Page 49 of F*ck You

“Are you sure? You can hide out in my place and we can handle it for you.”

His words warmed me, as did the feeling of being taken care of and not always having to be the strong one, but I shook my head. “No, it’s fine. I want him to go and never come back, but I don’t want to deal with it like this. It’s too much of a mess.”

After a moment of hesitation and studying my face, he nodded and put his phone back into his pocket. His eyes looked me over, noticing my skewed towel and wild hair.

Resting a gentle hand against my cheek, his eyes softened as words left his lips. “Are you okay?” he inquired in the sincerest way. Nobody had ever asked me that before and meant it in such a way as this. He looked at me as though I wasn’t a crazy person whose past was fighting back.

“I’m okay,” I confirmed. “I was just pissed as hell, and I think I attacked him more than he actually attacked me.”

“How the hell did you even find her?” Larsen shot at him.

Chase released Todd so he could answer, but he kept an ironclad grip on his shirt, repeating the question to him.

“The phone,” Todd spat out, turning to address me. He repeated himself from earlier, enunciating the words and talking down on me as though I’d completely missed them the first time around. “I tracked you since it’s on my plan and you installed a tracker app. But then when the line was disconnected and messages were no longer getting through, I got worried and came here.”

“Worried? This is how you act when you’re worried, you show up at her door at night and attack her?” Chase asked in disbelief.

“I didn’t even touch her,” Todd argued.

“You pinned me against the wall, jackass.”

A large crack cut through the air as Chase’s fist connected with Todd’s jaw before he fell into the sand with a moan. Chase shook his hand out, his face radiating anger, and he rolled his shoulders back before turning around to face me. “What do you want done with him?”

I looked at the pathetic heap of a human in the sand. “I told you already, I wasn’t the one who put that app on that phone. I want you to get back in your car, drive away, and never come back here,” I growled at Todd. “Otherwise, next time I’ll be prepared with more than a towel and a kick. My knife is swifter than my foot.”

“Get up, scumbag.” Chase pulled him to his feet, and Larsen helped get him in his car which we found parked in the lot behind the condos. I shuddered when I saw he was parked only a few spaces from my truck. “The only reason you’re going free is because of her. Next time you won’t be as lucky, no matter what anyone says. You remember that.”

After they stuffed him behind the wheel, they backed up to let me through. I placed a hand on the door and leaned in. “Don’t come back.”

“I’m not giving up that easily,” he wheezed.

“Then you’re going to be sorely disappointed if you waste any more of your life trying.” I slammed the door and walked away. We were nearly at my condo when I heard a frustrated shout and then a car turn on.

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