Chapter Ten
Brandon's lip curled as he leered down at Sami, who was now fully awake and wondering what Brandon Walker was doing in her apartment. She pushed her blankets to the foot of her bed and continued to gaze at Brandon inquisitively. The slightly offended expression on Sami''s face did not go unnoticed by Brandon, who shoved his hand into the pocket of his jeans before replying.
"I came here to tell you to leave me alone." Brandon finally answered, "Belle told me that you've been trying to get me back. It's never going to happen, Sami. Stop trying to ruin my life. It's your fault I came back to this town in the first place."
"You don't know what you're talking about." Sami said icily, realizing this was the first time she had actually spoken to Brandon since he had returned, "I do not want anything to do with you."
"You're lying." Brandon shot back, "You convinced Nicole to get me back in Salem. You've been scheming against me right from the start, haven't you?"
Sami nodded her head, "In a way, I guess I have been."
Brandon smiled triumphantly, "I knew I was right. But I just wish you would get it through your head that I don't want to be with you. I hate you and what you did to me is unforgivable."
"That's nice." Sami said sarcastically, "Why don't you shut up so I can finish what I was trying to tell you?"
Brandon fell silent and Sami edged onto the end of her bed, farther away from him, "You were part of my scheme, but not in the way you think you were. I was using you to get someone else. I got Nicole to bring you back to Salem so I could ignore you and show this person that I loved them and I didn't care about you anymore. And it almost worked."
"Almost?" Brandon's face darkened as he stepped towards her, "But of course it didn't work because this person must have realized that he didn't want to be with you. Maybe you''re just unlovable."
"I am not." Sami whispered, her voice lacking conviction. She thought about Lucas and how he wouldn't even let her try to explain to him what had happened. Maybe he didn't believe in her or trust her, meaning he couldn't love her.
"You're also a manipulative bitch." Brandon continued, stepping towards her ominously, "Did you really think I was going to let you get away with using me to get another guy? No one treats me like that."
Sami laughed nervously, "There's nothing you can do. Now get out of my apartment or I'll scream."
"When I get through with you, you won't have the strength to scream." Brandon promised her, his eyes black and fierce. He was pissed. And Sami knew from experience how out of control he could get when someone made him angry.
She clenched her fist and prepared to make contact with his face but Brandon quickly took hold of her, forcing her down onto the bed.
"Get off of me." she commanded, kicking him in the leg. Brandon didn't even wince, instead her pressed her further down into the bed. He decreased the pressure on her wrist and prepared to hit her. Sami saw his closed fist coming at her and instinctively rolled over, landing on the floor beside her bed with a soft thud. Brandon went over to her and gritted his teeth.
Sami was shaking slightly from fear. She had heard the dull noise Brandon''s fist made when it hit the bed. He had been planning on hitting her hard. And he wasn't giving up. He had pretty much cornered her and there was no way she could run away from him.
"Lucas!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, "Lucas, help me!"
"Shut up!" Brandon whispered harshly, covering her mouth with his palm. Sami looked away from him, out into her living room. She waited for Lucas to come through the door. But he didn't.
Brandon grabbed a clump of Sami's hair and yanked her head backwards so he was looking into her frightened eyes. He suddenly felt the burning sensation of her teeth digging into his hand and pulled his hand away, yelping angrily. Sami took a deep breath and yelled Lucas' name one last time.
"You broke the skin." Brandon glared at her, then stood up and kicked her hard in the ribs, "You are going to pay for that, you whore." he kicked her in her ribs a few more times. Sami closed her eyes, trying to roll out of his kicking range. He brought his foot back to kick her again, planning to kick her harder than he had the last three times put together when someone crashed through the door to the bedroom.
Sami lifted her head and watched as Lucas hurried over to Brandon and shoved him away from Sami, causing Brandon to topple over the other side of the bed. Brandon stood up and Sami watched as he quickly brought his fist into contact with the side of Lucas' face. Lucas staggered backwards a little bit, then regained his composure and tackled Brandon to the floor. Sami could hear the sound of the punches but she was remained frozen on the floor. She pulled herself onto the bed just in time to see Lucas pull Brandon to his feet and slam him against her bedroom wall.
"Get out of here." Lucas ordered Brandon, who stumbled out of the bedroom. Lucas followed him out of the room, making sure he left the apartment before going back inside to see Sami. He went into her bedroom and sat down next to her on the bed.
"Did he hurt you?" Lucas asked gruffly, not seeing any signs of damage on her face.
Sami shook her head, "My ribs might be a little banged up but other than that, I'm fine." she noticed that Lucas' eye was getting swollen from Brandon's first punch. She gently reached up to brush her fingers along the swelling. Lucas flinched involuntarily, not so much from pain but from Sami touching him. Sami stood up.
"Don't move, I''m going to go get you some ice." she told him, leaving him sitting on the edge of the bed. She returned a minute later, holding an ice pack. Lucas tried to smile at her, but he had the feeling the grimaced instead. He put the ice over his eye and got to his feet.
"I guess I should leave now." he muttered, starting to walk away. But Sami wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him back onto the bed before he could leave the room. Lucas stared at her in surprise, then tried to pry her arms off him.
"Sami, let go of me." he said, unable to escape her desperate embrace.
"No." she said firmly, "I'm not letting you leave until you let me tell you something."
"Fine." Lucas sighed reluctantly, not seeing any other way of getting out of her apartment any time soon.
"I did get Nicole to bring Brandon back to Salem." Sami confessed, feeling Lucas stiffen at those words, "But not because I wanted to be with him. I was trying to prove to you that I loved you."
"And how did Brandon help you do this?" Lucas questioned her.
"Because you didn't believe me when I first told you I loved you." Sami tried to explain, "I thought if I got Brandon back in town, signed the annulment papers, then ignored him and only paid attention to you, then you would understand how I felt."
"Sami....." Lucas'' voice trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. Her explanation had left him at a complete loss for words.
"It was never a game." Sami added, "What happened that night...... I never would have gone through with it if I didn't love you. I would never put myself through that. I thought you knew me well enough to be able to understand that."
Her eyes were filling up but she continued anyway, "And yesterday and today were the worst days of my life." she cried softly, "Because I thought I had lost you. I thought you were never going to speak to me again and that I'd never have the chance to tell you the truth."
"Sami, I'm sorry." Lucas wrapped his arms around her, finally returning her embrace, "I should have given you a chance. I acted like a-"
"It wasn't your fault." Sami stopped him from finishing his sentence, "I heard what happened at Salem Place with Belle. You must have felt so horrible. I can''t believe Belle would do that to you. But I still hope that can forgive me."
Lucas kissed the tip of her nose affectionately, "There's nothing to forgive. I'm the one who should be apologizing. I was just trying to spare us both some feelings because I thought you didn't really care about me. So I pushed you away. I''m sorry."
Lucas could feel her tears dampening his bare chest as he held her. Sami couldn't bring herself to stop crying now that he was holding her. Her vision was so blurred by her tears that she didn't realize Lucas was going to kiss her until she felt his lips press gently against her own. She closed her eyes and deepened the kiss, allowing his tongue to probe deep into her mouth intimately. Her eager fingers ran over every inch of his muscular body. It had only been two nights since they had last kissed but it felt like a lot longer to Sami. When they separated, both of them were breathing hard.
"I love you." Sami told her as soon as she was breathing normally again.
"I know." Lucas smiled, fondling her face in his hands, "And I love you too." Their lips met again, their kisses continuing to ease away any pain of the last two days.
Sami, Jan and Nicole all jumped out of Brady's car and Sami sighed with relief when she saw the two familiar figures standing near the plane.
"Good, we didn't miss them." Sami unwrapped the box and pulled out the pie, her eyes glinting mischievously, "We better hurry before they get on the plane."
Shawn stared at the pie in confusion, "What are you going to do with that, Sami?" he asked.
Lucas and Sami shared a knowing smile. Lucas knew exactly what Sami planned to do with the pie, so did Nicole and Jan. In fact, Lucas had been the one who had given Sami the idea.
"I'm going to give Belle a present." Sami told him innocently, "I hope she likes blueberry pie." with that, Sami, Jan and Nicole all rushed over to Belle and Brandon, who were getting closer and closer to the plane. The three women caught up to Belle and Brandon. Sami cleared her throat loudly, causing both Belle and Brandon to turn around.
As soon as Belle was turned around, Sami flung the pie at her sister. It hit Belle square in the face, the blue filling oozing out of the pie and dripping onto Belle's white designer jacket. Belle immediately began crying and turned to Brandon for comfort.
"Look what they did to my jacket." she wailed, not seeing the disgusted look on Brandon''s face, "And my nose really hurts. I think she broke it."
"Dammit, Sami, why did you have to do that?" Brandon shook his head angrily, "Now I won't be able to enjoy her as much. There's nothing sexy about a broken nose."
Sami smirked at her ex-husband, "Have a nice life with that bitch, Brandon. If you were anyone else, I might feel sorry for you. But the two of you deserve each other."
Sami, Jan and Nicole all walked away but were still in earshot when Brandon told Belle she couldn't go clean her face because if she did they would miss their plane. Sami burst out laughing and Nicole and Jan started laughing along with her.
"I can't believe she's finally gone." Jan exclaimed gleefully, "Now that she's left with Brandon to got live in India with him, Shawn has to forget her. Then he'll be all mine."
Sami broke into another huge smile, unable to stop the feeling of immense happiness she felt that day. She and Lucas were happy together and Brandon and Belle were both gone. And hopefully they would never come back.
