Page 94 of When It Reins
I knowthat leaving Logan’s house isn’t what Mitch wanted for me, but I couldn’t sit there when I knew he was in danger and just twirl my thumbs.
It’s been days since I’ve been home to my apartment, and it feels good to march up the stairs to the familiar door. I was starting to consider the idea of moving into Mitch’s place before all of this literally blew up in our faces. Now, I’m not sure what we will do, but once all of this settles with David—or Aaron—we will figure it out together.
I twist the handle on my door and march inside the slightly stuffy atmosphere. Fatigue from the days before wears on me, and I let out a sigh at the sight of home. It feels nice to be here.
I take a few steps in and stop, looking down at the keys in my hand to realize I never actually put the key in the lock.
Which means my door was open.
I take a step back, immediately running into a body. I yelp as arms come around me and hold me tight.
I try elbowing the body, try to stomp on their feet, and when that fails, I scream as loud as I possibly can.
A hand roughly clamps over my mouth, stopping my muffled screams, and I struggle to grasp my keys. If I can just get the sharp metal in my hand, maybe I can use it as something to hurt them with.
“You’re going to want to stop if you don’t want your friend Rosemary to get hurt.”
The words stop my movements. Rosemary?
“That’s a good girl.” I feel a shiver slide down my spine at the voice that is speaking directly into my ear. My eyes fill with tears at the thought of what this could mean for me. I should have stayed at Thea’s house. Then none of this would be happening.
“Now, move,” he demands, poking something rough into my side and holding his hand clasped tightly over my mouth still.
I move out of fear. Not just for myself, though that is severely up there, but for Rosemary. What did he mean when he said that?
“Good. Now sit down, and if you move a muscle, I’ll take it out on your buddy and her little mom friend. Might even throw in the baby while I’m at it.”
His voice is high-pitched and sounds manic. I feel myself grow nauseous when I think about what he means. Sienna and her little baby.
I turn to sit in my kitchen chair and don’t want to look up at the face of the person who I once thought I really cared about.
But I do, and what I see is a man who was pushed to the edge of his rope, no longer able to handle it anymore. What I feel is nothing but disgust and fear.
“What are you doing, David?”
He lets out a sarcastic chuckle, then looks down at me with a solemn look. His left hand is still holding the handgun that he was previously holding against my side, but his fingers on his right hand twitch and move like he can’t stop fidgeting.
“It’s funny. I was going by that name for so long that I almost prefer it to Aaron now. Isn’t that strange?” He looks at me like he wants an answer, but I don’t have a clue what I could possibly say. “No. Not strange.” He shakes his head, repeating the words over and over until he finally stops and stares at me. “I love you.”
The words make tears fill my eyes, terror clawing at my insides at the way he is looking at me. He roughly runs his hand through his hair again and says, “I fell so in love with you that I fucked up my entire life to stay here. God!” He slams his hand into the kitchen table, making me jump as he gets down close to my face. “I altered my life to be with you! And you ruined everything!”
I flinch back, my hands gripping the sides of my chair and my feet like cement on the ground. I genuinely don’t know what to do. I’ve never had a scenario where I’ve fought for my life before, and against a full-grown man seems like too much for me.
I wish I had stayed at Thea’s. I wish I had at least told someone where I was going. But now, I was here, alone with the man whom I don’t actually know, who looks like he is two seconds away from losing it.
“I lost my business because of you.”
I know better than to argue with a crazy person, but I can’t help the way my brain contorts at the statement. “You were displacing families, taking away their homes, their lives!”
“I was making a name for myself!” he says into my face, his spit flying and landing on my cheeks. I recoil as much as I can, restricted because of the chair I am sitting on. “I was going to make a good life for me, for us! And you had to go and ruin everything.”
Disbelief shatters my somewhat composed demeanor, and I barely hold in a scoff at his declaration. “You had no intention of me being in your life, Aaron. Or you would have told me your real name.”
He smirks, pushing off of the chair and standing, taking a few steps away. I am grateful for the space, but my eyes fly to that gun that is still tightly gripped in his hand, and my gratitude doesn’t last very long.
“Maybe you’re right.” The words are spoken so softly, so quietly, that I’m not sure if he’s even directing them at me. Then he turns, and the look in his eyes has a tremor working its way through my body. He looks like the old David. For just a moment, his eyes soften, and it’s like he’s a different person, the person I thought I once knew.
It’s then that I realize the severity of my situation. I’m not just dealing with an ex-boyfriend who is mad. I am dealing with someone who doesn’t know what he wants, who was pushed to behave like this, whose back is against the wall.
