Reid turned around just then and smiled.  “Hey, man, I’m Reid.”  He walked across the room and shook Garrett’s hand.

“Garrett.”

“So nice to meet you.  Devon’s been telling me all about you.  Really nice of you to let her stay in the city for a couple weeks,” Reid said.

“Uh, yeah, no problem.  She’s welcome here anytime,” Garrett said, his eyes shifting to Devon.

Reid smiled bigger and turned to include Devon in the conversation.  “That’s always good to know.  Maybe we’ll make another trip up here during the school year.”

Devon looked away from them.  She just couldn’t handle this.  The implication in Reid’s words sliced open old wounds.  They were never going to make a trip to see Hadley and Garrett.  Once Reid got her in St. Louis again, she wouldn’t go anywhere.  He would make sure of that.

“So, how long are you here for?” Garrett asked, running a hand back through his hair.

Devon already knew the answer.  They would leave as soon as Reid could get her out of here.

“Well, it’s up to Devon, of course,” he answered, clearly lying.

Reid smiled at her, and Devon thought she might be sick.  Since when had anything been up to her?

“What do you want to do, Dev?”

She shrugged.  She wanted to go back to Brennan and apologize.  She wanted to explain to him that Reid was dangerous and Brennan couldn’t come anywhere near him.  She wanted to tell Brennan that she didn’t trust Reid not to hurt him, and if he did, it would kill her.

“Well, I got my MCAT scores in the mail this week, and it’s Devon’s birthday soon.  Maybe we could all go out and celebrate?” Reid said.

“How did you do?” Devon asked automatically.  Hadn’t she just asked Brennan the same question?

A muscle in Reid’s neck twitched at the question.  If she didn’t know him so well, she wouldn’t have known what that meant.  He hadn’t done as well as he had wanted.  She wondered if his parents would donate a library or something to get him into Wash U’s medical school.  She wouldn’t put it past them.

“Great.  They were great,” he said with a sinister smile.  “So, you want to go out then?”

“Sure,” she said softly.  She would rather be out than alone with him, and she might as well put off the inevitable.

“I’ll have to see what Hadley’s doing.  I’m not sure if she’s ready to go out again.  She should be home soon though,” Garrett said.

He sounded uncomfortable and out of place, and Devon didn’t blame him.  He knew what had happened with her and Reid, and he was probably trying to figure out his role now that Reid was here.

“She’s not home yet?” Devon asked just to fill the silence.

“No, she and her mom decided to go out shopping.  I don’t expect them until after the stores close.”  He looked down at his watch.  “That was thirty minutes ago, so she should be here soon.”

As if on cue, Hadley walked through the door, loaded with bags.  She kicked the door shut with her foot as she stumbled inside, weighed down by her packages.

Garrett reached out to steady her.

“Hey!” she said, bending into him.  “Missed you.”

Garrett’s smile took over his face.  “I missed you, too.”

“I got way too much,” she said, leaning forward and kissing him.

When she backed up, he said, “I can see that.”  Garrett turned to gesture toward Reid.  “We, uh…have a visitor.”

“Reid McAllister!” Hadley cried in shock.  “What are you doing here?”

Reid laughed good-naturedly and shook his head.  “Nice to see you, too, Hadley.”

“Seriously, what are you doing here?” she asked, hoisting her bags over one shoulder to redistribute the weight.

“I’m here to see Devon, of course.  What do you think I’m doing here?” he asked, his eyes moving to Devon.

“I really don’t know.”

“Hadley, what did you get from your shopping trip?” Devon asked quickly, cutting off Hadley’s next response.

Hadley narrowed her eyes, but she was too much of a girl to not give in.  “Ugh…too much.  I’ll have to show you.  Bedroom?” she asked, nodding toward the room she shared with Garrett.

“Sure.  Garrett, maybe you should pour Reid a drink,” Devon offered, skirting around him.

Reid reached out and grabbed her wrist.  When she winced, he released some of the tension.  He pulled her into him, and she did everything she could not to pull away.  Her wrist would be the least of her worries then.  He pushed back a lock of blonde hair from her face.

“I missed you, and I don’t ever want you out of my sight again,” he said so softly only she could hear.  His lips landed possessively on hers.  “Don’t be in there long.”

Devon bit her lip, wanting nothing more than to wrench herself out of his grasp, but she just nodded.

“Good,” he said, releasing her.  “I think I would like that drink now, Garrett.”  He walked into the kitchen with a boisterous laugh.

Devon scurried away from him and into the bedroom.  She hoped her shaking wasn’t noticeable.  She closed the door quickly behind her just as Hadley tossed her bags on the bed with a big huff.

“Okay…what the fuck is he doing here?” Hadley asked.

“Shhh,” Devon warned quickly, putting her finger to her mouth.  “Keep it down.”

“Sorry,” Hadley said quietly.

“We didn’t really break up,” Devon said, biting her lip.

“What are you talking about?  You said that you did, and then you were gone all night with Brennan,” Hadley said, confused.

Devon fiercely shook her head.  “Don’t talk about him.  Reid can’t know about Brennan.”

“Devon, what is going on?” Hadley demanded, crossing her arms.

“I left St. Louis without telling Reid.  I wanted to break up with him, but I didn’t know how.  So, for all intents and purposes, we were broken up.  He just…didn’t know…” Devon trailed off.

“Fuck, Dev.  What are you going to do?” Hadley asked, sitting back heavily on the bed.

“Wing it?” Devon said with a shrug.

Hadley looked at her skeptically.

“Okay, I’m going to have to act like everything is normal…as much as I can anyway.  You are, too.  Then, I’m going to try to talk to him, but please don’t bring up Brennan.  I don’t want him to think that is why we’re breaking up.”

“Isn’t it?” Hadley asked.

“No,” Devon said, shaking her head.  “I left Reid before I had ever met Brennan.”

“Fair point.”

“I just…have to do this my way, okay?”

Hadley stood up and placed her hand on Devon’s shoulder.  “Let him down easy, Dev.  He’s crazy about you.”

He’s just crazy, she thought.

DEVON WAS CLOSE to collapsing by the time they made it out to the bar.  She really wanted a drink to calm her nerves, but she wanted to stay in control.  The last thing she wanted was to confront Reid with an addled mind or accidentally slip and say something she shouldn’t while drunk.

Hadley and Garrett decided on a club not too far from their house.  Hadley hadn’t been out at night since her overdose.  Devon didn’t want to worry about that on top of everything else.  Garrett would just have to take care of her for once.

When Devon walked into the club, her head was swimming.  It felt so much like her dream.  It really wasn’t anything like it at all, except for the dance floor, heavy music, and crowd.  That shouldn’t have been enough to trigger her terror, but having Reid holding tightly to her arm didn’t help anything.  As bile rose, she covered her mouth and tried to swallow away her apprehension.

His hand slid across the small of her back and gripped her waist.  He leaned down and spoke directly into her ear.  “Drink?”

She shook her head.  “I’m okay.”

“Come with me anyway,” he said, pulling her toward the bar.

“Okay,” she said because she really had no other choice.

Reid ordered himself a Crown and Coke and her a Cosmopolitan even though she didn’t want it.  She didn’t like cosmos, and she had told him a hundred times that she didn’t, but he kept ordering them for her.