dug into my flesh. “Let go! This is why I don’t want to be friends with you!” I tried to shove him with my other arm, but he pressed his body against mine, holding me in place.

“I’ve been nothing but a wonderful friend to you and this is how you repay me?” He ignored my pleas, his free hand grabbing at my side.

Inside my chest, my heart was hammering loudly, echoing in my ears and I found myself struggling vainly against him. “Get away from me!”

“I don’t think I will,” he growled out, pressing his full body against mine and trying to tug the buttons on my blouse open. “I think it’s time I taught you a lesson.”

Hot tears were beginning to sting my eyes and I twisted, trying to turn and escape his assault. “Please don’t….”

He laughed roughly and yanked the blouse from where it was tucked into my dress pants. “I like a woman that begs.”

“No…” I stammered out. I could feel his large hands ripping my blouse open to reveal the white camisole underneath, buttons flying in all directions. Thinking about what he was trying to do made me want to retch and my stomach began to heave.

“Yes.” He tugged on the camisole.

“Get the fuck off her, man!”

The voice came from behind him and he jerked, keeping his body against mine and turning towards the newcomer.

Dixon Giles stood there, dressed in a pair of black slacks and a white polo, an angry expression set hard on his features.

I had to admit that I had never been gladder to see Dixon, of all people, than I was at that moment. Relief flooded through me and the tears began sliding down my cheeks. “Dixon…”

Andrew’s own features were cold and angry. “Who the fuck are you? This is none of your concern.”

Dixon’s gaze never wavered. “I think it is.” Then he nodded his head towards me, his eyes locked on Andrew’s. “Now, let her go.”

“You gonna make me?” Andrew sneered at him.

Dixon wasn’t small by any means, but Andrew outweighed him easily. But instead of landing a blow, he simply pulled out his blackberry. “I may not be able to, but the police sure as hell can.”

Andrew gave a growl at that and released me, but not before shoving me hard against the SUV. Immediately, my legs gave way and I sank to the ground.

“This isn’t over!” He glared at me before crossing the parking lot, climbing into his vehicle and peeling away.

Dixon was at my side in an instant. “Are you alright?”

I took a breath and wiped at my cheeks, then tugged my shirt down and fingered the ruined blouse. “Th…thank you.”

“Hey,” he touched my arm gently, “I may be a sleaze, but even I wouldn’t assault someone. You want me to call the cops? You probably should.”

“No.” I shook my head, trying to calm myself down. I needed to think is what I needed to do, but all that was running through my head was Andrew’s angry face and the way he had grabbed me and tore at my clothes.

“Morgan?! Oh my God, what happened, are you okay?” Anna was suddenly at my other side, kneeling beside me on the pavement. She frowned over at Dixon. “What did you do to her? Get away!”

Dixon blinked and sat back, holding his hands up in an innocent gesture. “I didn’t do anything.”

She frowned hard at him. “You really expect me to believe that? Look at her!”

“No,” I shook my head and pushed some hair behind my ears, “Dixon’s telling the truth. It was Andrew. Dixon saved me.”

Anna blinked a little as it registered and then Dixon began relaying the tale. He had been on his way to pick up some files that he’d forgotten earlier when he’d come across the scene in the parking lot. And though I still didn’t really care for him, I was grateful he had stepped in. Maybe he wasn’t such a bad guy after all.

“Oh geeze, holy hell.” She sighed and touched my cheek. “Are you okay? We need to call the cops.”

“No, no cops.”

“Morgan,-”

“No,” I interrupted her, “I just want to go see Alex.”

She sighed and looked to Dixon then back to myself. “Alright, but that’s against my better judgment.”

“Thank you.” Carefully, I stood up and tried to straighten out my clothing.

Dixon rose as well and handed me my fallen bag. “If you change your mind, let them come talk to me, I can back your story up.”

I nodded and thanked him then turned to Anna. “Will you drive me home?”

“Of course, honey.” She dug her keys from her purse and nodded towards her Corolla. “I’m over here.”

We bid Dixon goodbye then turned and strolled over to her car.

“Are you sure you don’t want to call the police?” She questioned me as we were pulling away from the office.

“I just want to see Alex.”

“He’s going to want you to call the cops.”

She was right. I knew I needed to, but at the moment I just wanted to be with my boyfriend. “Okay, when we get to his place, I’ll call them.”

“Thank you.” She reached over and gave my arm a squeeze.

I gave a nod and turned my attention out the side window, watching the city pass us by and trying to get Andrew’s face out of my mind.

~*~*~*~*~

Thirty minutes later, we were in Alex’s living room and I was relaying my harrowing tale. Alex had immediately been concerned when I’d shown up looking upset and disheveled, but now he just looked royally pissed, furious even.

“I’m gonna kill him!” He roared, pacing back and forth in front of the couch, his hands clenched into tight fists.

“Alex…” I wasn’t really sure what to say.

Anna, on the other hand, was calm and collected. “Morgan wants to call the police.”

“You’re damn right we’re calling the police.” He stopped his pacing and yanked the phone from the table nearby, angrily punching in the appropriate numbers.

Anna and I shared a glance as he spoke with the dispatcher.

“And they better not send those two assholes that they sent the other day!” He exclaimed after hanging up and resuming his pacing. Then he blinked and ran a hand over his face, turning towards my friend, and coworker. “I’m sorry; I’m just really upset at the moment.”

“Hey, that’s alright, I totally get that. You don’t have to apologize to me.”

He gave a nod then turned his attention back to me. “Why didn’t you call the police right away?”

“I… I just wanted to get to you.”

“Morgan,” he sighed and raked his fingers through his hair then sank down in front of me, “are you sure you’re alright? Did he hurt you?”

I touched the spot on my arm he had grabbed tightly. “Just right here, when he grabbed me.”

Alex shook his head and smoothed his hand along my cheek. “I’m sorry, baby.” Then his teeth gritted. “That bastard.”

I took his hand with mine and kissed his fingers. “I’m okay. Dixon stopped him and ran him off.”

“I know, but he’s still….” he trailed off and just shook his head.

Anna watched between us. “Well, after this, I’d say it would be enough for a restraining order. And I think you should definitely get one of those.”

“Oh, you bet she will be.”

I made a face and sank back into the couch. “Why did this have to happen? That’s gonna be such a headache, and he’s gonna be pissed.”

“Who cares,” Alex shrugged, “hopefully he’ll be sitting in jail pissed, but even if he’s not, who cares.”

“I know, I just don’t want to cause trouble.”

“Oh, honey,” Anna spoke up from her spot next to me, “he’s the one that started trouble, not you.”

“She’s right,” my boyfriend agreed.

I looked between them both. “I know…I just don’t get how he went from being such a nice, civilized man to this…crazy barbarian.”

“Sometimes, it just takes one thing to send someone off their rocker.”

Alex nodded. “And some people can disguise it really well.”

“Yeah,” I sighed out, blowing a puff of air from between my lips.

“I bet he was the one who slashed your tires.”

I blinked and looked over to my boyfriend. “You think so?”

“Well, it’s weird how you send that text then your tires get slashed and he assaults you.”

That was a good point. “Maybe. He’d probably never admit it though.”

“Probably not.”

Just then I looked over to my friend. “The cops are going to want to talk to Dixon. Do you have his number?”

“Um,” her brow furrowed in thinking mode, “I think I have it in my briefcase. If not, we can call Zoe and get it from her.” She rose from the couch. “It’s in my car, I’ll go check.”

I watched her go then turned back to Alex. “I really don’t like him, but at the same time I feel sort of sorry for him.”

“That’s just the way you are.” He shifted up next to me on the couch and smoothed his hand on my back. “You have empathy for everyone; good or bad.”

“Yeah, and look at the trouble it got me in.”

“Hey,” he tipped my chin to meet his gaze, “this isn’t your fault. You didn’t force Andrew to put his hands on you, or get upset because you didn’t want to be his friend. He made his own decisions.”

“I know, but I probably could have gone about all this in a different way.”

“I dunno, I think he still would have snapped.”

I shrugged a shoulder and looked towards the front as the sound of the doorbell resonated throughout his expansive house. “That’s probably the cops.”

“That would be my guess. C’mon.” He rose from the couch and took my hand, pulling me up also and leading us to the front door.

Thankfully, it wasn’t the same two officers and these ones actually did their job correctly. They took my statement, asked if I wanted to press charges. I told them no, but that this was the second time he had shown up uninvited. Alex wasn’t too happy about the charges decision, but did say he wanted a restraining order, which of course would mean talking with a judge. He was going to call his lawyer tomorrow. The officers spoke with Anna, did indeed want to talk to Dixon and then finally left to go do that and follow up with Andrew. They said they would be in touch to let us know what happened and told us to call if anything else occurred.

To pass the time until the police called back about Andrew, we made dinner and then watched a movie. It was close to midnight when they finally got back in touch and said that they’d waited a few hours at his home, but no one had shown up. We were told not to worry and that they would be looking for him at his office tomorrow and then again at his place later in the day. I reminded them about New York and they said they would follow up on that also. Then they asked if we wished to have a cruiser stationed outside in case he decided to show up sometime during the night.

Alex informed me that I wasn’t going home to stay by myself and turned the offer down, letting the officer know that he had a top of the line security system and he didn’t think Andrew knew where he lived, let alone knew who he was. They warned us to be careful and immediately call if he showed up or contacted us. Then I called Dianna and told her the story. She, of course, wanted to go find Andrew and have a few words with him, but I managed to talk her down. Instead, I asked her to go get Daisy and keep her with them for the night. I’d come get her sometime after work. She too warned me to be careful then apologized for even setting us up in the first place. After assuring her that she wasn’t to blame, we finally said our goodnights and hung up.

It was nearly one in the morning when Alex and I finally fell into bed. I was exhausted, but every time I closed my eyes I’d see Andrew’s face and those haunting words ‘This isn’t over.’ and then they’d pop open again. Every little sound made me jerk and even though I was wrapped securely in my boyfriend’s arms, I almost expected Andrew to reach out and grab me.

Finally at close to four, I pushed back the covers and slipped from the bed. Maybe a cup of warm milk would help me. I was going to be exhausted at work tomorrow and it was supposed to be a busy day; I was showing four houses. I needed all the rest I could get.

Making my way downstairs, I headed into the kitchen and flipped on the light, squinting from the brightness. Then I turned on the stove and got a small saucepan from under the counter. After pouring the milk and letting it warm for a few minutes, I transferred it to a mug then wrapped my hands around it and moved to the back patio doors, peeking out into his lavish backyard.

The moonlight was reflecting off the pool, casting an eerie light around, and I was so transfixed on calmness of the pool water that I nearly missed the figure off to the side.

I jerked back with a start, feeling my heart leap up into my throat. They had to have seen me for they stepped closer and right into the moonlight and I dropped my mug, shattering the ceramic around my feet.

Andrew was right there, in Alex’s backyard, feet away from me and watching me with a rather smug expression. ‘I’ve found you’ his eyes seemed to be saying.

A scream was caught in my throat and I took a step back, ignoring the pain as a slice of the shattered mug cut into the bottom of my foot. I had to get upstairs and get Alex. We needed to call the police. But I couldn’t seem to move fast enough. I took another step back then turned and started for the archway leading into the hall. It felt like slow motion; inside, my heart was racing a mile a minute, but on the outside, I seemed lethargic, like I was trying to walk through a vat of syrup.

I hadn’t even made it halfway to the doorway when the room exploded with a crash and glass sprayed everywhere. With a shriek, I turned back to see Andrew tossing aside a deck chair and kicking the rest of the glass out of the door. Then he stepped into the house and his eyes met mine again.

“I told you this wasn’t over.”

He almost growled it out and I tried to move faster, but my legs weren’t responding. I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came out. Panic was flowing through me and instead of responding, it felt like I was sinking into the syrup.

“You won’t escape me.” He was now heading for me, his black boots clunking on the wood floor.

I pushed a chair over in hopes of slowing his path then started again for the hallway.

But I didn’t get far before I felt his large hands on my shoulders. He grabbed me and spun me around, forcing my back against the wall. “Bitch,” he sneered as his body pressed against mine.

“L…let me go…” I stammered out, hearing the roar of my heartbeat in my ears.

“Not a chance,” he growled as his hand snaked between us and grabbed a hold of my pajama pants and in one swift motion, he yanked them down off my hips.

That’s when the scream finally came. Again and again it spilled from my mouth until my throat was raw.

And then Andrew was shaking me, repeating my name over and over, his voice morphing from that evil growl into the voice of my boyfriend.

I blinked at that, wondering what was going on, and then suddenly my eyes opened and I was in Alex’s bed, darkness around us and Andrew nowhere to be found. Instead, Alex was peering down at me, his hand on my shoulder as he gently nudged me, repeating my name just like Andrew had been saying it.

“Wha…” I sat up and looked around, nothing seemed amiss and the rest of the house was quiet.

“You were screaming.” He sat up beside me and touched my back.

It had been a nightmare. Kicking the covers back, I examined my lower half to find my pajama pants still in tact and no cuts on my feet. Just a bad dream. Relief flowed through me and I fell back against the pillows. “I had a nightmare.”

“I know.” He sank back down next to me, propping himself on his side and smoothing his hand over my tummy. “You wanna talk about it?”

“No.”

“Okay.” His thumb made small circles on my stomach.

I sighed and rubbed my eyes. I really needed to get some sleep, but the thought of something happening while I wasn’t awake scared me more than sleeping.

“You should try to get back to sleep.” He dipped his head and kissed my jaw.

“I dunno if I can.”

“It was that bad, huh?”

I just nodded and rolled to my side, my back to him, drawing my legs up and into the fetal position.

“Hey,” he forced me back onto my back and watched me in the dim light filtering in from the window, “don’t start closing yourself off on me.”

I sighed at that and rubbed my face with both hands. “Can I tell you about it tomorrow?”

“Of course.” He pushed some hair from my eyes then kissed my cheek. “But, I’m holding you to that.”

“Kay.” I yawned some then leaned into his side.

“Try to get some sleep, okay?”

I wet my bottom lip then met his gaze. “Will you…keep watch?”

He was quiet a moment, just taking me in, before he finally nodded his head and settled against his own pillows, wrapping his arms around me. “Anything for you, baby.”

I snuggled into his embrace and felt myself relaxing some. Knowing he’d stay awake to watch and make sure nothing bad happened might just ease my mind and allow some rest to come my way. “Thank you,” I mumbled softly.

“You’re welcome.” His lips brushed my temple and he held me a little closer and a little tighter.

And finally, a few moments later, a nightmare-less sleep finally overcame me.