Following Me(75)

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.