“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.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight - Following Me
SLEEPING THROUGH THE night and much of the next morning had been a surprise to wake up to. More ibuprofen waited for her on the nightstand. She smiled and then immediately winced from the pain in her face.
After taking the medicine, she padded into the bathroom to take a look at her face. One of her eyes was swollen shut, the other eye had a large black circle under it, and her face looked like hell. The spot on the back of her head where she had fallen and hit the side table had a huge knot.
Devon swallowed back tears as she stared at the damage to her face. She felt even more defeated than she looked. How had she let Reid get to her again? She had left St. Louis. She had thought she was safe, and still, he had managed to break her. It was even worse this time because she had finally started feeling like herself again. Running away from him was the best thing she had ever done. It was the only reason she had retained her sanity.
She couldn’t let this keep happening. She had to do something. She didn’t know what that was, but she had to figure it out to move on with her life.
All she really knew was today was going to be roughhh.
Devon walked out of the bathroom and sat down heavily on the bed. Brennan appeared in the doorway with a smile. His smile faltered when he got a good look at her face.
“Oh, Belle,” he said, walking over and taking a seat next to her on the bed. He kissed her temple next to her swollen eye, like he intended to kiss away the pain. “It’s good to see you’re awake. I’ve been checking on you off and on to make sure you are doing alright.”
“I can’t believe I slept for so long,” she said, leaning into him for support.
“Injuries like that require a lot of rest. It’s good that you slept.” He kissed the top of her head. “Do you mind if I take a look at you?”
“Go ahead.” She didn’t even want to look at herself.
Turning her face toward him, he examined her more closely than he had the night before. “Are you sure we can’t take you to a hospital to get this looked at?”
“I never went before, and I recovered just fine,” she said, wanting nothing to do with hospitals.
Brennan winced. “I hate that you’ve ever gone through this before, let alone all by yourself. I’m not a doctor yet. I want to take care of you, but I don’t know how serious this all is.”
“No hospitals, Dr. Walker,” she said, poking him gently.
He laughed at the nickname and nodded. “Alright, I got it.” Then, he stared down at the bruises on her face, and his smile slipped again.
“Give me your best assessment,” she said, straightening.
“I think you’ll live,” he said with a sigh. “At least, it doesn’t seem like the brain damage has affected your sense of humor.”
Devon giggled and swatted at him playfully. He grabbed her hands before they even made contact with him and pulled her in for a kiss. She wanted to give him more, but even the kiss was hard to manage with her face so messed up.
“Hey, I wanted to talk to you about something,” he said, shifting uncomfortably. He reached out for her hands and laced them with his. “And I’m not sure you’re going to like it.”
“What is it?” she asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. What more could possibly go wrong in her life?
“I think you should file a restraining order against Reid,” Brennan said.
“What?” she asked, snatching her hands back. That hadn’t been what she had expected. “No. No. No. I can’t do that.”
“Devon, I said you wouldn’t like it, but it’s a good idea. Then, if he comes near you again, you can take legal action against him. I think you’re within your rights to press charges for assault and battery after what happened last night. The least you can do is stop him from doing it again.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head and ignoring the pain. “No hospitals, no cops, no court. I should have made myself clearer.”
“I already agreed to no hospitals. I can’t agree to your other two. You’re terrified that this guy is going to come after you for a reason. He’s dangerous. He could hurt you. I couldn’t live with that, and I can’t be with you twenty-four/seven to make sure that it doesn’t happen again,” he said, scooting closer to her. “If you don’t get a restraining order, which I still say is the very least you should do, your distaste for hospitals won’t keep you from ending up in one.”
Devon looked away from Brennan, tears pooling in her eyes again.
“He’s applying to med schools in the fall. A record could keep him from getting accepted,” she told him. She didn’t know why it mattered so much to her, but Reid had mattered for so long. Old habits die hard.
“You want this guy to become a doctor?” Brennan cried. He was beside himself. “Are you out of your mind? Go look in the mirror, and tell me you want him treating patients!”
“No,” she said softly. She didn’t, but it felt wrong admitting it. “No, alright, I don’t.”
“Belle, don’t cry.” Facing her, he kissed her softly. “I didn’t mean to yell. I just don’t think someone without a shred of compassion should be working in the most selfless job.”
“I know he shouldn’t,” she said. She had known that for a long time.
“You deserve to be with someone who makes you happy. Someone who won’t complicate your life. Somebody who won’t hurt you.”
“Someone like you,” she said.
“Someone like me.”
COOK COUNTY CIRCUIT Court was about a twenty-minute drive outside of the Loop in downtown Chicago. Devon stared up at the imposing building with its all-glass entrance. Her hands were shaking, but when Brennan touched her back, she began to relax. She could do this. She could be strong.
The wait was to be expected, and more than a half-dozen times she had tried to convince Brennan that they should just leave. He had smiled at her for strength before he told her that they had made the drive out for a reason. He was happy to wait it out with her.
He had called in at work again. Devon had heard Jenn bitching at him through the line, but he had carefully explained that Devon had a concussion. Jenn hadn’t sounded pleased, but really, Devon needed Brennan around to help take care of her. She was doing a lot better, but she didn’t trust herself to be alone.
“Devon Sawyer,” a woman in a suit called when it was her turn.
She looked over at Brennan anxiously. “I can’t do this. I can’t. Brennan, what am I going to tell them?” She was panicking.
“The truth, Belle. Just tell them the truth, just like you told me. I’ll be here waiting for you when you get done,” he reassured her.
“Promise?”
“Promise,” he said with a smile.
Devon stood stiffly and walked across the room with her head hanging down. “I’m Devon,” she told the woman.
“Come with me,” the woman said. She had a comforting voice, not what Devon had been expecting.
They walked down a hallway, and the woman took a seat behind a desk at a cubicle. Devon sat across from her and folded her hands.
“How can we help you today, Ms. Sawyer?”