AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Austin tenses, his fists clenching, and I move beside him, whispering, “He’s trying to get a rise out of you. Don’t give him a reason to press charges.” That would be all this situation needs.
He nods once, vibrating with pent-up aggression, but doesn’t leave my side.
Dr. Price makes a noise of disbelief. “That’s disgusting, Joel. You can’t speak to your colleague like that. And you’re not helping your case any.” He turns toward the door, shouting, “Kelly, how long until the police get here?”
“Um, she’s still on the phone with them,” another voice pops up. It’s Nathan, one of the guys from the study after ours. “Will we be able to use this room today? My first participant is already here.”
Dr. Price sighs. “Tessa, you wait in the lobby for the police. Joel, come with me to my office.”
Joel shoots daggers at me with his gaze as he exits the room without further comment, and I grip Austin’s hand tightly, all the fight leaving me once we’re alone.
“Come on,” Austin murmurs after a moment, leading me out to the lobby. I ignore the crowd of spectators in the hall, thankful no one has their phones out filming.
“I should have let you come with me to talk to him,” I murmur, regret filling me. “I had no idea it would turn out like that.”
He tugs me into his chest, kissing the top of my head. “How could you? He’s insane. You said he was the one who broke into your apartment?”
“Yeah. I still can’t believe it.”
“Jesus.” He soothes a hand down my back. “How’s your head? Do you want me to take you to urgent care to get it checked out?”
“I’m okay. It shocked me more than anything. Everything happened so fast.”
“You had me scared out of my mind when I heard you scream.” His hand moves to my neck, massaging out the tension there. “I’ve never felt that kind of… terror.”
A swooping sensation settles in my stomach. “What about all the guys you’ve faced in the ring?” Willingly putting myself in a situation where I’m guaranteed to get punched in the face sounds pretty terrifying to me.
“That’s nothing. But if something happened to you…” His fingers brush lightly over my cheek. “I couldn’t live with myself.”
I swallow heavily, trying not to let emotion get the better of me before I have to give my statement to the police. “When I heard you out in the hall, I knew I’d be okay. That you’d save me.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“You did. He loosened his hold on me when you showed up. Enough so that I could escape.”
“Tessa.” He shakes his head, wonder in his voice. “That was all you. You saved yourself. You did everything you were supposed to do.”
“No, I got trapped—”
“And you got out. I’m guessing you kneed him in the balls based on how he looked when I came in?”
I nod and he hugs me tighter. “I’m so proud of you.”
I smile into his chest. It’s been well over a decade since anyone’s said that to me. The words are nicer to hear than I thought they’d be. “Thank you.”
“Seriously, you did amazing. I hate that you had to use that self-defense training we did, but I’m so glad we did it now. Maybe I should train you in boxing too…”
“Whoa. One thing at a time.”
“Right. Police first, boxing later.”
I bite my lip, snuggling further into his embrace. Thank God I have him. There’s time later to talk about everything that went down and decide on next steps, but for now, I soak up the comfort he gives me, simply wanting a moment of quiet with him.
There’s no one else I’d rather have with me right now, no one else who makes me feel so safe. So loved. So worthy. “I love you,” I murmur.
He makes a soft sighing sound. “I’ll never get tired of hearing you say that. I love you, too.”
It’s the same for me. And now that I have him, I’m never letting him go.
