Rebel Walking: Heaven Sent Part 6

"What? I can't help you move your s.h.i.t?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

"No, Ivy, I don't."

"We can't be more than friends. It will never work."

"That ship has sailed." I'm not letting her off this easy. She is going to p u s h me away because things are complicated right off the bat. We will have issues, but who doesn't?

"Taron, please. I don't have the energy to fight you today."

"Then don't."

Ivy I don't have the strength to fight him. I need to keep my distance from him. When I'm in the same room with him, he owns me.

I tread lightly as I walk through the house. I hope Aiden is either gone or s ti l l sleeping. Taron may be p.i.s.sed since he was sleeping over here.

"If you're looking for cowboy, I sent him home last night."

"What did you say to him?"

"Nothing. I just told him I was here and that I would take care of you. I just said it quickly when I walked in and headed straight to find you." I hope he wasn't an a.s.s to Aiden. After everything that he has done for me, I won't tolerate Taron attacking him anymore.

We go to my apartment with Eaven and Talon. Just being back here is making me feel the full emotions of it all. My mind can't take all of this right now. I stay close to the door and attempt to get some of our kitchen stuff packed up.

The guys insist on carrying everything out. Eaven packs up my room for me and it isn't until she screams out that I even consider going into my room.

The guys are downstairs and I rush to my room even though I'm scared to death right now. I could never leave Eaven when she is obviously in trouble.

"Oh. My. G.o.d." Her scream is hysterical.

I run in and find her backing away from my closet. Her eyes are fixated inside of it. I let my eyes focus on what she is seeing and I see a large square of sheet rock cut out of the wall. It's propped up to appear as if it's never been separated from the wall. My heart begins to race as I finally realize exactly how Dylan got in. How many times did he come in here?

Eaven yanks my hand as she runs by. Her pull is the only reason I begin to move. The shock of seeing how sick he is froze me in the very spot I saw into the closet.

We barely make it out of the bedroom door when we slam into two solid walls of muscle.

"Call the police. He is crazy."

Eaven is still screaming when both guys position themselves in front of us.

"Where is that mother f.u.c.ker?"

Taron moves away from me and barrels into the room. Eaven and I are in each other's arms and both back away until we reach the front door. I'm struggling to breathe again. Memories begin to replay in my head and nightmares of him in my room haunt my thoughts.

I listen as Eaven explains what we found to the police. She seems to calm down as she gives the information for them to come to investigate. Her words become just a sound in the room as I begin to close myself off.

Anxiety begins to over take me. I can't shake this feeling that something really bad is going to happen again. I watch for the guys to return, but they aren't coming back quick enough for me.

I need them to get back here so I can calm myself down. I just want to hold on to something stable and strong until the panic pa.s.ses. I can hear them talking about pictures and videos and my stomach begins to twist in pain again.

"Ev, tell them to come in here.

What are they doing?"

She yells for them to return. They come through the bedroom door and they both looked p.i.s.sed. I notice that each of them run their hands through their hair when they are frustrated and the image sticks with me. Their mannerisms are almost identical right now.

"There is no way you are EVER coming back here. You are moving in with me," Talon demands Eaven. There is no room for discussion. I look down because I know that I'm soon to be on my own. She is getting married and should move in with him. I just wish it was better timing.

"Talon, I can't leave Ivy."

"Then she moves in too. I'm not leaving you here next door to a f.u.c.king rapist, Ev. He has been living there and has photos of her. The a.s.shole built a shrine of s.h.i.t he probably jacks off to.

Neither one of you are coming back here again so get your s.h.i.t together. We are done here."

I look at Taron's reaction as his brother suggests I move in. His face seems a little pale. I can tell this is way too much for him to process.

*Eight*

Taron There is no way in h.e.l.l I'm leaving her. That mother f.u.c.ker has naked photos of her in the shower and changing in her room. He is a psycho b.a.s.t.a.r.d and I won't leave her here to deal with this f.u.c.ker without me. I need to do this correctly or I will scare her off. I'm trying to process the best way to calm her into staying at our house. Or better yet, going with me on tour.

"You can stay with us." That came out short and to the point.

"I'll find a new roommate soon.

I'll only stay until then." She doesn't look happy about the situation, but I don't care. I didn't get to see everything, but from what I can tell Dylan has been in her apartment numerous times. I lost it when I saw a picture of her naked in the shower. Then I reached for the perfume bottle that was near his bed. I slowly inhaled it hoping it wasn't hers, but it was. I know her smell. I dream of her scent and could never mistake it. I probably ruined any chance of the police getting fingerprints off of the bottle, but I don't give a s.h.i.t. My mind was all over the place with the images he had of her.

"The house is secure now, but I think they should come with us on tour."

I throw the idea out there hoping Talon will take my lead.

"We have cla.s.ses and we can't just pack up and leave." Eaven needs to get on board here. She is so dependable and I need her to be a free spirit right now.

"Drop the cla.s.ses and enroll in online cla.s.ses. You can't stay here by yourselves." I'm quick on my feet with a solution.

"Either do that or I'm canceling the tour because I won't be able to concentrate if I'm worrying about you the entire time." Talon knows how to get to Eaven. He walks right up to her and pulls her close, face to face. s.h.i.t if they were any closer, he would be inside of her. "It will be fun. We can see all of the different locations' together and I won't complain about spending every night with you." Talon is good at getting what he wants.

That is usually me. I feel like if I try too hard, I will scare her off since she pulled the friend card this morning.

If I don't try at all she won't think I want her to come. She wants to be friends, so I will go with that for now. I know if she goes on tour with me, I will get her to cave again. Right now she needs a friend anyway. She has a lot to deal with, and I'm not that big of an a.s.shole.

"Yea it'll be fun, Ivy. We can go and humiliate these two the whole time.

We can moan back at them when they have s.e.x, and bang on the walls when Ev is about to finish him off."

She finally smiles. It's a small one, but it's a smile. I have my work cut out for me. I want my feisty girl back. I could kill Dylan for taking her away from me. Maybe they will find him while we are gone and he will rot in h.e.l.l for the rest of his worthless life.

"Maybe it would be good to get away from here, Ivy. We could see the things we would have missed out on.

We could SHOP!"

It's a done deal now that I have Eaven up for the idea.

"You know I'm always up for anything, but I need to talk to Taron first."

"Yea, yea. He is going to be a perfect gentleman and all of that. We are going and we will live it up the entire time! Ivy, think of the pictures we can take!"

The police take our statement and we end up back at the police station to give more details. I'm outraged that Ivy has to relive this scene over and over.

They make her verify that each of the photos were hers. They let me stay with her as she begins the humiliating display of proof that he is as psycho as I felt he was when I entered his apartment. The police tell us that he has been in the apartment next to Ivy's for the last couple of weeks. They bring in the evidence and begin to show Ivy items that belong to her.

I watch Ivy deplete with every photo. I watch as the last little bit of strength in my girl flows out in the tears running down her face. I silently vow to her that I will take care of her as my lips press to her temple in my attempt to remind her that she isn't alone.

The police finally finish with the evidence and we make our way out of the h.e.l.l around us. I stop her once we get to the truck. She hasn't lifted her head since I came back for her. I wrap my arms around her and she doesn't push me away. Her body has no fight left and she completely leans on me to hold her upright.

"Let me in, Ivy. I will be here for you." I talk into her hair as I lean down t o completely surround her. I wish I could pull some of the hurt from her.

She slowly wraps her arms around my waist and I feel her squeeze just slightly. This is enough communication for me to know she is still in there. I still have a chance to build this girl up and help her survive this nightmare.

I hold her until she pulls away from me. She climbs into my truck and slides all the way over to the door on the other side. I know she is using it to help hold her up and I wish she would let me hold her. I drive us back to my house and allow her the silence she needs.

We spend the afternoon tying up loose ends. I get my phone fixed and Talon and I both tell the head of security that the girls need constant protection so they can provide more security on tour.

He seems irritated when I grab the phone and demand security after Talon had already said everything. I just want to make sure he knows that I'm not messing around with this. I will drop the gig in a second if I think they don't have it covered.

Eaven calls her parents to let them know the situation. They drive in for the evening. As soon as Eaven's little sister shows up she attaches herself to Talon. I try to get her to warm up to me. "Hey kid."

She looks at me like I'm a freak. I can't help but smile because her facial expression says everything. She doesn't want me to invade in on her Talon time.

I decide to leave that one alone for now.

I make my way back to Ivy and the people she considers family.

I have nothing but respect for Eaven's parents. They took in Ivy just like she is one of their own. They look devastated when Ivy tells them about the attack. It only gets worse when we tell them what the police found in the apartment this afternoon.

I sit close to her the entire time she fights to get the words out. I hold her hand when her words begin and by the time its over, I've wrapped her back up in my arms. I can't stand the fact that she is hurting. I swear I'll kill him if he comes near her again.

I look over at Eaven's dad and I see his face scowling at me. I don't know if it's because of the situation or the fact that she is finding comfort in my arms. I lock my eyes with his trying to prove that I won't back away. He eventually averts his eyes when Ivy breaks my hold and sits up straight in her chair.

"It will be good for me to go on tour. It will give you time to work with the police to find Dylan." She stands and begins to hug each of them goodbye.

"I'm so tired. I want to go to bed early and I still need to pack. I love you both." She doesn't even wait for them to leave before she is down the hall and in my bedroom. Luckily Eaven takes over entertaining her parent's when I start to move Ivy's things into the house.

I purposely put all of her things in my bedroom. There really isn't anywhere else to put them. This is a three-bedroom house, and besides that it's just logical. She will be with me anyway.

I help her get all of her boxes and bags organized. She doesn't unpack anything. She just moves some of it into suitcases for the tour and the rest of it is neatly stacked in the corner.

Her phone rings and she turns away from me to answer it after looking at the screen.

"Hey, Aiden."

"I'm packing to leave. Ev and I are going on tour with the guys." That's right, she is coming with me, cowboy.

"Yea. I will keep in touch."

"Thank you so much for everything. I really owe you..." She is obviously interrupted by him. This guy is always sweeping in. I will not let her need him again.

"Ok. Deal. I promise."

I work hard to brush off the irritation that his call caused. I need to remember that he saved her that night.

No matter how much I hate him, I am glad he was there to help her.

I move in behind her after she tosses her phone on the bed. I let my hand run down her arm and her body stiffens at the contact.

"Ivy, please don't pull away from me. Let me help you. I want to be here for you." I seriously hate that b.a.s.t.a.r.d for hurting her like he did. He has taken away her confidence. She looks empty and lonely. No matter what I say, she looks lonely.

"I promise we will find him. We will make sure he pays for what he did to you," I say into her forehead as I stamp multiple kisses trying to rea.s.sure her. She bows her head further into my chest and I feel her relax a fraction. She isn't completely melting into my arms, but this is progress. I can work with this.

I don't miss the fact that I am here comforting a woman. This is usually not my thing, yet there is nothing that could pull me from her in this moment. I want to absorb all of her hurt and take her back to how she was before he stole everything away from her.

"Thank you." She speaks softly into my chest. I pull her away from me so I can look into her eyes. I want her to understand what she means to me.

"You have to know that I'm here for you and there is no place I'd rather be. You don't need to thank me. I'm yours." I lean in until we are face-to- face, eyes to eyes, lips to lips. She watches through her gorgeous blue eyes until I turn slightly to let our lips touch.

She closes her eyes and inhales deeply.

I make this kiss gentle and easy. She needs to know that I have a gentle side to me as well. I'm just finding out about it, but it's there. I wrap her in my arms and we stand there for a long time.

I start to sing to her and our bodies automatically begin to sway. She lets her fingers entwine with my left hand and then she pulls our hands up close to her chest. She tucks our hands close to her body, and I let my other arm pull her in as tight as I can. I close my eyes and realize how much I like having her this close to me.

Ivy I could push him away like my mind is telling me to do, but I've decided that going on tour is the best idea for me. I don't want to be here in case Dylan tries to contact me. If I'm on tour we will be constantly moving from city to city. There will always be security around, and I want to feel safe again. I want this helpless feeling to f.u.c.king vanish.

I'm not helpless. I'm a fighter. I don't let anyone get the best of me. I could never go back to my apartment, so now I'm homeless, and totally dependent on Taron. This isn't going to fly with me either, but for a short time I'll pick the best of two evils and go with it. I have always said that I would never depend on a man like my mother always has. I want to make my own way.

I don't have any other options at the moment, so I will give in and become totally dependent on this man that can both infuriate me and have me wet within seconds of each other.

The real fact is, I need him right now. I need him to feel again. Without him, I let myself slide into the numbness that is so easy to turn to. I don't like that I need him, but I do. I can't let him know this. He doesn't need to know how important he is to my emotional well being.

Moments like this give me hope that we can be together. His voice calms me as he sings softly in my ear. The soft side of Taron is beautiful and I cherish every second he spends holding me as we move to the music in his head.

I let my mind begin to wander and decide that I need to put some distance between us. I need him to be able to feel and escape all of this, but I refuse to give i nto him completely. That is just too dangerous for me right now.

"We should probably hit the sack.

Our flight is early." I pull away knowing my feelings are all over the place. I need to regroup and figure out what I want out of him. I want to be friends. I want forever. What the h.e.l.l do I want? I want forever with no chance of heartbreak. We aren't promised that in any relationship. It's j us t that this one seems that odds are especially stacked against us, so I lean to being friends again.

"I'll take the couch." I grab the pillow and move to the door. I hear him moving around behind me so I look back to see him also grab a pillow.