“Yeah,” she responded with a light giggle.
“Would you like something to drink or eat?”
“No, thank you. I’ve already eaten.”
“Well why don’t you sit and rest for a while? Take off your coat and get comfortable. I know that’s a long drive.”
“Sure, thanks, Chanel.” She remained in the same place as I turned to head back to the kitchen.
I had just moved past the couch when I heard swift movement behind me. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw her coming after me.
Rather than heading to the kitchen, I rushed up the steps, hoping to make it to one of the bedrooms. If I could get to a room with a lock, I could dial 911 and Ashton, and I would hopefully find some sort of weapon.
Before I reached the top landing, she was on me, knocking me onto my belly. She tried to grab my short hair but couldn’t get a good grip. I reared my head back and hit her in the face. She released me and moved off me long enough for me to flip onto my back, before she came for me again with blood spewing from her nose.
We were nothing more than a flurry of hands and arms, trying to get the best of each other. I managed to hit her in the nose again with the heel of my hand before she slammed my head against the step. Long, strong fingers went around my neck as she choked me.
I gripped her hands, trying to free myself, but she was much stronger than I would have guessed, looking at her petite size.
“You weren’t supposed to come in and ruin things. Your only purpose was to interview him, paint him in a beautiful light, and move the fuck on. You came and destroyed everything! I’m pregnant with Ashton’s baby, and I will never let him go.”
“Liar!” I screamed.
I didn’t know for certain that she was lying, but in my heart and soul, I knew she was. There was no way that Ashton would have done that.
It didn’t matter whether she was lying or not; I was about to be dead if I couldn’t figure a way out of the situation. She had pulled a knife from her coat pocket and pressed it against my neck.
“I’ve stood by for three years waiting for my turn. I stood by that man, waited on him hand and foot, jumped out of bed and off a man’s dick at five in the morning to make sure that he had everything he needed to succeed. All the while, he withstood that cheating ass bitch. I just knew when they finally divorced, he would see me. But no, here you come prancing around him, distracting him by teasing him. What are men like him supposed to do?”
“Let me go, and you can have him. I swear. No man is worth my life,” I pleaded, knowing that I wasn’t going anywhere.
This insane bitch was going to prison, the mental institution, or her grave if I had my way.
“You’re a liar. You think that I’m stupid, and I’m just going to let you walk away? You have got to be out of your mind. You’d run to the police the first chance you got and tell them everything.”
She wiped blood and snot from her nose with the arm of her coat.
“I don’t know anything. This is nothing but my word versus yours. Two women fighting over a man. That’s not enough to get you in trouble.”
She laughed as she swiped at the blood mixture again. “While you’re here trying to play house with him, he’s in the city mourning his ex-wife who is knocking at death’s door.”
I tried to pry her fingers off my neck as they continued squeezing tighter. I was unable to argue with anything that she said, because I was literally fighting for my breath.
“I’ll be the one there to comfort him when he returns and finds his new whore dead also,” she professed as she pressed the knife deeper into the side of my neck.
A noise sounded, causing her to jerk. I took advantage of the opportunity and pushed her off me, forcing her to tumble down the stairs, and I ran up. I had just cleared the landing when I saw Titan race around the corner and jump on her, attacking her.
Fear rushed through my body as I saw her bring that knife in her hand up. Despite her fear of the dog, she wasn’t afraid to harm him, and I didn’t want anything to happen to him, especially while he was protecting me. Then I realized something; she had never been afraid of Titan. She had just been afraid that he would reveal her motive by attacking her. That was why she wanted me to put him away.
I whistled and patted my thigh. “Titan! Come here, boy!”
He had bitten her face and didn’t seem to want to let go. Titan wasn’t an aggressive dog by nature because he hadn’t been bred that way, but he was protective of family, and I knew that he considered me family.
“Titan!” I screamed just as she angled the knife.
He pulled off her and leapt over her, running up the stairs toward me. We raced to my master suite and locked the door.
With trembling hands, I grabbed the house phone off the nightstand, and I managed to dial 911, while calling Ashton on my cellphone.
