Page 6 of Devoted

"Yeah, I don't know, Ten. It's hard enough trying to sneak in a milkshake. I'm pretty sure Hopkiss will notice if I throw you over my shoulder or tuck you under my coat and take you out ofhere."

"Still such a funny man. Good to see that being brutally dumped by your fiancée, a future dentist, no less, hasn't left you completely devoid of humor." Considering how much I bragged about the dentist thing it's a well-deserveddig.

I shrug. "Yeah well, after the near death experience, the being brutally dumped thing just wasn't a bigdeal."

"Yeah, yeah," she waves it off. "Almost died, yada, yada. Now, get me out of this place. Please. I'm going stir crazy in here. At this point, they are really just well paidbabysitters."

"Ten, how the hell am I going to dothat?"

She reaches over and smacks me on the chest. "Figure something out. I can't stayhere."

"Ouch." I rub my chest and scoot back on the couch. "You can't go back to your apartment. Clark is already freaking out that he had to pull the security detail when you moved to thisfacility."

She untangles her long legs and paces the floor in front of me. I notice that her hands are shaking as she crosses her arms aroundherself.

"Are you cold? I'll get your sweatshirt." I get up to walk and grab the sweatshirt off the end of thebed.

She circles back my direction. There's enough misery in her face and anxious tension in the way she moves to get me thinking about a plan. I stop to drape the sweatshirt around her shoulders. We both fall noticeably quiet. She lifts her gaze to me. Her eyes are large and expressive in her thin, pale face. It's hard to interpret the moment but it seems we are both wondering just where this will lead us. Everything has changed. There is still so much clutter between us, it makes the idea of us being together seem almost impossible. Or maybe most of the clutter is on my side. There isn't a day that goes by when I don't think about Ten living underground, submitting to all Freestone's fantasies. My blood boils with jealous rage at the thought of him touchingher.

Ten pulls her eyes away quickly. I worry that she's caught me in one of my moments of utter fucking turmoil. I need to tuck that shit away, especially when I'm with her. It's the last thing she needs. What shedoesneed is a place to get better and the rehab facility is notit.

"You know, my uncle owns a little house down on thecoast."

"Is that the uncle who likes to spend all his spare time fishing?" sheasks.

"Uncle Nate, yeah, that's him. It's remote and pretty cool. It was a great make-out place when I wasyoung."

Ten's mouth purses. "Yes,back in the day, when you were just a young, horny buck . . . as compared to now." She reaches for my hand. Her fingers are cold and shaky, reminding me she's far from a hundred percent. I could be making a big mistake. If I was smart I'd be talking her out of this careless scheme but I know how persistent Ten can be. If I don't help her, she'll find another wayout.

She squeezes my hand in hers. "Please give Uncle Nate acall."

I stare down at her. It's hard to ignore those pleading brown eyes. "It's kind of ahovel."

Ten lets go of my hand and smacks me, flat palmed, in the chest again. "A hovel? Have you seen my apartment? Callhim."

I rub the sting from my chest. "Jeez, all right, Elaine from Seinfeld. Stop smacking mychest."

Ten crosses her arms with a shrug. "Sorry. I'm a little onedge."

"You think?" I pull out my phone and scroll through my contacts to Uncle Nate. I decide to send him a text about using his house. Uncle Nate tends to get into long gory details about his various ailments, like fungus on his toes or his overactivebladder.

"Hey Nate, it's Jim. Can I use the beach house for a few weeks?" I know calling it a beach house always makes himhappy.

Nate texts right back. "Sure thing, Jimmy. I've just had some corns removed from my foot, so I won't be going fishing anytimesoon."

"Thanks." I text quickly back. It seems the text was a good idea. "Well, that'ssettled."

Ten hops around for a few seconds before throwing her arms around me. "Best friend a girl could have." She lets me go and skips around the room a few more times. "Hey, bed, I won't miss you." She rubs her fingers along the sheet on the window. The push pins on the wall above give way and the sheet falls down. "And bright, head hurting curtains, I won't miss youeither."

"Seems like you have some energy toburn."

"You're right. I'll be on the beach. I can go running everymorning."

I walk toward her and take hold of her arm before she can skip around again. "Hold it there, Skippy. First of all, you won't be able to just wander freely about. The beach house is sort of off the beaten path but that doesn't mean we can let our guards down. Freestone is still outthere."

Her thin shoulders rise and fall with a sigh. "I told you, he's not coming after me. Freestone wouldn't do anything to hurt me. He had every opportunity to kill me or get rid of me and hedidn't."

She seems somewhat proud of the fact, but she's not thinking clearly yet. "Exactly," I say. "He could have killed you. He should have killed me but he didn't. And I think that had way more to do with his feelings for you than having an ounce ofcompassion."

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