She even had a nightmare when she passed out at my house where she was begging him to let her go.
Rage boils up inside of me. This isn’t an isolated incident. Between what Idoknow, and the harassment and nonstop texting and calling, enough is enough.
I grip him firmly, not daring to let go, and shift my attention to her. “Are you okay?”
She’s huddled on the ground, a few feet away, holding her arms close to her chest, shivering from the shock and stress he just put her through. Her eyes are red and puffy, and black streaks trail down her cheeks. Her lips tremble, the same lips that I kissed only minutes ago.
Griffin manages to do the unspeakable. He spits, directly in my face. “If I can’t have her, no one can.”
And between the anger and fury and sheer protectiveness I have over her, I yank him toward me and shove him forward, throwing him down the same steps he had just taunted Claire with.
I stand still and stare while his arms go out wide, matching the depth of his eyes, and his body thuds and rolls and slams into each stair, and lands with a final thump.
He lay there, motionless, in a contorted heap on the ground.
It starts to sink in exactly what I just did.
I may have saved her, but everything else I’ve sacrificed will all be for nothing when the cops come and I get arrested. If my plan was ever going to work, I couldn’t get involved with the authorities. I managed to save one life, but I ruined another.
But the only thing that really matters is she’s okay.
Doing what I did may have sealed Griffin’s fate and mine along with it. Neither one of us will get to be with Claire. The difference is, my sacrifice was to protect her, and his actions were purely selfish and egotistical.
My only regret was not telling her how I felt before it was too late.
Claire looks at me with wild eyes. A new sense of vigor about her. She grips my shoulders and shakes me. “Go, Johnny! Fucking go! Get out of here!”