He spoke to her as though he truly believed she belonged to him. Like she was his property.
“You’re coming with me,” he demanded. I heard her call him Xander… but I had other, more suitable names for him.
“I’m not going anywhere with you.,” she said, backing away from him. “You need to leave right now or I’m calling the cops.”
He laughed. It was dark. Menacing. One that was filled with unspoken warning. Cassidy’s eyes filled with fear, as though she understood that warning better than most, and she started angling herself toward the landline phone mounted in the far corner of the room.
Xander stormed after her.
I rushed deeper into the room, rounding the corner to find him gripping her wrist.
“Let go, you’re hurting me,” she said. Her eyes fell onto mine, and she slightly shook her head, silently begging me not to intervene. But I wasn’t going to listen. No man has the right to put his hands on a woman in order to hurt her.
He tugged on her, and she pulled back.
Having had enough of the show, I grabbed the guy by his shoulder, forcing him to turn around and face me.
He glared at me. “Who the fuck are you?”
“The guy that’s going to break that hand if you don’t release her right now,” I said.
He glared at me. “Piss off and mind your own fucking business.”
Problem was, Cassidy was very much so my business, and I didn’t like how Xander was treating her. I also didn’t have an issue with making sure he understood just how much of a problem I had with him.
“Release the woman, now.” I stared the man down, refusing to back off. Maybe a show of me challenging him would do the trick and get his attention on me versus Cassidy.
“Fuck off before you get yourself hurt,” he snapped.
I glanced at Cassidy. Her eyes begged me to stop. It only angered me more. And it seemed like this guy wasn’t going to listen. At least I could say I tried to do things civilly.
“Fine. Hard way it is.”
“What?” he said, and I gripped him by both shoulders and pulled. He lost his grip on Cassidy’s wrist. I continued to push and shove him toward the door and then out into the hallway.
“Don’t come back,” I said and slammed the door shut.
He instantly banged on the door. A growl vibrated my throat.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” Cassidy said.
I held up a finger. “Hold that thought.”
With a huff, I swung the door open, stepped into the hallway, pushing Xander’s punk ass backward, and closed the door behind me.
“Let me in there,” he snapped. “She belongs to me.”
“I highly doubt she sees things that way,” I said and pushed him again.
“Lay another hand on me,” he warned.
“And you’ll what?” I asked and pushed him again. “Hit me?”
I continued pushing him down the hallway. He was too busy trying to keep himself from stumbling to the floor to worry about hitting me or retaliating in whatever way he thought he was warning me against before. Besides, I wasn’t giving him the chance to hit me. I stayed on top of him. He wasn’t going to have the chance either.
Once we made it to the elevators, I shoved him one last time. He stumbled into the small box and hit the back wall of the elevator. “See yourself out. And if I were you, I would think twice about coming back.”
I said then turned around, finding Cassidy standing in the doorway watching everything. She backed away as I stepped inside and closed the door.