Page 42 of Fighting Conviction
Ellie crossed her arms. “I’ll call Jason tomorrow, but I want to sleep in my own bed tonight. You can’t tell me what to do, Devil.”
Devil. Not Dev. She’d only added two letters, but they were a one-two punch into his stomach. That, plus her insistence on staying at the dorm, was making him nauseous.
“I’ll sure as hell tell you what to do if you can’t take care of yourself! First you went to that stupid party and got taken, and now you were nearly shot to death—”
“Hold up.” Devil stopped immediately at the command in her voice. “Are you seriously blaming any of this on me?” Ellie’s voice raised steadily. “When I was kidnapped? Really? And just now? All I did was fall asleep. I went there when it was daytime and perfectly safe. It was an accident.”
The pain in his stomach flipped in a dizzying sensation. He’d fucked up, but it was too late now. “Ellie, I…” He glanced over at her to see her eyes glistening back at him, wide with horror after his accusation. “Of course I don’t think any of this is your fault. I just wonder sometimes if you paid more attention you’d realize when you’re in danger, maybe you could prevent—”
Ellie’s hand shot up. “Don’t.”
He shook his head and blew out a breath through his nose. “Ellie, I—”
“No. Don’t, Devil. I already think it. I can’t hear it from you, too. I just… I can’t. Not from you. And not today.”
Silence weighed heavy in the air, crushing the stone heart in his chest. He wracked his brain to connect the words left unsaid.
“Why were you there, Ellie?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I’ll tell you if you swear to take me back to my dorm.”
“Ellie,” he growled.
“That’s the deal. Besides, the guy just saw my face, it’s not like he knows where I live or anything. It was probably just some junkie.” Something about her voice made him wonder if she believed it herself, but she was so earnest, it was hard not to see how much she needed what she was asking for. “I want to sleep in my own bed, not the BlackStone guest room.”
“I thought you didn’t like your dorm,” he hedged, genuinely curious by the change.
She sighed. “I didn’t. I don’t really. It’s so… small. But I’m trying to do things that scare me.” He could tell she’d turned to face him, but Devil kept his eyes on the road, trying not to read too much into her words. “Please, Dev. This is important to me. I finally got Jason to leave me alone. He convinced the university to let BlackStone install top-of-the-line security, which, if I’m right, BlackStone has access to the camera feeds. Yes, tonight scared the crap out of me, but I need to try to feel normal as best as I can.”
Her wavering voice shook his resolve and he scrubbed his beard as he considered a compromise.
“I’ll take you back to your dorm. But I’m texting your brother and telling him something at least. And I’m gonna sit outside and make sure no creepy asshole goes in.”
Ellie scoffed. “Right, like some guy parked outside the dorm isn’t creepy.”
“Fair enough. You live in one of those fancy suites, right?” At her nod, he continued. “I’ll sleep on your living room couch, then. Deal?” She opened her mouth to argue but he interrupted her with atsk. “BlackStone or your couch, baby. Gotta pick one.”
“Fine,” she huffed. “You can stay on our couch. But I can’t be held accountable for your psych bill if Virginia drives you crazy.”
He barked out a laugh. “I think I can handle it for one night.”
“‘Mkay…” Her exaggerated shrug didn’t make her seem convinced, but Devil wasn’t going to let her sidestep the conversation.
“That’s the deal. Now talk.”
Ellie's shoulders sagged back against the leather seat. For the longest time, he wondered if he was going to have to prompt her again, but then she finally spoke, and the raw, broken part of him he’d hidden since he was seventeen, almost wished she hadn’t.
“It’s Sasha’s birthday.” The crack in her voice stabbed his heart. “We went to our tree all the time growing up. It got less in high school, but we made sure to go at least every birthday.” She pulled her ponytail to the front and picked out pine needles. “Ugh, my fingers are sticky from all the sap.” She flicked the thin green sticks from her hands and chuckled as she brushed the two together to get the remnants off. “Back then, Sash and I didn’t care too much about getting dirty from climbing. It didn’t matter that the tree bark stuck to us like glue. We’d been thrilled when Jason secretly made a ‘treehouse’ for us—”
“Jaybird called that a treehouse? In a public park? How’d he get away with that?” Devil interrupted. “It was nothing but some two by fours slapped together.” He shook his head at Jason thinking that shitty hack job was safe enough for his sister.
Ellie’s laughter came out like a whisper. “It was enough for us. We practically lived in it. She lived in the Hatcher Gardens Neighborhood before it got to be the bad part of town.” She sighed. “I wanted to be as close to her as possible today. I got us our birthday donuts—it was tradition—and I celebrated with her up there, the only way I could.” Her voice trailed off softly and she leaned her head against the window.
Devil’s stomach twisted at Ellie hurting. He could take pain, thrived off of it. But the emotional turmoil radiating off her and into the cabin of his truck was going to be the death of him.
Ellie turned her head. “Earlier… were you really mad at me?”
He glanced at her, longer than driving should’ve allowed, but there was no one on the road. “No, angel. I wasn’t really mad at you. I was…”
