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“He’s harmless, a little strange and creepy, but harmless.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Sunday was a lonely day for Ava. Xander was having lunch with his parents and his sister Suzanne. He hadn’t seen her for awhile, and he was elated that she was traveling from Stamford to see them. His niece and nephew decided to stay home since they didn’t want to miss a day of video games and movies.
Rather than study for the bar exam that was rapidly approaching, Ava decided to put her plan in motion. She called Tim to see if he was interested in getting together for coffee. He sounded far too eager to see her. It had been a couple of weeks since they had gotten together, which was the time she said she only wanted to be friends. During that time, they had rarely texted and spoke on the phone. He suggested he come over to her place, but she countered by saying they could meet at a small café near her apartment.
She was shocked by his appearance. He looked exhausted with dark circles under his eyes. It looked like he had aged far more than just his thirty years. He looked unkempt with a wrinkled shirt and jeans. It was a far cry from his usual appearance.
“Tim, are you okay? You look very tired?”
“I am. I have been very busy lately.”
The truth was that he wasn’t sleeping or eating very well. His business was booming, but there were occurrences that made him uneasy. Each week his college distributor needed more and more supply. It wasn’t just a small increase either. This concerned him but he was making great money, and all he had to do was pass the product off and collect. He had no need to sell to his students or sit in a cold alley on Friday nights.
They talked about things going on in their lives. He asked her if she was seeing anyone and she lied and said no. She said she was too busy with work and studying for the bar exam. As she talked to him, she simmered with anger and found it hard to contain herself.
“Tim, my cousin is concerned that her husband is cheating on her. Is there any way for her to track the people he talks to through text or email?”
Tim became all too accommodating showing her websites of places her cousin could download applications and explaining how to use them. She played dumb by saying she had no clue what he was talking about. She wasn’t very good when it came to technology. Then he explained to her that her cousin could also send an email to her husband using the same email from his lover. What an idiot he is. He just admitted he knows about these things.
They finished their coffee, and she invited him to her apartment to hang out. It was there that she was going to deliver the final punch to his gut. She was in danger of boiling over and she just might when they got into her apartment. She stood by her kitchen counter figuring out the right words to say while he sat on the couch.
“Tim have you ever used those types of applications?”
He rose from the couch, and she saw a look of fear flicker across his face.
“For who? Who would I use them on?”
“For me. I might not be up on technology, but I’m not stupid. You son of a bitch. You put those things on my phone and were tracking my every move. You knew everything that I was doing including where I was. How could you do that to me? You were supposed to be my friend.”
“You were my girlfriend, and then you go off for some weekend and all of sudden I get dumped? I deserved better than that.”
“I wasn’t your girlfriend, and I deserved better than what you did to me. How dare you send emails using such cruel words, breaking us apart. Did you think I wouldn’t find out? You are a disgusting person. I could have you arrested for what you did; it’s fraud.”
In a flick of a switch, Tim’s demeanor changed. He went from being frightened to enraged. He reached out and grabbed her by the neck and slammed her against the refrigerator.
“You fucking whore. You think I don’t know what you were doing? You were fucking everyone but me.”
His hand squeezed her neck harder, and she clawed at him. He wasn’t much taller than her, but she was one hundred ten pounds to his one hundred sixty. She couldn’t speak and felt herself blacking out. It had been several years since she had self-defense classes but she lashed out with her knee and got him right between the legs. He loosened his grip, screaming in pain as she connected.
Ava reached out and started gouging at his eyes causing him to scream again. When she pulled her hands away, he was bleeding. He swung his hand and connected with her face, splitting her lip. She tasted blood and strangely, it made her feel powerful. Ava kicked at his stomach and connected, knocking the air out of him. Tim backed away giving her enough time to run into her bedroom and lock the door. It was a solid wood door, and he banged at it for several minutes before he realized he wouldn’t be able to get through.
She had left her phone in her purse on the counter, and she had no landline. It turned out she didn’t need it because the neighbors called the police when they heard the racket. The officers arrived just as Tim was running towards the fire stairs. They dragged him back to her apartment and identified themselves so she would come out.
She told the officer the entire story of what had happened, and they arrested Tim. He didn’t even look at her or try to dispute the story she told. The officers asked if she wanted medical attention, but she declined. After they had left, she looked at herself in the mirror. The corner of her lip was torn open, and blood had streaked onto her cheek. She dabbed at the blood. The worst part were the bruises on her neck. They were very visible on her ivory skin.
Ava iced her lip after she cleaned off the blood. She had to work tomorrow, and she wasn’t sure how she was going to hide the injuries. Xander was going to lose his mind when he saw what Tim had done to her. He would want to go to the police station and kill him. He had warned her, but she told him that Tim was harmless. It turned out that he was not what she thought.
An hour later her phone chirped with a text telling her that Xander was on his way. More than what had just occurred she was more upset at having him see her this way than they fact that she was attacked. He arrived fifteen minutes later, and she winced at the look on his face as she opened the door.
“What the fuck happened?” He yelled.
She was overtaken by emotion and started to cry.
“How did this happen? Who did this to you?”
He kissed her and took her to the bathroom.
