OVERBEARING AND POSSESSIVE
MATTHEW
M y phone rang, and I smiled when I saw that it was Bells.
“What’s good, babe?”
The line was quiet. Too quiet.
“Bells?” I pressed the phone against my ear even harder as I tried to listen. “I can hear you breathing.” Then, I heard what sounded like soft cries. “Are you crying?”
“I need you,” she finally said.
My heart broke in two at just the sound of her voice. I stood up from the bed and started grabbing my shoes and slipping them on. I’d lace them later.
“Where are you?”
“Home.”
“On my way,” I said before hanging up and running into the garage, my feet slipping out of the soles as I ran.
I had no idea what had happened, but I’d never heard Bells sound like that before. Something was wrong. My gut churned as I tried to think of what it could be. Had she gotten hurt? Had she gotten into a car accident? Had something happened at work?
When I pulled into her parking lot like a maniac, I almost ran over a group of guys with suitcases running toward a waiting car. This dude with bright red hair gave me a wave, as if to apologize, but he’d done nothing wrong. I was the one who’d almost hit them. Didn’t really give a shit at this point. I just needed to get to my girl.
Sprinting up the stairs, I knocked on the front door when I couldn’t get in. It was locked, and I didn’t have a key.
“Bells, it’s me. Let me in,” I said, knowing how crazed I must have sounded.
Tires screeched in the distance, and I glanced behind me to see the car with the dudes I’d almost run over peeling out of the parking lot.
I was about to break the damn door down when I heard the dead bolt unlatch, and Bells pulled the door open. She practically crumpled at the sight of me, her legs giving out like they couldn’t hold her upright a second longer. I bent down and scooped her into my arms before walking to the couch and sitting down, still holding her. Her body was shaking as she sobbed and mascara-filled tears streaked down her face. I wiped at them gently and held her so tight, my heart breaking, my mind racing.
I’d hold her like this all night if that was what she needed, but I still had no idea what the hell had happened. After what felt like an eternity of her not saying a word, I started talking as my desperation for information took over.
“Bells,” I whispered, kissing the side of her head.
She didn’t stop crying or make any move to look at me.
“If you don’t tell me what happened, I’m going to call everyone I know to come over here.”
She sniffed and finally moved her head to glance up at me. “You wouldn’t.”
“Oh, I would. I can’t sit here, wondering what has you crying like this, baby. You’ve got to tell me before I start breaking shit.”
I watched as she removed herself from my grasp and scooted to sit next to me instead of in my arms. She inhaled a few times, her eyes closing with each one, as if she was working up the courage to speak.
“Bells, come on. I’m dying here,” I pleaded.
“There were some guys at the bar earlier,” she started to explain.
My body instantly stiffened. I already did not like one single bit of wherever this story was headed.
“One of them was pushier than the rest, but I didn’t think anything of it. I sent them to the saloon and figured they’d meet some girls there.”
My jaw clenched as I willed my temper to stay even, but it was rising. I reached my hand out to hold hers, and her hazel eyes met mine.
“Go on.” I tried to swallow, but my throat felt thick and dry.
I watched as she started to cry again.
“When I got home tonight, they were here.”
“Here? Where? Waiting for you? Did they follow you?” I let go of her hand and shifted on the couch before pushing up off of it and pacing a damn hole in the carpet.
“No. But the pushy one was basically outside my door. I guess they must have rented out one of the units,” she clarified.
“Which one?” I kept interrupting her, and I knew that I should shut the hell up, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself.
She shrugged. “I don’t know, Matthew.”
I sat back down.
“Sorry.” I reached for her hand again and started stroking the top of it. “Continue.”
“So, that guy was really drunk, and he—” She started sobbing. “He grabbed my hair and pushed me to my knees.” Her words were barely understandable.
Fuck. This.
I stood right back up again. “I can’t sit still while you tell me this, Bells. But please hurry up so I can go find this motherfucker and end him.”
“He was going to force me to—” She sucked in a breath and let it out again. “He wanted me to—”
Was this motherfucker going to try to rape her?
“Did he force himself on you, Bells?” I asked, trying to make my voice sound controlled, even though I was becoming unhinged.
She shook her head. “No. One of his friends came out and stopped him; otherwise, I think he would have.”
I walked back to the couch and dropped to my knees in front of this woman I loved so fiercely that I’d do anything to keep her safe. “Are you okay? Do you need to go to the hospital and get checked out?”
“Nothing technically happened,” she whispered. “I mean, he didn’t get to do anything to me. But, Matthew…” She stopped from finishing her thought.
“Yeah, babe?”
“I froze. I didn’t fight back or try to run or anything. I just stood there and let him assault me.”
My heart broke again when I heard how disappointed she seemed to be in herself. “You were in shock. It’s okay.”
“Is it?”
“We should call the police,” I suggested.
Her eyes whipped to mine so quickly. “Why? Nothing happened.”
“Yes, something did happen, baby. Just because he didn’t get to actually rape you doesn’t mean you weren’t assaulted,” I explained, choking on the words that felt like they were strangling me. “We need to file some kind of police report. So this guy doesn’t do this again to someone else.”
Calling the police seemed like the right thing to do. Bells was hesitant, but I figured it was only because she’d just been through something traumatic.
“Can you just give me a minute, please?”
“Yeah, Bells, I can give you a minute.” I pushed to a stand. “In the meantime, you can tell me exactly where this asshole is staying.”
“I don’t know what unit they’re in.”
“Then, I’ll go knock on every damn door until I find him. What did he look like?”
“Um, the guy who stopped it had red hair, and the guy who tried to”—she paused—“you know, he had a goatee. That’s how I told them apart. I don’t know their names. They paid in cash at the bar.”
“Red hair? Was there a group of them?” I asked, and she nodded. “I saw them leaving as I was pulling in. I only know that because I almost ran them the fuck over. Now, I wish I had.”
“So, they’re gone? They left?” She sounded a little relieved.
“Yeah. They couldn’t leave fast enough,” I said, remembering the sound of the tires squealing. “Let’s get your things together and get you home.”
There was no way that Bells was living alone for a second longer. I didn’t give a shit if she fought me on it. She was moving in and living with me from this night forward. There would be no arguments and no discussion on the matter. I didn’t care how pissed off she got at me at first; she’d forgive me eventually.
“Okay,” she said, a little too agreeable on the matter.
I was used to her fighting me every step of the way.
“Pack for more than just one night, Bells. We’re not doing this back and forth shit. Grab all your things. I’ll get the rest later.”
I wasn’t sure if what I was telling her was even registering or not. She looked so out of it. So beyond shaken up. So fucking lost. But when she started pulling her clothes out of her closet and tossing them onto the floor in a giant heap, I came up behind her and wrapped my arms around her.
She jumped before realizing it was me and calmed.
She. Fucking. Jumped.
“You’re not okay,” I said against her head as I planted a kiss there.
“Ow.”
I spun her around to face me. “Ow?” I questioned.
Her hand moved to the top of her head. “My head hurts. He pulled my hair really hard,” she said.
I wished I were back on the ice rink, where getting in fights only got me a penalty, at most. If I got my hands on the guy who hurt her, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stop.
“Let me finish packing for you. Get whatever girlie bathroom stuff you need,” I said, and she nodded, still out of it.
I looked around and pulled a suitcase and a duffel bag from her closet and started stuffing them with everything I could fit inside. I’d get the rest of her things tomorrow with the help of my brothers.
“I’m ready.” She reappeared quicker than I’d thought she would, holding what looked like a beach bag stuffed to the brim.
I took the bag out of her hand and led her out of the apartment. Opening the door, I stepped outside first and looked from side to side, just to make sure. When Bells reached me, she stopped and stared at the ground. I had no idea what she was looking at.
“Let’s go, baby,” I cooed as I tucked her against one arm and carried the rest of her things with my other.
Once we were in my truck, I buckled her up and called the police station. I requested for an officer to meet us at my house. Bells was going to be mad as hell, but this was the right thing to do, and I knew that she’d agree.
“Who’d you call?” she asked as soon as I got in the driver’s seat.
“The police. They’re meeting us at the house, okay?” I didn’t want to lie or trick her. And for whatever reason, I felt like time was of the essence.
“K,” was all she said, and she looked out the window, avoiding my gaze as I drove us home.
I pulled into my garage before the police did, and I was grateful that I’d beaten them there. Bells hopped out of the truck without any help from me, and I grabbed her things from the back and brought them into the house. She was putting her things away in the bathroom when the doorbell rang.
“Thanks for coming,” I said as soon as I opened the door and spotted Chief Marin standing there.
He’d been the chief of police in Sugar Mountain for as long as I could remember. He was probably my dad’s age and didn’t look to be slowing down anytime soon.
“Good to see you, Matthew. Dispatch didn’t say what this was about. What’s going on?” he asked from outside.
“Come in,” I said.
He stepped inside. “Nice place.” He grinned as he looked around.
“Thanks.” I swallowed hard. “You know Bella Sanchez, right?”
His grin only grew. “Of course.”
“Something happened to her tonight. I think she might be mad at me for calling you, but I thought it was important.”
I stuttered as I tried to explain the situation to him. Hell, I was nervous.
“Is she here?” he asked as I directed him toward the dining room table to sit.
“I’ll go get her. Do you want anything to drink?”
He waved a hand as he flipped open his notebook and reached for a pen. “I’m good.”
I found Bells still in the bathroom, staring off into space basically.
“Babe,” I said, trying not to scare her.
Her eyes moved until they caught mine and held. “Hi.” The color was returning to her cheeks, and maybe the shock was starting to wear off.
“Chief is in the dining room,” I said.
She nodded before exhaling long and slow. “Okay.”
I held her hand as we walked into the room, and Chief Marin stood and extended his hand toward Bells. She shook it before we all sat down. He clicked his pen and poised it above his notebook.
“Why don’t you tell me why I’m here?”
He gave her a sympathetic look, and she was so damn brave as she told him every single thing that had happened earlier, in excruciating detail.
I felt like I was fucking dying inside as I listened, but I tried to keep my body language and face neutral. Whenever the chief asked a specific question, Bells had an answer. Her responses were clear, succinct, and detailed.
“You think they left the apartment?” he asked, his eyes looking between the two of us.
“Yeah. They were leaving when I pulled in. Obviously, I didn’t know who they were or what happened at the time, but they’re definitely gone,” I answered.
He shrugged like it was no big deal. “We’ll still find them. The rental places keep records, and it shouldn’t be that difficult to see who skipped town early.”
“Then, what?” Bells asked, her voice a little shaky. “I mean, nothing really happened, so what’s the point of all this?”
“The point is to have it on record. Maybe this guy has done this kind of thing before. Maybe he hasn’t. But once we figure out who he is, I’ll reach out to their local PD and have a chat.”
She nodded before her eyes found mine. My brave girl looked so damn tired. She needed rest.
“Is that all you need?” I asked impatiently.
“Yeah. We’re good here. You’ve done your part, Isabella. Now, I’ll go do mine.” He stood from the table, folded his little book closed, and tucked it into his back pocket.
“Thank you,” she said, but I could tell she was just being polite.
I walked Chief to the door and shook his hand again.
“Keep me in the loop,” I said, and he nodded.
“She did real good tonight, Matthew. Make sure she knows that, and you might want to suggest she talk to someone when she’s ready.”
“Like a therapist?”
He nodded. “Either a therapist, her mom, a friend. Even you. As long as she’s not keeping it all bottled up inside.”
The message was for Bells, but it applied to me as well.
“Thanks again,” I said before closing the front door behind him and waiting for his police cruiser to leave the property. Then, I pressed the code for the privacy gate and watched it until it closed.
“You ready for bed, babe?”
Bells stood up from the table. “I need to shower.”
“Okay.”
I got undressed and hopped into bed before turning the television on. Bells was in there for a long time. A really long time. I thought about checking on her about every other minute, but decided to give her a little space. When two more shows had passed, I started questioning whether there was even any hot water in there anymore.
Tossing the covers off, I walked to our bathroom and knocked softly before turning the knob.
“Bells?” I said before I noticed her standing underneath the showerhead with her eyes closed.
Our shower had this expensive glass that never fogged up, so I couldn’t tell if there was steam or not.
“Is the water still hot?”
“Not really,” she said without moving.
“Let’s get out, huh?” I reached for a towel and held it out for her.
Her eyes opened, and she shut off the faucet. When she stepped onto the warming tiles, I wrapped her body in the towel and hugged her tight, noticing the scrapes on both of her knees. My temper flared.
“I need to dry my hair,” she mumbled against my chest.
“Want me to do it?” I asked, even though I’d never dried anyone’s hair before, aside from my own the one time that I could remember.
She laughed. It was genuine, and the sound went straight to my heart and landed there, cooling my temper in an instant.
“You want to blow-dry my hair?”
“I’ll try.” I grinned.
“No. I think I should do it this time. But I’m definitely taking a rain check on that.”
I wasn’t sure why she was telling me no, and my confusion must have been written all over my face.
She reached out and cupped my cheek with her palm. “My head hurts. My scalp hurts.”
“Of course it does. I forgot. I’m sorry.”
“Go to bed. I’ll be there soon.”
She gave me a little shove, and I did what she’d told me to.
When she got into bed, I asked if I could hold her, and she scooted her tiny body into mine. I tried to sync my breathing with hers, but her breaths were so much slower than mine. And I stayed awake, holding her, until I knew she’d fallen asleep. And then I finally shut my eyes and did the same.
When my eyes opened the next morning, my arm was asleep, and my knee ached. I didn’t think I’d moved the entire night. When I gently pulled my arm from underneath Bells’s head, she stirred and made a little sound before she started stretching her arms out, almost hitting me in the face.
“Morning,” I said softly.
Her body turned over to face me. “Morning.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Better.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” She nodded slightly. “It’s amazing what a good night’s sleep can do.”
She wasn’t wrong about that. There had been so many times when I felt down and out, but after some sleep, I usually felt much better.
“I was going to head over to your apartment and get the rest of your stuff.”
I hadn’t planned on telling her just yet, but there was no point in keeping it from her. She was going to see me bringing all her things inside.
“Okay.”
“Really? No argument? No fake fight? No more excuses why we shouldn’t live together yet?” I teased.
She grinned. “Nope. I don’t really want to go back there. You’d be doing me a favor. Keys are in my purse.”
I pressed a kiss to the top of her nose. “Good. Can I ask you something?”
She leaned up on her elbow and cocked her head to the side. “Maybe.”
“Are you going to tell your parents what happened?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I mean, I was going to tell my mom for sure.”
“Are you going to tell her we’re living in sin?”
I waggled my eyebrows, and she tossed a pillow at me.
“Go away,” she demanded before flopping back down and pulling the covers up to her chin.
I headed out of the bedroom and pulled up the group chat for my brothers and fired off a text, asking them to meet me at Bells’s apartment ASAP. Then, I texted my dad, letting him know I’d be a little bit late this morning and that I’d fill him in when I got there. He was agreeable, but also a little concerned.
I got to the apartment first and watched as my brothers pulled in within seconds of one another, clearly trying to beat each other.
“What’s up?” Patrick said as he slammed his door after Jasper hopped out.
“What’s going on?” Thomas asked.
“I need you guys to help me get all of Bella’s shit out of here and into my truck.”
I turned my back to them and started walking up the stairs. I held her keys in my hand.
“You called us out here to help move your girlfriend?” Thomas shook his head.
When we stood outside of her door, I faced them. “Bella was attacked last night. Some tourist guy was going to hurt her. He only stopped because his friend came outside and saw what he was doing.”
Their faces both paled instantly.
“Jesus,” Patrick breathed out.
“Is she okay?” Thomas asked.
“She’s pretty shaken up. She’s so fucking tiny, you know? How is she supposed to protect herself?” I had been wondering about that for half the night. If she’d had her mace, would it have even stopped the guy or only made him angry?
“Should we send the girls over?” Patrick asked.
I nodded. “I think that might be a good idea.”
I watched as he pulled out his phone and started typing with two hands. “Done.”
“Both of them?” I asked, meaning Addison and Brooklyn.
His phone vibrated. “Yeah. Brooklyn said she’ll head right over after she drops Clara at school.”
“Great. Thanks.”
I opened her front door and took stock of what was inside. Her apartment didn’t have a shitload of furniture, but I wasn’t sure if she wanted any of it or not. My thought was that we could furnish the downstairs with all of her things. I hadn’t gotten around to that yet. It was pretty much an empty level. I never even went down there anyway.
“It’s going to take more than one trip,” Patrick said as he looked around.
“I figured.”
“I can’t believe this happened,” Thomas said as he ran his hand down his face and walked into the kitchen.
“I know,” I agreed, trying not to replay Bella’s words from last night over again in my head. They made me feel crazy. “It’s shocking, but maybe it shouldn’t be. Maybe we’ve been living in some kind of bubble all these years.”
“Do you think it’s getting worse?” Thomas started pulling Bella’s things out of the cabinets and placing them on top of the counter.
“Is what getting worse?” Patrick asked as he grabbed the living room TV and set it on top of the couch.
“Here. Our home. Sugar Mountain. Is it getting more unsafe each tourist season?”
Patrick shook his head. “I don’t think so. I think this kind of thing could have happened anywhere at any time.”
A growl tore from my throat. “Yeah, but it happened to my girl. How would you feel if it had happened to Addi?”
Patrick put a finger in the air, stopping me. “Don’t.”
“Fine. I want to run something by you anyway,” I said, focusing solely on Patrick.
“What is it?” His blue eyes narrowed.
“I want to hire security for the restaurant.”
He cracked his neck and made a face. “Uhhh, we’d have to ask Addi before we did something like that, but what are you thinking?”
“Nothing too over the top. Just one guy who is there while they’re open. He stays until the last person locks up. And he walks the staff to their cars at night.”
It was the only logical thing to do, in my opinion. There was no way that I’d stay sane if I thought that Bells might get hurt again. And I wanted her to feel safe. This felt like the only way.
“I think that’s a smart idea. At least during the tourist season. Do you think Addi will go for it?” Thomas asked as he pulled out a tray of silverware from a drawer.
“Yeah. After what happened to Bella, I think she’ll definitely be on board.”
That was all the approval I needed to get someone over there today.