Best Friend's Ex Box Set

*****

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 silent 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.”

“Something has changed,” Brian mused.

“It’s you,” I replied. “He’s never had anyone who challenged him for my affection the way you do.”

“Do I?” he asked as he looked at the road ahead.

“Do you what?”

“Do I challenge him for your affection?” Brian asked.

“Well, you know what I mean!” I protested. I wasn’t ready to get caught up in a romance with my bodyguard, no matter how much I liked him and how good I felt when I was with him. “I just mean, in his head he sees you as the competition. He’s delusional!”

Brian’s mouth formed a thin line as he nodded and made a left turn into the hotel parking lot. He’d driven us a good distance away from the campus in an attempt to move me out of range. Maybe if Dominic couldn’t detect me anywhere on campus, he’d stop this pursuit and I’d be safe.

As we pulled up to the front door, I looked at Brian and said, “I’m not kidding, I’m worried about you.”

Brian reached out and cupped my cheek in a gesture that was becoming achingly familiar and comforting, and said, “And I’m worried about you, and only you.”

The blood rushed to my cheeks as the hotel bellhop opened my door and cheerfully chirped, “Welcome to the Midway, folks! Can I get your bags?”

*****