Following Me (39 page)

“Devon—”

“Do you not understand that he’s
dangerous?” she asked gruffly into the phone.  “Stop with the self-pity for one
second, and tell me that you will do what I told you.  I don’t want anyone else
to get hurt.”

“I understand,” he said, her
harsh words clearly sobering him up.

Devon hung
up.  That was all the confirmation she needed.  As long as Hadley was alright,
then Devon just needed to worry about herself.  She couldn’t think about
Garrett right now.  That anger would make her boil over.  The only benefit from
his words was that it shocked her system, keeping her awake long enough to
reach her destination.

THE CAB PULLED over, and she paid
the bill.  She didn’t feel too bad as long as she didn’t touch her face.  She
knew this was nothing compared to how she would feel tomorrow.  Her head was
pounding, and that was the worst part.  She just wanted her headache to go
away.  She hoped it didn’t last that long.

Devon stood before the door with
a sigh.  She reached her hand up to knock, but then she dropped it back down
again.  There wasn’t anywhere else for her to go or anywhere else she wanted to
be.  Still, she felt terrible.  Her injuries went far beyond the physical.  She
hoped, with time, she could rectify everything in her life.  Time was all she
had to offer.  She didn’t know if it would be enough.

Reaching out for the source of
courage that had pushed her to this point, Devon knocked on the door.  A short
while later, the door swung inward, and Brennan stood before her, shirtless. 
She sucked in a deep breath.  He looked gorgeous.  He was a bit of a wreck with
tangled hair and rumpled shorts, but it worked for him.  Everything seemed to
work for him.

“Devon,” he said softly, his
mouth falling open at the sight of her.  His eyes grew wider and wider as he
took in her swollen eye and the blood that had fallen on her dress.  “What
happened to you?”

He looked shocked, and she didn’t
blame him.

“Can I come in?”  She looked over
her shoulder. She was worried that Reid had somehow been able to find out where
she was.

She waited for Brennan to say
something, but he didn’t.  He just stared at her.  Then, when she opened her
mouth to say something else, he moved forward and pulled her into him.  She
wrapped her arms around his neck, and his arms encircled her waist, holding her
tightly.  He breathed her in as she tried to hold back the tears.  Just being
held had never felt this good.

He pulled back and found her
lips.  He kissed her with a desperation that bordered on delirium.  She
returned his eager kisses and backed him into the apartment.  She wanted this. 
She wanted him.  He was the only thing that had kept her going through the
entire ordeal with Reid.  Thinking about Brennan had given her a reason to push
forward and get away from Reid.  She didn’t have to be under Reid’s hold any
longer.  She was better than that, and Brennan had been the one to show her
that.

Devon broke away long enough to
shut and lock the door.  She wasn’t going to take any chances.

Brennan had his hands back on her
immediately, pulling her in and holding her close.  “You came back,” he said. 
“You left, and you came back.”

He walked backward with her down
the short hallway and turned into his bedroom.  The whole place smelled so much
like him that it made her dizzy. 
Or was she already dizzy?
  She didn’t
know.  All she knew was that Brennan felt right.

“I came back,” she repeated.

He bent down and brought their
lips together again.  She felt like everything that had happened since Reid had
returned to her was just a fleeting moment in time.  Each kiss from Brennan was
healing the wounds, pushing all the hate out of her life.  Being there with him
was like starting fresh all over again.

“You can’t leave again,” he said
when they finally broke apart.

“I’m not going to,” she told him.

“I’m serious, Belle,” he said,
brushing his lips against hers again.  “Watching you walk out the door was like
hearing that my dad had died all over again.  I don’t want to let you go.”

“I never wanted to let you go,”
she said, swallowing back the tears.  “But…I had to for your own safety.”

The tears flowed freely then, and
the pounding in her head intensified.

God, it hurts so bad,
she
thought.

“Shhh,” he said, pulling her into
him.  “It’s okay.  You don’t have to worry about my safety.  I can take care of
myself.  I only worry about you.”

“I didn’t want him to hurt you,”
she blubbered through her tears.

“That guy?  Your ex?”  He really
looked at her and examined her swollen eye.  “Did he do this to you?”  He
sounded equal parts shocked and angry.

Well, maybe he was a bit more
pissed.

Devon nodded, but that was a bad
idea.  “I don’t…feel too well,” she said, resting her hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, look at me.”  He softly
cradled her head in his hands.  “What did he do to you?  Do you remember?”

“Yeah,” she said, trying to focus
on the task at hand.

“Hey, hey, now.  Just look at me.
 Look at me.”  He stared into her eyes, looking at them under the light.  “Just
tell me one thing that happened.”

“He tried to rape me,” she
whispered, saying it because it was the one thing that stood out.

Brennan hissed between his teeth
as his eyes hardened.  He looked murderous.  She had never seen him so angry
before.

“Anything else?” he said through
gritted teeth.  “Did he shake you really hard?  Or did you hit your head when
this happened?”  He pointed at her eye.

Did she hit her head?
  She
was having a hard time remembering what happened.  She had a foggy thought
about a side table. 
Wait…yes, she had hit a side table.  Stars. 
She
had seen a lot of stars.

“I hit the corner of a side
table,” she said, her voice slurring.

“Okay.”  He scooped her up in his
arms before she could collapse.  “I think you have a concussion.  We should get
you to a hospital.”

“I can’t go to a hospital!” she
cried hysterically.  “He’ll find me!”

“Devon, please let me take care
of you.”

“No hospitals!” she repeated.

“You’re not exactly in a
condition to argue with me.”

Carrying her over to his bed,
with one hand, he pulled the comforter back on his bed and gently placed her
down.  He grabbed an extra pillow and stuffed it behind her head, so she would
be more comfortable for the time being.

“Please,” she said, drawing her
knees up to her chest, “I’ll let you take care of me.  Just no hospitals.”

Brennan sighed in a way that
showed he was going to give in. 
How could he deny her anything when she was
in such a state?

“Alright.  I know a thing or two
about concussions, but if it gets worse, I’m taking you to the hospital.  You
might need an MRI to check for brain damage.  I’m not going to fuck around with
head injuries just because your ex might find you.  Deal?” he asked.

“Deal.”  She was able to relax
now that she knew she wasn’t going anywhere.

“I’ll be right back.  I’m going
to get you some ibuprofen and an ice pack.”

He returned with the medicine and
a large glass of water, which she took without complaint.  She placed the glass
on the nightstand and then leaned back into the bed.  He adjusted the ice pack
to the back of her head and Devon winced slightly at the tender spot.  She
already felt much calmer and so comfortable.  She just wanted to sleep.  Her
eyes fluttered closed.  It felt nice.

“Hey,” he said, sinking into the
bed next to her.  “No sleeping just yet.  I want to make sure you’re alright.”

“No sleeping.  Got it.”

Brennan found her hand and
circled his thumb against her palm.  “Can you tell me what happened?  It might
help you stay awake.”

She nodded slowly.  She had been
planning to tell him that night anyway.  Now, she was here, like fate had
reasoned that this was their night together.  Too bad fate had taken a pretty
disastrous turn.

“Yeah.  Where should I start?”

“The beginning, I suppose. 
Wherever is good for you.”  He brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed it. 
“I’m here for you.”

Devon smiled and started from the
beginning, the very beginning.  “When I was in high school, I was dating this
guy, Mason,” she began.  “I’d known him all of my life.  His mom was my mom’s
best friend.  I think they had arranged for us to be married while we were
still in the womb.  I think it’s how I got my nickname, Dixie.”

“Dixie?” he asked, unable to hold
back his chuckle.

Devon nodded.  “Mason and Dixie. 
Mason Dixon.  I’m sure you get it.”

“How Southern, Belle,” he said,
squeezing her hand lightly.

“Exactly.  My mom still calls me
Dixie even though I’ve told her a million times that I hate it.  Anyway, long
story short, Mason and I dated through almost all of high school.  I was a
cheerleader, and he was the quarterback.  I know, big surprise.  It’s really
cheesy and embarrassing.”

“That sounds like everything in
high school.”

Devon smiled faintly.  “Yeah. 
Well, as we grew up, we grew apart.  It was only natural.  We weren’t the same
people anymore.  I didn’t want to be a country music singer or Dixie or
anything related to my parents’ life, which included him, and he just wasn’t
okay with that.”

“I could see that if you had been
together all your life,” Brennan said.

“We had this abandoned house that
we used to meet up at.”  Devon’s cheeks flushed.  “I’m sure you can imagine
what for.  Anyway, I told him I didn’t want to see him anymore.  He freaked out
and slapped me.  I started crying and swore I was going to tell everyone, but
he apologized and then freaked out even more.  It never happened again, but I
think it was part of the reason I chose to go to Wash U,” she whispered.  “When
Reid hit me the first time, I just thought that he was like Mason …that he
wouldn’t do it again, but he did…”

“You made the right choice by
leaving,” Brennan said, drawing her closer.

Devon shook her head.  “I’m not
sure my choices were ever right.  If I’d made the right choices, then I would
have outted Mason.  I would have outted Reid.  Then, maybe all of this would
have turned out differently.”

“And maybe then, I never would
have found you,” he said, softly kissing her swollen cheek.

“I would have found you,” she
whispered.

“Good.  I wouldn’t have wanted
another life that didn’t include you.”

“Me either.”

He smiled.  “Tell me the rest of
the story.”

And so she did.  She told him
everything she had told Garrett that night she had mistakenly decided to trust
him with her secret.  It hurt just as bad the second time.  She hoped that the
pain would dampen over time.  She also hoped that she wouldn’t have to tell the
story that much.  She knew at least two other people who needed to know—her mom
and Hadley.  Maybe if she was completely honest with them, they would be able
to forge a better relationship again.  She knew it would take time.

When she finished, she found that
her tears had dried up, and Brennan had his arm around her shoulders.  She
didn’t feel like he was trying to control her.  She only felt that he wanted to
comfort her…be there for her in any way that he could.  She turned her face up
to him, and then she felt his lips land softly on hers.

“Belle,” he whispered against her
lips.

“Yeah?” she asked.

He said stared down at her
intensely, and she found herself gripped in his gaze.

“I think I knew you were running
the first time I saw you,” he said.  “Those big stormy eyes telling me you were
lost with nowhere to go and nowhere to hide.  I just didn’t know what you were
running from, but I think, all along, you were running toward me.”