Page 85 of Here In Your Arms

“I should file the restraining order,” I tell them.

“Sounds smart to me. What’s holding you back?” Kyle asks.

“Fear.”

“Of?”

“Retaliation. What if Nathan ignores it? I never thought he would be violent before, but clearly, I was wrong. What happens if this sets him off, and I get hurt worse?”

“What happens if this doesn’t set him off, and he leaves you alone?” Wes asks gently.

“I guess I hadn’t really thought of that.”

“Whatever you decide, we’re here with you, okay?” Kyle says.

I nod my head. “Yeah, I know.”

Kyle smiles at me and I let myself relax back into them both, enjoying the feeling of being here in their arms, safe and secure.

Chapter 31

Kyle

Rory doesn’t take as much time off as I think she should, but she at least agreed to stay at our house for the few days she did have off. Today is her last day off before going back to work, and she’s finally gathered up the courage to file for a restraining order. We’ve been doing research on how the process goes and what kind of order to ask for, so we have everything lined up. Now we just need to drop off the forms.

“Did we decide who’s going to serve him?” I ask.

“Charli said her brother Thomas will do it. He wouldn’t be called as a potential witness for anything, and he wants to help.”

“That’s right, I forgot his name.”

Rory looks at me, a knowing smile appears on her face. “You did not. You’re just distracting me.”

I put on my most innocent look. “Who me?”

She laughs and shakes her head at me. I give her a hug and we grab Wes on the way out of the house. We both decided to take time off along with her, so we’re keeping together to support her. Rory hasn’t said much about it, but with how often she pulls us close, I’m pretty sure she appreciates our presence. We pile in the car, the folder of documentation in Rory’s hands, and head down to the courthouse. The process is efficient, and the judge doesn’t even question the need for a quick issue of the order after seeing the medical reports and photos of the damage Nathan did.

I breathe a sigh of relief. I was a little concerned that the process would be worse than it is. The judge asks Rory a few questions, is kind while clearly being no nonsense, and assures Rory that the law is on her side. We let her know we have a person to serve Nathan, but she advises we let the court agent handle it, so we go with her recommendation. The last thing we need is someone getting hurt because they were trying to help us.

With a sigh of relief, Rory leans into me as we exit the building. I wrap my arm around her and tuck her close to my body. We walk out, wrapped in each other, and pause on the sidewalk. It’s a sunny day and Rory leans her head back with her eyes closed. I take a moment to admire the view. She seems as though a weight has been lifted off her, and I suppose it has. There’s protection now from her nightmare and she can breathe knowing he can’t get to her unless he wants to face legal action. There’s no way that coward will pursue anything now. He wants the easy win instead of working for it. Rory’s grown into a difficult target, thankfully, and she’ll stay that way if I have any say about it.

“Feeling good?”

She looks over at me. “Yeah, feels like I can breathe a little easier.”

“Good, you deserve to breathe easy. I want to do everything I can to make you happy and help you to breathe easy.”

“That would be nice.”

“We’ll do everything we can to make sure it happens as long as you’ll let us,” Wes adds.

“Let’s go do something this afternoon. I want to make the most of this feeling,” Rory suggests.

“What would you like to do?”

“I want to smell the flowers. Literally. Let’s go to the park.”

I drop a kiss to her temple and lead her toward the car. Glancing at my watch, I note that it’s about time for school to be out for most kids, and I know one person who always brings a smile to Rory’s face. Once we’re all buckled in, I turn to her with my idea.

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