by Twyla Turner
“Fuck!” He bellowed before turning and running back to Payton’s building just as fast as he’d chased the assailant.
He ran up to the broken window and peered inside.
“Are you lassies alright?”
A screech sounded as he came face to face with his girlfriend. Payton stumbled back and almost fell, but Royal was there to catch her. Bradyn was grateful that someone else was there with her.
“Dinna fash yerself, Payton,” he soothed. “It’s me, Bradyn. I chased down whoever it was, but he got in a car and sped off before I could catch him.”
The look Payton gave him, nearly broke his heart, if her next words didn’t entirely.
“Are you sure it wasn’t you?” She asked softly with accusation in her eyes.
“Payton, come here.” He held out his hand through the broken window and she looked at it like it was a snake ready to bite her. “Please, just come here for a second.”
She finally stepped forward and hesitantly took his hand. As he watched the indecision on her face, he felt like he’d taken a thousand steps backward.
“Payton, baby. I promise ye that I wouldna do anything to hurt ye. I think if ye dug deep, ye’d know that too. I’m here because I have been watching over ye the last couple of night.” Bradyn said softly.
“He’s telling the truth, Payton. Look.” Royal stepped forward, holding something in her hand. “This is what they broke the window with.”
She handed Payton a broken brick with something tied around it. With shaky hands, Payton pulled the rubber band off of the brick and lifted up what looked like a photograph. She looked at it, turned it over, and then gasped.
Bradyn reached for the picture and saw that it was of them kissing during their picnic almost a week ago. He flipped it over to see what was written on the back that had upset her.
You think you deserve happiness when I have nothing?
Well, you don’t.
Your days are numbered bitch! His too.
“It’s time to phone the police, Payton,” Bradyn suggested solemnly.
Sadness covered her like a blanket. “I know.”
“On it,” Royal said as she grabbed her phone.
“Can I come in?” He asked.
“Yeah,” she responded in almost a whisper.
If it wasn’t for the shards of glass sticking up out of the ledge, Bradyn would’ve jumped over the wall separating them. Instead, he got the code from her and jogged around to the main door. Once he got to her front door, he knocked gently. She opened it and Bradyn didn’t care about anything other than getting her in his arms, after seeing the dejected look on her face.
He stepped into her condo and wrapped her up into his arms immediately. He kicked the door closed, lifted her off of her feet and walked her into her living room. Payton couldn’t hold back her emotions any longer and sobbed into his neck.
“It’s okay, baby. I’m here now. I willna let anyone hurt ye.” Bradyn soothed quietly in her ear.
He held her like that for a while, until she calmed and the police arrived. Payton showed them all of the “gifts” she’d been given that she kept. They questioned Payton, and Bradyn held her hand the entire time, trying to infuse as much strength and support into her as he could. They asked him and Royal questions as well. They checked around the building for footprints in the mud from the rain earlier in the day and collected all the creepy mementos in plastic bags to be checked for fingerprints.
It was three in the morning when they finally left with a promise to call her if they found anything. Bradyn worked on putting some plastic up to the broken window to keep the elements out.
“Royal, ye can go home if ye’d like. I’ve got her.” Bradyn offered.
“Are you okay?” Royal asked Payton, conveying more than just her question through her eyes. Are you sure you feel comfortable alone with him? I’ll stay if you don’t.
“I think I’m good. Thank you for everything, Royal.”
“You’re welcome, sweetie.” Royal wrapped her up in a warm hug. “You know I love you and would do anything for you.”
“I know.”
“Good.” Royal grabbed her things and headed for the door. “Call me if you hear anything from the cops or if you need anything.”
“I will.”
Royal walked out and Payton closed and locked the door. They were finally alone. The nervous, yet sexual tension expanded to encompass the space between them. But Bradyn ignored it, knowing that now wasn’t the right time.
He finally took a moment to take in Payton’s personal space. Everything was modern with straight clean lines. Yet it was very comfortable and functional. The walls, furniture, and floors were white, gray, and black respectively with an explosion of color in the accents around the room. Colorful throw pillows on the couch. Vibrant little knickknacks strategically placed around the room. And the coolest of all was the artwork on the walls. They were lively and colorful comic book illustrations, framed in black and spaced apart perfectly on the walls. Bradyn loved her style.
“I’ll stay here on the couch. I dinna like the idea of anyone being able to rip down the plastic and being in another room while someone comes in to rob ye blind. They’ll have to get through me first.” Bradyn crossed his arms over his chest and nodded emphatically.
“Y-You don’t know how much better that makes me feel,” Payton confessed.
Bradyn walked over to her and rubbed his hands up and down her arms as she crossed them protectively over herself.
“I’ll die fightin’ before I let anyone lay a hand on ye.” Bradyn took a deep breath before continuing, feeling there could be a fight over his next words. “Which is why yer coming to stay with me until we find who’s doing this.”
“But-”
“No buts, lass. I canna work, sleep, eat, or train while I’m constantly worried about ye. Ye go to work, ye come to the gym, we go home together, and then do it all again the next day. That’s the only way I’ll be able to breathe easy, knowing yer only away from me for eight hours a day. So even if ye dinna want to do it for yerself, willing ye do it for me?”
“Okay,” she said softly.
“Now, sit with me an’ tell me why ye dinna feel like ye could come to me when all of this started.” Bradyn pulled her over to her charcoal gray couch.
“I-I wasn’t sure if it was you.” Payton clutched at a yellow pillow and picked at it, avoiding eye contact.
“How can ye think I’d do something like that to ye?” Bradyn asked as he lifted her chin up, forcing her to look at him. “I thought things were going well between us. Or maybe it was just me that felt it.”
“No, Bradyn.” Payton rushed to reassure him. “I felt- I feel it too. It’s just that…”
“Ye can tell me anything, lass. Tell me why yer so afraid of me. Help me to understand.” Bradyn squeezed her hands tightly.
Payton sighed heavily before starting. A faraway look came over her face and she stared off at a spot past his shoulder.
“My freshman year of college, there was this guy that I thought I knew. Someone that I thought I could trust. He was a football player. This really big guy.” She paused to glance at him quickly. “You’re actually bigger than he was. Which was why you scared me so badly. Anyway, I was his tutor and I had this huge crush on him. The last night I tutored him before the end of the first semester, he told me that he had a Christmas gift for me. He asked me to get in the back seat of his car and then he attacked me.”
Bradyn squeezed her hand even tighter as she shuddered at the memory.
“Luckily, I got away. I ran towards my dormitory building and that’s when I literally ran into Mia, just as Royal and Kennedy walked up. He’d chased me to my building, but they shielded me from him. That day was when we all became best friends. But my battle with Brett was just the beginning. I pressed charges, other girls came forward who hadn’t been so lucky to get away, and he was found guilty. But he was only sentenced to five years in prison. With the
number of lives he destroyed, he should have rotted in jail.” Payton finished angrily.
Bradyn closed his eyes and took deep breaths. He tried to rein in his anger, but he wanted nothing more than to find this Brett guy and stomp him into the ground.
“Y-You’re turned off now, right?” Payton asked, reading his reaction wrong.
“No, lass.” Bradyn sighed and then opened his eyes. “I think I care for ye more than I did before ye told me what happened. I assumed ye were assaulted, but I wasna sure. Now, I understand ye better. I’m just angry at him. If I knew who he was, I’d probably try to kill him.”
“Oh…”
“The actions of some fuckwit that tried to hurt ye would never diminish my feelings for ye. It just makes me want to protect ye even more. Understand?” Bradyn leaned down and cocked his head to the side to catch her eye as she looked down at her lap.
Payton looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “Yeah.”
“Come here.” Bradyn opened up his arms and he sighed with relief when Payton barely hesitated for a second, before crawling into them.
Not only was Payton perfect for him and fit his body like a yin-yang symbol, she was his second chance. He’d failed Becca. He hadn’t been able to stop her from being raped. He hadn’t been able to reach her in her devastating sorrow to stop her from committing suicide. But with Payton, maybe he could save her. Maybe he could be the thing, the person who made her want to live.
Maybe…
Chapter Twenty-Four
Payton was relieved that Bradyn had stayed overnight and then waited with her while the maintenance man replaced her broken window. He also waited for her to pack a bag full of clothing and toiletries to take to his place for the unforeseeable future. He hadn’t taken no for an answer. And deep down, she didn’t want him too.
She was absolutely terrified of whoever was stalking her. Payton wasn’t an idiot. Something told her who it could possibly be, but she couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud. She pushed the thought aside as she met up with the girls for their Saturday lunch at Raw.
As they sat at their usual table and waited for their favorite drinks and sushi dishes to arrive, Payton felt a chill run down her spine. She quickly looked around the restaurant but didn’t see anything suspicious. So she turned and tried to focus on what the girls were saying.
“Okay, so you’re now gonna stay with him for the time being, correct?” Kennedy asked.
“Yeah. Why?” Payton asked hesitantly.
“Well…”
“Let’s not beat around the bush. Or better yet, please let him beat around your bush.” Mia chimed in, cutting off Kennedy’s response.
“What they’re trying to say is, we are living vicariously through you right now. And it would be really fucking kickass if you would let him knock your back out.” Royal clarified.
“Aka beat up the pussy,” Mia added.
“Pop your cherry. Have mind-blowing sex. Whatever analogy you want to use, honey. Just do it already! With all the drama going on in your life, you deserve to have good old stress-relieving sex.” Kennedy finished.
“You do realize that you all are the worst friends ever, right?” Payton frowned at them. “I mean, what decent friends continually peer pressures a friend into having sex? I feel like I’m in the girl version of American Pie.”
“Friends who know that you want to have sex with your boyfriend! You said yourself that you were turned on by him. The only thing that’s holding you back is this.” Kennedy leaned over the table to tap Payton on the forehead. “What we’re trying to do is to get you out of here and get you to here and here,” she pointed from Payton’s head to her heart and crotch, “where you belong.”
“That’s the nice way of saying, ‘You’re a grown ass woman now. So go get you groove on and get that D!’” Mia high-fived Kennedy.
“Bow-chicka-bow-bow!” Royal sang the universal song for porn.
The three of them laughed cheerfully, as Payton took a sip of her drink, getting lost deep in her thoughts.
~~~
The girls’ words were still swirling around Payton’s head when she met up with Bradyn at the gym. He was in the middle of sparring with his buddy when she got there. She waved at him, letting him know she was there before going to grab a smoothie from the bar. She couldn’t watch him take punches and kicks from the other man. Even though he was wearing protective head gear, it still turned her stomach.
It only took him a few minutes to wrap up his training. He threw on his shirt over his damp skin and led her out to her car. Bradyn got into the driver’s seat of her Prius and she slid into the passenger seat. Watching him squeeze into the little car was pretty comical and she would’ve laughed if she wasn’t so nervous.
They had decided to take her car because he didn’t want her car to stay out in the open and unprotected, just in case her stalker tried to tamper with it. Luckily, Bradyn didn’t live too far away. The inside of her small car was surprisingly spacious, but not for a man as tall and big as he was and for long distances.
He pulled into a detached garage and parked the car. Payton followed Bradyn as he walked up to the front door and unlocked it. When he swung it open, Payton gasped to see that it wasn’t a front door at all, but the entrance into a little garden oasis that led to the real front door. Tiny pebbles made up the garden floor with large round pavers that led the way to a little man-made stream and a flat wooden plank bridge made out of reclaimed two-by-fours that crossed it. Strategically placed lighting gave the garden a romantic feel in the fading early evening light as they walked to the real front door. Payton gaped the whole way.
Bradyn unlocked the door and swept his arm inside, gesturing for her to enter. His space was clean, modern and open-concept. Floor to ceiling windows lined the open kitchen and dining area that led out onto a glassed-in deck that overlooked some of the city from its vantage point on top of a hill.
He gave Payton the grand tour of the three bedroom house. His master suite was large and spacious. The bed was huge and looked so inviting, but Payton’s eyes quickly swept over it, trying not to focus too much attention on it. Or the picture of them entwined on top of it, rolling around in her head.
“Ye can take my bedroom and I’ll sleep in one of the spare rooms for the time being. I dinna want ye to feel uncomfortable.” Bradyn offered generously.
“No, Bradyn. I can’t take your bed. I’ll be fine in one of the other bedrooms.” Payton refused his kind offer. In reality, her head kept saying, “I want to share your bed with you,” though the words wouldn’t find their way out.
“Are ye certain?” His ice blue eyes penetrated her.
“Y-Yes.”
“Alright, then. I’ll put yer bag in the closest room to mine.”
Payton followed him into her new room. He placed her bag on the bed and then turned towards her. He slowly approached her, like she was a skittish animal that would run at the slightest provocation.
“I think I’ll breathe easier now that yer here,” Bradyn told her as he stroked a finger down the side of her face.
Payton just blinked up at him with wide innocent eyes and long fluttering lashes.
“I’m going to jump in the shower and then we can decide what we’ll do for the evening. Dinna go anywhere.” He grinned at her, knowing he had her right where he wanted her.
Payton smiled back and then fell back on the soft mattress once he walked out of the room. The sheer magnitude of his size and presence could fill up a room and send her heart into palpitations. Her body was always hyper-aware when he was nearby. And with the girls’ advice still leeching onto her thoughts, Payton decided something in that moment.
She took a deep breath, got up from the bed, and walked into his room. She heard the shower running and pictured him naked. Payton quickly shook her head to clear her thoughts when she started to hyperventilate. She paced back and forth in front of his bed, wringing her hands nervously.
She was so lost in thought t
hat she almost didn’t hear the shower shut off. She turned at the last minute and watched as the door to the en suite bathroom opened. It was like a scene from a movie. Everything was in slow motion. The door opened. Steam billowed out into the bedroom. The sexy male lead, wrapped in nothing but a towel and a smile walks out through the mist surrounding him. Droplets of water clings to his skin as they run down the rises and valleys of his muscular body.
Her mouth flapped open and closed. Her eyelids blinked slowly. Her brain short-circuited. The words Payton had practiced saying, stuck in her throat.
Sweet Thor, god of thunder!
“Is everything alright, lass?” Bradyn asked, holding the towel to his hips.
Payton opened her mouth again to try to speak, but her eyes journeyed down to the towel and what it protected from her curious eyes. What she found, lodged the words in her throat once more. The towel jutted outward in a clear indication that he was aroused. What she couldn’t get over was how far it tented out.
Payton swallowed and tried again. “I-I…uh…I…want…I-I need…” She cleared her throat, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath before blurting out what she needed to say. “I want to have sex!”
Nice, Payton. That was neither sexy nor romantic. What she’d planned on saying was, “I want to make love to you. I’m ready.”
Several frustratingly silent seconds passed by. Unable to stand it a moment longer, Payton cracked open one eye to look at Bradyn. Her breath caught as she literally saw his eyes smolder with need.
She wasn’t even sure how he could possibly be so attracted to her or so turned on. It wasn’t like she was dressed in some sexy negligee or something. She was in her black circle skirt with suspenders, gray vintage Wonder Woman t-shirt and her Vans. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail with her bangs out and her oversized glasses were slipping down her nose as usual. Absolutely nothing to inspire sonnets or an erection.