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              Lena gives me a skeptical look. “Bree, maybe you should report it. It could be Nick.”

              I don’t want to believe that. My life is just about perfect. I don’t need Nick coming back in to it to make life difficult for me. “I will.”

              “At least let Josh know. Kay?”

              I mask my worry with a smile. “Lena, I promise. I will.” I change the subject quickly. “I’m glad we talked today. I’m here for you when you are ready.”

              As we get up from the table, Lena grabs my hand. “Thanks for being my friend.”

              I smile back, “Ditto.”

                                                                                    JOSH

                            I’m in utter disbelief. I’m not angry. I just can’t seem to understand a person who has gone through what she has gone through could be so nonchalant about these phone calls. “You should have told me when you got the first phone call.”

              Bree lies back on her bed and huffs. In the background 30 Seconds to Mars, Bury Me is playing on her Ipod. “Come lay with me.”

              Bree has become quite the little vixen. Every time she doesn’t want to talk about something, she tempts me with some sort of sexual act. This time, the subject is too damn important. I drop to the bed and settle myself in between her legs. “Stop,” I whisper. I graze her lips with my own. “Tell me everything, now.”

              In defeat, Bree leans her head back on the pillow behind her. “They started a few days ago. At first, I let them go to voicemail. Once they became more frequent, I decided to answer them. It sounds like someone is there and then they hang up. That’s it.”

              My head drops to her neck and I let my hair tickle her skin. Her fingers run through it. I breathe out in slow motion. I’m worried. It’s not normal for someone to call this much. One…maybe two hangs up over a period of a day…fine. From what she is telling me, this person has consistently called her for the last three days numerous times. “I think it’s him,” I blurt it out. I may be paranoid but I have been on the receiving end of stalking. I know what it looks like.

              “Don’t you think we’re getting ahead of ourselves?” Her hands wrap around my waist and slip under my shirt.

              I’m having trouble concentrating as she slides her warm hands up and down my back. Nonetheless, I’m frightened for her. I need her to see that this is serious. “Bree, from what I know about guys who abuse girls, they don’t stop. He didn’t get the chance to finish the job. You have a restraining order against him. He had to attend anger management classes and pay a fine. It’s a blow against his ego. Do you really think he’s the type of guy who is going to let all of that go?” I feel her shiver. It’s sinking in.

              “No.” She states flatly.

              A chill begins from my neck down my spine. I’ve lived this. I know how this ends “Call the police. Please,” I beg.

              She lifts my shirt from over my head. Her mouth attacks mine as she roughly pulls my head towards her. My lip ring is digging in to her perfect pink lips. I can’t fight it any longer. I dip my tongue in to her pretty mouth. Our tongues churn together in unison. I pull back to nip at her lip and she cries with pleasure.

              Before I completely lose myself to her, I press her shoulders back to her bed. I stare at her and she gazes back at me. She can see my fear in my eyes. I whisper, “I will not lose you.” She takes her hand and caresses my face. I’m not an emotional guy. I don’t cry. The thought of losing Bree engulfs me. I feel myself welling up but I don’t let the tears fall. I can’t let her see that I’m afraid.

              “Baby, I will take care of everything tomorrow. I promise,” she murmurs in my ear. “Please make me forget everything tonight. I don’t want to remember. I don’t want to relive it. I don’t want to be a victim anymore. I just want to be yours. Only yours.”

              This is Bree. My Bree. She’s mine. I’m hers. I don’t even take my time ripping her clothes from her body. In haste, I remove mine. I kneel above her ready to bury myself inside of her. Instead, she pulls me down to the bed and flips herself on to my body.

              She hovers above me, straddling her thighs and guiding me in to her. Fuuuck. She feels fucking excellent. It’s not only the way she feels; it’s watching her working me. It makes me want to just come. But, I won’t. Not yet.

              She grinds herself harder in to me and quickens her pace. I take my finger and caress her there to help her along. In no time, she is moving faster, grading herself on top of me. Her head drops back and her mouth slowly opens to let out the cry from her orgasm. Her head flings forward and she continues to whimper, dropping her naked body to mine as she moves. I lightly bite in to her shoulder to contain the growl in my throat. I slide her off of me and rotate her on to her back. I waste no time shoving myself in to her. I pump and pump as hard as I can until I feel myself explode inside of her. 

              I collapse on top of her breathing heavily. Her hands run through my sweaty hair. “I love you, Josh.”

              “I love you, too, baby.”

~CHAPTER NINE~

BREE

              I call the police station where I made the initial complaint against Nick. It’s somewhat of a joke. They state that they will note the incident in my file. What good is that going to do?

              Since the police won’t help me, I decide to change my number and it does help for a period of time.  The calls stop. Which is great. But, it doesn’t satisfy Josh. He makes sure there is someone with me at all times. If he can’t be with me, Eric or Lena volunteer to keep me company.

              I feel horrible having my friends babysit me. Josh says it is necessary. His motto is better safe than sorry. To be honest, he has me a bit paranoid.

              Today is Eric’s turn to babysit me. We are at my house just watching a movie together when the doorbell rings. He jumps up off my couch to answer the door. To my surprise it’s Sofie.  “May I come in?”

              Eric looks to me for approval. I nod and Sofie enters. She looks well. Of course, she is dressed in designer clothing and she is well maintained. Her hair and nails are professionally done. She covers her eyes with dark sunglasses.

              I get up to greet her but she puts her hand up to stop my movement. “Please. Don’t get up.” She looks at me and then to Eric. “I thought you were with the other one. What’s his name? Jake? John?”

              “Josh,” I say flatly.

              She gives me a fake smile. “Right. So, I’m guessing that didn’t work out since Eric is here?”

              “Eric is a friend. Josh is my boyfriend. Sofie? What are you doing here?” I’m completely puzzled by her sudden visit.

              “Lovely. You are still with Josh. Well, then, I’m sure you can appreciate what I have to say to you. Leave Nick alone. I’m sure you can guess that we are together. I don’t appreciate the police showing up at my door asking why he is calling you.”

              Interesting. The police actually followed through on a complaint. However, I said someone was calling and hanging up. I never said it was Nick. “First of all, I want nothing to do with Nick. Secondly, I didn’t ask the police to show up at your door. I made the complaint that someone was calling me and hanging up. They took it upon themselves to show up at your door. Let me get this straight. You drove all the way here to tell me to stay away from Nick?”

              “Essentially. See, I don’t appreciate Nick being accused of harassing you. He is rebuilding his life with me. Although his career took a minor blow, it is getting better. Nick does not need you screwing it up with your stories.” Sofie accuses me.

              Eric puts his hands on my shoulders. “Bitch, back off. Bree is with my boy. She doesn’t need you coming here threatening her because that piece of shit, you claim to be with, is probably pestering Bree with hang-ups. Give the coward a message from Josh and me. If he fucks with Bree again, he’s done for. I will rip his fucking throat out.”

              Sofie snorts, “Charming. You’ve really done well for yourself, Bree,” she says sarcastically. “I think I’m done here.” She turns to walk away.

              “Sofie? Why do you have your sunglasses on?” I ask. I know the reason. There’s probably a little present from Nick hiding under the disguise.

              “Is it a crime to wear sunglasses?”

              “No. Just wondering what he said you did to deserve to get hit.” I know he hit her. I can tell. Yes, she looks polished, yet dispirited. I used to look the same way.

              “Maybe if you stopped accusing him of doing things he has nothing to do with, he would be in a better mood.” Sofie bites back.

              “The real reason this dude hits girls is because he is a dickhead who hates himself so much. He feels so weak internally that he lashes out, like a little bitch, at the easiest target, who is often his girlfriend, wife or child. Then, because he's such a coward he won't even take the blame for his actions. He will never stop hitting you. You’re just his next punching bag, Sofie.” Eric does his best to get through to Sofie.

              “We were friends once, Sofie. We can be friends again. I’m a forgiving person. But, if that bastard comes near me or my family, I will kill the son of a bitch,” I warn her.

              Sofie laughs, “What family, Bree? Your family is dead.”

              Ouch. Sofie has become almost as sadistic as Nick. “The family I have made here. Now, get the fuck out of my house.”

              She sneers, “Be careful, Bree.” Sofie slams the door as she walks out.

              “You good?” Eric hugs me.              

              Actually, I am. I meant every word I said to Sofie. Nick will not hurt the people I have grown to love. He won’t take away my life. “Fine.”

              “Kay. I’m going to call Josh. Let him know what’s up.” Eric searches for his phone.

              “Don’t.” I panic. Josh will overreact.

              “Why the fuck not?” Eric throws his arms up in question.

              “He’ll overplay the situation. He’s already got you and Lena looking after me. I can’t keep asking you guys to give up what you are doing because of a psycho ex who may or may not be crank calling me,” I explain.

              Eric collapses on to my couch, running his fingers through dark blonde hair. He’s thinking or getting ready to tell me off. Not sure which one yet. He lies back on the cushion and his Green Day shirt rides up. I see his tattoo that runs across his stomach. I remember when I saw it the first time. He looks at me with his sad, blue eyes and says, “Wanna hear a story?”

              I do. I want to know what Eric’s life has been like. I want to know how this gentle soul can see so much hate and abuse but still be one of the most selfless human beings in the world. I examine the handsome guy in front of me. He appears to be too young to have gone through so much. So, I nod and sit next to him.

              He tells how he fell in love with Lindsay. It was long before she broke it off with her boyfriend. His drunk-ass dad tried raping his mom one night when he was just fourteen years old. Eric used all his strength to pull his dad off of his mom. Once his dad was off of his mom he just lied on the floor trying to get up, but he was too drunk. Eric took a baseball bat and swung it as hard as he could across his dad’s stomach. The alcohol helped numb the pain and his dad caught the bat on the second swing. Eric’s dad used the bat on both of Eric’s arms managing to break one of them. Josh and Lindsay convinced their mom to let Eric stay with them while he was healing from his injuries.

              “The cast itched so bad. I kept trying to stick things down in the cast so I could just fucking get the itching to stop. Lindsay would get so upset. She was so afraid that something would get stuck in the cast. So, she got her pink blow dryer out and blew cold air down my cast and made sure I took a Benadryl every night. She took care of me. I fell in love with her.” Eric laughs as he recalls when he first fell in love with Lindsay. “We would flirt when Josh wasn’t around. Then, one day, she kissed me. I, mean, really kissed me. Tongue and all. Best damn day of my life.

But, then all that shit with my dad happened. He killed my mom and I went in to this dark fucking hole. She moved on because I couldn’t get my shit together. I started smoking up a bit and partying. She met this fucking asshole that told her who to hang out with, what to wear, and what to do all of the time. I didn’t do a damn thing about it.

Eventually, I settled down. I moved in with Josh’s family permanently. She and I started spending time together again. I started to see more and more bruises on her. Shit. I wasn’t dumb. I’d seen all that shit before. I confronted her and at first she lied about the fucker. After a while, she began to see the guy was no good and she chose me. She thought she could handle everything on her own. Lindsay didn’t want to inconvenience anyone or ask for help. I respected her space. Now, she’s gone.

I am not going to lose someone else to this kind of bullshit again.”

I feel so sad for him. I don’t know what to say. He looks like he is going to choke up. As he was telling me his story, his voice hitched with emotion at certain parts. Since I can’t say anything to him, I hug him. It’s the best I can do. He hugs me back. His grip is so tight with comfort.

              Just as we let go of each other, Josh walks in. He looks different. His eyes are red and glazed. He’s swaggering a bit to the left when he walks. I see him narrow his gaze on Eric. I hear Eric mumble ‘fuck’ under his breath.

              I completely let go of Eric and smile at Josh. Instead of greeting me with a kiss, he kind of slurs, “What the fuck is going on here?” Then, it hits me. He’s drunk.

              Eric gets up and walks towards Josh. Again, my words seem to escape me. I have never seen Josh drunk. His expressions are hardened. His whole body language is suffering from the effects of alcohol. Eric says, “C’mon man. I’ll get you home.”