I never thought I would turn into a cold hearted person. I was always the one that made sure everyone else was happy first. I was never the one to worry about myself. Well time and pain has changed that for me. I may only be thirty years old but I have had my fair share of pain and life lessons. They have been some things I wouldn't wish upon anyone, not even someone that hurt me. So when I see him lounging in my chair, with his feet on my desk, in my office I begin to have flames shooting out of my head. I wanted to shove his feet causing him to tumble to the ground, but I didn't, however I could care less why he is here.

"Get the fuck out of my office. Get the fuck out of my life. Why can you not understand that?" My hands are flying all over the place.

"Babe... I need you." He says as he drops his head.

"Do not fucking call me babe. I'm not your babe. I want you to leave right now."

            He stands and comes around the desk, stepping closer to me. He reaches out for my left hand. "What the fuck is this?" He starts to scream, with every second getting louder. "Did that fucking asshole propose to my woman?"

With as much force as I had, I ripped my hand out of his, "Don't fucking touch me."

He reaches out again trying to grab me by the waist.  "I need you."

I step back further. "You never needed me. You just wanted someone you could walk all over. I'm not that person."

"Em. My mother died."

Karma's a bitch. I couldn't care. Even as much as I think I should, I can't. "Don't call me Em. You never earned the right to call me Em. You will get over it..." I said cold heartedly, "You need to leave."

He was calm for a moment then I saw the same look on his face that I had seen so many times. I knew it was coming. "CHERYL!" I yelled. "Get security in here, NOW."

Before I knew it, his hand came up across my face, my head flipped to the side and the burn under the skin started to become present. He had slapped me so hard that it stunned me for a second. I couldn't believe he had done it. I got strength from somewhere and I shoved him against the wall and my foot continuously pounded into his stomach, until he was hunch over on the floor. "You will never touch me again. You will never touch another woman again." Security was in there just moments after I started kicking him. They were pulling me away from him and pinning him on the ground, handcuffing him.

The room starts to spin around. I hit the ground from exhaustion. My entire body was shaking. I can't believe I just hit him. I can't believe he just hit me, again.

"Em. Oh my god. Em. Are you okay?" She asks as she runs into the room.

"I'm fine Tracey." I start to stand back up and she takes my hand to help me up.

"I'm so sorry. I went to go call security. I was only gone a minute." She is rambling, as I interrupt her.

"This isn't your fault. I knew he was capable of something like this. I handled it."

"I think you should go home for the day."

"I'm fine. There is plenty of work to get done." I see that a crowd has gathered outside of my office. "The show is over people, you can go now. Get back to work."

I sit down at my desk hoping to get my comfort zone back. Get my heart rate down and my blood pressure to be normal again. I was still high on adrenaline. Tracey left and returned with an icepack. She seriously was a great friend to me. But I think right now, at this very moment, I may hurt her. She called Justin. I can see him running down the hallway through the office.

"Where is she? Where is Emily?" He says frantically.

I step out of the office. "Justin. I'm right here."

I can hear him breathe for probably the first time since he got the phone call to get over here as he hugs me. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

"I'm fine. I'm sure my face will be bruised later but it will heal."

He pulled away from me, "He hit you?"

"Yes. Right across my face, but I'm fine."

"You can tell me that till your blue in the face, I'm not going to believe you."

"I swear to you, I'm ok. It's sore and a little red but it's something that will go away with time."

"I'm going to kill that mother fucker."

I took his hand, "Justin its over. Let's just forget about it."

"I'm sorry I can't do that." he says as he shrugs his shoulders.

"I will do everything I can legally but there isn't much we can do other than that."

"I can hurt him, make him feel more pain than he has ever felt before."

"Justin," I take his hand. "He isn't worth you going to jail or hurting your career for that. He just isn't worth it."

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked again.

"Justin. I'm fine."

"Let's go home."

"I have work that needs to get done."

"Then I'm staying here. I need to know with my own two eyes, or four with my glasses that you are ok. My computer is in your car where I left it. I will get it and be right back."

"Justin, you don't have to do this."

"Hush. You took care of me, now let me take care of you."

"That was different. You were really hurt."

"Don't argue with me Ms. Clarkson, you should know by now I will win."

I shook my head, knowing he would stay regardless of what I wanted so I might as well suck it up and give into him. "Fine."

"That's what I thought."

He leaves my office and runs down the hallway. I drop my head onto my arms on the desk, staring at the wood grain of my desk.

Damn, what a day. Not exactly how I thought it would end.

"He really does love you."

I slowly lift my head to see who was in my office trying to talk to me. I could see the dark hair and the short stature of a man standing in the doorway. After fully lifting my head I see it's Trace. "He does. I know that."

"You won't hurt him right? Because that man has had his heart broken so many times, he deserves someone that just simply loves him unconditionally..."

"I love him." I smile to myself just thinking about him, "We had our issue but it's been dealt with. I will marry him and I will spend forever with him."

"I like you. I think that you both are perfect together... I just want my best friend to be happy. I knew the moment I first heard him say your name that this was something different for him"

"I understand and I respect that. I would never want him to be in a relationship if he wasn't happy. Even if it was me he was unhappy with."

"And I won't lose my best friend..." he questions.

"I would never keep him from you. The only bad thing is you will have to put up with me... that may be your only challenge."

He winks at me, "I think I can handle you."

"Bring it on short man." I joked.

"You really are perfect for him. He already has you cracking the short jokes."

"You'll have that."

"Sorry about this morning. I shouldn't have just walked in. I promise I will knock next time... even though I have a key."

"If you don't knock, I don't know what you are going to see when you walk through that door."

He laughs, "Yeah I witnessed that first hand this morning... I can't imagine what I would have seen it I was five minutes earlier."

"No, you don't know want to know."

He was silent for a moment, "I'm glad he has you."

"I think that's a compliment so thank you. I'm glad that he chose to be with me. I'm a happy woman with him."
            The police had been here twice to get statements and to make sure everything was in line for the charges that needed to be filed. A restraining order had been issue for him to stay away from me; I just hope that it works.

The day seemed to fly by. Lunch came and gone and then the next thing I knew people were saying good night. I did get a lot accomplished in the hours that I was in the office. I wasn't however looking forward to stepping out of this office. I can see the paparazzi outside the office, just lined up waiting for myself or Justin to leave.

He sat in that office the entire day, working away on his computer. Typing then glancing up at me. Smiling and returning to his computer. He was so adorable sitting at his desk that he made with my filing cabinet. He seemed content just sitting there. Arguing with him wasn't going to get me anywhere so it would be pointless for me to do it.

When he started to get restless of just sitting in the office I noticed his fidgetiness and I could see the way he was constantly moving around on the chair, I knew he was ready to get out of here. The least I could do was leave the office at a fairly normal hour for him. He did spend the entire day in an office that he didn't have to be at.

"You ready to go?" I asked before closing my computer and putting it in the bag it belonged in.

"Yea, I'm ready. Let's go, I'm starving."

Shit, I forgot about dinner."Me to."

"You still want to go, don't you?"

"Yes. I'm not going to let him, dictate my life. He isn't going to ruin this day for me."

"Well let's go then."

And go we did. However we didn't get very far. The paparazzi were unbelievable. Just when we think we have seen it all, a mob of photographers surprise us ever more. I had forgotten to check my face before I left. I didn't want to see it the entire day but that was a mistake on my part. Justin didn't say anything so I guess maybe I assumed it was ok. I knew better. They started screaming questions at me. "What happened to your face? Who hit you? Has that rough sex gotten too much for you? When's the wedding? When did you get back together?" Flashes were none stop. I pushed my way through the crowd and finally made it to my car. Justin opened the door pushing back two guys that wouldn't budge. "Come on man. Let her get in the car." Justin says with a slight attitude. Finally he makes it over to the driver's side and sighs. "I hate this part of the job. This is the worst part of everything to do with this industry."

I dropped down the mirror in the car and for the first time I see a nice fist size bruise right across my cheek bone. How is it that a man knows exactly where to hit a woman and make it count, seems like something is wrong with that. It was not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. I expected a giant hand size dark purple mess. I guess I was slightly relieved but I felt embarrassed as I sit there staring at the mark he had left on me.

A single tear started to run down the exact side of my face, right over that bruise.