Following Me

by K. A. Linde

  She bit her lip and stared out the car window before directing him to their destination. She didn’t want to bring him back to the apartment. What choice did she have though? She had taken the only choice she could to protect Brennan. Now, she had to follow through with it. Once he was safe, she would try to work things out with Reid. He just couldn’t find out. She wouldn’t be able to forgive herself if Reid were to hurt Brennan.

  Devon had never driven the streets of Chicago, but she knew the blocks well enough. Jenn’s wasn’t far from Marina City, but she felt a bit disoriented since she always took the L. He grunted when she made another accidental wrong turn.

  “I should have just used my GPS.”

  “Sorry,” she squeaked.

  It was the least angry he had gotten with her for bad directions in a long time. He had refused to let her navigate anywhere they went because he hated all her mistakes. This was already starting out so well.

  He pulled into the Marina City complex and parked. Devon pushed the door open and stood. From her position, she could see out of the building all the way to Lake Michigan. It made her think of Brennan’s boat, the boat his father had left him, sitting in the harbor. She pulled her eyes away from the horizon, not wanting her eyes to show the loss of what could have been. Reid might not be able to decipher what it was immediately, but she didn’t want to give him cause to consider it.

  They walked to the elevator together, his arm locked around her shoulder. He was using any excuse to touch her. She wanted to run far, far away. Apparently, she hadn’t run far enough to get away from him.

  The elevator was as quick as ever and deposited them on the forty-third floor of the building. Devon was dreading this with every ounce of her being. She hated not knowing what would happen when they walked through the door.

  Devon slid her key into the hole and turned the handle. She took a deep breath for strength and pushed through the door. Reid walked in behind her. Suddenly, the apartment felt very small, much too small. Two bedrooms, two baths, a kitchen, and a living room—it wasn’t enough space. She couldn’t get away from Reid in here unless she wanted to jump off the balcony and drop forty-three floors. And that wasn’t even an option.

  “So, this is the place,” she said tentatively.

  As they walked into the living room, Reid seemed to be examining the apartment. He was probably judging the place.

  She heard a noise behind her, and she turned quickly. Garrett was standing in the hallway. His eyes moved from Devon’s face to Reid and back. His eyes grew wide as he seemed to realize what was happening, and then his face turned white as a sheet.

  Reid turned around just then and smiled. “Hey, man, I’m Reid.” He walked across the room and shook Garrett’s hand.

  “Garrett.”

  “So nice to meet you. Devon’s been telling me all about you. Really nice of you to let her stay in the city for a couple weeks,” Reid said.

  “Uh, yeah, no problem. She’s welcome here anytime,” Garrett said, his eyes shifting to Devon.

  Reid smiled bigger and turned to include Devon in the conversation. “That’s always good to know. Maybe we’ll make another trip up here during the school year.”

  Devon looked away from them. She just couldn’t handle this. The implication in Reid’s words sliced open old wounds. They were never going to make a trip to see Hadley and Garrett. Once Reid got her in St. Louis again, she wouldn’t go anywhere. He would make sure of that.

  “So, how long are you here for?” Garrett asked, running a hand back through his hair.

  Devon already knew the answer. They would leave as soon as Reid could get her out of here.

  “Well, it’s up to Devon, of course,” he answered, clearly lying.

  Reid smiled at her, and Devon thought she might be sick. Since when had anything been up to her?

  “What do you want to do, Dev?”

  She shrugged. She wanted to go back to Brennan and apologize. She wanted to explain to him that Reid was dangerous and Brennan couldn’t come anywhere near him. She wanted to tell Brennan that she didn’t trust Reid not to hurt him, and if he did, it would kill her.

  “Well, I got my MCAT scores in the mail this week, and it’s Devon’s birthday soon. Maybe we could all go out and celebrate?” Reid said.

  “How did you do?” Devon asked automatically. Hadn’t she just asked Brennan the same question?

  A muscle in Reid’s neck twitched at the question. If she didn’t know him so well, she wouldn’t have known what that meant. He hadn’t done as well as he had wanted. She wondered if his parents would donate a library or something to get him into Wash U’s medical school. She wouldn’t put it past them.

  “Great. They were great,” he said with a sinister smile. “So, you want to go out then?”

  “Sure,” she said softly. She would rather be out than alone with him, and she might as well put off the inevitable.

  “I’ll have to see what Hadley’s doing. I’m not sure if she’s ready to go out again. She should be home soon though,” Garrett said.

  He sounded uncomfortable and out of place, and Devon didn’t blame him. He knew what had happened with her and Reid, and he was probably trying to figure out his role now that Reid was here.

  “She’s not home yet?” Devon asked just to fill the silence.

  “No, she and her mom decided to go out shopping. I don’t expect them until after the stores close.” He looked down at his watch. “That was thirty minutes ago, so she should be here soon.”

  As if on cue, Hadley walked through the door, loaded with bags. She kicked the door shut with her foot as she stumbled inside, weighed down by her packages.

  Garrett reached out to steady her.

  “Hey!” she said, bending into him. “Missed you.”

  Garrett’s smile took over his face. “I missed you, too.”

  “I got way too much,” she said, leaning forward and kissing him.

  When she backed up, he said, “I can see that.” Garrett turned to gesture toward Reid. “We, uh…have a visitor.”

  “Reid McAllister!” Hadley cried in shock. “What are you doing here?”

  Reid laughed good-naturedly and shook his head. “Nice to see you, too, Hadley.”

  “Seriously, what are you doing here?” she asked, hoisting her bags over one shoulder to redistribute the weight.

  “I’m here to see Devon, of course. What do you think I’m doing here?” he asked, his eyes moving to Devon.

  “I really don’t know.”

  “Hadley, what did you get from your shopping trip?” Devon asked quickly, cutting off Hadley’s next response.

  Hadley narrowed her eyes, but she was too much of a girl to not give in. “Ugh…too much. I’ll have to show you. Bedroom?” she asked, nodding toward the room she shared with Garrett.

  “Sure. Garrett, maybe you should pour Reid a drink,” Devon offered, skirting around him.

  Reid reached out and grabbed her wrist. When she winced, he released some of the tension. He pulled her into him, and she did everything she could not to pull away. Her wrist would be the least of her worries then. He pushed back a lock of blonde hair from her face.

  “I missed you, and I don’t ever want you out of my sight again,” he said so softly only she could hear. His lips landed possessively on hers. “Don’t be in there long.”

  Devon bit her lip, wanting nothing more than to wrench herself out of his grasp, but she just nodded.

  “Good,” he said, releasing her. “I think I would like that drink now, Garrett.” He walked into the kitchen with a boisterous laugh.

  Devon scurried away from him and into the bedroom. She hoped her shaking wasn’t noticeable. She closed the door quickly behind her just as Hadley tossed her bags on the bed with a big huff.

  “Okay…what the fuck is he doing here?” Hadley asked.

  “Shhh,” Devon warned quickly, putting her finger to her mouth. “Keep it down.”

  “Sorry,” Hadley said qui
etly.

  “We didn’t really break up,” Devon said, biting her lip.

  “What are you talking about? You said that you did, and then you were gone all night with Brennan,” Hadley said, confused.

  Devon fiercely shook her head. “Don’t talk about him. Reid can’t know about Brennan.”

  “Devon, what is going on?” Hadley demanded, crossing her arms.

  “I left St. Louis without telling Reid. I wanted to break up with him, but I didn’t know how. So, for all intents and purposes, we were broken up. He just…didn’t know…” Devon trailed off.

  “Fuck, Dev. What are you going to do?” Hadley asked, sitting back heavily on the bed.

  “Wing it?” Devon said with a shrug.

  Hadley looked at her skeptically.

  “Okay, I’m going to have to act like everything is normal…as much as I can anyway. You are, too. Then, I’m going to try to talk to him, but please don’t bring up Brennan. I don’t want him to think that is why we’re breaking up.”

  “Isn’t it?” Hadley asked.

  “No,” Devon said, shaking her head. “I left Reid before I had ever met Brennan.”

  “Fair point.”

  “I just…have to do this my way, okay?”

  Hadley stood up and placed her hand on Devon’s shoulder. “Let him down easy, Dev. He’s crazy about you.”

  He’s just crazy, she thought.

  DEVON WAS CLOSE to collapsing by the time they made it out to the bar. She really wanted a drink to calm her nerves, but she wanted to stay in control. The last thing she wanted was to confront Reid with an addled mind or accidentally slip and say something she shouldn’t while drunk.

  Hadley and Garrett decided on a club not too far from their house. Hadley hadn’t been out at night since her overdose. Devon didn’t want to worry about that on top of everything else. Garrett would just have to take care of her for once.

  When Devon walked into the club, her head was swimming. It felt so much like her dream. It really wasn’t anything like it at all, except for the dance floor, heavy music, and crowd. That shouldn’t have been enough to trigger her terror, but having Reid holding tightly to her arm didn’t help anything. As bile rose, she covered her mouth and tried to swallow away her apprehension.

  His hand slid across the small of her back and gripped her waist. He leaned down and spoke directly into her ear. “Drink?”

  She shook her head. “I’m okay.”

  “Come with me anyway,” he said, pulling her toward the bar.

  “Okay,” she said because she really had no other choice.

  Reid ordered himself a Crown and Coke and her a Cosmopolitan even though she didn’t want it. She didn’t like cosmos, and she had told him a hundred times that she didn’t, but he kept ordering them for her.

  “Reid,” she muttered as they waited for their drinks.

  “Yeah, Dev?”

  He pushed his hand up into her hair and massaged her scalp. She didn’t want to enjoy it, but it felt good. She wished he would stop, so she could concentrate.

  “I think we need to talk,” she said, wondering if he could even hear her over the music.

  “Let’s talk later, okay? I can’t really hear you,” he said with a smile.

  Devon didn’t like the thought of later. “But—”

  “No,” he said sharply, cutting her off. “Later. Let’s enjoy our night together.”

  With that, his lips covered hers as he held her head in place, so she couldn’t move. He forced her mouth open and plunged his tongue inside. She wanted to squirm away, but he had her exactly where he wanted her. Her heart pounded as one of his hands slid down her backside. He grabbed it forcefully enough to make her cry out. Back before he had ever hit her, that would have turned her on. Now, she only felt disgusted.

  When the bartender slid the drinks across the bar to him, he released her. Reid handed the guy his credit card and told him to keep the tab open.

  His eyes found her again, and he laughed. “You’re mine. You know that, right?” He grasped her chin in his hand. “All mine.”

  She swallowed, trying not to react. He didn’t care if she confirmed or denied what he had said. In his head, he believed it to be true.

  They spent the rest of the night hanging out with Hadley and Garrett. Devon tried and failed to act like her normal self because normal didn’t include Reid anymore. Thankfully, for the sake of the conversation, he took over. He had a big enough personality for the two of them, and he seemed to seamlessly hold up their end of the conversation. She couldn’t believe she had ever let him talk for her like this before. It felt unnatural.

  She wanted to speak up at times, but then she thought better of it. If she didn’t hand him ammunition, he would be less likely to pull the trigger.

  Reid yawned big and exaggerated. Devon knew he wasn’t tired. He was actually wired. Everything about the situation that put her on edge riled him up.

  “I think it’s time we got out of here.”

  “Are you sure? It’s still early,” Garrett said hastily.

  Devon didn’t know if Garrett’s reaction was out of fear for her safety or because he had gotten along with Reid so well. She wasn’t really surprised. Reid got along with everyone, but she thought that Garrett wouldn’t play into his hand so easily.

  “Yeah, I haven’t seen Devon in a while. I think we need some alone time,” he said, pulling her up with him.

  “Reid,” Devon said quickly. She did not want to be alone with him.

  “Do you want us to come with you?” Hadley jumped in.

  “No. We don’t want to interrupt your evening,” he said smoothly.

  Hadley looked at her pointedly. She thought she was being reassuring as if telling Devon, Here’s your chance. Devon regretted not telling Hadley the truth. She couldn’t be alone with him! This was absurd.

  “It wouldn’t interrupt our evening at all,” Garrett said, standing as well.

  “Really, don’t even worry about us,” Reid said. “We’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Reid, I think they should come with us,” Devon said quickly.

  His grip on her arm tightened, and she stopped breathing. It felt too familiar. She just wanted to wake up from her nightmare. Wake up. Please wake up. But she wasn’t dreaming, and she couldn’t get away from this.

  “Don’t be silly, Devon. There’s no reason for them to come with us.” He smiled brightly at them. “Night, guys.”

  Reid all but pushed Devon out of the club and into the empty street. He didn’t let go of her arm until he had secured her into his BMW.

  “What were you thinking? You say we need to talk, and then you try to get them to come back with us?” he asked, backing out of his parking space.

  Devon didn’t bother saying anything. She was trapped, hopelessly trapped, and she had done it to herself. Her meager attempts at getting Hadley or Garrett’s attention had only upset him.

  She hoped that she could keep Reid’s anger at bay. She was starting to doubt her own sanity at ever agreeing to leave Jenn’s with him. She turned toward the window and closed her eyes. Her thoughts drifted back to Brennan—heated kisses, soft caresses, trusting conversations, freedom. She was doing this for him. After it was all over, maybe he would forgive her.

  “WAIT…” DEVON SAID, actually paying attention to her surroundings for once. “This isn’t the way to Hadley’s.”

  Reid tightened his grip on their laced fingers. “I thought we could use some privacy.”

  “I thought we were going back early for privacy,” she said, her voice coming out hysterical. This couldn’t be good.

  “Haven’t you exploited their hospitality enough, Devon? I think it’s a good idea for them to have the place to themselves tonight. I thought it would be a good surprise,” he said, smiling. He took a turn that led them farther away from the apartment.

  She didn’t even have a pretense to hide her fear. Her heart was hammering, and her breath was coming out heavy
. Where was he taking her? She didn’t feel comfortable talking to him in a place she thought of as home, so she certainly wouldn’t feel any better somewhere else.

  “Where are we going?” she asked in a demanding tone.

  “Don’t you like surprises, Devon?” he asked as calm as ever.

  She knew he could tell she was afraid. She hated that fear was taking her over because she was pretty sure he reveled in it. He liked to see her cower and back away. He liked to have control. She was giving him what he wanted, and she couldn’t do anything to keep herself in check.

  A few minutes later, Reid pulled up to the valet of a tall skyscraper, and the valet helped her out of the car. She then realized where they were. She hadn’t thought that she could feel sicker, but he had proven her wrong.

  A hotel. Really? A hotel? She couldn’t believe this was where he was taking her. Okay, yes, she could. It made perfect sense. She almost made a smart-aleck comment about whether the place charged by the hour. Luckily, she restrained herself. She didn’t even want to think about what happened in hotels by the hour. That might actually break her character.

  The valet zoomed off with his car, leaving Reid alone with Devon.

  He smiled brightly at her. “Nice surprise, right?” He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in close. “I missed you so much, Dev.”

  Devon stepped out of his embrace. “I can’t go upstairs with you, Reid.”

  “Why?” he asked, his eyes hardening.

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea,” she said, trying to remain strong.

  Waiting for Reid’s reaction was like turning the handle to a jack-in-the-box, knowing it was going to pop in your face.

  “You haven’t seen me in two-and-a-half months. I get us a nice hotel room in the city, and I’m excited to see you. And you don’t want to go up with me?” he asked. “What’s wrong with you, Devon? What’s changed since you left?”

  Devon sighed and looked down at the ground. What was wrong with her? Maybe it wouldn’t be that bad. They had a lot of stuff to talk about, and it’s not like they could stand outside the hotel all night.