What's a Girl to Do? (Season 4)

Chapter Ten: Until The Sun Goes Down

I know that it would be unwise to show my fear; despite the fact that I'd already bested Josh once, he didn't know it was coming. However, there were no cameras around to stop me, but I knew I had to attempt to play it cool unless he became completely unhinged. Standing there, I knew it was my turn to speak, but I found myself in momentary shock at the notion that Josh was standing less than a foot away from me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Come on, baby," Josh replied, stepping closer to me, and tucking a stray bit of copper hair behind my air. "Don't be that way."

"Don't touch me!" I said, stepping away from him. "And I am not your baby. I never was your baby, and I will never be your baby."

Josh smirked, stepping towards me then and yanking me, hard, by the arm. "You don't get to talk to me that way, Murphy."

Without hesitation, I backhanded him across the face. "Yeah, I do," I said, rolling my eyes as he let me to go clutch at his cheek. "It's you who doesn't get to do what they want. Stop talking to me and touching me, Josh. I'm done."

"Murphy—"

"No," I said, raising my voice. "I told you almost a year ago that we were done, and you seemed to accept that, because you were fucking Chrissy. Now leave me alone!"

Josh reached out then before I could slam the door, grabbing me tightly by my arms and slamming me up against the frame. "You think you're so tough—but you're not!" he said through his teeth, and I got the smell of cheap beer filling my nostrils. "You're nothing without me Murphy, nothing..."

"Get. The fuck. Off of me!" I said, chopping the words up, glaring up at him, as the feeling of pure revulsion flowed through me. "Get your hands off me. Now."

Josh stared down at me then, his eyes unemotional. "I could do it," he said, squeezing my arms tightly. "I could just snap your neck and be done with it..."

"You won't," I said, struggling against him. "Get off me!"

Josh laughed, throwing his head back, the cruelty escaping his lips. "I think I'll take what's rightfully mine first..."

"Nothing I have is yours," I said through my teeth.

"Everything you have belongs to me!" Josh retorted, shoving my inside then, slamming the door behind the two of us. He tossed me to the ground, but before I had the opportunity to react, he was on top of me then, tearing at my clothes, trying to get them off me. "Hold still, Murphy!" he growled at me. "Quit fighting it—"

"No, I won't!" I shouted, the rage filling me completely then as I attempted to kick out at him, knowing full well that if I did go full-throttle, then Liam and Iana could come running to see if I was okay, and I couldn't have that. I needed to keep them safe, which is why, as Josh ripped my blouse apart and started on the zipper of my jeans, that I did what I did. With the last ounce of my strength, I managed to shove him off me as I dove for the living room then, making a grab for the baseball bat, wrapping my fingers around it as I turned around, swinging it, and clocking him right in the head.

Josh's knees buckled then, blood coming out the back of his skull then as he fell to the ground without hesitation. He didn't even take three steps towards me as I grabbed the bat, and I found myself staring down at him then. Dropping the bat, I turned him over, checking for a pulse, and was relieved when he had one.

The back door opened then, slamming behind whoever had come inside then, and I scrambled to my feet. Turning, I stepped back into the living room, seeing Ian as if for the first time, and he gave a shocked expression to how I must have looked. Lowering my eyes, I saw that Josh had truly ripped open my blouse, and its individual buttons littered the floor around us. My breasts were still in my bra, thankfully, but there were scratches—angry, red lines—up and down my stomach, and a couple of them had drawn blood. My head was throbbing a bit from the impact of Josh throwing me to the ground, and, as I held the front of my blouse together, Ian immediately stamped towards me, worry in his eyes.