The Marx Brothers

Chapter Twenty One 'Threats'

"When you mingle with people like him, yes, I pay attention"

"People like him?" I questioned "Brody has shown me nothing but kindness, I don't have to worry when I'm with him, he makes me feel safe and comfortable, he doesn't have all of this.. baggage dragging behind him, ever since we met-" I signaled between us "Everything has been a giant mess, I nearly died Phoenix, Dylan threw me to the ground, kicked me, punched me, when he had his hands around my throat I genuinely thought I was going to die.. bleed out on the street alone and slowly.."

My words were agitating him, I could see it as his jaw clenched and his muscles flexed beneath his clothing

"Do you think I knew that was going to happen?" He lightly shook his head, his eyes forward away from me "do you honestly think I intervened that first night with him knowing that this was going to happen?" He argued back this time "It.. it  killed me to see you like that, to see you in hospital, broken, it took everything in me not to find that son of a bitch and give it back to him for what he did to you then and there Eden" he suddenly turned, his eyes instantly meeting mine as his expression held firm and honest

I was aching inside, I could feel all of the tension that had been building, boiling over. I was going to snap and I still wasn't sure if I'd scream or break down.

I snatched my phone up from the bench where it had been left and opened the message from my tormentor. I was doing it out of anger, but I couldn't stop myself.

"What are you doing?" Phoenix sighed, running his fingers through his thick hair

I began to type

'If you were trying to scare me, it worked, next time, just get it over and done with, I'm sick and tired of playing games you piece of -'

Phoenix peered over me, catching a glimpse of what I was doing

"Don't be an idiot Eden" He growled, his hands wrapping around mine over the phone "Give me the phone.."

I pulled against his grip "No, I'm settling this"

"No you aren't, you're making it worse because you're frustrated"

His grip was iron strong, but I attempted to pull once more. I wasn't going to let go, I was going to unleash my rage on this person who thought it was okay to enter my home and make me feel like I was the crazy one.

"You are going to make this worse than it already is, now let it go" He tried again, his body turned towards me, close

When I had fought with Grace as a child, the fight had always resulted differently, we were the same height, the same weight, the same strength. The end result varied. Fighting with Phoenix was like a toddler wrestling with a heavy weight boxing champion.

I pulled again, but he held on tighter, we had become as close as we had been whilst standing in his dining room after leaving Oscar, Jett and Grace during the awkward dinner to retrieve a cheesecake. It was unnerving and yet, I felt comfort in it despite the situation.

When he felt my hands begin to relax he slowly pried my fingers off of the phone, pulling it from my grip as I gave up.

Losing that battle, unable to vent my frustrations directly to my tormentor is when I lost it.
Without a release of anger my emotions boiled over. I broke down the only other way I could. I was weak and there was no point in trying to hide it anymore. My head dropped and I placed a hand over my face, sobs escaping.

Tears began to fall, my mind overwhelmed and unstable. I tried to hide my cries, I hide behind my hands and suppressed it as much as I could, but it was futile.