“If this was all you called me out for, there’s no need for this conversation to go on any further. I want to be with Christopher, and I like staying with him. I don’t care if you think I’m a b*tch or if you think I’m useless, and I don’t care if you hate me for it.”
I whipped around to make to leave, but Lyle caught ahold of my wrist, his eyes rimmed with red as his nails dug into my skin. Without a second thought, I took my handbag and hit him on the head with it.
“Let go of me, asshole! I lost interest in groveling at your feet a long time ago!”
A strange man who had been taking a nap nearby us suddenly sat upright, springing to his feet and grabbing my bag before making a run for it. I gasped in shock, immediately tugging my arm out of Lyle’s grip and running after the man.
Are Lyle and I a match made in hell? I swear, nothing good ever happened after I met him.
Lyle eventually caught up to me and blocked my path. “It’s just a handbag! I’ll buy a new one for you!”
“What? I have important things inside that bag!” Desperate, I kicked off my heels and sped right past him. Christopher’s black card was in that handbag. Although I didn’t care much for his money, that card was representative of his love for me. We’d made a promise that he was going to take care of me for the rest of our lives.
“Leave it to me!” Lyle zipped past me. With his long legs and natural advantage as a biological male, he caught up to the snatch thief in no time, lunging and kicking him down to the ground.
When he managed to wrestle the handbag away, the thief pulled out a small knife from his pocket and slashed it in Lyle’s direction, aiming for his chest. Before I could think any better of it, I stepped in between them and shoved the thief away from him.
The sudden motion caused his knife to cut a long gash on my forearm. Seeing that the handbag was now safely with Lyle, the thief immediately gave up and stumbled off with his tail between his legs.
“Are you okay, Yvonne?” Lyle’s eyes widened when he saw my arm, trying to use his hands to cover the cut and stop the bleeding.
I brushed him aside. It was just a shallow cut; it only looked bad because of its length. “If there’s nothing else, I’m leaving.”
“Wait! I’ll send you to the hospital.” He reached out and grabbed onto my arm again, worsening the pain I already felt. Losing my temper, I finally blew up at him and snapped, “Don’t make me regret not letting you get stabbed to death!”
That made him let go almost instantly. “Sorry. I was just worried about you.”
“Whatever. Trouble keeps finding me whenever I see you… It’s like you’re my unlucky charm or something. Just stay as far away from me as possible, and I’ll be able to live happily ever after.” Snatching the bag from him, I stomped off.
Lyle followed me all the way, attempting to strongarm his way into my house by wedging himself in the doorway and effectively preventing me from closing the door on him. “You got hurt because of me,” he insisted. “At least let me help treat your wound.”
Unable to close the door and shut him out, I had no choice but to let him into the house, digging out the first-aid kit and begrudgingly allowing him to bandage up my arm. “Okay, you can leave now,” I said as soon as he’d snipped off the edges of the bandages. “I don’t want Christopher to come home and have a misunderstanding.”
“Like how you put yourself in harm’s way to save my life, and you felt an old flame inside you reignite?” he joked.
I rolled my eyes and fixed him with a deadpan look. “I told you, don’t make me regret what I did.”
Glancing around the house and realizing that many of the items were in sets of twos or matching pieces, he sighed. “I still hope you will genuinely consider my advice. My number will never change, so if you need money, you can tell me anytime. You don’t have to stay with him for his wealth.”
He got a throw pillow chucked in his face before promptly getting kicked out of the house. After a while, I remembered that Christopher had specifically picked out that throw pillow for me, and frantically went back out to look for it.
Fortunately, the pillow was safe and sound, save for some dirt that I quickly brushed off. When I picked it up and turned back around to go into the house, I saw Christopher’s tall, large frame standing in the shadows of the dark corridor, his icy cold stare trained on me.
