“I really am going to kill you this time,” I warned him, my voice somehow deadly calm and low, despite the sky-high turbulence of emotions boiling in my blood. Diving toward them, I gripped the back of Andrew’s neck, digging my fingers in and squeezing as hard I could, almost hoping I could tear through his flesh and rip his head off.
He let out a pained yowl, but couldn’t escape my grip as Jordy scrambled back and away from us. There were a few tiny drops of blood on the front of Jordy’s t-shirt, but I could tell none of it was his. A growl ripped up and out of my throat as I pushed Andrew’s face forward, driving it into the wall. He howled in pain as his nose was smashed again, the blood smearing onto the glass.
I leaned in close, the ball of my hand smacking into his temple and holding his skull there as his body flailed and wriggled against my strength.
All the frustration I’d felt being pulled away by Jordy at the truck, and all the helplessness I’d felt when he’d been getting harassed with all the creepy text messages came bubbling up inside me, and I found myself pulling his head back from the glass, just to slam him back into it once, then a second time.
“Kieran.” Jordy’s voice from behind me was weak, and when I looked back at him, he was panting. “Don’t forget who you are.”
Who was I? Half of my genetics were from an angry, violent man who’d never hesitated to use his strength to get what he wanted. He’d never even attempted a semblance of keeping the peace before jumping to physical intimidation. As a kid, I’d felt constantly punished and penalized simply for the crime of existing in his presence. I’d tried to shrink into myself and become something that didn’t make any noise, wouldn’t catch his eye.
I didn’t know if my father had ever loved me, but I believed he’d loved my mom, between the times of him getting drunk andlashing out on her. Even sometimes during those times. He’d loved her, in his own ugly, and twisted way. Maybe he hadn’t known any other way to love someone.
Turning to look back at Jordy, I considered my feelings for him. I worried sometimes that I would lose my temper and hurt him, but… Really, I just wanted him to be safe. Safe and happy. And as much as I worried sometimes, some part of me knew that the safest place in the world for him was beside me. And how bad could I really be, if that was true?
How bad could I be if someone like Jordy, bright and shiny and perfect, wanted me next to him, forever and always?
Willing myself to unclench my muscles and loosen the death grip I had on Andrew’s neck, I released him so he could slide down into a crumpled heap on the floor. I wasn’t sure if I’d knocked him out or what, but I doubted he was going to have anything else to say while I was there.
“Should we… call someone?” Jordy wondered anxiously.
“Why don’t you call his mom and tell her he’s been stalking and harassing you?” I suggested flatly, trying desperately to regulate the throbbing pangs of anger, and the residual dregs from the rush of worry I’d felt seeing him trapped in here with that fucking maniac.
“I…” He hesitated, but sighed. “Actually, I think I do need to call her. At least to explain the blood and… Yeah, I think she needs to know,” he finished weakly, looking miserable. “Oh, shit,” he suddenly remembered, carefully stepping closer to Andrew’s limp body to scoop up his phone before scampering back a bit. “My phone’s totally busted,” he complained, pitifully punching the side buttons and poking at the screen to no effect. “My dad’s going to kill me.”
“Yeah, I doubt it,” I answered. I was pretty sure when Chester found out what had been going on between Jordy andthis guy, he wouldn’t give a shit about having to replace a broken phone. “Just use mine.”
He took it from me, before realizing he didn’t know Sandy’s number. After locating one of her business cards from the drawer of her desk, he punched it in and waited.
“H-hi, Sandy? I know I’m calling you from a weird number, sorry. This is Jordy. Yeah, Jordy Nolan.”
I took in deep breaths through my nose, letting them stream slowly out of my mouth as I consciously tried to make my muscles relax. He was safe now, because I was here. He was shaken, but not hurt. Everything would be fine, and this whole stupid fucking ordeal would be over.
Half-listening as he stuttered through an explanation of what had happened, how he’d come into the office to get his jacket and Andrew had been waiting for him and attacked him, I thought about what terrible fucking timing this all was. Surely the last thing Jordy would want now was sex, but that was okay. I’d still take him to the hotel, if he wanted, and spend the night comforting him. Whatever he needed to feel better, I would do. What would I tell Chester about why I’d taken Jordy to a hotel room and spent the night with him there? I couldn’t worry about that right now.
“Um, well… Yeah, he’s kind of… There was a physical altercation… Y-yeah, my… My, uh, boyfriend was with me, so… Um, yeah, the guy from the auction.”
I snorted, but the way he’d referred to me as his boyfriend nearly sent me into cardiac arrest. I wasn’t sure if it had been on purpose, or if he’d wanted to label our relationship in an easy, digestible way to avoid further explanation. But the idea that even just for a moment, even if it was just to make things easier on him, I’d been referred to as Jordy Nolan’s boyfriend… It felt like being pelted with the world’s most shameless andenthusiastic praise, like it was the most noteworthy thing anyone could ever know me for.
“Medical attention?” He seemed to be echoing her question on the other end of the line, which I couldn’t hear. “Uh, well, I kind of… I might have broken his nose. Oh, for me? No, I think I’m fine.”
Even just hearing him verbalize that he was fine soothed me a tiny bit. That small instance of calm lasted approximately two seconds, and then I was yanked back from where I stood, the pressure of a man’s hands gripping my throat from behind.
Jordy shrieked, my phone slipping out of his hands and clattering to the floor as he seemed to struggle with what to do to help me. Baring my teeth, I slammed my elbow back to try and force Andrew off me, but my positioning was so awkward I couldn’t get a good hit in. His hands tightened a bit on my neck, and my breathing became labored for a moment.
Jordy snatched up a pair of scissors off the desk, brandishing them like a knife and moving toward me. Seeing him like that scared me almost as much as the fact that I was being strangled. The last thing I wanted was for him to ever have to commit violence on my behalf, even if it was to defend me. The knowledge that he might have to sparked up my instincts, pouring awareness into my brain. I rammed my whole body back against Andrew, crushing him into the glass.
The hold on my throat loosened just enough that I could feel a rush of relief and oxygen to my brain, so I stepped forward and flung myself back again, this time bringing a pained huff tumbling out of him as he hit the wall. An eardrum-shattering crack sounded, but I was already in the middle of my third push. This time when he hit, the wall gave out, spiderweb cracks slithering up the glass, shards flying back onto the linoleum of the hallway.
Andrew’s hands went totally limp, unraveling from my throat as he started to fall back. Jordy shrieked again, breathlessly this time, scrambling toward me. The vertigo as Andrew’s weight left me started to pull me back too, but Jordy reached out to grip onto the front of my shirt, helping me cement my feet to the floor and maintain my balance.
“Are you okay?” He asked, panting heavily as he raked his eyes and hands over my chest and shoulders and arms to inspect my injuries.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” I answered, my breath coming out in harsh puffs. “Fucker just won’t stay down.”
Jordy blinked, sniffling a bit as he swiped at his damp eyes with the back of his hand. “I, um… I think he might be staying down now. Is he… Dead?” He asked, terrified. When he moved toward Andrew’s body, I yanked him back from the precarious wall. There wasn’t an inch anywhere not cracked through, and I couldn’t shake the brief but horrible mental image that it would come crashing down on him if he moved near it.
“Let’s go around,” I suggested. We hurried through the office door and around, to where Andrew’s body was sprawled out onto the hallway floor, unmoving. Because I knew Jordy would do it if I didn’t, and I didn’t even want him touching the fucking psycho, I knelt down and pressed my fingers into his neck, just under his jawline.
