“If only that love were different,” he sighed slipping it into the locked drawer on his desk.
***
“Come on Bella,” Brandon stated trying to push his way into her place. “You know you want to…”
“No, I don’t Brandon, go home,” she said pulling away from him.
“I’m getting tired of this act Bella. One minute you’re burning hot in my arms and the next…I want you and I’m damned well going to have you…tonight.”
“Get out Brandon,” she shouted as the panic set in. She hated this feeling, hated the way it made her head fuzzy, hated the terror that filled her and refused to let go. “Now before I call security.”
“No, it’s been three months Bella, three months of you turning me on just to shut me down. You’re nothing but a cold bitch…”
“Then get out before this cold bitch decides to have you arrested for assault.”
“I haven’t touched you,” he said making a grab for her, “yet.”
Bella moved quickly grabbing the can of pepper spray she hid in the flower vase on the table inside the entryway and aimed it at his face. She raced to her bedroom and dialed the only number she could think of calling.
“Bella, what’s up?” Tyler said answering on the second ring.
“Ty, can you come over please?” she asked her voice wavering as Brandon started pounding on the locked door.
“Bella what’s that noise?”
“Brandon—he got mad and tried to grab me—Ty please.”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes Bella, call the security team and the cops,” he told her.
“I can’t the house phone’s in the living room, I locked myself in the bedroom and can’t get to it. I don’t want to hang up with you Ty. He’s scaring me; I think he’s going to break down the door.”
“Trip the alarm Bella, turn it on go outside onto your balcony and then open it but don’t put in your code. It’ll send the security team up immediately. I told you, you needed the panic key on that pad too.”
“Okay,” she said unlocking the balcony door and arming the security system. She shut the door, waited for it to become active, and then opened the door. Once the chirping stopped the red light began to flash indicating that the security team had been alerted. Brandon continued to pound away at the bedroom door, and she was worried that it’d give.
Less than a minute later she heard the head of the security department tell him to freeze and she whispered, “Thank God.”
“Bella, are they there?” Tyler asked running down the couple of blocks between their buildings. It wasn’t too late, and the sidewalks were still crowded but he managed to make it there in eight minutes a new record that he hoped to never have to break. He punched in the code to activate the elevator and stepped into her apartment holding up his hands as the security team turned towards him.
“Bella!” he shouted letting her know he was there. The bedroom door opened, and she raced towards him, throwing her arms around his neck as he pulled her up against him assuring himself that she was safe.
A few moments later the police arrived, took one look at her face and the mess Brandon had made and cuffed him.
“That bitch assaulted me,” he yelled.
“With pepper spray in her own home?” the officer asked.
“Crazy ass bitch, I wasted three months on that cold piece of ass…”
“Shut the hell up,” Tyler said his tone leaving no doubt that he would strangle the other if he so much as sneezed.
“Who are you?” the officer inquired.
“Tyler Reed, Bella called me because that creep tried to force himself on her.”
“That’s a lie, we were going at it, and she likes to play rough,” Brandon butted in.
“You son of a…” Tyler growled advancing towards the other man ready to beat his face in for that.