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Mila nodded. “I told him I was breaking up with him, and I was leaving, but he grabbed me by the hand and pushed me onto his sofa. Then he leaned down over me really close, and he told me that he owned me now. That I was his possession and I didn’t have the right to leave before he decided he was done with me.”
I felt my fists clench, but I let Mila continue with her story. “He told me that because I wanted to wait to have sex, that he had done the gentlemanly thing by scratching his itch elsewhere so that he didn’t have to bother me. He phrased it like he was being the good guy and I was being the irrational girlfriend. He told me that if I ever tried to leave him, he would hunt me down and make me regret it. He looked crazy, but he also looked like he was serious, and I stayed with him that night out of sheer terror.”
“You didn’t think about calling Devon at that point?”
“Devon and I weren’t really close enough that I thought of him as an option at the time. It was only after… that night when he tried to choke me that I called Devon out of desperation because I didn’t feel like the cops were going to do anything to help.”
I nodded. “Well, he’s never going to be able to put his hands on you again… ever.”
Mila nodded, but she looked unsure. “You can’t protect me forever, Zack,” she said softly.
“I wasn’t referring to myself,” I said. “I was referring to you.”
“Me?” Mila said.
“You broke a man’s nose today,” I pointed out.
“He and Walter are two completely different men with two completely different skill sets.”
“Maybe, but you’re not the same scared little girl you were when you first stepped into this house,” I pointed out. “Remember that and don’t let Walter get inside your head. If you let him get inside your head, you are giving up your power to him. Understood?”
Mila nodded with determination and new resolve. “Understood.”
Chapter Eighteen
Mila
“Don’t let him get inside your head.”
The words kept repeating over and over again in my head like a mantra. Zack was right, and that had been my problem from the beginning. Nobody can take power away from you if you refuse to give it up. That refusal was the hard part though, and I had no idea how to go about it.
I had spent the last few days training hard, both with Zack and with every other member of the Angels who would train with me. The men were suitably impressed with how far I’d come, and even I was proud of myself and struck with a confidence that I had never had through the entirety of my l
ife. It was a new feeling to walk around with confidence. It made a world of difference.
But a part of me also registered how fragile a feeling it was too. Anytime I let myself think about a specific moment with Walter, the same fear that had engulfed me at the moment rushed back to greet me in the present, and I was terrified that my newfound confidence was just surface deep and fleeting.
I was in the kitchen grabbing some lunch when I heard someone walk in behind me. “Just so you know, I’m entering the kitchen, and I mean you no harm. Please don’t break my nose again.”
I turned and smiled at Justin. “Hey you,” I said. “I haven’t seen you in a couple of days.”
“Spent a couple of nights with my girl,” Justin admitted. “She nursed me back to health.”
“Did she ask what happened?”
“Of course.”
“And did you tell her the truth?”
“Are you fucking crazy?” Justin replied, and I laughed. “I told her I was in a fight with three other men.”
“Let me guess?” I asked. “You took them all on single-handed and beat them three to one?”
“Precisely,” Justin nodded. “They ran with their tails between their legs, and I brought home a broken nose like a badge of honor.”
“You are pathetic.”
“Say what you will,” Justin said uncaringly. “I got laid like six times because of this broken nose.”
