Page 12 of The Anti-Bachelorette (The Anti-Bachelorette 1)

He grips my hips harder. “Tyler stop!” He doesn’t relent, and I feel his hands starting to slide up my shirt. “I said stop!” This time I push with all my might at his chest.

Tyler is suddenly flung back onto the floor. It takes my brain a second to understand. My push couldn’t have possibly made him fly back so hard. Then I register Alaric grabbing Tyler back up by the collar and shoving him against the nearest wall. I swear he is about to punch him, when I go up and grab his arm. “Alaric stop! Put him down!”

Alaric’s eyes are black as he looks back over at me. He doesn’t drop Tyler. I lower my voice to a whisper. “Alaric put him down.”

He looks back to Tyler then back at me. “I’m calling the police.”

I touch Alaric’s arm gently. “That won’t be necessary. Tyler was just leaving.” I look over to Tyler, and he nods with wide eyes.

Alaric doesn’t look any less angry. He shouts back at me. “Are you serious?”

I widen my eyes at him and grit out. “Yes. Let him go.”

Alaric drops Tyler, and he quickly tries to leave the house. Alaric grabs his arm before he leaves. “Don’t bother showing up on Monday. I’ll have anything you left shipped to your house.”

I widen my eyes at Alaric even more. “Alaric! Can we talk a second?” He lets go of Tyler, and Tyler wastes no time getting out of here.

Alaric turns back to me and basically screams out. “Do you want to tell me why I just let that fucker go instead of calling the police?” I swear his eyes are even more black now than usual.

“Call them for what? Nothing happened.”

Alaric lets out an exacerbated breath. “Nothing happened? Nothing happened? Do you know what would have happened if I didn’t show up here?”

I know I should be thanking him, but for some reason I just can’t. “I didn’t ask for your help.”

His mouth literally drops open. “Are you kidding me?”

I stand my ground. “No I’m not kidding. What are you even doing here?”

He lets out a sound of disbelief. “Your dad asked me to tell you the Smiths were leaving.” He pauses and then looks more intensely at me. “You can’t seriously think nothing wrong happened here. He was forcing himself on you!”

I just look back at him. “What does it matter to you anyhow?”

He just looks more angry with every word I say. “You’re my responsibility!”

I roll my eyes at him. “I never asked you to look after me, so why don’t you just leave?”

He just stares harder at me. “Fuck you!”

I am a little shocked, but then I get back in his face. “Fuck you!”

We are standing so close together, and I can feel his breath on my face. There’s no sound except both of our harsh breaths. After a few moments of his eyes boring into mine, he finally steps back. He opens his mouth to say something, but then he just turns around and walks out the door.

After my front door slams shut, I lean against the nearest wall and fold my arms across my chest. The shock finally starts to wear down, and everything that just happened over the last 10 minutes comes flooding back in. I can’t help the tears that start flowing down my face, and I slide down the wall and curl up into a ball.

A few minutes later my dad is storming through the front door. He finds me on the floor, and just comes and wraps me in his arms. He continues to run his hand up and down my arm and kisses the top of my head.

“Shh...everything is okay now. He’s gone. We won’t let him back here ever again.”

Alaric must’ve told my dad what happened after he stormed out of here. I can’t believe he did that after the way I treated him. I really need to apologize to him. I just can’t tonight.

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