I needed to talk to him. I had to get everything off my chest. When I could take a break, I called.
“Christopher Stewart, art director,” Chris answered, in professional mode.
“Hey, Chris.”
“Shae?”
“Yeah. I’m sorry I ran out on you earlier. We really need to talk can you come over tonight for dinner?”
“Aren’t you working late?”
“No, I’m just filling in on a half shift for someone who fell ill. Strange how often that happens to hospital staff.”
“Okay.”
There wasn’t much more I could say over the phone, so I hung up and got back to work. Now all I had to figure out was how to break the news to him in person.
****
The door to my apartment was ajar when I got home. I was going to unlock it, but the door pushed open as soon as the key touched the lock. Trying to be quiet, I called the police on my cellphone. I was ready to wait in the hall until the cops came, but then I heard Jeepers meowing in pain.
Gripped by protection instincts, I charged in, pepper-spray at the ready. However, I was definitely not prepared for what I saw when I got to the living room. Ellis was trying to stuff Jeepers into a carrier, and the little kitty was putting up a hell of a fight.
“What are you doing?” I demanded.
“What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be home until three in the morning. I’ve been watching you come home from work!” Ellis demanded as though I had done something wrong by coming home.
“Do you have any idea how creepy that sounds? It also doesn’t answer my question about my kitten.”
“I was just looking for my helmet but couldn’t find it. I saw the cat, so I grabbed it.”
“I sold your stupid helmet, remember?”
“Do you have any idea what that helmet meant to me?” my ex screamed, his face going red.
“You ordered it on eBay! It’s not like it was a family heirloom or anything. If it was, I wouldn’t have taken it. What are you doing with my cat? You don’t even like cats!”
“I was just taking away something you love as compensation. He should fetch a pretty penny on the online market.”
As though he understood what was just said, Jeepers chose that exact moment to bite hard into Ellis’s had. He howled in pain. The cat still had his sharp milk teeth. Ellis dropped him, letting the kitten scurry to safety in the bedroom.
My ex started to rant like I had never heard before. His face turning a distressing shade of red. For the first time in my life, I was genuinely afraid of him. I had no idea Ellis was capable of such rage, especially about something so trivial as pawned sports memorabilia and a cat bite. He was always verbally abusive and domineering, but he had never actually hit me.
“Get out,” I yelled. “The police are on the way.”
Giving a hearty, mocking laugh, he started knocking various knick-knacks off the display shelf, asking if I loved them.
“I am going to press charges. You’d better leave now if you want a chance to escape before the cops get here.”
“You have no proof, you stupid bitch.”
“The building has security cameras at every entrance. There will be tapes of you coming in.”
For one, brief, glorious moment, Ellis actually looked scared. All the blood drained from his face. It was short-lived, however, and he soon shrugged it off, getting even angrier.
“You are going to give up something you love to pay for stealing my helmet. I wonder how you would feel if I killed Chris?”
“What?” I stepped away from him. My back hit the wall.
Ellis glared at me. “I could kill your little boy toy. You love him, right? How would you feel if he was suddenly gone? Unfairly taken away from you. Erased from your life. Even though you love him.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“Sure, I would,” he said with a crazy smile.
“He would kick your ass. Even if he didn’t, Aden would come after you. He’s ex-military, you know.”
“I have a gun.”
That much was true. Ellis had shown it to me after he bought it, mugging and posing like an idiot. He had said at the time it was to protect me. I had even been dumb enough to believe it then. I had recently realized it had just been another power move. I didn’t think he would ever use it one me, but I realized that he had wanted me to know that he could. He really was a twisted fuck.
Gritting my teeth to keep from screaming, I lunged at him, hitting him in the face with pepper-spray. Ellis screamed in agony, clutching his face. Just then, the door slammed open, and I turned expecting the cops, instead seeing Chris storming in.
“Shae?”
Ellis froze, hearing the new arrival. I thought it might be over, but then he gave a ragged yell, running in what he thought was my direction. Instead, he found the business end of a powerful roundhouse kick delivered by Chris.