Authors: Hilary Storm
“Ev, tell them to come in here.
What are they doing?”
She yells for them to return. They
come through the bedroom door and they
both looked pissed. I notice that each of
them run their hands through their hair
when they are frustrated and the image
sticks with me. Their mannerisms are
almost identical right now.
“There is no way you are EVER
coming back here. You are moving in
with me,” Talon demands Eaven. There
is no room for discussion. I look down
because I know that I’m soon to be on
my own. She is getting married and
should move in with him. I just wish it
was better timing.
“Talon, I can’t leave Ivy.”
“Then she moves in too. I’m not
leaving you here next door to a fucking
rapist, Ev. He has been living there and
has photos of her. The asshole built a
shrine of shit he probably jacks off to.
Neither one of you are coming back here
again so get your shit together. We are
done here.”
I look at Taron’s reaction as his
brother suggests I move in. His face
seems a little pale. I can tell this is way
too much for him to process.
~Eight~
Taron
There is no way in hell I’m
leaving her. That mother fucker has
naked photos of her in the shower and
changing in her room. He is a psycho
bastard and I won’t leave her here to
deal with this fucker without me. I need
to do this correctly or I will scare her
off. I’m trying to process the best way to
calm her into staying at our house. Or
better yet, going with me on tour.
“You can stay with us.” That
came out short and to the point.
“I’ll find a new roommate soon.
I’ll only stay until then.” She doesn’t
look happy about the situation, but I
don’t care. I didn’t get to see everything,
but from what I can tell Dylan has been
in her apartment numerous times. I lost
it when I saw a picture of her naked in
the shower. Then I reached for the
perfume bottle that was near his bed. I
slowly inhaled it hoping it wasn’t hers,
but it was. I know her smell. I dream of
her scent and could never mistake it. I
probably ruined any chance of the police
getting fingerprints off of the bottle, but I
don’t give a shit. My mind was all over
the place with the images he had of
her.
“The house is secure now, but I
think they should come with us on tour.”
I throw the idea out there hoping Talon
will take my lead.
“We have classes and we can’t
just pack up and leave.” Eaven needs to
get on board here. She is so dependable
and I need her to be a free spirit right
now.
“Drop the classes and enroll in
online classes. You can’t stay here by
yourselves.” I’m quick on my feet with a
solution.
“Either do that or I’m canceling
the tour because I won’t be able to
concentrate if I’m worrying about you
the entire time.” Talon knows how to
get to Eaven. He walks right up to her
and pulls her close, face to face. Shit if
they were any closer, he would be inside
of her. “It will be fun. We can see all of
the different locations’ together and I
won’t complain about spending every
night with you.” Talon is good at getting
what he wants.
That is usually me. I feel like if I
try too hard, I will scare her off since
she pulled the friend card this morning.
If I don’t try at all she won’t think I want
her to come. She wants to be friends, so
I will go with that for now. I know if
she goes on tour with me, I will get her
to cave again. Right now she needs a
friend anyway. She has a lot to deal
with, and I’m not that big of an asshole.
“Yea it’ll be fun, Ivy. We can go
and humiliate these two the whole time.
We can moan back at them when they
have sex, and bang on the walls when Ev
is about to finish him off.”
She finally smiles. It’s a small
one, but it’s a smile. I have my work cut
out for me. I want my feisty girl back. I
could kill Dylan for taking her away
from
me. Maybe they will find him
while we are gone and he will rot in hell
for the rest of his worthless life.
“Maybe it would be good to get
away from here, Ivy. We could see the
things we would have missed out on.
We could SHOP!”
It’s a done deal now that I have
Eaven up for the idea.
“You know I’m always up for
anything, but I need to talk to Taron
first.”
“Yea, yea. He is going to be a
perfect gentleman and all of that. We are
going and we will live it up the entire
time! Ivy, think of the pictures we can
take!”
The police take our statement and
we end up back at the police station to
give more details. I’m outraged that Ivy
has to relive this scene over and over.
They make her verify that each of the
photos were hers. They let me stay with
her as she begins the humiliating display
of proof that he is as psycho as I felt he
was when I entered his apartment. The
police tell us that he has been in the
apartment next to Ivy’s for the last
couple of weeks. They bring in the
evidence and begin to show Ivy items
that belong to her.
I watch Ivy deplete with every
photo. I watch as the last little bit of
strength in my girl flows out in the tears
running down her face. I silently vow to
her that I will take care of her as my lips
press to her temple in my attempt to
remind her that she isn’t alone.
The police finally finish with the
evidence and we make our way out of
the hell around us. I stop her once we
get to the truck. She hasn’t lifted her
head since I came back for her. I wrap
my arms around her and she doesn’t push
me away. Her body has no fight left and
she completely leans on me to hold her
upright.
“Let me in, Ivy. I will be here for
you.” I talk into her hair as I lean down
t o completely surround her. I wish I
could pull some of the hurt from her.
She slowly wraps her arms around
my waist and I feel her squeeze just
slightly. This is enough communication
for me to know she is still in there. I
still have a chance to build this girl up
and help her survive this nightmare.
I hold her until she pulls away
from me. She climbs into my truck and
slides all the way over to the door on the
other side. I know she is using it to help
hold her up and I wish she would let me
hold her. I drive us back to my house
and allow her the silence she needs.
We spend the afternoon tying up
loose ends. I get my phone fixed and
Talon and I both tell the head of security
that the girls need constant protection so
they can provide more security on tour.
He seems irritated when I grab the phone
and demand security after Talon had
already said everything. I just want to
make sure he knows that I’m not messing
around with this. I will drop the gig in a
second if I think they don’t have it
covered.
Eaven calls her parents to let them
know the situation. They drive in for the
evening. As soon as Eaven’s little sister
shows up she attaches herself to Talon. I
try to get her to warm up to me. “Hey
kid.”
She looks at me like I’m a freak. I
can’t help but smile because her facial
expression says everything. She doesn’t
want me to invade in on her Talon time.
I decide to leave that one alone for now.
I make my way back to Ivy and the
people she considers family.
I have nothing but respect for
Eaven’s parents. They took in Ivy just
like she is one of their own. They look
devastated when Ivy tells them about the
attack. It only gets worse when we tell
them what the police found in the
apartment this afternoon.
I sit close to her the entire time she
fights to get the words out. I hold her
hand when her words begin and by the
time its over, I’ve wrapped her back up
in my arms. I can’t stand the fact that she
is hurting. I swear I’ll kill him if he
comes near her again.
I look over at Eaven’s dad and I
see his face scowling at me. I don’t
know if it’s because of the situation or
the fact that she is finding comfort in my
arms. I lock my eyes with his trying to
prove that I won’t back away. He
eventually averts his eyes when Ivy
breaks my hold and sits up straight in her
chair.
“It will be good for me to go on
tour. It will give you time to work with
the police to find Dylan.” She stands
and begins to hug each of them goodbye.
“I’m so tired. I want to go to bed
early and I still need to pack. I love you
both.” She doesn’t even wait for them to
leave before she is down the hall and in
my bedroom. Luckily Eaven takes over
entertaining her parent’s when I start to
move Ivy’s things into the house.
I purposely put all of her things in
my bedroom. There really isn’t
anywhere else to put them. This is a
three-bedroom house, and besides that
it’s just logical. She will be with me
anyway.
I help her get all of her boxes and
bags organized. She doesn’t unpack
anything. She just moves some of it into
suitcases for the tour and the rest of it is
neatly stacked in the corner.
Her phone rings and she turns
away from me to answer it after looking
at the screen.
“Hey, Aiden.”
“I’m packing to leave. Ev and I
are going on tour with the guys.” That’s
right, she is coming with me, cowboy.
“Yea. I will keep in touch.”
“Thank
you
so
much
for
everything. I really owe you…” She is
obviously interrupted by him. This guy
is always sweeping in. I will not let her
need him again.
“Ok. Deal. I promise.”
I work hard to brush off the
irritation that his call caused. I need to
remember that he saved her that night.
No matter how much I hate him, I am
glad he was there to help her.
I move in behind her after she
tosses her phone on the bed. I let my
hand run down her arm and her body
stiffens at the contact.
“Ivy, please don’t pull away from
me. Let me help you. I want to be here
for you.” I seriously hate that bastard for
hurting her like he did. He has taken
away her confidence. She looks empty
and lonely. No matter what I say, she
looks lonely.
“I promise we will find him. We
will make sure he pays for what he did
to you,” I say into her forehead as I
stamp multiple kisses trying to reassure
her. She bows her head further into my
chest and I feel her relax a fraction. She
isn’t completely melting into my arms,
but this is progress. I can work with
this.
I don’t miss the fact that I am here
comforting a woman. This is usually not
my thing, yet there is nothing that could
pull me from her in this moment. I want
to absorb all of her hurt and take her
back to how she was before he stole
everything away from her.
“Thank you.” She speaks softly
into my chest. I pull her away from me
so I can look into her eyes. I want her to
understand what she means to me.
“You have to know that I’m here
for you and there is no place I’d rather
be. You don’t need to thank me. I’m
yours.” I lean in until we are face-to-
face, eyes to eyes, lips to lips. She
watches through her gorgeous blue eyes
until I turn slightly to let our lips touch.
She closes her eyes and inhales deeply.