**𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐄!**
After losing her mother to cancer, Meredith packed her most prized belongings and her necessities, loaded up her service dog Max, and took off on a cross-country trip.
And ended up settling in a small town in Tennessee.
Chase...
"Hey, hey now," Chase crooned as he gripped my upper arms, squatting in front of me. "Breathe, Meredith," he ordered. "Just breathe. I'm here. No one can hurt you as long as I'm around," he swore.
I closed my eyes and drew in a long, deep breath. I fisted my hands in Chase's shirt, trying to calm my erratic breathing, trying to calm my mind. Max whined, pushing his head against my chest, his way of reminding me to breathe and suck air into my lungs.
"You're safe," Chase soothed.
I clung to those words in my mind with a vice-like grip.
Chase continued holding my upper arms, his eyes steady on mine as he waited for my breathing to regulate. Once I was mostly breathing normally again, he brushed his fingers over my cheek, his eyes intent on my face.
"You scared the hell out of me," he said softly. I cast my eyes to my lap. He gripped my chin, forcing my gaze back on his. "I heard Max bark, and I knew something was wrong." I gave him a weak smile. "You're pale as a sheet, Meredith. What happened, sweetheart?"
"He got released," I whispered. My hands shook, so I pressed them between my thighs as I drew in a deep breath, trying to keep myself calm. "The sheriff from my hometown called me to inform me."
Chase clenched his jaw, anger swirling in his gaze. "Sweetheart, I need you to tell me what he did to you," he coaxed. "I could pull records, but I don't want to do that." Oh, this man. "I want you to tell me."
Tears burned in my eyes. "It's a crappy story," I croaked.
Chase sat on the old, worn coffee table in front of me, his hands smoothing down my arms, but he never released them from his grip. His firm hold on my upper arms helped keep me grounded.
Max pushed against my chin, sensing my anxiety.
The night I was about to tell Chase about was the entire reason I had a support animal.
"He was our next-door neighbor," I said softly, my eyes on my lap, unable to look at Chase. His grip stayed firm on my arms, somehow holding me together. "He was always kind of strange – the way he kept flirting with my mother—" I shook my head, my skin crawling at the memories. "It wasn't normal flirting. It was so . . . creepy, and he freaked my mother out every single time. She always urged me to keep my head down and not look at him."
Chase gently squeezed my arms when I paused for a good moment, not speaking. "I'm here, Meredith," he said softly. "I'm here, and I promise, you're not alone."
Swallowing thickly, I continued. "I was fifteen when it happened. My mother was yelling outside, telling him to leave her alone, to get his hands off of her." A shudder wracked my frame. "I went to go help her." I shook my head. "I should have just called the police," I whispered.
Max whined, pushing his body further against me. I dug my fingers into his soft fur. "He took advantage of the door being open and shoved my mom inside, coming in with her. There was this crazy gleam in his eyes – I'll never forget it." I drew in a shuddering breath. "He knocked me unconscious when I tried pushing him away from my mom, yelling at him to get out of our house."
My lips trembled, tears clogging my throat. I tried to swallow them down.
"When I came to, he was – he was—" I couldn't get it out. Chase rubbed my arms. "I shoved him off of her." My entire body was trembling. "He was furious, and he decided to – to—" I stopped.
"I guess our neighbors next door heard the commotion. When cops came pouring into the house, I was naked, barely coherent. Mom was still knocked out on the floor."
"Easy," Chase soothed, coming to sit beside me on the couch. He pulled me onto his lap, wrapping his strong, tatted arms around me. "I've got you," he promised.
Tears streamed down my face. I wrapped my arms tight around his midsection, holding him to me as shudders wracked my frame, sobs tearing themselves from my throat. Max draped his head over my legs.
Chase didn't leave at all that night. When my tears finally began to slow and my eyelids began to droop, he simply picked me up, cradling me to his chest. He maneuvered his way around my apartment, carrying me to my bedroom.
I didn't even have to ask him to stay.
He simply kicked off his shoes and crawled into bed behind me, wrapping me up tight in his arms. Max pressed himself to the front of my body, the two of them sandwiching me between them.
Not a word was needed. I understood what Chase was telling me without me even having to ask.
He was here. He wasn't going anywhere.
I wasn't alone – not anymore and not ever again.
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