MasukBeth
We hadn’t even made it out of the car.
We were parked outside my apartment building, the soft purr of the engine still humming beneath us, my heart still trying to reconcile the whiplash of dinner—how quickly things had gone from dreamy to… this.
Tommy leaned back against the headrest, eyes on me, one arm draped casually over the steering wheel like we were just talking about the weather.
“Why don’t you prove it to me?” he said, voice low. “Suck my dick. Right here.”
I blinked at him. “Are you serious?”
BethI wasn’t sure what I expected when Stacy said, “Let’s go meet your bodyguard.”But it definitely wasn’t this.We pulled up to a restaurant. It wasn’t fancy—but it was warm. Cozy. Dark wood and flickering candles and the kind of music that didn’t demand anything from you. He didn’t take me somewhere to impress me. He took me somewhere to soothe me.“You okay?” he asked as we slid into a booth near the back, his eyes scanning the room before settling on mine.I n
BethThe elevator ride down was quiet.Too quiet.Because my brain was screaming.Love at first sight?He said love at first sight.And he didn’t say it like a slip. He said it like a fact. Like he’d been holding it in for months. Like he meant it.I shifted beside him, heart pounding, and looked up. “Love at first sight?”
StacyThe second my phone lit up with Beth’s name, I knew.I didn’t even let it ring twice.When she told me about her car—keyed, tires slashed, window smashed—something hot and violent snapped tight in my chest.That little bastard.I’d known. I’d fucking known he’d pull something like this. That’s why I’d brought up security. That’s why I’d tried to get ahead of it. But I didn’t want to be overbearing. I didn’t want her to feel controlled again. So I let her decide.
Beth“Well,” I said, smiling into the phone, “as tempting as that is…”Stacy chuckled low in my ear.“…and yes, we are absolutely doing that at one point or another,” I added, “I’m going to have lunch with Rachel.”There was a beat of silence, then, “You sure? Because I’ve got the perfect lunch order in mind—steamy, filthy, and zero carbs.”I snorted. “I mean, that does sound delicious. But I haven’t seen Rachel properly in weeks. And just like I’ve been avoiding you… I was kind of avoiding her too.”
BethThe commotion started like a ripple—just muffled voices at first.Then a sharp “Sir, you can’t go back there.”And finally, his voice.“Beth! I just need to talk to you!”Rachel’s head snapped toward the door so fast I thought she might get whiplash.“Oh hell no. He did not just come up in here like that.”She shot out of her seat like a missile, already storming toward the door. I stayed put, letting the chaos swirl outside while I took a slow sip of my coffee.“Beth?” Rachel glanced back, incredulous. “Are you seriously just sitting there right now?”“Don’t worry,” I said calmly. “He’s not getting in.”Her eyes narrowed. “Wait… what?”“I explained the situation to Brian.”Rachel blinked. “You told your uncle everything?”“God, no,” I scoffed. “If I told him everything, he’d be dragging Tommy out by the hair himself. But I told him enough.”She waited.“I said Tommy was unstable. I told him I tried to break up with him and he refused. That he moved into my apartment without my p
BethThe office felt… different.Not because anything had changed. My desk was still my desk. My monitor still had the sticky note Rachel slapped on last week that read “Stop opening 37 tabs, your laptop has feelings.”But something in me had shifted.I wasn’t dragging myself through the day. I wasn’t forcing a smile just to keep up appearances. I was actually here—in my body, in my head. Not floating somewhere behind my own eyes, dissociating every time a memory tried to gut me.







