Chapter 15
Fifteen
Ava
“He’s here,” I say the moment he answers. “He just tried to grab me outside of a restaurant near my office.”
“You’re outside without the security guard?” he growls.
“I’m with three coworkers and we’re only a few blocks from work. I thought it would be safe.”
Dagen sighs. “Are you safe right now?”
“I am,” I rasp, my voice shaking harder now that I’m away from Ric “He tried to grab me, but my coworkers helped scare him away.”
“Good.” I can almost hear him running a hand through his hair. “Which restaurant?” I rattle off the name. “I’ll arrange a ride for you in about thirty minutes. Don’t walk again. We don’t know what he’s capable of.”
I blink at his words, at the way it almost sounds like he cares. But that can’t be true. We hardly know each other, and as he stated before, he’s just protecting his investment. Nothing more.
Hanging up the phone, I take a deep breath and stare at my reflection.
The moment I do, I see the flicker in my eyes, the panic there.
I look scared, and I hate it. I don’t want to be afraid anymore.
I don’t want to do this. Oh, god. I don’t want to put Elsie through this all over again.
My eyes fall to my arm where Ric had grabbed me, and I realize there’s a red mark there.
A reminder he left behind. Less permanent than what he used to leave behind, but a reminder all the same.
It’s probably going to bruise. My chest rises and falls, picking up speed as I stare at the mark.
Before I’m conscious of what I’m doing, I’ve turned on the faucet and shoved my arm under the running water.
It slowly grows hot, too hot, but I don’t care as I start to scrub, trying to get the feeling of his fingers off my skin.
I’m barely aware of anything else as I scrub, not until the first tear falls, not until my head grows fuzzy from hyperventilating.
The panic attack hits me so suddenly, I can’t breathe.
I can’t breathe. Oh, fuck. I can’t breathe.
Still, I scrub and scrub and scrub, making my skin raw from scrubbing, trying to get rid of any evidence, trying to make sure nothing he touched is still there.
If I have to scrap the skin from my bones, I will.
Someone comes into the bathroom. I think it’s Julia, but I’m so lost in my panic attack, I don’t respond as she tries to get my attention.
I don’t even look at her. My eyes are fixated on my arm, my body quickly making it impossible to focus on anything else.
The fuzzier my head grows, the less I can see through my tears, until I can barely stand, until I fall to my knees.
Still, I clutch onto the sink, trying to scrub my arm, water spilling all over my shirt and running down it.
Julia leaves and I’m alone for all of thirty seconds. The next time the door opens, I don’t even look over, not until he’s grabbing me and pulling me into his arms, not until he’s pressing my head against his shoulder.
“This is the ladies’ room,” I choke out, but there’s no way he could understand me through the sobs suddenly spilling from my throat. There’s no way. My voice sounds so far away, even to my own ears.
And then I break down completely in the arms of Dagen Fox.