Page 8 of Flare Up
“The last time I left him, he came after me. And I finally told him no. I told him some of the things Alex had said about our relationship—about how it was unhealthy—and that he was right and I didn’t want to see him again. That we were through.”
She paused, taking a deep and shuddering breath that did nothing to ease the constriction in her chest. “He forced me into the car and then made me watch while he beat Alex so badly he was in the hospital for almost a week.”
Grant let go of her hand and looped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. She resisted. She didn’t deserve his comfort.
“He’s okay, though? Your brother, I mean.”
Wren nodded, feeling a fresh wave of pain. “But he never spoke to me again because he’d warned me. Over and over, he told me Ben was no good, but I didn’t listen. It was my fault Ben hurt him.”
“That’s bullshit. The only person responsible for what Ben did was Ben.”
“That a technicality,” she said immediately, since she’d had this discussion with herself many times. “If I’d listened to Alex in the beginning, none of it would have happened.”
“I can keep telling you it’s not your fault, but I don’t think you’ll believe me, so I’m going to get you the name of the therapist Cait’s mom sees because he’s helped her family so much.”
She tried not to focus too much on the fact he’d said he’d get her the name instead of just telling her to ask Cait herself. That implied Wren was going to see him again, or at least talk to him.
“What made you take off in September?” he asked, and his voice had changed. Hardened a little, as though hardening himself against the pain she’d caused him in the fall. “Is this guy in Boston?”
“I don’t know where he is, but he called me. He called my cell phone and said he wanted to see me so he could apologize and we could talk.”
“When we met, you told me you left Virginia because you were bored there, but I assume that’s where you lived with him?”
She nodded. “He pled down to misdemeanor assault and got sentenced to a year, but I didn’t want to stay in Virginia anymore and the situation with Alex... It was just time for a fresh start. I’d been in Boston for almost a year when I met you and enough time had passed so I assumed he’d moved on.”
“Didn’t you get a new cell phone number when you left?”
“Yeah, but I gave it to a few people back home. He can be really charming, so he must have gotten it from somebody.”
“So he called you and it scared you, and instead of telling me about this guy, you changed your number again and ghosted. And threw away what we had.”
The flash of anger surprised her. “You make it sound like some guy I used to date called me and I ran away. You don’t know, Grant. You didn’t see what he did to my brother. I wasn’t taking the chance he’d do that to you.”
“I’m not gonna lie. It’s a little hard to believe you dumped me because you were afraid some guy would try to beat me up.”
“After I hung up on him, I kept imagining what he did to Alex, but with your face and... I couldn’t live with that.”
He stood and took a few steps away from her, shoving his hair back as he blew out a breath. “I can’t talk about this right now. I really want to try to understand how terrifying that was for you and how it might have grown into a bigger fear than it needed to be, but right now I’m still pissed you didn’t feel like you could come to me with it.”
“I know you. You wouldn’t have taken it seriously because you assume you could take him in a fight. But he’s messed up and angry and dangerous, and that was before he went to prison. After all that, he still went to the trouble to get my number and call me, so he’s still dangerous. I wasn’t willing to take the chance he’d hurt you.”
He gave her a sharp nod, but she could tell her explanation hadn’t really helped. He couldn’t accept that she’d reacted out of fear, not logic. “I should go. I know you have Gavin and Cait, but is there anything else you need?”
Honestly, she needed everything, but if she kept her focus on one thing at a time, maybe it wouldn’t feel so overwhelming. “I know it was an exhausting night for you, but you guys didn’t happen to notice if the cars parked on the street survived, did you?”
He winced and her stomach sank. “Is that what those ice sculptures were?”
“From the back of the ambulance, it looked like you guys hosed down the entire neighborhood. But my car was parked a ways down the street, so maybe I won’t need a hammer and chisel to get into it.”
“Tell you what. I managed enough of a power nap to get me through for a while, so why don’t I take you out to breakfast and then we’ll swing by and see if we can get your car. If it’s frozen in, I can take you around to...work or to go shopping or whatever.”
She shouldn’t. It would be too easy to relax into the comfort of having Grant in her life, especially with the Ben situation looming over her. Was her apartment building burning related to the fact he’d found her?
And there was so much pain between her and Grant. The last thing she wanted to do was make it harder for him. He would take care of her, no matter what it cost him emotionally, because that’s who he was. She shouldn’t take advantage of that just because it made facing her day a little easier.
But she was weak and the doctor had warned her against strenuous activities or exposing herself to more germs than she had to. She honestly didn’t have the strength to deal with public transportation today.
“You’re going to have to accept help from somebody,” he said. “If not me, than Gavin and Cait. Or somebody else. I’m here. I’m free.”
