Ashley
I'm here. Finally.
This is good. Maybe.
I take my bag and head to the baggage claim area. That's where Jake said he would meet me when I sent him a text about my flight late last night. I hurry there, even though I don't have any baggage to claim. My overnight bag is with me, slung over my shoulder. It's not much, but it's enough.
I open it a little and search through it for my purse, then look through that for my phone, but it's not there. Maybe it fell out. I need to call my mom, though. I can't right now. There's too many people around me and I can't just stop or they'll run me over. I hurry with the surge of the crowd while zipping my bag up, heading to the baggage claim area.
I see him when I get there. It seems like a long walk, but it also seems like I'm there in an instant. Jake sees me, too. He smirks as I approach. I stop just short of standing directly in front of him. There's still a good amount of distance between us. I hope it'll stay like that. It doesn't. He closes the gap and comes up right next to me.
"Glad you showed up," he says. "I thought you might have bailed. I didn't want to have to do anything drastic."
"You won't tell anyone, right?" I ask. "Jake, promise me you won't. If you ever cared for me at all, then you won't."
He gives me a weird look. "What's with the melodrama?" he asks. "This is about sex, plain and simple. That's what it's always been about, but you were too prude before. If this is the only way I can get what I've wanted for a long time, then that's it. Don't try to make it into something it's not."
"We did have sex, though," I say. "We did a couple of times."
"Yeah, and you cockblocked me more than a dozen times, Ashley. Not to mention you always made excuses, like having to do homework or go help out your professors. I wouldn't even really call what we did dating. We went on a few dates that were barely dates, and you gave it up twice, then I dumped you."
"Are you always this much of a dick?" I ask him. Maybe that's bold of me, but I don't care anymore. "I used to think you were nice. I don't know how."
"I do," he says. "Because you don't know any better. You're smart, I'll give you that. You've got no common sense, though. You can't even see when someone's just being nice to you to try and get what they want. You're intelligent, but you're an idiot, Ashley. I bet that's how your precious little Ethan took advantage of you, too. That's really messed up, Ashley. I can't believe you did that."
"He... he did not!" I say. I try to slap him, but he grabs my hand and stops me. "He did not. Ethan didn't take advantage of me. He's not like that."
Jake squeezes my wrist hard. It hurts. He pulls it down and drags me away to somewhere quieter. I stumble and scramble to keep up. I want to scream at him, but he's right. I can't cause a scene. He's still got leverage over me. I hate him, but I need to figure out how to stop him first. I need to find a way to stop this, and...
We're in a quiet, secluded corner. I don't think anyone can see us here. Jake throws my wrist down, then sneers at me.
"You really are that stupid, aren't you? I thought maybe I was just that good at manipulating you, but you really are that stupid," he says. "Huh."
I start to say something, but he claps his hand over my mouth and stops me. Then he pushes me against the wall. His body presses close to mine and his other hand grabs at my breast, squeezing it through my t-shirt.
"You had to wear the ugliest thing you could find, didn't you?" he asks. "You think that'll stop me? I've seen you naked before, Ashley. You're going to be naked again soon, too. You're going to be naked on my bed and I'm going to fuck you as much as I want for the next two days. If it makes you feel better, you can even call me brother while we're screwing. How's that sound? Good?"
I shake my head and squeeze my eyes shut. I try to speak, but his hand is on my mouth still.
He smirks, wicked, and pulls his hand away to let me talk. "You have something to say?" he asks.
"You can't do this," I say. "You can't do this to me."
"I can't? Why not?" he asks, mocking me. "You're the one who came here, Ashley. I'll stick to my part of our bargain, but you're the one who came here. We had a deal. Who exactly do you think is going to stop me?"
I don't know. No one. Anyone. Me? I can't, though. Jake is stronger than me. I might be able to overpower him for a second, but then what? If I make a scene in the airport, he'll just pull his phone from his pocket and two seconds later he'll have sent the text messages to my mom and stepdad. And then what? I'll be stuck here, trapped and alone, with nowhere to go. I can go home, but will I even have a home to go back to? Will everyone hate me? Will my mom hate me and will Ethan hate me and...
"Yeah, who the fuck is going to stop this prick? Oh, shit, I guess that would be me, asshole."
Um... huh?
Jake lets go of me. Sort of. He doesn't let go of me so much as someone pulls him away from me. I blink and look up just in time to see a powerful fist collide with Jake's jaw. My ex-boyfriend crumples to the ground immediately, falling flat. He twitches and lays there for a second, but then finds himself and starts to sit up. He looks groggy and almost drunk, but he manages to sit.
It's Ethan. Ethan is here? Ethan punched him. What's Ethan doing here? How is he here?
Ethan grabs Jake by the front of his shirt and pulls him up, staring down hard at him.
"You fuck with her again, I'll kill you," Ethan says. "Understand, loser?"
Jake tries to talk, but it's like his jaw doesn't work. He manages to open his mouth after three tries.
"Who the hell are you?" Jake says, his words slurred.
"You don't need to know who I am," Ethan says. "You even so much as look at my sister the wrong way again, and I'll send you to the ICU. Nah, scratch that. If you even look at her number in your phone the wrong way, I'll know, I'll come find you, and I'll kick your fucking ass. Got it?"
"Fuck--" Jake starts to say. Ethan throws him to the ground and tosses him away, though. Jake breathes out the last word before the air is knocked from his lungs. "--you..."
Then Ethan grabs me. He takes my elbow in his hand and pulls me away from the isolated corner we're standing in, then drags me back to the crowded parts of the airport.
"Holy fuck, what the hell were you thinking?"