Masked Mayhem (Fright Nights)

Chapter Twenty

It doesn’t take long for Jess to go to sleep after she knows Adam is in police custody. There’s no way they’ll let him out until tomorrow morning, at the earliest, which gives her peace of mind she hasn’t had in months. I don’t know what tomorrow is going to look like, but at least we got her out.

Though I can’t get rid of the heavy guilt that she wouldn’t have been there at all if I had pressed charges against Adam when I left him. Wallowing in the past isn’t going to help anyone, but I can’t get the thought out of my head.

With Jess in Nate’s room he’s bunking on the couch, but when I sneak out to let Jess get some sleep he isn’t relaxing in the living room. Liam and Reynolds have already gone to their rooms, but Nate pops out of the bathroom when I try to walk by. Grabbing my hand he pulls me back in with him and closes the door behind us.

“Don’t want to let the heat out.”

Looking around I see he’s got a hot bath drawn and my favorite bath salts sitting on the edge. He steps behind me to run his hands up my arms until he’s kneading my shoulders with his magic hands.

“You’ve done an amazing job with Jess today Hot Rod, but now it’s time to take care of yourself for a little while.”

His fingers continue to dance across my tight muscles, making me realize how tense I’ve been holding myself. I want to argue, but he went through the trouble of fixing all of this for me, and a nice bath sounds amazing right now. Spinning around in his arms I rise up on my tip toes and press a kiss to his cheek. Nate always knows what I need.

“Do you want to join me?”

He smiles and returns my kiss softly before stepping away. “I would love to baby, but I think you need to take a few minutes to yourself to process everything. I can’t imagine how hard this must be for you. I can stay if you don’t want to be alone though.”

Sweet man.

I shake my head at his offer, he’s right, I need to decompress and process. So that’s what I do. Nate steps into the hall, leaving me alone with my thoughts, as I pull my clothes off and sink into the hot water .

Taking a deep breath I make myself relax my muscles so the bath salts can do their job. Closing my eyes I tilt my head back and let the rest of the world drift away as I wrinkle under the water.

I stay there until the water gets cold. When it becomes unbearable I finally pull myself out of the tub and dry off. I’m still just as conflicted as I was when I got in, but at least my body is relaxed. Keeping the towel tucked around me I tip toe down the hall, Reynolds’ door is cracked open so I take that as an invitation and let myself in.

Closing the door behind me plunges us into darkness, but I know every room in this house like the back of my hand. After running the towel over my damp hair one last time I drop it in the hamper and open the second drawer from the top in his dresser to steal a shirt. I have my own pajamas, but sleeping in their shirts is just better.

When I finally crawl into bed Reynolds pulls the covers back so I can snuggle up against him. “Come here, Red.”

Tucking myself under his arm against his side I hike my leg over his and lay my head on his chest. My wet hair is probably cold, but he doesn’t complain, just pulls me closer as he presses a kiss to the top of my head.

Despite the day we just had I relax in Reynolds’ arms, content to drift off to sleep and leave the past behind me.

Or so I thought .

For the first time in months I wake up covered in sweat and trembling. The sheets are tangled around my legs like I was thrashing about, which I probably was.

“Shhh, you’re ok Red, I’ve got you. It was just a nightmare.” Reynolds’ voice is an anchor, keeping me in the present when my brain tries to go back to the memories that were tormenting me. I cling to him like a lifeline, and he doesn’t let go. He keeps whispering soft comforting words while gently rubbing my back as I try to slow my breathing and calm down. “You’re safe Zoe, no one will ever hurt you again, I would die before I ever let that happen.”

I don’t know how long we stay like this, but he holds me through it. Pressing reassuring kisses to my forehead, holding me tight, and rubbing my back until I’m somehow able to go back to sleep.

The next day the guys close the shop so they can all stay home with us while Jess figures out what she wants to do. We know Adam is already in custody, as he should be, but we aren’t sure how Jess wants to move forward with this until she lifts her head up while we’re eating breakfast and announces she wants to press charges against him.

“Will you go with me to the police station? I want to press charges against Adam, but I don’t think I can do it alone. ”

“Of course I’ll go, we all will, you aren’t alone in this.”

She nods her head while offering a small thank you before retreating back to Nate’s room to prepare herself for the day ahead. This was a hard decision, but I’m glad she’s brave enough to make it.

We all get dressed and take the Tahoe to the station downtown. I hold her hand the whole time, lending her my strength as she recounts everything she can remember to the officers on her case. I show them the pictures I took and add my own history with the slimeball as well, telling them I was too afraid to press charges at the time. Back then I just wanted to get out and get away, but that was a mistake.

It takes hours to get through all of their questions, but eventually they get everything they need and let us go.

Now that the charges are in motion, and Adam is behind bars for the time being, Jess is ready to get back on her feet. We have a long talk, and I heavily recommend she find a good therapist because that’s what really helped me, but her more immediate issue is finding a job and a place to stay.

“I appreciate all of your help, but I can’t stay here. Nate has been sleeping on the couch and I feel awful kicking him out of his room.”

I know she needs her own space again, somewhere she can work on herself and rebuild, a place she can make her own, where she feels safe. That’s an important part of moving on. When I left Sommersville I stayed with Whitney for a while, but I still felt stifled, until I got my own apartment.

Then it hits me, I have a place she can stay. “What if I let you rent a room at my place? I inherited my dad’s house, but I don’t ever sleep there anymore. You can stay there while you get back on your feet and when you find a job you can pay me rent for the room. The whole place is furnished and honestly it’s just sitting there, I should have rented it out a long time ago.”

It’s the perfect solution.

She thinks it over, but it doesn’t take her long to agree it’s perfect. “Are you sure? I don’t want to be in the way, and I promise I’ll get a job soon so I can start paying rent.”

It takes a little while to convince her that I’m not worried about the rent, but eventually she accepts, and we tell the guys. I wasn’t lying when I told her I haven’t stayed there in forever so when she gets her things together the guys drive us over and we all put in some work to freshen the place up. Washing sheets and towels, grabbing some essentials and food from the store, and cleaning up a little bit of dust is all it takes to make the place livable again.

She doesn’t have a car, but she does have a bicycle. Nate volunteered to pick it up from Adam’s and when he brings it back she almost cries in relief. “I was sure Adam would have destroyed it.”

At least now she can get herself around town when she needs to. The house is centrally located enough that she should be able to ride anywhere she needs to go .

By the time we say goodbye and leave her with the burner phone Liam picked up Jess has a little shine of hope in her eyes, and I know she’s going to be ok. He might have knocked her down, but he didn’t break her.