Riley and Greyson are now crowding Ben and leading him up the driveway, not touching him but sort of herding him; all sorts of animosity rolling off them. It’s like they’re Tyson’s enforcers or something. Bile rises in my throat.
“Yo, Ivy!” I hear. It’s my upstairs neighbor, Julio.
“You’re causing a scene in front of my neighbors. Go.”
“Man! Your high beams are blinding me through my window,” Julio calls out.
“Sorry, Julio,” I call up. “He’s just leaving. I apologize.”
Greyson moves to Ty’s truck and the lights are shut off. Riley is talking to Ben by his car. Ben is now getting in his car. And, Ben is leaving.
I breathe out relief.
Whatever Riley said to him obviously got rid of him. I don’t know what it was, but all I know is I don’t want Tyson hurting Ben, turning into that monster and fucking me in my driveway.
I hear Julio slam his door. Of course. He wouldn’t dream of coming to anyone’s aid. Asswipe.
I head for my own door.
“Ivy?”
“No! Get out of here. We’re done.” I slash my hand across my throat. “Done!” I glare at his chest. “Forget we ever met. Forget you bit me, forget you ever got a kind word from me. I’ll do my best to do the same, despite what you did to me.” I spin around to go inside, but he reaches out and hauls my back against his body. I see his corded forearm across my stomach, and it causes a physical reaction that makes my heart feel like it’s breaking all over again.
“No! Don’t!” I struggle. He doesn’t budge. “Riley, Greyson? Please get him out of here before I call the police. I can’t do this. You’re his family, teach him to be a civilized person and to leave a woman alone who doesn’t want anything to do with him.”
“Ty,” Grey says, “ Chill.”
“Remember what we talked about, Ty?” Riley says in a gentle voice, looking Tyson in the eyes.
Tyson growls at him.
“Ty,” Riley urges.
“Let go!” I demand.
“I won’t let go,” Tyson says into the top of my hair. He inhales it.
My shoulders crouch and I try to shrink away. He’s not letting go of me.
“Make him let go, Riley, please,” I plead.
Riley looks at me with what looks like sympathy.
Tyson’s mouth is now an inch from that mark on my neck.
Oh hell no.
“Don’t you dare, don’t you dare, don’t you dare…”
“Wait,” Tyson grunts, to them, I guess, because then he lifts me into his arms and he carries me inside my apartment. He slams the door, puts his back against it and slides down to the floor with me in his arms, burying his nose in that spot. My hands are over my face and I’m crying so hard it feels like I can’t catch a breath.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Ivy. I’m so fucking sorry.”
My breath hitches and an ugly sound breaks free of me. A horribly ugly sound.
“Ivy?” Ty whispers.
I shake my head frantically.
He starts to purr.
No. Not that.
I go from hyperventilating to being able to catch a breath.
“I’m so sorry, baby,” he says.
“I can’t. I can’t, Tyson. Please go.”
“Ivy. Come home. We’ll---”
“No. No no no no. I’m begging you, please go. Please leave me alone. I can’t do this. I won’t do this.”
His purring gets louder and I try to struggle but it’s feeble at best. He fights so god damn dirty.
His mouth is against that spot on my neck and then he’s kissing it.
“Don’t you dare do this. I swear, Tyson, if you try to fuck me right now, I…You already broke me, I swear if you-”
He twists me so that I’m facing him in a squat. I pull back and fall on my ass.
“I’m sorry, Ivy. I’m sorry.” His eyes bore into me.
They cut straight through me. So green, so expressive.
“This isn’t gonna work. I can’t just get over that. What you did to me…it will haunt me for the rest of my life.”
He closes his eyes and his face is just stricken with pain. He reaches for me again.
“No!” I backwards crab-crawl away from him. “Go. Please leave me the fuck alone.”
“No,” he says. “I’m not leaving you. You come with me or… or I stay here.”
I bark out bitter laughter.
“You’ll stay here. With me here? In my apartment that I share with a roommate, in a big city? Right.”
His lip curls. “It stinks here. It’s crowded and smells bad and there aren’t enough trees, but I would. I will. Until you agree to come home.”
“This is home,” I say, pointing at my cheap linoleum floor in my rented apartment.
“Then this will be my home, too.” He folds his arms across his chest.
“You have a family now, Tyson. You don’t need me. There are people there like you that –”
“You’re mine,” he declares.
“Only because Aunt Nelle made some deal with a witch.”