*****
As Brian reached out to run his fingers through my hair, the sound of cracking branches put us both on alert. There was something moving in the bushes down on the riverbank, and in an instant, Brian was on his feet with one hand on the gun under his hoodie. He motioned to me to stay where I was. I nodded and waited in silence as he checked our surroundings.
Another twig snapped, and Brian crouched low to the ground as he moved quickly toward the sound. I opened my mouth to ask him what he thought it was, but he held up his hand in the universal sign for “stop” and I swallowed my question. As he swept his eyes across the brush-covered bank, I could see his hand tighten on the butt of his gun. I held my breath as he pushed back a clump of branches. Nothing. He moved to the next pile of brush, and as he pushed a few branches aside, a small, frightened bunny scurried out and ran across the grass toward the safety of an unmolested bush. I let out a small, startled scream, and quickly covered my mouth as Brian shot me a warning look followed by an amused grin.
He quickly scanned the rest of the bank and found nothing out of order, I looked up at him and said, “Maybe it was just the bunny meeting up with a bird or a squirrel in the underbrush?”
“Yeah, maybe,” he said, laughing a little as he sat back down next to me. His eyes never stopped scanning the bushes even as he returned to absently stroking my hair. Although he’d snapped back into the role of my bodyguard, I still saw him as the fun guy he’d been only minutes before, and I wanted to find a way back to the carefree conversation we’d been having before the underbrush noises interrupted us. I tried putting my hand on his arm, but he shrugged it off, and when I reached up and stroked his cheek, he looked down only briefly before returning to his watch.
“Hey, Brian?” I said quietly.
“Yeah? What?” He was back in scanning mode and paid little attention to me and our picnic as he continued his lookout.
“Hello?” I said a little louder.
“Ava, what do you want?” his voice was both irritated and worried, so I stopped pushing and just sat quietly as he attempted to figure out what had made the noise in the bushes. I appreciated the care and concern, but I also wanted the guy who’d been having such a good time with me back as quickly as possible. So, I hopped up and walked over to the bushes and pulled them apart with my hands, yelling, “Hey! Whoever you are, come out right now and stop playing around!”
An instant later, I felt the full
weight of a body violently shoving me to the ground with a force that knocked the wind out of me as I landed on my back on the bank. I looked up to see Dominic’s face hovering over me.
“You ungrateful little bitch,” he hissed. “After everything I’ve done for you, you go and do this to me? With this loser of a boyfriend?”
I struggled to catch my breath as I tried to push him away, but he’d managed to wrap a hand around my neck and was cutting off my air. I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came out.
“You’re going to pay for this,” he threatened. “You will pay for your disloyalty.”
Then, I felt his hand leave my throat as Brian yelled, “Let go of her now or I’ll shoot you, and no one will blame me!”
Dominic stood up and looked at Brian for a moment; his bold stare dared Brian to do something, and when nothing happened, he spit on the ground and said in a derisive tone, “That’s what I thought, you coward. You can’t even protect her.” Dominic began laughing as he continued mocking Brian. “What a wimp! You’re holding a gun, and you can’t even protect her. I don’t know what you see in this sad excuse for a man, Ava. He has nothing but a gun, and he’s too afraid to use it!”
By that point, I’d caught my breath and was looking up at Brian, trying to will him not to shoot the gun he held. I knew it could go either way, so I lay there quietly for a moment hoping that Dominic would do what he usually did and walk away, but when he didn’t move, I became afraid that he was planning something sinister. I looked up at Brian, willing him to understand what I was thinking, and he nodded.
“Dom, just stop,” I said quietly as I pulled myself up from the ground. “This makes no sense. You and I are over, and you know it. Why do you keep trying to get me back when you know it’s over?”
“Because it’s not over, you stupid little girl,” he sneered. “You belong to me, and I want you back.”
“But you moved on, Dom,” I reminded him as I watched Brian reach into his back pocket. “You got together with Jordan and you moved on!”
“Jordan?” he laughed. “What the hell? She’s a stupid slut who opens her legs for every man who looks at her. Why would I want a little girl like that? I want a smart, educated woman who will help me achieve my career goals, and that woman is you.”
“You just called me a little girl,” I said with more than a bit of resentment in my voice. Brian still held the gun on Dominic, but I could see that he’d managed to move his phone to the front pocket of his hoodie, and I hoped that he was adept at blind dialing.
“You know what I mean, Ava,” he said as he turned and looked at me. There was something in his look, a kind of coldness that I’d only seen once before, and I shivered at the memory before I looked away. “Ditch this loser and come home with me. You know I can offer you more than he can even dream of. I mean, what does he have? A frayed hoodie, old sneakers and a gun? Really?”
I could see Brian bristle as Dominic pointed out where he was lacking, and I shot a quick look at Brian, hoping that he wouldn’t get caught up in this imaginary pissing match and do something stupid. I could hear the sound of all three of us breathing, and for long seconds none of us moved, and then hearing the sound of sirens in the distance, Dominic suddenly turned and ran back toward campus; his long legs pumping fast as he made his escape.
For a moment, I thought Brian was going to give chase, but instead, he was at my side in an instant, urging me not to move while he checked me for injuries. I tried to assure him that I was fine, but he methodically checked my limbs, torso, and then cringed as he saw the fingerprints Dominic had left on my neck when he’d cut off my air.
“That son of a bitch is going to pay for this,” he muttered.
“Brian, don’t,” I warned. “Just don’t. He’s not worth it.”
*****
“Is everything okay over here?” the campus security officer called as he walked across the grass. “We got an emergency call from this area, but it didn’t identify who the caller was.”
“Yes, we’re fine, officer,” I said in a voice that was far more cheerful than I felt. Brian gave me a strange look, but followed my lead and nodded. I exchanged pleasantries with the officer for a few minutes and when he asked how my father was doing, I saw Brian’s eyebrow raise as he suddenly understood my reticence to get the officer involved in the situation.