Page 70 of Deliver Me

She came back with a towel draped around her body and her wet hair brushed back away from her face. She looked happy and there was still a soft smile lingering at the corners of her mouth but he felt a hard knot of dread settle into the pit of his stomach.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The day that Mia had gone back to school had been the day Gabriel found out that an apartment could be just as much of a prison as his old cell.

He’d languished on the couch that day and every day since, his too tall frame forcing him to leave his legs dangling over the arm rest as he flipped through the channels. He’d never been much for TV, that had been Alex’s distraction, and he hadn’t quite been able to face the box he’d carried out of prison to find his art supplies. It carried too many memories in between the cardboard walls, and he had been afraid that the smell of it alone would somehow take him back there, that he’d wake up and find he was still locked up on the inside and everything that happened since had been nothing but a fanciful dream.

Still, at least the prison had given him a job. A shitty one, but it had helped him pass the time. There was nothing for him to do in Mia’s apartment, and even if he’d had a license a quick check of the news every morning had been enough to let them know that his face was still plastered across every channel. They weren’t exactly shy about showing Mia, either, from that day at the courthouse, but her part in it had been rendered lessimportant by the stunning verdict and by the time it had hit the national news they’d spent much less time focusing on her.

The few that bothered to mention her painted her as a victim of his manipulations, so they were relatively certain that it was safe for her to go out, that she was less likely to get swept up in an ugly incident if she showed her face in public.

After that morning at Target, he had stayed behind while she went out to get them whatever they needed.

Food.

Dish soap.

Condoms.

Mia’s tiny drawer in her bedside table held almost exactly a week’s supply at the rate they were using them. A fact that made her blush furiously, but she never turned away when he reached for her, and she’d woken him up more than once with her eyes already wanting and her hand on his dick.

That week had been good for them. Mia had refused to go to work or class, and she hadn’t let anyone into the apartment to visit or tried to drag him out to meet her friends or have dinner with her dad. They called, usually several times a day and at odd hours, to check on her, but she remained stubborn about their need for privacy.

It had been a week of bliss, of late-night talks and early morning cuddles and fucking each other senseless on every surface in the apartment.

It had kept him busy—though not so busy that he’d forgotten to call and schedule an appointment with Amy to discuss his trust fund money, and busy meant he hadn’t had time to dwell on anything.

Then Mia had gone back to school, leaving him with nothing but his thoughts, the TV, and a cell phone that she’d bought for him so he could call her in class if there was an emergency whileshe was out. He still hadn’t figured out how to use it and his fingers were too big for the buttons.

He was bored and alone.

Lonely.

But not lonely enough to give in to the urge to see or talk to anyone but Mia. She was the only one that had been there for him while he was in, and she was the only one he wanted to see now that he was out.

Amy’s assistant had passed along a message when she’d made his appointment for the next week, giving him the contact information for some of the witnesses that had showed up for him at the trial—Michael, Brittany, Vincent. They wanted to keep in touch, now that he was out, but he couldn’t find it in him to reach out. He was grateful that they’d come, but bitter about the years that they’d let him suffer in isolation.

This day was no different, and by the time he heard Mia’s key slide into the lock, he was restless and frustrated from being trapped in the small apartment.

All of that fell away when he got a good look at her tear-soaked face as she flew into his arms, launching herself at him without bothering to close the front door behind him and nearly knocking him back down onto the couch before he’d fully managed to get his feet under him.

“What happened?”

“They found me,” she cried. “On campus. They were waiting for me when I got there, shoving cameras in my face and asking me questions about you. Asking me for interviews. Askingmeto askyoufor interviews. It was awful. Campus security had to chase them off the property.”

“Shit,” he said, tightening his grip on her and trying to nudge the door shut with his foot as she wiped her nose subtly on his T-shirt. “Did they follow you back here?”

“I don’t think so,” she said with a shake of her head. “I didn’t see them when I left campus.”

“How did they even find you?” He didn’t really expect for her to know the answer, but he couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“I don’t know for sure,” she said, wiping her eyes as she dropped down heavily onto the couch. “But whoever keeps tipping them off seems to know a lot about me. My friends, my school.”

“But they don’t know where you live,” he said, filling in the obvious gap. “So, someone who knows you but not someone close to you.”

She nodded and pressed her face into her hands, elbows on her knees as she curled into herself and hiccoughed softly.

“Mia …” What could he possibly say after everything she’d gone through for him? “I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I’ve caused you nothing but trouble since the day that first letter came.”

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