Chapter 7:

Brenna was getting ready to settle onto the mattress in her living room for the night when she heard a knock on her door. A feeling of déjà vu loomed over as she opened the door to reveal Dean. What was with this guy and interrupting her peace.

"Really? Do you have some sort of radar that alerts you when I'm trying to relax?" Brenna sounded frustrated as she walked away from the open door, allowing Dean to enter the home.

Dean stared at her retreating form, covered only in a slightly loose grey V-neck tee shirt and a pair of lacy, black boy shorts. "Do you always answer your door half naked?"

Brenna looked back at him from the mattress, "Only 4 people know I'm here. It was obviously going to be either you, Roman, Seth or Jes." She pulled the covers over her body and got comfortable. "Why are you here Dean? You don't like being around me and I'm not that fond of you."

Dean kicked off his shoes and settled on the mattress as Bren sighed in annoyance. "Last night you were all into me getting into bed with you. I guess it was… what did you call it? A mistake? You don't want me here now?"

Brenna rolled her eyes. "Don't be such a girl. Let's be honest for a second. You don't do relationships. I don't do casual hook-ups. I'm not sure why I thought last night was a good idea because neither of us can get what we want from it." She looked at Dean pointedly, "We're going to work together and pretend that it never happened."

Before Dean could retort, Brenna's phone started ringing. Brenna groaned when she saw the caller id, but answered anyway. "What do you want Dillon?"

"You need to get your ass back home, Bren? I'm playing with you. Either come back now, or I will come find you." Brenna could hear the anger in her ex-fiancé's voice. She couldn't help but tense up in fear. He scared her.

Dean could hear him yelling from the phone and sensed the change in Brenna. Her eyes were watering and she had begun to shake. "I'm not coming back. You can hunt me down, but I'm not backing down." She hung up the phone and silenced it before he could respond. Her voice shook as she spoke to Dean, not daring a look in his direction, "You should probably go, Dean."

Dean couldn't help but wonder what this woman had gone through. She showed signs of distress and fear. Dean knew how an abused person reacted. He'd watched his own other quake in fear at the hands of many men. He could see it clear as day on Brenna. He may have been an asshole, but he wasn't about to leave her as she was. Dean pulled off his jeans and settled in under the covers, pulling her back into his embrace. He just held her as silent tears escaped rolled down her face.

After a while, Dean broke the silence. "So, I'm stealing Roman's truck tomorrow and we can look for some furniture for you. I need to look anyway."

"You decided to move here?" Brenna's voice sounded stuffy, but her mood had lifted slightly.

"I haven't told the guys yet. I was waiting to make sure I liked it. I bought a condo a mile from here a couple of months ago. I just got word yesterday that my condo in Vegas finally sold. Guess I'm a local now." He had his eyes closed as he spoke—running his hand up and down her back in a soothing manner.

Brenna had been admiring his face. He looked so peaceful. She felt as if she could tell him everything in that moment—all of the bad memories, the past experiences, the bruises and blood. "I'm scared, Dean."

Dean's eyes opened. He could see the fear in her features. "What are you scared of?"

Brenna looked down, "He's gonna find me. I won't go back. He'll have to kill me first." Brenna knew as soon as the words left her mouth that she shouldn't have divulged so much information. She wanted to pick the words back up and stuff them back down her throat—save face and fight her battle silently. Unfortunately, she wasn't so lucky.

Dean was speechless for a moment. "We won't let him hurt you."

That statement only settled Brenna farther back into reality. "No. This is my battle. We work together and I'm not going to put y'all in my mess." She moved away from Dean. "I'm going to sleep. You can stay or not—up to you." Brenna couldn't afford to put her professional relationship with Dean through another mistake. She needed to be able to work with him without personal things getting in the way.

Dean sat up. "You drop that bomb and then expect me to pretend it didn't happen?" He was pissed. "You're seriously more worried about us getting personal than a guy beating the shit out of you. What the hell is wrong with you? I admit I'm an asshole, but I'm sure as fuck not going to let someone potentially kill you just to keep some distance."

Brenna nodded, "I get what you're saying, but you have to understand that I have survived thus far. Maybe you should just go, Dean. Forget I said anything."

Dean laid down and decided to get some sleep. Maybe he could talk to the guys in the morning and get their opinions. He had no idea what to do.