“That was nothing! It was a meaningless fling with some bimbo from my English class. She meant absolutely nothing to me. I swear!” his grip on my arm grew tighter and his voice took on a menacing tone. “I never loved anyone but you, Ava. You were the only one I loved. You are the only one I will ever love.”
I shook my head as I frantically looked for someone to come out of the library and intervene, but the more I fought him, the harder he dug his fingers into my arms to make his point.
“Why won’t you take me back?” he whined.
“Dominic, you’re hurting me!” I cried out as he brought his fingers together and pinched the skin of my upper arm, and I knew he wasn’t going to let go unless I saw his point of view.
“I just don’t understand. I gave you everything! I loved you! I took care of you! I worshipped the ground you walked on! And you just left me. Alone.”
“Dominic, that wasn’t love, that was the opposite of love,” I took a deep breath and tried to find a calm tone, hoping that if I reasoned with him, he’d remember how things had ended and let me go. “We weren’t in love anymore. You found someone else and it was too painful for me to see you so happy, don’t you remember?”
“I remember none of that. All I remember is how much you meant to me and how lonely I’ve been since you left,” his tone grew morose, and he sounded like he was on the verge of breaking down. “You have to come back. I can’t live without you. You must come back.”
“Dominic, I can’t come back,” I quietly reminded him. “We can’t be together.”
“Yes, yes we can!” he cried as he shook me by my arms. “We can, and we will, be together. And I’m not going to give up until you come back to me. Until we’re back together. We belong together, Kitten. You and me.”
“Dominic, stop calling me that! I’m not coming back,” I stood my ground and tried to reason with him, but there was something desperate about the way he was trying to convince me to return to him, and it was his desperation that scared me.
“Well, I want you to come back, and sooner or later you’ll want to come back,” his voice dropped to a calm tone that scared me even more than the pleading. “I will not give up on you.”
“Let go of me, Dominic,” I said as evenly as possible, hoping that my voice sounded stronger than I felt.
“I will never let go of you, Ava,” he whispered, as he leaned in close enough that I could feel his breath on my cheek. “And if I can’t have you, then I will make sure that no one else will.”
*****
“Let go of her!” Brian’s voice bounced off the stone walls as he rounded the corner and saw Dominic holding me as I struggled to break free. He pointed his pistol at Dominic and calmly repeated, “Let go of her. Now.”
Shocked that I’d been followed, Dominic let go of my arm and turned to confront my defender, but he took one look at the gun in Brian’s hand and backed away.
“Hey man, don’t shoot,” he immediately switched to the friendly guy-to-guy manner he had when he talked with his buddies, and even laughed a little as he assured my rescuer, “We were just talking about old times.”
“The time for talking is over,” Brian replied as he aimed the pistol at Dominic’s stomach. “It’s time for you to scram.”
“Hey, don’t get your boxers in a bunch, buddy!” Dominic joked as he looked over at me with narrowed eyes, and quietly muttered so that only I could hear him. “This isn’t over yet.”
“Get out of here!” Brian boomed, and Dominic turned and took off, running toward the quad.
As I stood there watching him disappear into the darkness, I heard Brian quietly ask, “I’m guessing that was the ex, right? Are you okay?”
I turned and looked at him for a moment before speaking. “I’m so sorry,” I said quietly as the tears began to well up in my eyes. “I was stubborn and I didn’t believe the threat was real, so I thought I could take care of myself.”
“Hey, hey, hey,” Brian interjected as he patted my shoulder. “It’s all good. I’m fully trained in hide and seek, so I knew I could find you.”
“I know, but I didn’t know he’d be out here following me, too.” I looked up into Brian’s face as I quickly wiped away the few tears that had run down my cheeks. “I feel stupid now.”
“It’s okay, he’s gone and you’re safe,” Brian reassured me. “Do you want to go back to the dorm?”
I considered the q
uestion more seriously than I would have a few hours ago, and then said, “No, I don’t feel safe going back to the dorm. At least not until he’s chilled out a bit. He knows where I live, and the last time he showed up there it was ugly.”
“Then let me take you somewhere safe tonight,” he suggested. “We’ll make sure he can’t find you, and then we’ll figure out a plan for how to take care of the threat.”
“Yes, sir, General!” I laughed weakly as I saluted.
“It’s Admiral, and your salute is sloppy,” he deadpanned. “Now, let’s get moving, I’ve got a place in mind, but you’ll probably need to stop and pick up a few things before we head out, right?”