Flight or Fight? An Eddie Munson Love Story

Chapter Sixteen

So far, there had been no further polaroids.

But I'd seen Chrissy, we both had; it had reinforced that I had been right to contact DC Axwell to ask him to do a background check because her behaviour was more than suspect and it was making me uneasy.

"You've been back here a lot lately. Please tell me he's not back."

I eyed my PT carefully, as we sparred and I sighed.

"I think he is, and I'm not taking any more chances. He attacked me a few months ago." I said, slightly out of breath.

"You're gearing up for another fight?" Jake asked.

"Wouldn't you?" I asked, stopping.

"You're doing exactly what anyone would. But please tell me that the police are aware or involved?" Jake asked.

"They're aware but the repercussions of me never pressing domestic abuse charges are biting me in the ass." I said.

"He doesn't care about the restraining order, he doesn't care about what he did, he just wants me back. And he thinks I'm just being crazy for not going back, so he's trying to coerce me. It's always been a mind game with him. Mind games and abuse. It used to work. I'm scared of him, sure. But not in the way that I used to be, if that makes any sense at all. He doesn't terrify me, he just scares me. I'm scared of the lengths he'll go to." I said.

"It's a different type of fear, I get it." Jake said.

"You wouldn't be preparing for a fight if you were terrified. You're scared of the unknown, because he's unpredictable. But he does have flaws. Flaws that we've worked on before. Remember what you told me? He always stepped forward before throwing a punch at you. He takes that step forward, you jab. Aim for his neck. Then you can make your move, you'll have taken him by surprise. He'll be stunned for around a minute but a minute is enough time for you to think of what to do next." Jake said, as I nodded.

"You have a lot of people looking out for you, and you've been honest with them. They're prepared too this time, so remember to keep them close." He added, with a knowing look.

***********************************

The next morning, we bumped into her again and it was increasingly frustrating and unnerving.

"Oh this has to stop." She said, chuckling.

"It can, if you stop following us. You gonna order this time? Or just stand in the queue with us?" Eddie barked, annoyed.

He pulled me closer to him as she smiled at us sweetly.

"It bothers you doesn't it?" She asked.

"You know something, I really respected how considerate you were despite the fact that I was honest about cheating on you. It was too good to be true, but why keep following us? What do you gain from this?" He asked her, as she chuckled softly.

"Your discomfort, the paranoia, it just makes me want to do this all the more." She said.

"Hey, if you're not ordering and you're just here to cause trouble you need to leave." Jay the barista instructed.

"I'm literally just standing here." She argued, innocently.

"What's in it for you?" I asked her.

"You know something Torvi, everyone around you thinks you're a saint, and a martyr for all the domestic abuse victims out there. Maybe if you'd done the right thing months ago, this wouldn't be happening." She said.

"I never told you anything about that. So how do you know about any kind of abuse?" Eddie asked, immediately locking down on her.

She faltered slightly and the crack in her facade was on blatant display to us all.

"Who have you been talking to?" I asked her.

"You did tell me." Chrissy said, seemingly panicked.

"See I know he didn't and he wouldn't have. We might not have gone about things in the right way, but there's no way he'd have told you anything like that about me. So how do you know?" I pressed, as she stepped back. I closed the gap again and stepped towards her, and she didn't seem as confident, suddenly.

"And what should I have done months ago?" I asked her.

She didn't answer me; she was like a rabbit in headlights.

"What should I have done, Chrissy?" I demanded, through gritted teeth.

The rage bubbled inside of me, and it was hard to push back down.

We were causing a scene, but I was beyond caring.

"For someone who's had a lot to say recently, and for someone who just can't seem to leave us alone lately, you've gone awfully quiet." Eddie added, angrily.

"You want everyone to think you didn't play a part in all of this, that you haven't been playing God all this time. You're not perfect Torvi, no matter how hard you try and play it like you are. Everyone around you has bought into your lies for long enough and there will be a time, really soon where the truth will come out. It always does. You've spent long enough being so deceitfully venomous—"

And that's when I cut her off.

That's when my hand connected with the side of her face, and her head ripped to the side with the sheer force of the slap I'd delivered, upon her calling me venomous.

I heard Eddie gasp behind me, and he scrambled to get a hold of me, but I was too far gone.

And with a finger pointed in her face and through gritted teeth, I berated her.

"I have just about HAD IT with people saying I'm some kind of snake." I spat, as she held her face in shock.

I could hear the gasps of people in the shop, and the cries of shock but I didn't care.

"I don't know who you've been talking to, but you know nothing. And when I find out who you've been talking to, I'll see to it that you get yours." I hissed, as Eddie pulled me back towards him.

"I told myself I'd never lay a hand on anyone, after what he did to me. But you.... You are poisonous. This goes beyond what we did, and I'll find out why. I have eyes on you too, Chrissy." I said.

She pushed past us, and stormed out of the coffee shop and that's when I regretfully turned to Jay.

"I'm so sorry....." I said, as Eddie held me to him.

"I'll have to report this to my manager, and I do have to ban you, but I'll explain and it'll just be for a couple of weeks." He said, sadly.

"No I understand...." I said.

"You don't have anything to apologise for." Jay added.

Regretfully and sadly, we left and Eddie consoled me outside as I sobbed into his chest.

I was bereft; I doubted I'd ever hit anyone in my life and now I was fighting with the guilt I felt because I couldn't stop thinking I was now just as bad as Travis.

"Don't even start thinking that way. You are not him. You're nothing like him." Eddie repeated, as he embraced me tightly.

"I know what you're thinking, and you need to stop." He begged.

"Let's get you home, you can't go to work today." He said.

"No, I need to." I said, wiping my face roughly.

"If I go home, I'll dwell on it. If I go to work, I can be busy then and not think about it. I feel terrible.." I added.

"I'll check in on you at dinner. I'll make sure your dad does too." Eddie said.

"I'm so sorry....." I whispered.

"Don't apologise to me, on her behalf. She's pushed us for days." He said.

"She knows something." He added.

"That's what's bugging me." I said.

"What did you mean when you said you had eyes on her?" Eddie asked.

And not wanting to tell him, for reasons I couldn't pinpoint, I lied instead. A lie, I had a feeling I would regret.

"It was just to scare her into stopping, that's all." I said.