“Liz, it’s Ava. Open the door right now or I’m calling the cops.”
“Who the hell is interfering now?”
“Let me go. It’s my neighbor.”
Clint looked at his hand like he didn’t even realize he was holding her at all and released her.
“Liz, I’m not kidding,” Ava called.
She waited for Clint to step back before she dared to move. She could barely breathe, but managed to suck in a breath as she stepped to the side of the door and stood so she could keep Clint in her peripheral view.
“Oh for God’s sake, open the door.” Impatience and frustration infused his words.
Her hand shook on the knob, but she turned it and pushed the door open and away from her.
Ava locked eyes with her. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” she automatically replied.
“See, she’s fine. You can go,” Clint ordered.
Ava held Liz’s gaze for another moment, then glanced at Clint. “Maybe you two need time to cool off.”
“This is none of your business,” Clint bit out through his clenched jaw.
Ava stared at her, silently prompting her to speak up.
She found her voice, shaky as it was with anger and embarrassment burning through her. “I think she’s right. You should go. We’ll talk about this later.”
Everything changed about Clint in that moment. His eyes filled with apology and he came forward and cupped her cheek.
She jumped, but he ignored it. “Babe, come on, let’s talk. I’ll take you out to a nice dinner. You’ll have a glass of wine. Everything will be better.”
She brushed his hand away. She hated wine. And right now, she hated that he didn’t know that and kept pushing what he wanted on her. “It’s been a long day. I’m tired.”
“We’ll order in, watch a movie. Whatever you want, baby.”
This time she made her wishes clear. “I want you to leave.”
Clint stared her down, but Liz didn’t give in. “Fine. But if I find out you called him . . .”
“Leave now, or I will call the cops.” Ava held up her phone, 911 showed on the display. All she had to do was hit the call button.
“We’ll talk about this tomorrow.” That sounded like a threat.
Liz stepped back, indicating he should go. She needed time to calm down and gather her wits. Think. After all that happened with Tate and Clint over the last few hours, she simply couldn’t deal with anything more.
Some things were better dealt with at a distance. Clint’s volatile temper was one of them. She wanted him out of her condo and away from her.
Clint let out a frustrated sigh and brushed past Ava on his way down the stairs.
Ava stepped into Liz’s condo, closed the door, and locked it. “Are you okay?”
Liz crossed her arms and brushed her hands up and down them. “I am now. Thanks.”
“I had a boyfriend like him once. Started out great. He was sweet, loving, everything I always wanted in a man. Then one day a guy made a pass at me in front of him. A switch flipped. He became jealous. Obsessed with knowing where I was, what I was doing every minute of the day. At first, you think it’s cute he’s so interested. The first time he hurt me, it came out of the blue. We’d had dinner together at this cute little bistro. We got to the car to drive home, and wham! Out of nowhere he backhands me across the face. He said if I ever looked at another man the way I did to our waiter, he’d do more than slap me. I didn’t know what to say. I should have jumped out of the car and run for it. I stayed longer than I should have because he always had a heartfelt apology and spoiled me with flowers and gifts. It took me too long to see that they didn’t mean anything and didn’t make up for the bruises. It took a friend making me take stock of the relationship to see that I spent more days afraid of him than happy.”
“I don’t know what happened to the guy I thought I knew. It’s like you said, everything seemed fine until he saw me with a guy friend and he changed. I thought he was just afraid of losing me.”
“If he’s like my ex, losing you is not an option even if he needs to force you to stay.”
Liz didn’t think Clint had become that extreme. “I think he just let his anger get the better of him.”