Heartless

“Here.” Derek’s voice came from behind me. I turned around to see him handing me one of his gray v-neck t-shirts. “I had to rip off your shirt to get to the marks.”

“Thanks.” I said grabbing the shirt and quickly throwing it on, “and thanks for saving my life. Vincent would have killed me if it hadn’t been for you. But please…Don’t tell anyone. About any of this, especially the boys. They don’t know the details like you do and I don’t want to worry them.”

“Of course.”

“It’s late. I better get home before I get into any more trouble than I probably am in...” I trailed off after a few moments of silence.

“Let me drive you” Derek rushed, “At least let me take you to your car and follow you home.” He continued when he saw I was about to protest.

“Okay.” I sighed defeated.

Needless to say Derek’s car was sexy. It was the only way to describe it.

“Wow. That’s one hell of a car…” I stated trying not to drool.
Derek laughed and opened the passenger door for me, “Thanks. It’s the one luxury I allow myself to have.”

I turned to face him halfway in the car and grabbed his hand, “You should be easier on yourself. It’s not your fault what happened.” Trying to comfort him, rubbing my thumb in a small circle on the top of his hand. Derek looked at me for a long second, scanning my face before landing in my lips. Neither of us dared to move. The air thick with desire, but then he was gone. Sitting in the driver’s side of the car just like that. I cleared my throat and stepped into the car, softly closing the door. The car ride was silent except for the soft murmuring of the radio. He pulled up right behind my car and parked, still not looking at me.

I turned my body towards his, “Thanks again, especially for being a total gentleman about me being shirtless almost the entire time.” I joked trying to lighten the mood. Derek cracked a smile, chuckling slightly.

“Believe me, it wasn’t easy.”

I laughed with him before leaning over and kissing his cheek softly as a thank you, “Please promise to tell us what’s going on. We can help. We want to help, and lord knows we could both use more people on our side.” I squeezed his forearm that was resting on the gear as a goodbye and got out of the car. Rubbing my biceps to keep warm I carefully got into my car, reminding myself to take some pain killers when I got home. Refusing to look at my phone, knowing it would be filled with anxious calls from Chris, I started the short distance to my house. Derek in tow as promised. I pulled into my driveway and slowly walked to the front door, only briefly turning to wave goodbye to the car I knew was hidden in the dark to make sure I got inside safely. Knowing I had him watching my back and had someone to help me destroy Vincent once and for all made me feel safe; for the first time in a long time.