He got irritated. Defensive.
Like I’d ruined his moment.
Good.
I can feel the protectiveness surge through me like a tidal wave.
It’s more than instinct. It’s deeper.
Like I’ve been waiting the last nine years for this moment where I get to step in and sayno more.
It’s time to stop standing on the sidelines. Silence ends here. People like him won’t be allowed to intimidate someone like her without facing consequences.
No one else will hurt her or make her feel small and unsafe.
I’ve been in fights before. Dumb ones, reckless ones.
But this isn’t that. This isn’t about pride or ego.
This is about her.
About how she stiffened in her seat, how her voice changed when she lied and said she was fine, and how I caught a flicker of fear flash behind her eyes for just a second.
That second was all I needed. That second rewrote my entire night.
I don’t think I’ll ever not feel this way about her.
If we never get back together or she no longer wants me in her life, there will always be a protective instinct toward Kenna.
And maybe she doesn’t want me in her life right now. Maybe she has every reason to keep me at arm’s length. But that doesn’t matter in a moment like this. Whether or not she forgives me, I will always feel responsible for protecting her.
That won’t ever change. It’s not a choice. It’s a part of who I am. It’s hard-wired into me.
And I won’t apologize for it.
Once I know Nathan’s gone, I can’t just walk away. I can’t let her go home alone after that. Not when I know she’s shaken up. Not when I know she’s probably still replaying that moment in her head, wondering if I’m just another guy in the line of people who let her down.
So I follow her.
I keep my distance, staying a few blocks behind her, just in case. I need to make sure she gets home safe. She pulls into her driveway and walks inside.
I exhale.
But I don’t leave. I park a few houses down and sit in silence. Keeping watch like some overprotective idiot.
A part of me tells myself it’s stupid, unnecessary, and that she would hate knowing I followed her. But the louder part, the part that still hears the shake in her voice, won’t let me walk away.
I don’t sleep. I can’t.
Every time I close my eyes, I see her pulling away from Nathan, her voice tight and too polite. I could tell she was trying not to make a scene despite not being in the wrong.
It makes me sick, because this is what I left her to.
A world that asks women to make themselves palatable instead of protected. A world that demands they stay nice even when they’re scared.
A world that teaches women to stay quiet. To smile through the discomfort and apologize for the way other people mistreat them.
Not on my watch. Never again.
