No More Running Read Online Free PDF Page B

eye.  “We won’t let him near you.”
    “We who?  You told someone?”  My voice kept going higher.  The more people who knew, the more people that would be in danger.  I shot out of my seat, thinking about how I needed to just pack up and leave.  I would call Doc from the road, and he could come to wherever my next city would be.
    As I turned to go to the door, Garret’s hand grabbed my upper arm, and I cringed back on reflex.  He immediately let go, and backed up. “I didn’t mean to scare you.  I swear that I won’t hurt you, but please, let me call Claire and Stefan in here, and we can discuss this.  We all want to help you.  We care about you and want you safe.”
    I thought about it, and was very temped.  I had tried to do things on my own, and look how that turned out, but on the other hand of that, look at what happened to Jamie’s garage and Patty’s shop when Chuck caught up to me in Tacoma.  Jamie lost everything, and got severely injured in the process, and Patty lost everything she had worked so hard for.  I couldn’t let that happen to anyone else.  That’s why I never wanted to get close to people.
    Garret reached out slowly and took my hand, giving me time to back away if I wanted, but I didn’t.  He led me over to the sitting area of his office and sat beside me on the couch.  “Just talk to us, and then hear us out.  If we don’t come up with a reasonable solution, you are welcome to leave, though we’d all miss you.”
    What could it hurt just to listen to what they had to say?  “Okay.”
     
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    We were situated in the sitting area of Garrets office.  I was in the chair and they were spread across the couch.  Garret had only told them that we were discussing my wanting to leave.
    “I thought you said you had changed your mind?”  Claire said.  “You said your friend was moving here for you.”
    “What friend?”  Stefan Asked, while at the same time, Garret asked, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
    Deciding to answer them in order, I said to Claire, “That was before Garret informed me of certain facts; someone that helped me out and became a friend in Chicago,” I said to Stefan, and then turned to Garret and told him, “You didn’t give me a chance to tell you.  I tried at the beginning, but you cut me off asking me to let you speak first.  You know what happened after that.”  I reprimanded.  He was the one who didn’t give me time to talk.  He was acting like I had kept something from him, and I hadn’t.  Well, beyond my whole past.
    “I’m sorry for that.” Garret said.  “Who is this friend from Chicago?  Are you sure you can trust them?”
    “Yes, I trust him with my life.”  I told him with no hesitation, daring him to accuse Doc of anything. 
    A look crossed his face, but it was so fleeting, so I couldn’t decipher it.
    “Anyway, what’s going on?”  Stefan asked, trying to get us back on track.  “What made you decide to leave in the first place?”
    “Will you tell them what you are running from?”  Garret pleaded.  “It’s your story to tell, and your trust to be given.”
    I took a deep breath, let it out, and nodded.  “I started dating Chuck Sanders when we were seniors I high school.  We were so in love.  I had known him all through school, so it wasn’t like I didn’t know him beforehand.  After graduation we moved in with my mother, and things were fine.  After he graduated the academy, he went for his degree in criminal law online, while he was working on the force, so he could become a detective. He started changing after he went on patrol, and it got worse when he was made detective.  He had such a short temper, and little things would set him off.  When he hit me the first time, I tried to leave him, but he beat me even worse, and told me he would kill me and my mother if I ever tried to leave him again.  Once he knew I had no