Sorry, I know this is looong overdue, guys! But there is only an epilogue to go after this chapter, so if you're still with me, I hope you all enjoy chapter twenty...

Oh God Oh God Oh God...

"Open this door, Brie! It seems you've got the wrong impression of me, and you've been spreading it around a bit, haven't you?"

Matt's voice is so loud and menacing that I flinch even though I can't see him. I don't know what to do. I'm paralysed by shock. Or fear...

More banging. Oh God...

"It'd be a very good idea to let me in now, Brie. I think it's time I set you straight on a few things."

I don't know what it is about that sentence that snaps me out of it; but suddenly I'm opening the door.

"Get out of this building. Now."

And he just laughs in my face. "Not happening until you hear me out. So are you going to let me in?"

"Like hell I am."

The next thing I know is that Matt has grabbed me roughly by the shoulders, and I'm yelping out in pain.

"I know you've been telling your father lies about me – I've just got off the phone to him. So I think we need to sort this out, don't you?"

"Get off me!"

He won't let go of me, and all I can think is that I chose a really bad night to make Troy go home. Why why why...

"Let her go, now!"

Troy...

He's by my side in seconds, pushing Matt away with one smooth shove before quickly guiding me inside. But before I can shut the door, the police approach us.

I can't take in what they're saying. I'm too busy trying to hold myself together – although this isn't hard because Troy has yet to release me from the security of his arms.

One of the officers grabs Matt and handcuffs him, while the other is talking urgently to Troy. Then he tries talking to me.

"Please, not now," I hear Troy saying back calmly. And as my ex-husband is led away, he shuts the door just as I let go of him and sink to the ground.

"Gabi? Gabi!"

He thinks I've fainted, but it isn't that. I'm just not capable of keeping it together any longer. Everything happened so fast and now my head is spinning.

I make what can only be described as a strange moaning noise, and he picks me up and carries me to the sofa.

"I'm okay, Troy," I manage to croak out, purely to reassure him. "I just..." but I can't seem to finish my thought process, because my eyes are drooping. My head won't let up and I can't focus.

"I..."

"Shh, just rest for a bit, okay? I'll still be here when you wake up," he tells me softly. He presses a kiss to my forehead, and I drift off thinking that maybe when I wake up this will all have been a dream.

.HSM.

Oh damn. It wasn't a dream.

To be fair, it could've been a lot worse.

I woke up again at about 2am; and as promised, Troy was still with me. He hadn't even slept himself; just sat on the sofa and wrapped his arms around me. So when I opened my eyes, he noticed straight away.

"So how did you know to call the police? Did you hear me shouting?" I asked him in confusion. All I could remember was the police turning up within seconds of him.

"Gabi...it was actually your father that called the police. He called Matt to confront him about the business and when you were mentioned...well, your Dad got worried that he would come after you."

So my father finally saw the light – it's just a shame it took a scary situation to get him there.

Troy ran a hand through his hair as he talked. "I heard movement outside my flat and saw the police heading upstairs; then I heard you screaming and I just ran. That's why I beat them here."

I sighed and fell back against the sofa. "Well...thank you for looking after me. Again. Or should I say rescuing me - drama seems to be following me around a lot lately."

He picked up both of my hands and then seemed to register what I'd already known – that my hands were shaking again.

"Hey, I hope you don't think that's going to scare me away?"

I shook my head, but by now he knows me too well.

"Because just so you know, I'm quite happy to spend the rest of my life looking after you. Although I'm not planning on letting anyone get to you like that ever again. So much for the last time I promised you that - if only I had called the police like I..."

But I cut him off before he could really start blaming himself. "Troy, stop. This is not your fault. I should never have opened the door to him. I don't even know how he managed to get inside."

Troy let out a sigh. "The police knocked on the door while you were sleeping earlier. I went outside so we wouldn't wake you," he added when he saw my look of confusion.

"One of the officers stayed behind to question some of the neighbours. It turns out that a guy who lives on this floor was coming home from the pub and let Matt in when he got back to the building. Apparently Matt told him he was here to visit 'a friend'."

Great. 'A guy' coming back from the pub. I bet I know which one, too. The one who is about eighteen but only looks about twelve (in my opinion, anyway); and is often so drunk at night that he'd probably even let in a blatant killer without batting an eyelid.

Well, at least he remembered letting in an intruder.

Bloody idiot...

We both fell asleep again soon after talking it all through – Troy refused to leave me on my own again, so instead I made us move from the sofa and into my bedroom, where we crashed out straight away.

When I woke up a few hours later, I toyed with the idea of phoning Dani to say I couldn't go into work. But then the more depressing idea of sitting in the flat and dwelling on the drama that is my life was enough to convince me that actually, working would be better.

I assured Troy that I would be okay, and sent him off to his shift on the buses – his day started a few hours earlier than mine.

When he'd gone, I shocked myself by getting ready at a speed that usually took a miracle for me.

And then, with half an hour to spare before I had to leave for the bus stop - and that was something I thought would never happen – I forced myself to stop and sit down.

And that was when the phone rang.

"Gabriella? The police called to tell me what happened...are you alright?"

"Dad," was all I got out before I started sobbing.

.HSM.

Note to self: when your friends text to ask how you are, do not reply telling them your ex turned up at the flat last night and that the night ended with the police turning up.

Because this then results in a stream of endless phone calls. And it's not that I'm not grateful for the support, because I am. But I'm trying to have a normal day. I'm trying to forget about the fact that my shoulders are slightly sore with bruising.

"I'll bloody well kill him!" was Shar's reaction.

Ryan was less about the violence and more about the sympathy – for once, he had no reason to tease me.

But then Sophie's call was so sweet and well-meaning that it actually got me to stop feeling sorry for myself. After everything Tim's put her through, she's still sparing a thought for me.

"You see?" says Dani as I relay that conversation with Sophie back to her. "Some people don't have a Troy in their lives to look after them – you're a lucky girl."

It's nearly time to go home – we're just waiting for Mrs Rigby's set to dry. Even though I finished my last client an hour ago and the salon is spotless, I'm still here chatting to Dani.

"I know. But what if one day he gets fed up of having to protect me all the time? And I'm not just talking about nasty exes – I mean the everyday things like falling down stairs, and tripping over my own feet!"

"Hmm..." she replies, her face changing suddenly. "Well, I don't know Gabi, you're just so clumsy and careless – I think you're going to have to seek professional help..."

My jaw drops. "What did you just...? Dani, you're supposed to be my friend! You're supposed to tell me that..."

Hang on a second, is she laughing at me?

I narrow my eyes at her as she walks past me to check on Mrs Rigby's hair, and then I turn around.

Leaning very casually against one of the basin chairs is Troy.

"Did you put her up to that?" I ask incredulously as I walk over to him.

He smirks. "Actually, no. I just walked in and mimed at her to keep quiet. That little speech was all her. I can't believe you fell for it, though..."

Yes, well, I fall for anything, don't I?

Troy's face has that serious look on it again, the one I'm getting used to. I don't know if I'm in the right mood for him to broach the subject of what he might have overheard.

Ok. What he probably did overhear.

"Gabi, I am not going to leave you because you're clumsy," he tells me bluntly before taking my hand to lead me out the door.

Before we can move or I can comment, Mrs Rigby pats me on the shoulder.

"Hold on to that one, dear," she says, gesturing over to Troy. "He's a keeper."

Dani winks at me, Troy chuckles and grins at her; and as for me, I'm pretty sure I'm blushing.

"Thanks Mrs R – I will," I promise her as we wave our goodbyes and leave the salon.

He's still laughing as we get into his car.

"You do realise I'm going to get you back for calling me clumsy?" I tell him jokingly, in a hopeful attempt to avoid the main point of his statement.

He only hesitates for a few seconds – obviously he can sense that I don't want a deep and meaningful discussion right now. We can save that for tomorrow, when I'm going to have to talk to the police about Matt.

"Hey, can't you let me off?" Troy begs mockingly. "You heard the lady in there – I'm a catch!"

"That's not what she said!"

"Oh, really? Well, what would you say?"

I take a moment, as he starts the car and pulls away, to really look at him. But when I reply it's not just his looks I'm referring to.

"Yes, alright, you are a catch."

.HSM.

So Troy and I spent the evening with Sharpay and Ryan, who as my two best friends, had suggested they meet us for dinner and drinks, and to 'make sure I'm okay'.

Luckily they both immediately got on board with the 'I don't want to talk about it today' thing. So we all stuffed our faces, gossiped and got hideously drunk.

Well, okay. Shar and I got hideously drunk; while Troy was happy to be designated driver (God, I love him) and Ryan just sat there laughing at us. Some things will never change...

By the time Troy and I got back to his flat, I felt it to be a small miracle that I'd managed to walk up the stairs unaided.

And then I banged my shoulder on the doorframe.

"Arrrgh!"

You see now, soberly I would probably have been able to suppress the urge to scream out in pain. But I wasn't sober...

Before I could pass it off as a mildly clumsy moment, Troy had noticed me rubbing my shoulder and helped me to the sofa to sit down.

"You alright? You must have really whacked it hard..." He was gently rolling my cardigan down to check the spot I'd hit when he stopped mid-sentence with a gasp.

"Gabi, your shoulder is purple! They both are! Was this him, from last night? Why didn't you say anything before?"

As I've pointed out already, I was far beyond drunk – lying wasn't going to work for me.

"I was trying...I was trying to forget about it," I answered quietly. The truth was that, even though I knew they must have been bruised due to the pain, I hadn't wanted to look.

Troy looked like he wanted to give me a lecture, but then his face softened. "Oh Gab...come here," he said instead, careful not to aggravate my shoulders as he pulled me into his arms.

It was around this time my head started to pound; the high of the alcohol wore off considerably, and I just felt like crap. Troy got up to get me a glass of water.

...which I promptly dropped and spilled all over his carpet.

You see? See? I'm a disaster!

"I'm so sorry! God, maybe I should just go home, I'm embarrassing myself."

Troy picked up the glass – which was at least still intact – put it on the table, and ignored the puddle of water expanding on his lovely clean carpet.

"Gabi, it doesn't matter! It doesn't matter to me how many clumsy moments you have per day; and you certainly don't have to be brave and pretend you're fine when you're clearly not."

He sounded stern, and yet also strangely sexy; so I just sat there and listened.

"When I said I'd be happy to spend the rest of my life looking after you, I meant it – you're one of a kind. How can I possibly get fed up, when life with you will never be boring?"

There was this voice in the back of my head going, he really means it, Gabi, so stop doubting the poor guy.

"And do you know something else?" Troy asked as I tried to keep myself from swaying from being so light-headed. I did, however, shake my head at him without making myself feel sick.

"If it takes the rest of our lives together, I will find a way to get you to believe in yourself, Gabriella Montez. You probably won't remember this speech in the morning, and that's okay, because I've probably embarrassed myself...but hopefully you will remember that I love you, just as you are."

But do you know what? It's the morning, and I do remember. Everything.

In fact, I've been lying awake in bed going over the words for long enough now...

I think it's time to turn over and kiss him awake.