The walk home was long. And cold. And fucking horrible. But at least I had our argument to mull over in my head, repeatedly, to keep me occupied. Although we bickered a lot, this was new. A little more serious than the others - well...a lot more serious than the others, and it stung a lot more.
His emotional unavailability had reached a peak and, unfortunately, so had my attachment. A recipe for disaster - and disaster it was. At my own risk, I had tried to tell him I was in love with him, but he shut down and shut me out harder than he ever had. He had yelled at me to get out of his office but I didn't listen. I wasn't going to let him do this to us, to me. But after what felt like hours of yelling back and forth (but was really only a few minutes), he physically picked me up and carried me out of his office, shutting and locking the door behind him as he left me to go back to his work, for what I now think is the final time.
Home. That felt like no time at all. I fiddled with my shitty, clunky front door and walked in the house, throwing my stuff on the floor. Organization can kick rocks, this house can kick rocks, my life can kick rocks. I do need a hot shower, though.
I stepped into my subway tiled oasis of a bathroom and turn the shower water on as hot as it could go - maybe it would burn off the sadness and loneliness I feel. But probably not. After 20 minutes of nearly burning alive in the shower, I got out and picked up the sweatshirt I had set aside to wear to bed. I went to slip it over my head when I realized that it was the navy blue Yale sweatshirt he had given me on our third date. Fuck. It's HIS shirt. Fuck him. I need to throw it away and find something else.
I tossed the sweatshirt on the floor and slipped into an old nightgown, turn my fan on, and get into bed. The faster sleep arrives, the better.
--
"OPEN THE DOOR, NOW!", a voice bellowed, accompanied by banging on my front door. What the hell?
I rubbed my eyes and jumped out of bed to see what's going on at my front door. I don't know who has the audacity to be banging on my door at 2am, but I'm going to make sure it never happens again.
"OPEN. THE. DOOR."
I paused. Chills rolled down my spine. That voice...it was him. I had never heard him sound like that before. It was commandeering, full of demand, and almost scary.
I put my hand on the doorknob, undid the clunky lock, and opened the door just a crack.
"Declan. What do you w-" WHAM. He slammed the door open and forced his way inside. He stepped inside, silently, and closed the door. Now we were standing face to face in my entryway, inches away from one another. At this point, my nightgown was sliding off my shoulder and my pile of brown hair was a mess. He had never seen me like this before, and I shuddered at the thought of him seeing me at my worst.
He eyed my neck and collarbones, and looked me up and down. Something was different about the way he was looking at me now - he seemed as though he wanted to consume me. He eyed me like a lion eyes a gazelle, with primal, murderous desire. But was that a bad thing? I didn't know.
He looked into my eyes, stepping even closer to me, so that our bodies were almost touching. His voice was booming, and for the first time ever, interrupting him seemed like a bad idea. I took a step back to create some distance, but his large, veiny hands quickly found their way to my arms, and he pulled me even closer.
"You're MINE, Alyssa. You belong to me. Nobody else can have you, and I cannot live without you. Do you understand?"
I was speechless. Everything disappeared in that moment. Our argument from earlier, the arguments before that, me questioning his motives. It was all gone. This was the most open and direct he had been in his desire for me. The most sure I had felt that, yes, he wanted me just as badly as I wanted him.
Although I was silent, unable to so much as nod with understanding, he must've sensed my mental surrender. He brought his face to mine while his hands made their way down my back and under my ass, and he picked me up. Effortless for him, with his big, strong arms. For a moment, we didn't move, and it felt like a moment frozen in time... a moment that I wouldn't mind being stuck in for eternity. I wrapped around him for security. He'd never drop me, but just in case...