She walked over to where he sat on the bed, his mouth hanging open in awe. Maybe he hadn't expected her to be so forward, but she enjoyed the fact that he seemed to be speechless. Running her hands over his cut, she slipped it off his shoulders and set it with care on the chair that sat near the bed.As she turned around, she saw his hands go to the hem of the thermal shirt he wore."Uh uh," she shook her finger at him. "I get to do this.""Then by all means, don't let me take anything away from you," he told her, dropping his hands and then using them to lean back with. "Do whatever you want."Putting her own hands at the hem of his shirt, she ran them up underneath, feeling the warmth and smoothness of the skin there. As she ran them up, she caught the material of the shirt and took it off as she ran her hands up to his shoulders. Appreciation colored her cheeks."I never see you work out, but you really do have the body of a God," she complimented.His laugh was a little
Meredith was running through a dark alley. The ground wet with a recent rain, the smell of garbage pungent in her nose. She didn't know where she was going, she only felt an urgency that she had to get there quickly. Footsteps were coming up behind her, but she didn't know if they were friend or foe. Turning her head to the side, she tried to see behind her, but all she saw was darkness. The feeling of panic began to overtake her. She could feel the person gaining on her, causing her to break into a full-on run. Her arms pumped at her sides, her hamstrings and calves screamed as she pushed herself to go even faster. She looked around everywhere in this never ending alley, trying to find a door to go into. Just as she saw one up ahead, a hand clamped down on her shoulder and she screamed."Mer? It's me, you're okay," Tyler cooed to the woman in his arms.She had awakened him moments before while thrashing against the sheets, her arms and legs moving like she was running from someone
"How have you been since our last session?"Meredith sat forward in her seat, a huge smile on her face. She had never been this excited to talk to Doc Jones."Tyler is no longer sleeping on the floor."Doc Jones clapped her hands together, excited for her patient. "That's a huge step. How have you been handling it?""Not too bad if I do say so myself. I had a nightmare last night, but I don't think it was necessarily because we had sexual intercourse. I think it was something else.""Define something else.""I recently decided I want to find out who did this to me."That was a bomb if Doc Jones had ever heard one. The progress Meredith had made was substantial, but this was more than she'd ever hoped for."Are you really sure you're ready for this?"Meredith nodded, crossing her legs. "I'm as sure as I can be. I'm sick of living with this hanging over my head. Tyler has promised to help me, and together we're doing this."Carefully, Doc Jones sat forward. "I caution
"Not that I'm not happy to have you here, but what the hell is goin' on with you?"Meredith looked up from her phone, not sure how long she had been staring at it. Obviously a long time since Denise looked seriously pissed. What Tyler had thought would be an amazing idea had really started to backfire on her."What do you mean?""You're tense, edgy, distracted. And you keep looking at that damn phone. What the hell is goin' on?" Denise demanded.Pasting on a happy smile, Meredith shook her head. "I'm not sure what you're talking about.""Don't use your reporter face on me. Seriously, is something wrong with you?"It was on the tip of her tongue to tell Denise everything. She wanted to badly. The two of them had confided in one another over so many things since their rough beginnings of friendship. But she just couldn't do it. Not with this. It would put this woman right dead center in the middle of whatever was happening."I had a nightmare last night. My first one in a l
"That must be either Liam or Tyler," Meredith commented.She and Denise had taken up their favorite spots in the house. Out back on the screened in porch. Being November it was a little cool, but Liam had outfitted a space heater for the area and blankets kept them plenty warm. It was beautiful, especially with night falling."Could be both," Denise yawned, covering her mouth with her hand.When the front door opened, they heard a virtual stampede of feet on the hardwood."We're back here," Denise yelled.In an instant two teenagers and two bikers were also in the back room."Hey, baby," Liam greeted. He leaned down to give Denise a kiss. With a soft touch, he caressed her abdomen before straightening to his full height. "So I was tellin' Tyler that it would be a good night to cook out with everybody here.""Oh that would be fun," Meredith smiled.The kids seemed to be in agreement as well."Why don't you two do your homework real quick and take your showers. I can sm
"Do you recognize any of these numbers?"Meredith looked at the numbers that Tyler had written down on a piece of paper the next day, trying to remember the numbers she had used in her investigation. She pointed at one. "This one looks vaguely familiar. They were all disposable prepaids, I'm sure. I had them written down in one of my notebooks. It would be in my desk if I remember correctly."They went to the room that housed her stuff. She made a beeline for the desk and reached into the bottom drawer, pulling it out of the wood structure. Reaching inside, she engaged a lever and a false bottom opened, revealing some paper work."That's pretty hot that your desk drawer has a false bottom," Tyler grinned. "Means you're mysterious and dangerous.""If only," she giggled.Going through all the information she had, she pulled out a small black book. "This has all the phone numbers I used. Let's see."She went through them as he looked over her shoulder. "There," he pointed. "Th
"Meredith, I'm surprised you called me so soon."The next day she was in Doc Jones' office, breathing deeply and trying to control the emotions that had plagued her all night. "I was too, to be honest with you.""What happened?""You cautioned me about trying to find who did this. You told me that I may not like the answer and that it may bring up other things. I foolishly thought you were just being overly cautious," Meredith explained, tears already coming to her eyes.In the past eighteen hours, she'd tried to stop the emotions. She had tried to stop the crying, but she just couldn't. She couldn't deny the depths of the feelings she had for Tyler and how it had broken her heart that she'd left him."I take it you found out something that has been difficult for you to comprehend?""What we talk about here is privileged, right? You don't discuss this with other people?"Doc Jones took her glasses off and sat forward in her seat. "I'm bound by federal patient confidential
Tyler took his hands from the door and ran them down her body."I told you I wouldn't let you run away from me," he told her again."I know, and I'm sorry I ran," she whispered.Her eyes were still closed and that bothered him. "Open your eyes and look at me."She followed his order, and the look there stole her breath. It was so intense that she wanted to close her eyes again."Keep them open," he instructed her. "Look at me, see what I'm telling you."The only thing she could do was nod."No matter what happens or what we find out, it's not going to change how we feel about each other. We have to promise this to each other. I know that it's not going to change how I feel about you, and I think you feel the same. We can't let outside forces change the way we live our lives. There will always be outside forces if we let there be."She knew that he was right, everything about what he said was the truth. Couples faced challenges every day and they didn't run from them. Th