I continued sorting out my clothes and trying to decide what would be necessary and what would simply be an unnecessary burden to carry with me. Then I went into the bathroom and began gathering my things. I wanted to leave the room looking like I was still living here so that when the dorm housekeeper came in to collect trash and dust, she wouldn’t notify the RA who was supposed to be keeping watch over us all. The last thing I needed was to have the university involved in this mess since my father sat on the executive advisory board and would most likely turn the place upside down if he found out they’d been harboring a criminal who was after his daughter. I was tired of being the outsider everywhere I went; tired of being seen as either the poor little rich girl or the stuck-up snob. I was neither of those things, and I wanted a chance to solve this problem on my own.
Besides, the problem with Dominic was entirely my fault. I knew that for certain, but I couldn’t tell anyone—not even Brian.
“Alright, we’ve got a place to stay and we’ve got a team in place to help us move without being seen,” Brian announced as he reentered the room with a smile on his face.
“Uh huh,” I nodded as I tossed a small cosmetics bag into my duffle bag that was already stuffed to the gills.
“Ava, we’re just going across town, not to another country,” he joked.
“I know, but I want stuff that’s familiar,” I said in a choked voice. I was trying so hard to keep it together that I feared one wrong word and I’d lose it.
“I’m teasing you,” he said gently as he crossed he room and put a hand on my shoulder. “It’s all going to be okay, Ava. I promise. I’ve got friends who are going to help me flush out Dominic and get him to where the police can track him on their own.”
“I just…just…just…” I stammered as I turned and looked up at him, my eyes brimming with tears that threatened to spill down my cheeks.
“I know, and it’s okay,” he said softly. “It’s all going to be okay.”
I nodded as I turned back to the bed and zipped my bag. I didn’t fully believe that everything was going to be okay, but I was choosing to believe Brian—for now.
*****
Once I’d packed up, Brian told me to wait in the room while he carried my bag down to the SUV and checked to make sure the path downstairs was safe. When he returned, he told me to do one more check to make sure I had everything I needed before we headed out. I surveyed the room and felt a little sad to be deserting it, and a little nostalgic since Brian and I had had our hottest sex in there.
The little bubble of laughter that escaped from my lips as I thought about this made Brian tip his head and look at me like a confused puppy. That made me laugh harder, and soon he joined me, and the dark mood that had clouded the day began to lift.
“C’mon, let’s get out of here,” Brian said as he motioned for me to follow him down to the vehicle.
As we drove away from the dorm, Brian turned on the radio, and as the sound filled my ears, I started to relax. The past week had been the single most stressful time in my life aside from the week I actually decided to leave Dominic. I thought about that week and shuddered as I remembered how frightened I’d been and how unsure I was of what I was going to do next.
“Are you okay?” Brian asked as he turned down the volume.
“Yeah, just thinking,” I replied as I watched the scenery flashing past.
“What are you thinking about?” he probed.
“Just thinking about all that’s happened,” I said. “How messed up it all is.”
“It’s going to get better, Ava,” he reassured me. “We’re going to get Dominic out of the picture and then you can have your life back, and I won’t have to follow you everywhere.”
“Yeah, right,” I turned toward him, smiled weakly, and then looked back out the window.
“Has he always threatened you this way?” Brian asked.
“Pretty much,” I said quietly. “Well, not in the beginning, of course. In the beginning he was all sweetness and light. I fell so hard for that act.”
“He’s pretty manipulative,” Brian echoed.
“He’s…so seductive,” I whispered. “He sucked me in before I knew what had happened and because I’d never known what it was like to have someone focus on me and me alone, I thought what he was doing was what love should be like. I had no idea.”
Brian remained si
lent as I tried to gather my thoughts and organize them in a way that I could use to make him understand how dangerous Dominic could be. I was more worried about what would happen to Brian than I was about what would happen to me. Dominic had already beaten me within an inch of my life and proven that he had no desire to actually kill me, but Brian…when it came to Brian, I knew what Dominic was capable of because I’d seen it before.
“I’m just worried about you,” I said once I’d regained some clarity.
“Don’t worry about me, it’s you that we need to focus on,” he said. “You didn’t answer my question, though. Has he always threatened you like this?”
“Yes,” I answered simply. “He always threatened me, but he never followed through on his threats. He might have beaten me to teach me a lesson, but he never came anywhere near killing me.”