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Now or Never

Now or Never

Titel: Now or Never
Autoren: A.J. Bennett
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breaths, she told herself before going on. “Why didn’t you come over and talk to me if you saw me in the bookstore?”
    “You were too busy flirting with someone else.” He glared at her, his hands clenched into fists by his side, making Grayson hope they would stay where they were and not take a journey to her body.
    “You were laughing and tossing your hair over your shoulder. I saw everything.” He even got theatrical acting out the scene of her “crime”; all you could see was pure ferocity in his eyes.
    “Josh, this is really getting ridiculous.” Grayson tried to think back to whom she’d talked to, but she wasn’t there long that day. The café filled up quickly, and the noise level got too loud to concentrate so she left.
    “So you’re still going to deny it?” Josh shook his head. “Caught in the act, and you’re going to look me in the eye and lie?”
    “There’s nothing to lie about. If I was talking to anyone it was totally innocent.”
    “Innocent! You call giving someone your phone number innocent?”
    Okay, clearly he was off his rocker this time. She’d never given anyone her number; she racked her brain for some sort of explanation. Then her eyes widened as she realized what he was talking about.
    “I didn’t give anyone my phone number. What you saw was me copying down the date on when a book is coming out by an author I like, period. That guy you saw works at the store. Go on, check my phone, and you’ll see. It’s in my calendar. You should know your way around my phone by now.”
    Josh grabbed her phone from the coffee table and started scrolling through it like a mad man. After a moment, he growled, “Who the hell is Charles?”
    “He’s my uncle. You asshole.” Grayson reached for her phone. “You know what, Joshua? I can’t do this anymore. I’m done. We’re over.”
    Nevertheless, she wasn’t fast enough. Before she even got near her phone, Josh knocked her hand away and shoved her. She stumbled backwards into the wall, arms flailing. Her head hit the drywall with a dull thud, and stars burst in her eyes as she felt herself slowly falling to the floor.
    Something inside of Grayson snapped. She’d had enough. She scrambled away from him, putting distance between them as he stood watching her. She felt like a mouse waiting for the pissed-off cat to pounce.
    “Get out!” she shrieked struggling to her feet. She yanked the ring off her finger and threw it at him. “We are done!”
    Josh charged her and grabbed her by the throat with his hand. He slammed her against the wall. “We’re not done until I say we’re done. Understand? Got me?”
    Grayson couldn’t breathe—her feet kicked at the air, and all of her weight settled against his grasp on her throat. He had her pinned with one hand. As she clawed at his grasp, desperate for air, she realized she didn’t have a prayer of winning against him. He was bigger and stronger.
    She struggled to nod, tears running down her cheeks. She would have said anything at that point to get his hands off her before he choked her to death.
    Josh dropped her to the floor, and like it always did, the switch flipped back again. Her anger and determination disappeared in the wake of his abuse.
    Pulling her knees to her chest, she wrapped her arms around them and willed herself to disappear. If only life were that easy.
    “Grayson?” Josh’s voice cracked as he fell to his knees in front of her. His hands were gentle now as they brushed over her arms and neck. She didn’t meet his eyes, but she knew there would be tears there.
    “Grayson, I’m sorry. Oh my God. I didn’t mean it. I just get so crazy thinking about you with anyone else. It’s only because I love you so much. Can you please forgive me?”
    Grayson rubbed her neck, and then wiped the tears off her cheeks but didn’t answer or look him in the eye.
    He took her gently by the arms and helped her to her feet. His voice was hoarse in her ear as he embraced her. “Please don’t leave me. I’ll die without you.” He kissed her forehead. “My life is not worth living without you.”
    As always, he sounded so sincere.
    All she could think about was how much she hated him, and how terrified she was that she would become like one of the girls on an after-school special—killed by a jealous boyfriend. How had she allowed this to happen? She used to be so confident and happy. Josh had slowly stripped away the person she had been, and she hated herself for
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