Best Friend's Ex Box Set

His words pierced my heart and I wondered, Is that what he thinks of me? I was trembling as Dominic spun in place. The gun was hard and cold against my head, and I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes as I realized that one wrong move and he’d fire a bullet right into my brain. I wouldn’t stand a chance. My eyes searched wildly for Brian, but he was on the move and was keeping us moving, too.

“Used goo

ds? Is that all you think of her? My, my, my, that’s not very complimentary, is it, Kitten?” Dominic looked at me as he asked the question. “How do you feel about being called used goods?”

“I’m not used goods,” I whispered.

“What did you say? You need to speak a little louder, dear,” Dominic ordered. “We can’t hear you.”

“I’m not used goods,” I said more clearly.

“Well, I believe the SEAL here thinks you are,” Dominic reminded me. Brian continued moving, his attention focused on Dominic, but I could see that he was holding something in his right hand. I couldn’t tell what it was, though. Dominic pressed the gun against my head harder and more insistently. “I think maybe he might be right. Maybe you are used goods, and you know how much I hate it when something that is mine has been used.”

I couldn’t hold it in any longer, and the tears began sliding down my cheeks. I had done everything I could to try and save all of us, and now I was going to be the first one to die. Dominic was going to win, again. I’d done everything I could to escape from him, and he was going to have the last word here in this hotel room with Brian watching. I closed my eyes and willed myself to breathe deeply. If I was going to die, I wasn’t going to fight it. I would stay calm.

Seconds later I heard Brian yell, “Duck, Ava!” and without thinking I pulled away just as Brian flew across the room and grabbed Dominic’s arm. He let go of me and turned the gun on Brian. I heard myself screaming as the gun went off and the sound rendered me deaf for a moment. Was I shot? I didn’t feel like anything hurt, and it didn’t look like I was bleeding. I looked up and saw Brian punch Dominic in the face as he swore a blue streak. Dominic punched back wildly, but only landed one to every four of Brian’s.

Where is the gun? I couldn’t see it in Dominic’s hand. I frantically searched the room with my eyes and finally located it on the floor just under the sofa. Dominic had dropped it when he’d fired a round, and Brian must have kicked it out of the way. I scrambled across the floor and grabbed it from its hiding place as Dominic landed a vicious punch, and I heard the crunching of bone against bone as his fist connected with Brian’s cheek.

I winced as I lifted the gun and pointed it at Dominic. His earlier punishment had left my arm an aching mass of bruises, but I held the gun up as I stood and yelled, “Dominic, stop! Now!”

He turned and looked at me holding the arm that was holding the gun and then burst out laughing. His laughter struck a nerve, and I nearly pulled the trigger. I would have, too, had it not been for the fact that this gave Brian the opportunity to connect one very brutal punch to Dominic’s ribs. I watched Dominic crumple to the ground holding his side as he writhed in pain, then looked up at Brian and held out the gun.

Brian quickly crossed the room and took the weapon from me and tucked it back inside the holster under his hoodie before moving back over to where Dominic lay crying in pain, and gave him a swift kick in the ass for good measure. Wide-eyed, I looked up at him.

“Hey, he tried to kill both of us,” he shrugged as he pulled out his phone and quickly punched the 911 key. He told the operator where we were and what had transpired then hung up the phone, tucked it in his pocket, and moved over to help me off the floor saying, “I think we should get some clothes on you, don’t you think?”

The rush of adrenaline had made me completely forget that all I was wearing was a pair of panties. I shivered as Brian wrapped an arm around my waist and walked me back to the bedroom, where he retrieved my clothes and helped me pull my T-shirt over my badly bruised torso. I left my bra on the floor, knowing that to try and put it on would be more pain than I could handle. After he’d helped me dress, he walked me back out to the living room and sat me on the couch.

“Just stay there, okay?” he advised as he moved around the room and untied the room server and Cheese. He brought the frightened teenager to the couch and sat him down next to me. Cheese was still groggy on the floor, so Brian went into the bathroom, ran some cold water over a washcloth, and brought it out to put on Cheese’s face. Dominic lay silent on the floor until Brian nudged him with the toe of his sneaker, then he groaned in pain and tried to roll over.

“I’m going to kill you, SEAL,” he muttered as he tried to get up off of the floor. The pain in his ribs made him cry out and sink back down to the floor.

“Yeah, promises, promises,” Brian replied as he pushed Dominic’s face into the carpet a little harder than necessary. I looked away. I understood why Brian was doing what he was doing, but I still didn’t want to see it.

Despite everything that had happened, I felt sorry for Dominic. He was a sad, sick man, and he was going to pay the price for his desire to get revenge, but I also knew he was a broken boy who never felt like he’d been loved. I shook my head and looked at the poor little room server who’d gotten caught in the middle of all of this and thought he was going to be killed. I put a bruised arm around his shoulders and reassured him that it was all going to be okay.

Brian looked at me from across the room, and then looked away.

*****

Five minutes later, the police pounded on the door, and when we opened it, they came streaming in like they had prepared to storm the entire hotel, and it occurred to me that maybe they had. The first thing they did was bring in the EMTs and have them check us all out. Dominic was put on a stretcher while we were all questioned, but they didn’t roll him out.

Brian gave a detailed account of what had happened, and I was shocked to hear him telling the officers about what I had done to try and divert Dominic’s attention so that he could free himself. He’d been conscious the entire time. I felt the shame rising in my chest as I realized he’d heard me say some really terrible things about him as I’d tried to figure out how to save us all. I looked over at him, but he was deep in conversation with the officers, so I shifted my attention back to the room server who’d been obviously traumatized. I told the medics what had happened to him and how he’d stayed remarkably calm for someone so young. They took turns reassuring him that he would be okay, and then slowly led him out of the room to the waiting ambulance. Other EMTs had collected Cheese and quickly driven him to the hospital. It sounded like they feared that he had a concussion from the blow to the head, and they wanted to get a CT scan to make sure he wasn’t bleeding into his brain.

I told the police what had happened with Cheese and that while he was certainly responsible for his actions, he had not signed on for the kind of action that Dominic had decided on once they’d gotten in the room. I didn’t want to absolve Cheese of any responsibility, but I also didn’t want him taking the fall for Dominic’s evil plot to kill us all. The officers took my statement, and then finished up with Brian before they signaled to the EMTs that they could move Dominic out of the room.

“I’m not done with you, Kitten,” Dominic ranted as the EMTs wheeled him toward the door. “I’m going to find you and hunt you down! You will be sorry that you ever messed with me when I find you!”

I shot a frightened look in Brian’s direction, and he moved in next to me and put his arm around my waist as he softly said, “They will never let him out of prison again. Don’t worry, Ava. It’s a done deal. You’re safe.”

I gave him a grim smile as I watched them wheel Dominic away from the room, and then turned to the officer in charge and said, “He has evidence of all the horrible things he did to me.”

“What do you mean?” asked the officer.

“He was my boyfriend, but he beat me badly and I finally left,” I replied. “Today he said he has videos of the beatings that he would watch when he missed me….” I trailed off as the tears started to flow. Brian turned and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me against his chest and stroking my hair as I cried.

“Do you know where he keeps them?” the officer asked.