Fighting Conviction by Greer Rivers

Chapter Twenty-Five

“You’re not effin’ banned from Sasha Saves, ya drama queen. You just can’t bebop up in here at all hours of the night anymore, ‘kay?” On the last word, Nora sounded like she blew a piece of bubble gum just to pop it for emphasis.

Ellie massaged her brow as she sat on a stool at her temporary apartment at BlackStone. There was a strange mixture of understanding and frustration swirling inside her. She’d been relegated to being a part-time, first-shift employee at Sasha Saves and it drove her bananas. Naomi now had her work cell phone and—somehow—Nora had found all the numbers from survivors in Ellie’s personal phone and redirected them to the work phone.

“But it’s been a whole month since I passed out. I’m feeling great.” Ellie wasn’t even lying this time and was better rested than she’d ever been. She’d even gained back the weight she’d lost.

“Hmm… been going to therapy?”

Hope sparked in Ellie’s chest. “Yep, twice that first week and once a week since.”

“Mhm, mhm… sleeping?”

“Yep.”

“Eating?”

“Yep, yep, yep, and going to class, and training, and studying. All the good things.”

“That’s great, girl! I’m proud of you.”

Ellie shimmied her shoulders with excitement before bringing her phone back to her ear. “So I can come back full time?”

“Hmm… what? Oh, no way.”

“Ugh, come on, Nora. I need to get back in there.”

The pixie on the other line chuckled. “The fact you think I have any say over this is effin’ hilarious. Your brother and Devil are calling the shots. Apparently, I’m the damn messenger.”

Ellie groaned again, louder to match Nora’s growing laughter. “Okay, fine. But who went last night? I checked the email this morning before class and there was a confirmation from the SANE nurse at the ER that a kit was sent off to the Ashland County Sheriff’s Office lab?”

A sigh resonated on the other end, and when Nora spoke again, she’d sobered for the topic. “Yeah… Naomi actually went to the hospital and spoke with the sexual assault nurse and helped explain the rape kit and process to the survivor. She’s got a, um, history with the woman, so she took the reins. She’s been pretty godsdamned invaluable here.”

Ellie sighed. She was glad Naomi was having a bigger role in the clinic, especially considering how her relationship with Sasha Saves started on such a tumultuous note. But Ellie still couldn’t help feeling like she was doing the survivors a disservice by not being there for them when they needed her.

“I feel… I don’t know. I feel useless when I can’t be there.”

Nora tsked on the other end. “Ya gotta let it go, babe. I get it. Trust me. I don’t get exactly what you’re going through, but I’m pretty sure I get the gist. Every moment I’m not doing something for the clinic or sitting at the hospital beside the comatose man who saved my life? I’m fighting with the part of me that screams I’m being lazy or I’m failing them. Those are my own issues, but for you? Taking care of you, going to school… Hades, girl just being a frickin’ college kid… That’s your job right now, ‘kay?”

“I know, I just—”

“Bup-bup-bup. Brace yourself for some harsh words comin’ at ya, sister. I’m sure Little Miss Barbie and that redheaded devil of yours don’t want to be picking up pretty little Ellie pieces from the floor anymore, capeesh? Does that help put it in perspective? When you weren’t taking care of yourself and only worrying about others, you made it so others had to worry about you.”

Ellie paused, her mouth open. She hated to admit it, but it made sense. Nora was always down for the tough talks and sometimes when they burrowed under Ellie’s skin, Ellie dug her heels in right back to withstand the truths. But this one…

“I-I never thought of it that way…”

“I know. We love ya, girl. It’s time for you to join the party.”

Ellie nodded as if Nora could see her on the other line.

“Listen.” Nora coughed on the other end and whispered into the receiver. “I gotta go. I’m about to have lunch with Matt.”

“Matt? Draco’s nurse from the hospital?”

“Yup.” The word came out slow and popped at the end.

“Bowchica—”

“Abso-effin’-lutely not, little girl. He’s just a friend.”

Ellie snorted. Nora commenting on anyone’s size was hilarious considering she wasn’t much bigger than Tinker Bell.

“Well lunch sounds… nice? It’s always good to have friends, I guess,” Ellie offered, only to have Nora grunt on the other end.

Ellie looked at the watch she’d been patiently attending to the past hour and a half and hopped off the stool. She’d be fifteen minutes early, but since Dev had BlackStone business to take care of before her classes, she’d had to wait all day to find out whatever “special training” he’d planned that night.

The last ‘special’training they’d had a month and a half ago, he’d given her the best orgasm of her life while he held her up on his shoulders. It was too bad she’d kneed him in the balls so hard she couldn’t reciprocate, but since then, she couldn’t get the thought of returning the favor out of her head.

“Yeah, yeah, friends are great. Gotta go, babe.” Nora already sounded distracted.

“I gotta go, too,” Ellie replied as she left her apartment and took ten strides to the studio next door.

“Peace out, Girl Scout.”

The call ended and Ellie shoved her phone into the side pocket of her leggings as she delivered two hard knocks on Dev’s steel door. On the third, she nearly slammed her fist into Dev’s chin in the newly open doorway, but she retracted her hand with an agility she hadn’t dreamed of before her training sessions.

His brows raised as if he was impressed before he glanced at his watch. “Getting better every day, El. You’re early and you stopped yourself from clobbering me. You might save a life with those reflexes.” Dev winked at her as he stepped aside for her to enter past him.

“Goddamn.” He sounded like he was choking and she turned around to see him staring at her butt. “Ellie, those leggings are…”

Ellie laughed and twirled like she was wearing a dress. “Thanks, they have pockets. And I’m not that early.” She blushed at being caught, but didn’t disagree with the reflexes compliment.

She’d become strong over the past couple of months, and the last month she’d strengthened herself mentally and emotionally, too. After finally truly embracing her therapy sessions, and after her therapist insisted they meet in person again, Ellie could admit she felt the difference inside and out.

“Well, whatever they have, they’re, um… working. Anyway, you’re early enough that I haven’t gotten the supplies out, yet. I was finishing cleaning my gun.” He pointed to his dining table where his gun was laid out in pieces on a towel. “Have a seat and I’ll be ready in a minute.”

Ellie nodded and walked by him until she felt the hair on the back of her neck prickle.

“And see—” Dev’s sudden closeness right behind her made every nerve tingle. “I can come behind you like this and you don’t even jump anymore.”

Ellie exhaled a breath and whipped around to see his small smile, the one that sent flutters low in her belly. Trying to play off the fact he’d set her off guard, she feinted a punch at his arm and giggled when he jumped back, rubbing his arm, pretending like she’d hit him.

“Yes, perfect. Instead of getting overwhelmed, now you can punch their lights out. Progress.”

Ellie snorted. “Some would argue whether that should be considered ‘progress’.”

Dev waved away her point. “Nah, they’d just be mad you got the drop on them.” He went to rummage through the closet in the corner of the room while Ellie sank into one of his dining chairs and pulled her phone out of her leggings to lay it on the table. His voice was slightly muffled as he called out from inside the walk-in. “Still liking the apartment?”

Ellie nodded. Nora was partly right that other people were calling the shots, but Ellie had agreed to every suggestion on how to get healthier, and made some of her own. Dev and Jason were just better at keeping her accountable.

Part of their agreement was staying at BlackStone. Her dorm was doing her more harm than good, and Jason was convinced she needed constant monitoring. His original plan was for her to stay with him and Jules, which Ellie said a gentle but firm ‘heck no, thanks anyway’. Staying with her overbearing brother would’ve made her crazy on its own, but being there while he obsessed over his pregnant fiancée? That would’ve been a complete disaster for her mental health.

The compromise had been to shack up temporarily in the studio apartment that would’ve been Jason’s if he’d signed onto BlackStone when the security firm began. It was downright spacious compared to her dorm room.

The only person she’d been afraid of disappointing was Virginia, but her roommate had assured her she didn’t even notice Ellie was gone. Which surprisingly hurt for Ellie to hear until Virginia explained it was only because Ellie had never been there in the first place. In fact, they were talking more than ever thanks to a constant stream of texts and FaceTimes back and forth. Virginia was thrilled.

“What about your neighbor? He still driving you crazy?” Dev peeked his head out and smirked while Ellie rolled her eyes.

Having Dev as her neighbor was… interesting. It was nice to know she was safe, but it also meant he was just a wall away. Still, their schedule hadn’t changed much. She either saw him at Sasha Saves or when they trained three times a week. The only difference was every time they did see each other, Dev had been distant, treating her with nothing but respect and professionalism.

Obviously, she freaking hated it.

Some days she was sure her eyeballs were going to dry out from staring at the wall between them while trying to imagine what he was doing on the other side, and what she wished he was doing with her. Now that she had a full belly and a month’s worth of good nights’ sleep in her system, every time they trained, she couldn’t keep the idea of a heavy horizontal workout out of her dirty mind.

“I don’t know, I hardly ever see him. Seems like he’s gone all the time.” She cupped her chin and leaned on her propped elbow while trying to listen for any hint at what their lesson would be.

“Aw, you noticed? That makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.” His quiet chuckle at her expense got on her nerves and she narrowed her eyes at his closet door until he finally emerged. “Believe it or not, I have other responsibilities here besides training you.”

“I get that but, um…” Talking about Dev’s hot and cold routine was the last thing she wanted to do, but he seemed more receptive than he had been in over a month, so she ventured in. “We had some” —she cleared her throat— “very hands-on training a while ago. And since then, you’ve been very… hands-off.”

Dev stepped outside the closet and leaned his shoulder against the side of the open door and tossed something in one hand to the other. “Sorry, El. I’ve wanted to give you space, is all. I don’t want to interfere with your health and I figured…” He shrugged a shoulder. “I figured when you were ready you would come to me.”

Ellie gulped and nodded but couldn’t draw her stare away from the items in his hand. He walked to the dining table with his brow furrowed before depositing them onto the surface. Her mind raced with possibilities of using either the rope, the tape, or the handcuffs in front of him to bind her in the next ‘exercise.’ Her core pulsed with need and she crossed her legs to keep from dampening her panties.

“Right… makes sense…” She cleared her throat. “So um, not judging or anything, but why the heck do you keep shady, serial killer crap in your closet?”

“Oh, you know. In case I’m in the mood for a little something… hands-on.” Dev’s voice was pitched low, and Ellie finally looked up to see his eyes burning with intensity, and the heat there sent a warm blush creeping up her chest and into her cheeks.

Ellie’s eyes darted to the bed, where she could easily imagine herself tied while Dev tasted her arousal again. She’d been craving him since he’d made her watch herself come. “L-like what… exactly?”

A wicked smile inched across his face. “Unfortunately, the things I have in mind today are not nearly as fun as what’s going on in your head. Although, I’d be really fucking interested to see where that imagination is taking you right now.”

Disappointment twisted up in the lust consuming her body, but when Dev snapped the rope like a folded belt, the clapping sound made her thighs quake from how hard she was squeezing them together.

Ellie closed her eyes and took a breath to center herself. If he was going to keep teasing her, she wasn’t going to take the bait anymore. Two could play at that game.

She opened her eyes and adopted a smirk before crossing her arms. “Whatever, get on with the lesson then, sir.”

A rumbling formed in Dev’s chest and fire lit the forest green in his eyes. Why she’d chosen to poke the demon, she had no idea.

“You know exactly why, girl. And I fuckin’ approve.”

Sasha whistled inside her mind, and Ellie braced herself for the wave of misery that accompanied their inner conversations. Ellie had started hearing less from her friend in the past couple of months and Sasha had been radio silent since the store incident. The only thing Ellie could do in the moment was hope all the self-help had prepared her for the worst.

But when her pulse remained calm and her heart didn’t try to tear itself out of her chest to get away from the pain, she let the tension in her muscles relax. Dev was looking at her with a tilted head, but said nothing as she smoothed down her loose midriff hoodie for something to do with her hands. Inside, she didn’t know how to feel about… not feeling guilty.

Deep down, she knew it was healthy for her to move on, and fewer talks with a ghost was a good step in the process. Even with all the talks with her therapist, cognitive-behavioral exercises, and meditations, on some level, Ellie had still expected to regret the moments she didn’t think about her friend. To feel remorse over being the one left behind, and having the audacity to forget her for a second. But all she felt was gratitude. For who Sasha was, the friendship they had, and the person she’d help Ellie become.

Ellie closed her eyes and spoke to her friend, at peace with the fact their conversations were getting few and far between.

Thanks, Sash.

She looked up to find Dev watching her with soft, knowing eyes. “That’s… nice.”

“What?”

“That.” He stretched across the small table and brushed her bottom lip with his finger. “This smile. It’s nice to see. I’ve been seeing it around more lately and it’s a relief.” He stroked her cheek, sending shivers down her spine, and dropped his hand before turning back to the props. “Today, we’re going to work through escape techniques.” He picked the handcuffs up and twirled a cuff around with his index finger. “Pick your binding, angel. First one’s your choice.”

Ellie gulped and looked at the item until her eyes stung. What a freaking choice indeed.

“What’s it gonna be, baby?”

“Uh…” She sifted through all the scenarios in her mind, spending a little extra time on the ones involving handcuffs. And while each fantasy made her clit throb with anticipation, her anxiety and adrenaline got the best of her and she blurted out the worst possibility. “That one. The duct tape.”