The next few days went by in a much similar way. Rhys was still off duty, but he was spending time with his brothers whenever he could, while Feyre was picking up more shifts at the bakery.
Since Tamlin had been arrested, she was much more relaxed, actually enjoying her time at work for the first time since everything had happened. It was much easier to stay carefree when you didn't have to worry about your ex barging in on you while you worked.
But the more time passed, the more anxious she became to find another job. Her colleagues were nice, and the job was easy enough, but it didn't seem like enough anymore. She wanted something that would excite her, make her feel like she had a purpose. Something in art, ideally.
The bus dropped her off in front of the grocery store, and she mindlessly went into the store, her thoughts somewhere else as she started picking up items from her shopping list.
Maybe she could work as an art teacher. Or in a gallery. She didn't have a degree, but she was passionate, and willing to learn. The first step might be to learn more about the field, and see where she could go from there. Maybe Rhys -
She stopped dead in her tracks, a jar of curry in her hand.
Tamlin was standing in front of her.
"Surprised to see me?" He asked with a smile, his voice soft and charming.
Feyre could feel her chest tighten as her breath grew shorter. A million thoughts went through her head at once. He was supposed to be locked up, and she had no idea what he was doing out. He had somehow found her here, a street away from the house she shared with a former undercover detective. He was smiling at her, the smile she'd once loved, and now filled her with dread.
And over all these thoughts, one that invaded her entire body. The memory of his hands around her wrists, his voice a world away from soft as he was yelling at her, her heart racing in panic against her chest.
She could feel the panic rise in her again, and she dropped the jar of curry on the ground, unable to look away from him.
The jar exploded on the ground, and the sound snapped her out of her shock. She crouched down and started hectically gathering pieces of glass. In seconds, a store employee was by her side with a broom.
"Don't worry, miss, I'll clean it up."
She looked up and found Nancy, a girl she often saw working, smiling at her.
"Nancy, I'm so sorry, I just… It slipped out of my hand, and -"
"It's alright. Don't worry about it."
Nancy extended a hand and Feyre grabbed it, getting up from the ground. She could feel her fingers shake against Nancy's, and she struggled to let go of her. Nancy looked at her, then at Tamlin behind her, and back at her.
"Are you alright?"
She wanted to answer that she wasn't, but she stopped herself. She'd come here more than once with Rhys, and Nancy was used to seeing them together. She needed to cut the conversation short if she didn't want the girl to mention Rhys in front of Tamlin. So she smiled and nodded, hoping to be convincing.
"I am, thank you. I just felt light-headed for a second. Are you sure I can't help you clean up?"
"Don't worry, it's okay."
"Thank you. Sorry again."
She was moving away from the aisle in seconds, clutching her shopping basket in her hand. She reached the register and started dropping her items there, giving a short smile to the cashier.
"Feyre, you cut your hand," Tamlin's voice came from behind her, way too close for her taste. She looked down and saw he was right. Her right hand was bleeding a little, probably cut by one of the shards of glass from the jar.
She didn't look at him as she answered. "I don't want to see you, or talk to you. Leave me alone."
She rushed to pay, but flinched as Tamlin started to grab her items and put them in her bag. She watched him as he calmly put them away, unable to say anything. He handed her the bag with a smile, as if everything was perfectly normal.
She grabbed the bag, inhaling sharply as her fingers touched his in the process. He didn't stop there, though. Instead, he slipped a hand under her arm and led her out of the store, smiling back at the cashier.
Only once they were outside did she manage to talk.
"Let go of me. Right now." She hated how small her voice was, how weak she felt in his presence. After weeks away from him, she'd been so confident in herself, but here she was, a panicked mess, unable to stand up for herself.
"Let's walk together, I'll bring you home." He answered, his smile gentle despite the firm grip on her arm. He led her down the street in silence, as if they were just a nice couple out on a stroll together. All the while, Feyre tried to calm her racing heart, and figure out what to do.
She needed to know what he was doing here, and how he'd found her. She needed to find out what he knew and didn't know about her situation, and about Rhys.
And she needed to get away from him.
"So, how have you been?" He asked in a casual voice, as if catching up with an old friend. She ignored his question, trying to focus on her breathing instead. "It's not very nice to ignore me like that, Feyre. I think I deserve better than that."
"What are you doing here?"
They kept walking down the street, and Feyre saw with increasing anguish that they were getting closer to the house.
"I wanted to catch up. Let me tell you, it was hard to find you, almost as if you didn't want to see me."
"I don't want to see you."
They came to a close in front of the house's white gate, and she tried to think of what she would do if Rhys was home.
"Is this why you're renting a place all the way out here?" She didn't know what to answer. One wrong word, and she could put Rhys' life in jeopardy. "Fine, stay silent. I just wanted to see you to make sure you hadn't been locked up yet, but I guess I shouldn't have cared."
That made her stop in her tracks. So he was here about the murder charges, after all. She needed to be smart. She turned to him, stopping herself from recoiling at how close he was standing.
"What are you talking about?"
"You know what I'm talking about." His voice was the farthest thing from charming, now, cold and angry instead. "I got out of prison this morning, on bail. Are you going to act like you know nothing about that?"
"I don't." She finally found the strength to pull her arm from his grip, and she crossed her arms against her chest.
"Come on, I get arrested for the mess with Sandy and you're telling me you had nothing to do with it? I wasn't born yesterday, Doll."
"I had nothing to do with it."
"You've been torturing yourself over what happened for months and you're telling me you weren't the tiniest bit tempted to run to the police about it?"
"Just because I wasn't as comfortable as you with covering up a murder," she lowered her voice at the words, "doesn't mean I went to the police, Tam!"
"Then how do you explain that they arrested Hart and me?"
"I don't know! Maybe the police are actually good at their job!"
"Then how do you explain that you didn't get arrested?"
"I don't know, okay. What do you want from me? I had no idea you'd been arrested, and I had nothing to do with it."
"What about Rhysand?"
She forced her eyes to stay focused on him and not drift towards the house as she answered.
"What about him?"
"Are you telling me it's a coincidence that he disappeared off the face of the Earth the same week you left me out of the blue?"
"What?" She could feel her heart racing inside her, and she tried to think of how she could justify living with him, if it came down to it.
"You leave me for no reason, then three days later, the guy you're obsessed with leaves his job and his apartment with no forwarding address? I'm not a fool, Feyre."
She was going to have to gamble. Deny everything, and hope that Tamlin was just being his jealous possessive self, and not actually aware that she was living with a man who'd been lying to him about his entire life. She sighed and looked away.
"I didn't leave you out of the blue, Tamlin. You hurt me, more than once, and that night was the last time I let you do it. I was scared of you, so I left, and I don't regret it for a second. I don't know what happened to Rhysand, but it had nothing to do with me. Now leave me alone."
She turned away and walked inside the garden, unable to look back. She opened the door with force and slammed it behind her. Only then did she let herself fall onto the ground, tears running down her cheeks, fingers shaking, her groceries scattered around her.
"Feyre!" Rhys came down the stairs a few minutes after she got home, and rushed to her side. "What's going on? What happened to you?" His hands were on her in seconds, and she watched through her tears as he looked her over, trying to understand what she was going through.
His eyes landed on her opened hand and he grabbed it gently.
"You're hurt."
"I'm fine," she managed between sobs. "This is nothing."
"Darling, what's going on?"
She tried to calm her sobs enough to talk.
"I saw Tamlin."
"What? How?"
"Apparently, he made bail. He was waiting for me at the grocery store, he knows I live here." He started to get up but she grabbed her arm. " Don't!"
Her frightened tone was enough to stop him, because he crouched back down in front of her.
"He doesn't know you're here," she continued. "He thinks I'm renting this place, he has no idea it's your house. Rhys," she grabbed his other arm, "he can't know about you, he can't…" The rest of her sentence was lost in another sob, and she let herself fall against his chest.
He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight as she kept crying.
"You can't go out, Rhys," she stammered out, her hands sliding around his neck to hold him as tight as he held her, "please…."
"I'm not going anywhere," he whispered against her ear, and she felt him sit beside her. She didn't know how long they stayed here, clinging to each other as the afternoon turned into evening.
She finally managed to calm down, enough so that a few hours later, the groceries were put away in cupboards, and her hand was bandaged, when they sat down to talk about what had happened.
"You're sure he doesn't know about me?"
Feyre shrugged. "Not 100%, no. He could have been lying. But I don't think he was."
He sighed and ran his hands down his face before looking at her, then he looked outside again. She could see his contained anger on his tightened jaw, on his fidgeting leg.
"Rhys, it's not your fault."
"Yes, it is. I should have known he'd make bail. Of course he would, he can afford the best lawyers in town. I should have asked Amren for agents to protect you, and -"
"Rhys, don't be ridiculous. It would have been worse, that way." He looked back at her with a frown. "He'd have known I was involved if policemen were guarding me all the time."
"At least he wouldn't have come near you."
"I'm fine, Rhys," she smiled at him. "I'm braver than you think."
That made him chuckle. He grabbed her hand and lifted it to his lips, kissing her fingertips. "I know you're brave, Feyre. I just don't want anything to happen to you."
They stayed silent for a while, and Feyre relished in the warmth that spread inside her under Rhysand's gaze. He made her feel safe, protected. She knew he would never do anything to put her in danger, and she loved him for it.
"I still think we should be careful, though," she said. "You can't go out like you normally do."
"I know. And I think we should get the house under protection."
"What if Tamlin sees it? He'll know something's up, it could put your life at risk."
"Amren knows what's at stake, she's not going to let just any agent in on the case."
She thought for a minute. The idea of having policemen guard the house from Tamlin did make her feel safer. She nodded.
Four days had passed since the incident, when a noise coming from the corridor woke Feyre. Rhysand's arm was draped over her waist, holding her against his chest, and he was still sleeping. For a second, she thought she might have imagined it, but the noise happened again.
Someone was walking towards the bedroom door.