An Unexpected Confession

Tuli

He was blocking the doorway, leaving me with no escape.

“Have you lost your mind?” I shot back. “I need to tell Mr. and Mrs. Jones about this. Move, Bradley.”

I tried to push past him, but he grabbed my arms and shoved me back. My head smacked against the wall, causing my vision to blur with black spots.

I touched the back of my head. No blood, but panic set in as the spots faded and Bradley locked the door behind him.

“I’d really prefer if you called me Brad,” he said. “But it doesn’t matter now. You’ve rejected me one too many times, and I’m done hearing no.”

He moved closer. I tried to sidestep him, but there was nothing within reach that could be used as a weapon.

Bradley cornered me, his arms on either side of my head.

I had to think fast. He leaned in to kiss me.

I waited for him to get distracted, shuddering as one hand slid down over my pants and the other worked on unbuttoning my blouse.

As soon as my cleavage was exposed, he bent to kiss my chest. That’s when I kneed him in the groin.

He yelped and clutched himself, giving me the chance to drop to my knees and crawl past him. I made it to the door and unlocked it.

I was about to leave when I noticed a pair of feet in front of me, clad in brown loafers. Something about those loafers seemed familiar.

I looked up to see an angry Jayce.

“Tuli!” He growled, pulling me to my feet. “Did this asshole touch you?”

~Oh, shit~. “Jayce, I—”

I stopped. He was turning red with rage. That’s when I realized he was looking at my unbuttoned blouse.

Everything blurred as Jayce pushed past me and tackled Bradley to the floor.

I stood there, stunned, as Jayce continued to pummel Bradley. I heard a gasp and turned to see Mrs. Jones standing behind me, her hands over her mouth.

After a moment, she looked at me. “I’ll call the police.”

“Wait, don’t,” I tried to stop her, but she was already dialing.

~Shit~. As she waited for someone to pick up, I tried to explain. “Bradley tried to force himself on me. The guy beating him up was just trying to save me.”

She nodded in understanding before speaking to the person on the line. Carefully, I approached Jayce, who was still attacking Bradley.

“Jayce.”

He flinched, pausing to look up at me.

“Stop before you get yourself into more trouble.”

Time seemed to stand still as Jayce stared at me. I could see the worry in his eyes. There was another emotion there too, but I couldn’t identify it.

I didn’t have time to figure it out, as he suddenly stood up and pulled me into a tight hug. I stood there, surprised for a moment, before wrapping my arms around him.

I don’t know if it was the adrenaline leaving my system, but my eyes began to burn and water. I cried into his chest, and he stroked my hair, trying to soothe me.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered in my ear, pulling me tighter against him and letting me cry.

The last two times I had almost been assaulted, I was scared, but not as scared as I was today.

Maybe it was because someone had actually managed to touch me.

Or maybe it was because I was sober.

Or it could have been the fact that I was alone in the bathroom with my coworker, where no one would have seen what he was about to do to me.

Either way, I was terrified that I was finally going to be raped.

Liza hung up with the police and told Jayce to take me to the break room while we waited for them to arrive.

He did as she said, and before I knew it, he was making me sit down and went to make me a cup of tea.

I had stopped crying by then, and was shaking and rubbing my eyes as he slid the cup across the table to me.

He pulled a chair up next to mine and sat, watching me as I took a sip from the foam cup.

When I set it back down, I looked at him. “How did you know where I worked?”

“I didn’t,” he responded coldly.

I shivered. “Then why are you here?”

“Shouldn’t you be asking other questions? Like how I figured out you were almost raped in the fucking bathroom?”

I flinched. He continued.

“I came across this store on my way to work. I wanted to buy a new book to read, so I stopped by. I needed to use the restroom, and then I heard suspicious noises. I was about to bust the door down when you came crawling out. I was already seeing red when I saw it was you. Then I noticed your blouse, and well, you know the rest.”

“Okay, I have a question,” I said, starting to get annoyed with his tone.

“Shoot.”

“Why do you sound like you’re mad at me?” I asked, looking him in the eyes.

“I’m not mad at you,” he replied, his voice and gaze softening. “I’m mad at that motherfucker for touching you.”

I sighed in relief. For a moment I thought he knew about all the times I had rejected Bradley’s disgusting advances. “What the fuck?” I heard Jayce snap.

I was pulled from my thoughts. “Did you just say that the bastard has tried to have sex with you before?”

~Fuck, did I really just say that out loud?~

Jayce’s voice seemed to get louder with every word he spat. “How long has this shit been going on?”

“Uh,” was all I could muster up.

“I asked you a question.”

“Well,” I stuttered, “six months?”

“Fuck!” he exploded, jumping up from his chair.

I winced, watching his fists clench in fury. I was scared he was going to hit something.

Of all our past fights, I’d never seen him this livid. It was terrifying. He spun around to face me.

“Why the hell didn’t you tell your boss?” he roared at me.

“They kind of already knew.”

“And they didn’t do a damn thing?!”

“They wanted to, but I told them it wasn’t a good idea. They couldn’t afford to lose an employee right now,”

My voice was shaking, stuttering as I tried to explain.

He grabbed my shoulders. “Tuli, are you out of your mind? They should’ve fired that jerk the second he crossed the line with you!”

He released me, running his fingers through his curls, which I noticed were getting longer. He looked at me again.

“You really are a damsel in distress. This is the third time you’ve been assaulted, do you get that? The second time you were nearly raped.”

“That’s not my fault,” I mumbled, finally finding some control over my voice.

“Of course it’s not your fault. But you don’t seem to grasp the gravity of the situation until it’s staring you in the face. You thought you could slap that guy without considering the consequences. Your Italian friend knew you were too drunk to defend yourself. Then you rejected your coworker’s advances, but didn’t let your bosses handle the situation. What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking about how much their store means to them,” I retorted, “and he hadn’t done anything wrong until now.”

“Their store doesn’t matter more than your safety,” he spat. “You weren’t thinking straight if you really thought he wouldn’t do anything.”

“I don’t need to hear any more of this,” I muttered.

I stood up to leave when I heard him say, “Fine, let yourself get raped next time.”

Now it was my turn to see red. I spun around and, without warning, slapped him across the face.

The look on his face was priceless, but I only noticed it for a split second. I was too damn angry to enjoy his surprise.

“I can’t believe you’d say something like that to me,” I said, my voice shaking. “Thanks for showing me how little you care.”

I turned to leave, but he grabbed my wrist and spun me around to face him.

Before I could process what was happening, his lips were on mine.

When the shock wore off, I kissed him back, letting him cradle the back of my neck. His other hand found the small of my back, pulling me closer.

These kisses weren’t as passionate as his usual ones.

These kisses were gentler, sweeter. He didn’t even try to slip his tongue into my mouth. He just kept pressing his lips to mine, again and again.

I didn’t understand why these kisses felt so different. Not until he pulled away.

Again, he ran his hands through his hair, looking like he had something to say but didn’t know how. I waited, touching my now swollen lips.

It felt so strange. I kept touching my lips until he finally spoke.

“Tuli, remember, I had something to tell you the night I got stuck at your place.”

He waited for me to nod.

“I couldn’t bring myself to tell you what was on my mind. When your friend interrupted, I thought I was off the hook, thinking you’d forgotten, and I could avoid bringing it up again. But it’s been nagging at me for a week.”

He came closer and cupped my face in his large hands.

“This is going to be the dumbest thing I’ve ever done,” he muttered, looking into my eyes.

I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t move. I could barely breathe. I had a feeling I knew what he was about to say, but I kept denying it.

I thought my heart was pounding so loud I wouldn’t be able to hear him. But his words came through loud and clear.

“I love you.”