“Do you think there’s even a market for that in such a small town?” I ask.
“Of course,” he says. “There’s people here, aren’t there? And people need places to live in and stuff to use in their lives. I think you should rethink some of the preconceived notions that you used to have. I think there’s a lot more potential here than you thought.”
We talk for almost the whole visit about what we will do when he gets out. First and foremost, we will finish fixing up the house. I think we are both excited about this new venture to embark on together. I press my lips between the bars when it’s time for me to leave, not even caring how dirty they are because I want to kiss him, and the cop takes pity on us and opens the cell so that we can actually give each other a real hug. It’s pretty obvious that the cops think this is bullshit too. I wonder how long they’re going to let Max’s attorney jerk them around. It feels good to have Trevor’s arms around me again, even if it’s just for a minute. After that, I leave to go home.
All of the work that I’ve been doing makes me pretty tired, so I fall asleep nearly as soon as my head hits the pillow. But I’m not asleep for long because in the middle of the night, the sound of shattering glass wakes me up. Before I can even get my bearings and figure out what’s going on, I see someone standing at the foot of the bed. No one has a key to the house except for me and Trevor, so for a split second I am naïve enough to think that maybe Trevor is home. But when the man at the foot of the bed lunges forward and grabs me by my hair I know that it’s not Trevor. Someone has broken into the house.
I’ve never actually been hit by anyone before, and it’s every bit as painful and jarring as I have always imagined it to be. I try to scream and to get away as I scramble across the floor on my hands and knees. But the man is bigger and stronger, and he hits me again and again until I can’t feel my face anymore. I lose count of how many times he’s hit me. I think it is somewhere around four times in the face, twice in the side, and once right up against my tailbone as I was lying on the ground. But honestly, it might be more. Just when I start to think that he’s going to beat me within an inch of my life, he stops. I lay on the ground trying to catch my breath through the searing pain and trying not to let the metallic taste of blood in my mouth make me sick. I’m not sure what he’s waiting for, but it makes me nervous, so I finally open my eyes and look up. When I don’t see him anywhere, I pull myself up to a sitting position and try turning my head around to see where he is. I still don’t see him. I wait for a few more minutes, just to make sure that it isn’t some sort of trap and that he isn’t going to come jumping out from somewhere and hit me with a last fatal blow. But it seems like he’s gone.
After I am able to pick up my phone and call the police, I just lay back down on the floor and cry. I wish that Trevor was here.
When the police arrive, they are confused about why anyone would break into the house without stealing anything just to beat me up and leave. I wish that I could give them a better answer, but I don’t have one. The only answer I have is that it has something to do with Max. But since I have no proof of that, it’s not much to work with. The medics get me all cleaned and bandaged up. I’m sore and bruised but not broken. Then the cops are nice enough to give me a ride to the station to see Trevor.
“What happened to you?” Trevor asks in alarm when he sees me walk in.
I haven’t had a chance to look in a mirror yet, but I can feel the swelling on my face and can only imagine how black and blue it must be.
“I’m okay,” I say.
I can see the anger rising in his eyes that anyone would have done this to me. He is beyond furious.
The cops open the cell so that he can come out and hold me, and as soon as he wraps his arms around me, I start to cry.
“You need to let me out of here,” Trevor says to the police officers.
“Trevor you know we can’t do that until—”
He cuts the cop off straight away.
“Paul,” he says addressing the cop by his first name for the first time since they came to arrest him, “I used to watch out for your sister when all those assholes on the football team used to catcall her in the hallways, remember? I’m not asking you to do anything other than let me go home so that I can protect the woman I care about. You can even put an ankle bracelet on me if you want. But youneedto let me go home with her. Look what they did to her.”
The officer looked at him with sympathy and motioned his hand in the air.
“Alright,” he says. “You can go home. No ankle bracelet. Just stay there.”
“Thanks, Paul,” Trevor says as he walks me out of the cell.
The cops give us a ride home, and as soon as we get there Trevor puts me inside and then starts working on securing all the locks.
10
Trevor
Iam so enraged by what happened to Ava that I can’t even see straight. I know it was Max, or at least a henchman that he sent to fuck with us. Max better hope that he never crosses paths with me because the next time I see him—I’m going tokillhim.
I am feeling so fiercely protective of Ava now that I told her I wouldn’t leave her side. She’s safe. I’ll make sure of it.
“Are you coming to bed?” she calls from the other room. “I don’t want to go to sleep without you.”
“Yes, coming,” I say as I check the last window lock and then walk into the bedroom where she is still lying awake.
I can barely stand to look at her face without wincing. I am so angry and so upset for what she had to go through while I wasn’t here. I climb into bed with her and gently pull her onto my shoulder, where she rests her tender and bruised cheek against my chest. I run my hands through her hair and tell her again that everything is going to be okay.
“He’s just trying to scare us,” I say. “Guys like that are nothing more than big bullies.”
“Max is more than just a bully,” she says. “He’s a narcissist.”
“Is there a difference?”
