“I didn’t bring anything with me. If I’m going to be here for any length of time, I really need some things from my place. Clothes, toiletries. The kinds of things I use every day.”
“I really don’t think that’s a good idea,” Aiden said.
“It would only take a few minutes to run inside and grab everything,” I said.
“It doesn’t matter. That guy could still be waiting for you. It’s too dangerous for you to go there, even with me with you.”
“So, what am I supposed to do? Just live for however long I’m here in my one outfit with none of the things I need?” I asked.
Aiden still looked unhappy with the idea, but he could understand where I was coming from. Or at least he was willing to compromise with me.
“Give me just a minute. I’ll call Brett,” he said.
“Brett? Why do you need to call Brett?”
“There’s no way you’re going back to your place. And I’m not going to leave you alone here. You need some things, which is fine. We’ll get them for you new.”
Brett arrived not too long after, and Aiden explained the entire situation to him.
“Yeah, you definitely shouldn’t go back there,” he said. “Not this soon, especially.”
“Exactly,” Aiden said “So, I need a favor. If I have Desiree write out a list of the things she needs, will you go buy them for her? There’s that shopping center in the next town over that should have everything.”
“Of course. Not a problem at all. Write down everything you need, your size, colors, whatever, and I’ll make sure you get it,” Brett said.
“I can’t ask you to do that for me,” I said, feeling embarrassed at the thought of this man I barely knew going out shopping for underwear for me.
“You’re not asking him,” Aiden said. “I am.”
“And even if it was you asking, I would do it,” Brett said. “It’s not a problem. Just tell me what you need.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Aiden got out paper and a pen and sat me down at the table to make my list with the encouragement to put down everything I could think of that I might need or just want to make me more comfortable. While I wrote, he went over what happened in more detail with Brett. My first instinct was to really not like that someone else was getting brought into this mess. I’d always been a private person, and the thought of something so personal and so sensitive being spread out was against pretty much every instinct I had.
But at that moment, I didn’t have the luxury of being uncomfortable. I didn’t get to just pretend everything was fine and that I didn’t need any help. That concept was long gone. I needed more help right then than I had at any other point in my life, and I was lucky to have found Aiden. If he trusted Brett, then I needed to trust him too.
When I finished, I handed Brett the list.
“Thank you,” I said. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this.”
“I will do whatever I can to help,” he said. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Aiden, call me if you can think of anything else either of you need or if there’s something else I can do.”
He left, and I turned to Aiden. He reached his arms out to me, and I curled into them, resting my head on his chest. Hearing his heartbeat through his shirt was reassuring, and I felt myself relaxing against him.
“Thank you for your help. I don’t know what I would do if it wasn’t for you.”
“I will do whatever it takes to protect you. You don’t have to worry,” he said.
“Thank you,” I said again, nuzzling closer. After a few seconds, I let out a sigh. “I should probably call Sammi. She’s going to wonder what happened.”
“Okay, use my phone.”
He gave me his phone, and I went into the other room to talk.
“Hello?” she answered.
“Hey, it’s me.”
“Desiree? Where are you?”
I let out a breath as I sagged onto the couch and covered my eyes with my hand, suddenly feeling more emotional about everything that was happening.
“I’m back at Aiden’s place.”
“What’s going on?” she asked, worried and exasperated at the same time. “Why are you back there?”
I told her everything that happened.
“I don’t think they managed to follow us or saw where we were going.”
“You’re staying there for a while, right? You’re not going to try to go back to your place just because you got away,” she said.
“You sound a lot like Aiden,” I said. “No. I am not planning on going back to my house. I asked to go back just to get a few things, and Aiden wouldn’t let me. He got his friend Brett to go to the store to get some things for me. I don’t know how long I’ll be here, but I’ll definitely be laying low for at least a little while. At least until I know that guy is gone.”