Following Me (15 page)

She stuffed her work clothes in a
to-go bag and walked through the kitchen door into the main dining area.  The
other waitress had already disappeared, grumbling the whole time about how she
didn’t need any help.  Devon suspected it had something to do with sharing
tips.  Though, Devon wasn’t sure how the woman had managed working the busy
restaurant with just Brennan’s help in the first place.

“You ready to get out of here?”
Brennan asked, sliding his hands into the front pockets of his jeans.

Devon hadn’t realized that he was
waiting on her.  She owed him big time.  She wished she didn’t feel the wave of
awkwardness that ran through her at his nearness.  Then, she might be able to
show her gratitude more.

“Uh…yeah,” she said, glancing
away from those eyes.

“I’ll just lock up.”  He ducked
into the kitchen and then returned a minute later.  “Let’s go.”

Brennan flipped off the bright
red open sign in the window, and then they exited through the front doors.  He
took the time to lock those doors as well, and then they walked to the L
station together.

Devon took in the surprising
silence of the city.  As they passed through streets lined with tall
skyscrapers, fear seemed to seep into her conscience.  She wasn’t afraid to be
alone with Brennan.  In fact, it wasn’t Brennan at all.  It was just that no
one else was on the streets.  She knew it was late.  It was well past the hour
most people would be awake and walking around the city, but she had thought
that the city would still be bustling, like New York.  Apparently, that wasn’t
the case in the area where Jenn’s was located.

She swallowed back her fear and
tried to remind herself of the good job that she had done today.  She had a new
job, a way to stay in Chicago, and a way to escape.  But in this moment, she
felt the loss of her escape.  She felt it all closing in on her. 
Why were
the streets so empty?  Why was it just her and Brennan?

Her breathing hitched, and then
she realized that she had suddenly stopped breathing altogether.  Fear poisoned
her blood system, starting in her chest and crawling through her veins like a
disease.  She felt her chest rising and falling rapidly, and her teeth were
chattering as if she were freezing, but she knew these were the sure signs of
hyperventilation.

But she couldn’t hyperventilate. 
She had to run.  She had to get away.  That was the answer. 
Run.

Brennan touched her arm,
rocketing her back to the ground, to the city, to his hand resting lightly on
her, to the pads of his fingers grazing her soft skin.

“Hey, are you okay?” he asked.

When she could finally see him
through her blurred vision, she saw concern etched into every line of his face.

Devon held up her hand as if to
silence him, and that only seemed to make him more concerned.  She took a deep
breath and bent her knees, crouching there in the middle of the sidewalk.  She
held her knees to her chest and tried to let the déjà vu of her dreams sluice
off of her.  She knew where she had come from, where she was, and where she was
going.  That was all that mattered.  This wasn’t like her nightmares.  No one
was chasing her.  No one was grabbing her.  No one was throwing her down.  She
took another breath and reminded herself of these things again and again.

When she finally stood, Brennan
seemed to have a million questions on his tongue.  Devon didn’t want to answer
any of them, so she immediately started walking.  Brennan strode to her side
and walked next to her, allowing her the silence she desired.  She should thank
him for that as well.

A job and silence.  What more
could I ask for?
she wondered.

The ride on the L was short.  Her
stop came before Brennan’s, but he didn’t seem ready to let her go.  He hopped
off the train with her, and they walked in together to Marina City.  At least
this area was well-lit, and people were still milling around outside of the
House of Blues.

“Thanks for walking me back,”
Devon said, finally breaking the silence.

“Are you going to tell me what
happened back there?” he asked.

Devon looked away from him, not
wanting to answer.  “I think it was just exhaustion,” she murmured.

It was a lie, and he knew it. 
She was exhausted, but exhausted people didn’t hyperventilate in the middle of
the street.

“Exhaustion…right,” he said in
disbelief.

“Thanks for your help today.  I
really needed the job,” Devon said, changing the subject.

“If I’d known you were looking
for one, I could have helped sooner,” he said pointedly.

The question about why she had
avoided him for three weeks was written all over his face. 
If he didn’t
matter and she had a boyfriend, then why did she skip past Jenn’s every day?
 
She refused to let her mind think about it.

“Well, glad I ran into you when I
did then,” she said with the only smile she could muster.

“Devon, about that night—”
Brennan began.

She held up her hand again, not
wanting to talk to him about that.  He had been drunk, and she had been an easy
target in his apartment.  She couldn’t blame him for trying or for walking out
without waking her up the next morning.  He didn’t know about her nightmares or
that she might scream herself awake the next morning.  After what had just
happened and the amount of time she was likely to spend with him at work over
the next two months, it was probably better that he didn’t know.

“I’ll see you at work tomorrow,”
she whispered, desperate to get away.

He sighed and nodded.  “Good
night.”

Devon rushed to the elevator as
quickly as she could.  She couldn’t be under his scrutiny any longer.  His
intense gaze seemed to weigh and measure her, and she felt her insides squirm
under it all. 
And when she was trying to avoid it all, how did she seem to
notice more and more how attractive he was?

She shook her head, trying to
dispel her thoughts.  The image of him stretching his hands over his head,
showing off the muscles in his arms and the tightness of his stomach, rushed
back to her then.
  When she tried not to think of something, why did it
always flash back to her at that exact moment?

Her cheeks were still hot when
she exited the elevator.  She scolded herself for thinking of a boy at a time
like this.  Another guy in her life right now was the
last
thing she
needed. 
Period.

Devon flung open the apartment
door, forgetting that it was four in the morning.  As the door knocked into the
wall, she cursed and lunged for it to keep it from banging a second time. 
Hadley and Garrett were asleep, and she had no desire to awake them at this
hour.  Slowly closing the door behind her, Devon crept to her bedroom and
changed into a loose-fit tank top and her silk sleep shorts.  After everything
that had happened tonight, the last thing she wanted to do was crawl into bed
and have another nightmare to match her freak-out on the street.

She padded out into the living
room and turned on the TV.  She didn’t care what she watched as long as it was
something that would captivate her thoughts and pull her out of her funk.  When
nothing caught her attention, she flipped to old Bugs Bunny cartoons and tuned
in as he eluded capture over and over again.

A few minutes later, the front
door creaked open, and Devon straightened in her seat. 
Who was coming home
at this hour?
  It was well past the time Garrett typically got off work,
and Hadley had to go to work in just a few hours.

“Hello?” Devon called softly.

“Hey,” Garrett said,
materializing into the living room.

Devon’s body relaxed at the sight
of him. 
It was just Garrett.  No need to be alarmed.  Why he was out this
late was his own business.
  She was just glad to see him, especially since
she could finally pay him some rent for the apartment.  It wasn’t much, but it
would do until she got her first actual paycheck.

“You’re in late,” she said with a
smile and a yawn.

“I’m surprised to find you up.” 
Garrett kicked off his shoes and took a seat next to her on the couch.

“I got a job today,” she told him
brightly, facing him and crossing her legs pretzel-style.

She was happier about telling him
than she had thought she would be.  He believed in her.  He had given her a
chance.  He was the one who hadn’t kicked her out when she couldn’t pay up
right away.

“Congrats!” he said with a warm
smile.

She liked his smile.  It was so
genuine.

“Hold on one second.”  Devon
jumped up and rushed into the bedroom.  She pulled out the wad of cash, kept a
twenty for herself, and then crept back to the living room.  “Here you go.”

Garrett’s eyes widened as Devon
handed him the roll of bills and sat back down next to him.  He pulled it out
of her hand and judged the sum.

“Where did you get all this?” 
His eyes moved from the money to her face and back.

“They’re my tips from work,” she
told him.

Garrett flipped through the cash
with trepidation.  Devon couldn’t figure out why he was acting so strangely.

“Devon,” he said softly, “when I
said not to worry about getting a job and that we could arrange something if
need be…I really meant it.”

Devon looked up at him in
confusion. 
What was he insinuating?

“You didn’t have to…do this,” he
said, pointing to the money, “just because you were worried about rent.”

“It’s not a big deal.  I like the
work.  It clears my mind.”  She wasn’t even sure why she said it.  She hadn’t
talked much to anyone about what was going on with her.  She wasn’t about to
start now.

Garrett’s eyes traveled the
length of her body, and Devon grew conscious of the little clothing she was
wearing.  She hadn’t been expecting him, or else she would have put on sweats.

“I’m sure you’re…good at the
work,” he said, treading cautiously.  “I just don’t think stripping is the
answer.”

Devon sputtered loudly, her mouth
gaping open.  “What?” she gasped.  “I’m not stripping!”

The breath seemed to explode out
of his mouth all at once.  He looked very relieved.  She couldn’t believe he
had thought she had reduced to stripping to get money to pay for rent. 
That
would look great on her resume!

“You’re not?” he gasped out.

“No!”

“What do you expect when you hand
me what looks like a hundred single dollar bills?”  He shook his head in
disbelief.

“You have to give me more credit
than that.  I’m sure everyone wants to see me with my clothes off, but it’s not
like I’d actually do it.  I’m a bit more behind-closed-doors than that.”  She
rolled her eyes skyward.

They looked at each other then,
and suddenly, they were both laughing.  Devon was doubled over, clutching at
her sides.  Garrett had his hand on her back as he tried to hold in his
laughter.  He wasn’t very successful.  Both shot furtive glances at Hadley’s
closed bedroom door.  The last thing they wanted was to explain why they were
laughing so hard so early in the morning. 
Hadley would surely take well to
Garrett thinking Devon was a stripper…or not.

Devon leaned back on the couch. 
Garrett’s hand slid across her back and into his lap.  She could feel every
inch he had touched, and when she checked his gaze, it registered that he had
noticed as well.  Turning away, embarrassed, Devon tucked her legs back up and
scooted over. 
A conversation about stripping sure shifted the mood.

“So,” Devon said, clearing her
throat, “why were you in so late from work?”

“I’m working on some foreign
investments.  They like to have someone there to work the markets when they’re
open.  We alternate who gets the worst hours,” he said with a shrug as if this
all made sense to her.

She knew nothing about stocks,
except that her parents had invested well and that had paid for her college
education.

“Sounds boring,” she told him
honestly.

“Definitely not as interesting as
stripping,” he said with mischief in his eyes.

Devon laughed and swatted at
him.  It felt nice to laugh and feel this carefree.  “Oh, stop it!”

“Tell me, do the men cry in your
corner?  When they say, ‘no touch,’ do they mean no touch?” he asked with humor
in his voice.

“Crying is a definite,” Devon
said, playing his game.  “And the no-touch rule only applies to those I don’t
want to touch me.”

She couldn’t figure out why her
voice changed or when the carefree had shifted away from carefree.  Somehow,
her teasing had strayed without her permission, and her body was now responding
to his assessment of her.  She didn’t know why, but it was like, all of a
sudden, she realized she was attracted to him.  He was her best friend’s
boyfriend and pretty much the nicest guy she had ever met. 
Why was she
allowing herself to be attracted to him?

Garrett laughed at her
playfulness, and she tried not to read into the edge in his voice.  He
certainly wasn’t attracted to her. 
She was reading into it.  It wasn’t
there.  She had just had a rough night and was exhausted.  That was all.

“I, uh…think I should go to bed,”
Devon said with a smile.  Even if she was reading into it, she needed to be far
away from this moment.

“Are you sleeping any better?” he
asked, keeping her from her departure.

She nodded her head even though
it wasn’t the truth.  “Much.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

His gaze never left her, and she
tried not to squirm.

“Night,” Devon whispered, easing
out of the room as fast as she could.

As soon as she closed her bedroom
door behind her, she rushed to her bed and threw herself against it. 
What
the fuck was she thinking?  First Brennan, and now Garrett?  Was she out of her
fucking mind?