Lyse tensed up and waited for what was sure to come, and even though she was an adult who did not live under the thumb of her abusive family she still found sweat break out on her forehead.
"Mrs Chadwick, are you okay?" A voice called out to Lyse's relief.
She relaxed her tense shoulders when she realized it was not her father or Brooke who had come in. Brandon came in and helped Sutton up then led her to the stairs.
The feeling of relief which had flooded Lyse's senses instantly turned to disgust and she picked up her documents from the ground where they had fallen to before turning away without acknowledging him.
"Wait, where are you going Lyse? Come back."
Lyse heard footsteps behind her and she walked even faster, trying to get as far away as possible.
Suddenly, her arm was grabbed and she was pulled into the broom closet where she was pushed against the wall.
"Why won't you listen to me!" He growled, his face barely an inch away from hers.
And even though it was dark and she could not see a thing, Lyse felt the warmth of his breath on her face and she turned away and strained away from his body to no avail.
"I miss you." He said softly, "I love you."
"Don't!" Lyse grunted, "Don't you dare use that word, you don't know what it means."
"I know that you are upset with me but I had no other choice, my mother was not going to let me marry you." He said almost tearfully as he leaned his forehead against hers and Lyse felt like throwing up.
"I don't love Brooke, I love only you and I know you love me too. We can still be together despite all of this."
Lyse was struck immobile by his words, she felt insulted by the fact that he believed that he could keep her on the side as his mistress while he married her own sister.
"Why would I ever want to be with a person like you? You don't deserve me and you never have, I hate you!"
The space went silent after her outburst and Lyse felt a hand go around her neck and suddenly tighten.
"You are not going to get away from me." He growled as he choked harder and Lyse felt her breath slowly seeping away.
She faintly heard the muffled sound of the front door opening and closing.
In a desperate move, Lyse seized the moment and sharply brought up her knee into his crotch and she was rewarded by the sound of him groaning at the same time that she was able to breath freely again as his hand dropped from her neck.
She pushed him away and ran out of the broom closet and ran towards the door and almost into Brooke.
"What are you doing here?" Brooke asked as she eyed Lyse suspiciously, taking in her frazzled state.
She had gotten a call from Sutton warning her that Lyse was in the house and Brandon had also come. Fearing the consequences of leaving the two of them alone in the same place had her running several red lights to get home as soon as possible.
Just as she was waiting for Lyse to speak, Brandon came around the corner looking as ruffled as Lyse and Brooke's suspicions grew.
"Brooke." Brandon said as he came around to Brooke's side.
"What happened?" Brooke asked, trying her best to appear calm even though she was seething.
"You should ask your fiancé." Lyse straightened her shoulders and did not spare a glance at Brandon.
"What is she talking about Brandon?" Brooke asked without taking her eyes off Lyse.
"Your sister was begging me to take her back but I told her that we are over and I am with you now. She could not take the rejection and she went ballistic."
Lyse scoffed and rolled her eyes at Brandon's ridiculous explanation, she had been running away from him so how did that explanation make any sense? She knew that Brooke would readily accept that explanation though and sure enough…
"When are you going to realize that you and Brandon are over? He deserves better and now he has better with me, stay away from him or you will have to deal with me!" Brooke said looking down her nose at Lyse.
"Oh, how am I now going to live without a cheating cowardly loser?" Lyse said with an exaggerated sigh and Brooke's face hardened at the mockery.
"Listen Brooke, you can believe whatever you want but trust me i don't want that man." Lyse added as she walked away.
Brandon's eyes followed Lyse as she departed and Brooke turned his face so that he was looking back into her enraged face and he smiled wryly and followed her as she stomped away angrily.
Brooke was not stupid enough to believe what he had said. She had seen how he had looked at Lyse, she could tell that he still wanted her.
And that she would never allow. She had thought that Lyse's humiliation at the wedding would cut her down to size but it seemed that more drastic steps would be needed in order to secure her man.
*
As Lyse ran to her car she found herself crying once again and she angrily wiped the tears off her face as she pulled out of the street.
She had promised herself that she would not waste another tear on him but it was easier said than done. The pain of the betrayal from the man that she had almost given the entirety of herself and she knew that she needed to work on getting over it.
When she got back to the apartment she was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to go under the shower and wash herself of the filth of Brandon touching her. It was weird that she was more disgusted at his touch than the one night stand she had.
However as soon as she opened the door, instead of calm and peace, James was excitedly jumping in front of the door