Especially when Rob had made it sound just then that they were … She felt her face flush – with embarrassment and anger too.
None of it was lost on her ex, who watched her closely.
‘Why does it matter? I was just joking – just having fun. I’m sure yourclientwill understand …’
His words were thick with sarcasm and she looked down at her feet, ashamed at what he was trying to suggest.
Rob studied her as if he could see right into her mind and knew everything she was thinking, everything she was feeling.
‘So answer me. What does it matter what he thinks, Hannah?’he chided, his tone feigning innocence. ‘I mean, he is just a client, right?’ His blue eyes darkened. ‘Or have you been helping him with somephysicaltherapy too? Wouldn’t be the first time.’
‘He is just a client,’ she retorted, but even as she tried to insist to Rob that there was nothing between them, of course it wasn’t true. She remembered when she had first bumped into Ward that day at the coffee place. How flustered he had made her. Recalled all the times it had felt like he had been flirting, being playful with her. The undeniable spark she’d been working so hard to suppress.
And then, of course, that night in the park.
‘It’s none of your business anyway,’ she muttered but he was looking at her closely and whatever was written on her face seemed to confirm what he was accusing her of.
‘Seriously? You go frommeto banging some washed-up loser hockey player?’ His eyes sparkled dangerously.
‘I’m not and he’s not washed up.’ For some reason, she felt doubly irritated on Ward’s behalf at this description. ‘But more to the point, it truly has nothing to do with you regardless. We aren’t together anymore, Rob. We are so not together that I put two thousand miles between us,’ she stated.
‘But we could be. We could again. It’s not too late for us. You told me yourself how hard it was to walk away. And you know how much I want you.’
Before Hannah could even register the action, Rob had circled her waist, slipping his hands beneath her robe. She felt their warmth as they pressed against the silk of her pyjamas and she pulled away, pushing at his chest. But he was strong and his grip tight and she struggled to break free, her panic rising. She didn’t want this. But still, he persisted. Finally, her body acted instinctively. She pulled herknee up and planted it firmly between his legs, meeting its intended target.
In some situations, diplomacy had its limits.
Rob howled like a wounded animal but released her and Hannah took the opportunity to jump away. Hands shaking, she grabbed her phone, pulled up the emergency call button and held the screen up for him to see.
‘Get out,’ she warned. ‘I mean it, get out or you can explain to the police what happened. I will press attempted assault charges against you. I swear to God, we are finished. I want nothing to do with you. I never want to see you again. Do you understand?’
She realized she was trembling as the adrenaline flowed like a river through her veins. When they had been dating, he had never been like this. He had never made her feel unsafe.
Clearly, something about him had changed. He had become used to gettingexactlywhat he wanted whenever he felt like it.
‘As if,’ Rob scoffed, but now his eyes glistened dangerously, and Hannah felt seriously scared. He truly did believe he had the upper hand here and she couldn’t be certain hewouldn’tbe able to smooth-talk the police too, she worried, thinking hard. She wondered if there was some other way to extricate herself from this. Could she call downstairs for help? Alert Ed next door even? But it wasn’t as though a feeble old man could do anything, she thought, fraught with desperation.
Again it seemed as if Rob could read her thoughts.
‘So make the call then,’ he dared menacingly, taking a step toward her. She had seen an inkling of this darker side of him before, witnessed him aim his ire at other people when things didn’t go his way. But that was often how it went with talent. They were so usedto everyone blowing smoke up their backsides that they could get away with behaving like toddlers. He had never been like this withherbefore though and now it scared her. ‘Or maybe you should call your latest squeeze and ask him to come to your rescue? He has form in that way, I hear. Let’s hope his right hook is better than his stick work.’
Should she call Ward back? Hannah wondered suddenly, but to what aim? It wasn’t as if he could crash the door down and come to her rescue. To say nothing of the fact that he didn’t even know where she lived.
Rob kept closing the distance between them and instinctively she moved backwards step by step, until she was up against the marble countertop with nowhere left to go as her ex loomed ever closer. This was one situation Hannah felt helpless to de-escalate.
Then all of a sudden came a chirruping sound of sorts, and she struggled to process what was happening when, out of nowhere, the stray cat appeared alongside her on the countertop. Then jumping onto the stool closest to Rob, it hissed, raised its paw and swiped at her ex in one quick motion, raking its claws across his cheek.
His hand flew to his face in shock and then he pulled his fingers away to assess the damage, staring at them in disbelief.
‘What the … ?’ he gasped, and then looked from Hannah to the cat, trying to process what had just happened. ‘You have a friggin’ cat?’
‘Get out, Rob,’ she cried, her voice faltering with a mixture of fear and relief. ‘I mean it.Leave.’
The unexpected interruption seemed to be enough to make him come to his senses. ‘You’re not worth it,’ he spat. ‘You’venever been worth it. Look at you, a pathetic cat lady all alone in an apartment you don’t even own and could never afford. You’re nothing without me. A nobody.’
Hannah raised her chin defiantly. ‘If I’m such a nobody then why are you here?’ She levelled her gaze at him, composure slowly returning. ‘And I forgot to mention it, but this apartment has a state-of-the-art security system, including motion-activated CCTV.’ She smiled at the uncertainty in his expression as he tried to second-guess whether or not she was being serious. ‘Never come here again, unless you want that footage to be leaked to the press. And I’m sure you’re well aware that I can make good on that threat – you know, for a nobody.’
The cat’s intervention had also granted her the presence of mind to think of something that would get him to back off, something she could use against him. His precious ego. There was no internal CCTV activated while she was staying here of course, that would be creepy, but he didn’t know that.
