Relieved
Natalie woketo a barrage of messages from Gavin: “Who’s your new boyfriend? A broke-ass lapdog? Did you fuck him before we even broke up?” The chain continued and the spelling and grammar got worse. She deleted the thread and with a shaking finger, blocked his number. His ability to explode with anger scared her. He had reached that point once before when they were still together. That was the night he’d hit her when drunk. That was the night she decided to end things for good, cashed in her vacation days at work, and bought a ticket to Alabama to get away from the city, and him. He’d begun apologizing the moment he sobered up, but when she didn’t acknowledge his efforts, his messages had begun lurching from pleading to harassing.
Her jaw still throbbed. It took a whole tube of foundation to cover the purple mark, and three more tubes plus concealer to hide the evidence of Gavin’s rage from her family in Alabama. She was glad the mark had finally started to fade into a sallow green and yellow.
The whole incident had begun with emails from an old friend, Ryan, she’d been in drama class with in high school. He’d moved to Los Angeles after school and done a few small parts in movies, but his first love, like Natalie’s, was dancing, and his agent had set him up with an audition for a Broadway show in New York. He’d asked Natalie for tips on navigating the city, good places to eat or get a drink, and offered to take her to lunch to thank her. They exchanged several emails before he arrived, and that was how Natalie learned Gavin logged on to her laptop and read her private emails whenever she showered. He forbid her from going, and left to manage his night club. That night—after meeting Ryan, Kaylin, and Rusty for dinner and cocktails—Gavin came home from work, drunk on vodka and Red Bull, and got so mad that he swung with his fist, landing a blow on Natalie’s jaw. She felt terrible for hiding the bruise from everyone else, including her mother. Tired of his unfounded accusations, mistreatment and violence, she resolved to end things with Gavin.
Natalie checked the time on her phone—she needed to hurry up and throw together lunch, take Nugget out, and blow dry her hair—or she’d be late to work.
Upon arriving at the hospital, she found Kaylin waiting for her at the nurses’ station clutching a thermos. “Are you okay?” Kaylin asked, sweeping Natalie into the empty break room.
“All in one piece.” Natalie patted herself down jokingly.
“Rusty told me what Gavin did—that he was waiting for you at your apartment. You need to change your lock.”
“Word travels fast.” Natalie clipped stray strands of hair pulled loose by the wind back into her bun.
“Colt told us.” Kaylin filled her thermos with hot water and tore open three packets of sugar. “He’s going to meet you today after work. He’ll have to flip his schedule to keep an eye out in the evening, so he’s sleeping right now, but he’ll be here by the time your shift ends.”
“I appreciate you guys doing this,” Natalie said. “I’m starting to get a little freaked out.”
“A thousand text messages from Gavin on your vacation didn’t do that?”
“He wasn’t always bad. I wouldn’t have stayed with him if he’d always been awful.”
“He’s been awful a while, Nat. I just don’t want anything bad to happen to you, okay? Guys like that are nuts.”
“Most of the people here are nuts,” Natalie said, gesturing at the halls of the unit.
“You know what I mean. Gavin is just another entitled rich guy who doesn’t care about consequences. Who knows what he might do when something he wants gets taken away.”
Natalie turned away, the spot on her jaw where Gavin had hit her suddenly feeling hot. “I’ll be alright.”
“I know you will,” Kaylin said. “Colt knows what he’s doing. He could take Gavin down with his pinky.”
“Hadn’t noticed,” Natalie said, cracking a smile.
“You’re so full of it,” Kaylin said, shaking her head and chuckling to herself. “I’ve got rounds. Call or text if you need anything. Colt and Rusty are on standby, too. If Gavin tries anything, we got your back.”
“Yes, mom,” Natalie said, rolling her eyes. Her phone buzzed and she checked it, relieved that the only new notification was another work email. She should have blocked Gavin’s number much earlier.
