Page 104 of You First
“Meredith.” His voice was sharp and angry, but the anger was just a cover. Beneath it, the fear was unmistakable.
“Don’t you dare drive.”
“Are you okay?” The hard edge still filed down his words.
She swallowed hard. He did not need to know what she’d been through. Not yet. “I’m okay.”
“You don’t sound okay. I’m in my car. I’m pulling out of the driveway—”
“Then stop,” she ordered. “Stop right now. Brooke is on her way. Oscar and I are leaving with h—”
“Fuck!” he swore. “I knew it. I knew something was wrong. What happened? If that asshole did anything to hurt you, I will—”
“Gray, please,” she begged. “I can only deal with one crisis at a time. Please go back inside. I’ll call you when I can explain.”
“No. Come to me.”
Meredith shut her eyes. She wanted nothing more than to go to him. The circle of his arms might be the only place where she’d stop shaking.
“I don’t know if I should,” she whispered. “Please understand.”
She heard him sigh. “You have to stay on the phone with me until she gets there.”
By some miracle, Meredith found that she could still smile. “I can do that.”
“Okay,” he said gently. “I’m parking the car.”
“I’m packing my bags.” In truth, she really only had a duffle bag and her book sack. Two trips to the closet filled those.
“You sound exhausted,” Gray said a moment later.
Meredith gathered up her hairbrush and makeup from the dresser and tossed them into the duffle bag. “Yeah, but I can’t think about that right now.”
“How far away is Brooke?”
“Not far. She should be here any minute.” Once her two bags were full, Meredith started stacking the rest of her clothes on the foot of the bed. She didn’t have much, but she couldn’t afford to leave anything behind. Starting over was going to be hard enough.
Before she finished, she heard a light tapping on the bedroom door. “Meredith?” Brooke called softly from behind it.
As soon as Meredith opened the door, Brooke crushed her in a hug.
“What the hell is going on? Leona is a weeping mess at the kitchen table, and Big Jim is yelling at Jamie in the front yard.”
“What did she say?” Gray asked, the edge back in his voice.
“I’ll tell you everything later,” she told them both, untangling herself from Brooke’s embrace. “Right now, I need to get out of here.”
“Sure thing,” Brooke said.
“Yes, get out of there,” Gray said. “If you want to come here, just come. No matter how late it is.”
“Thank you,” she said. “I’ll think about it.”
“I’ll see you soon.”
“Yes, you will,” she promised.
Meredith hung up, looked at Brooke, and read a thousand questions in her eyes.
