Chapter 11 A Stubborn Fly
Daniel’s POV
I couldn’t sleep.
Fuckit!! Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her hand coming at my face. I fucking heard the sound again. I felt the slap all over again.
I kept replaying the way that guy looked at me. The calm one. The one who talked like he already owned the ending of my story. The way he said her name without saying it.
My phone sat in my hand all night. I didn’t text her. I didn’t call. I told myself it didn't matter. I did not have to react to it, but by morning, I knew that was a lie.
I paced my apartment, shirtless, my coffee going cold on the counter. My girlfriend texted me twice. I ignored both. I couldn’t deal with her silly questions. Not when my head was loud like this. What if that guy was with her?
The thought hit me hard and fast.
What if that man, Jeffery wasn’t just some random creep? What if she’d already replaced me? What if she was lying to my face when she acted like she didn’t care anymore? She was dating someone else?
The image burned my brain. Her with someone else. Someone taller. Someone calmer. Someone who thought he could warn me off like I was nothing.
I laughed to myself, sharp and humorless.
She wouldn’t move on that fast.
She couldn’t.
But the doubt was there, crawling under my skin. Every time I thought about her, I thought about him too. About the way he stood in front of my house like he belonged there. About how he knew things.
"Fucking hell, Daniel. You can't just let yourself be replaced just like that. She loves you... she's trying to make you jealous"
By noon, the paranoia had teeth.
I checked her social media. Nothing new. No posts. No pictures. No proof.
That even made it worse.
I grabbed my jacket and my keys without really deciding to. My body moved before my brain caught up. I told myself I just needed to see her. Just to talk. Just to clear the air. But I knew that was a lie.
Her building looked the same as always. Too quiet. Too normal. I stood outside longer than I meant to, staring up at her window, imagining someone else inside with her. Imagining that guy’s voice in her space. Imagining her kissing him instead of me.
My chest tightened. I buzzed her apartment, ringing her doorbell. She did not respond. Fuck. She's with him.
I buzzed again.
Still nothing.
I was turning away when the door opened and she stepped out, keys in hand, bag over her shoulder. She froze when she saw me.
“Daniel,” she said. Flat. Guarded.
There it was again. That look. Like I was something she needed to get past.
“Who was he?” I asked.
Her brows pulled together. “What?”
“The guy,” I snapped. “The one you sent to threaten me.”
She stiffened. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I stepped closer. “Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not lying,” she said. “You need to leave.”
That word flipped something in me.
Leave.
Like I hadn’t been part of her life. Like I didn’t know her body. Like I didn’t know the way she used to breathe when she slept.
I grabbed her wrist before I thought better of it.
She gasped. “Let go of me.”
“Who is he?” I repeated.
She tried to pull away. I pulled her back instead, harder than I meant to. Her shoulder hit the wall behind her with a dull sound. Her head knocked back and she cried out.
For a second, I froze.
Then she pushed at my chest, panic in her eyes, and something snapped completely.
“You’re crazy,” she said. “Daniel, stop.”
My hand went to her neck, squeezing lightly. Feeling her pulse jump under my palm.
“You think you can just move on?” I hissed. “You think you can replace me and pretend I don’t exist?”
Her hands shook as she tried to pry my fingers away. “You’re hurting me.”
I pressed myself closer to her, crowding her. My grip tightened just enough to make my point. Her breath hitched. Her eyes watered.
Tears. She was crying.
And then something shifted. Not in her. In me.
I saw myself from the outside. Saw her pinned there. Saw fear where there used to be trust.
It should have stopped me. Instead, it made me angry.
"Quit acting like I'm the bad guy. Stop trying to make me the villain. All you have to do is say you love me back. Say it....Say it, Celene"
Her mouth opened and closed like she was about to say those words, instead she twisted suddenly, driving her knee up to my groin, catching me off guard. I stumbled back in pain, holding onto my manhood, just enough for her to slip out from under my arm. She didn’t run. She shoved me hard in the chest.
“Get away from me,” she said, voice shaking but loud. “If you ever touch me again, I will call the police. Do you hear me?”
I stared at her, breathing hard. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.
She slammed the door in my face.
I stood there, hands shaking, heart racing, fury and humiliation tangled together until I couldn’t tell them apart.
That guy’s voice echoed in my head.
This is your warning.
I laughed under my breath.
Too late.
As I walked back to my car, my phone buzzed. A missed call from my girlfriend. Another text asking where I was.
I didn’t answer.
All I could think about was Celene’s apartment door. The way it closed. The way she looked at me like I was already gone.
No.
If she thought I was done, she was wrong.
Very wrong.