Shane's POV-

I made us some tea and poured her a bath with bubbles. I escorted her to the bathroom as she turned to me, her eyes pleading with me not to leave.

“I won't.” I tell her. Her hands slowly unbuttoned my shirt as I looked at her. I reached up to grab her hands and stop her. She was now crying silently.

“I should have known you wouldn't...” She says.

“It's not that.” I tell her and then hold her to my chest as she cried into me. “Just let me take care of you.” And she pulls away from me suddenly calm and looks me in the eye and nods. I unbuttoned my shirt, then undid the knot at the back of her now ripped halter dress. I let the piece of clothing fall down to the floor as I examined her body for any scrapes or bruises I fell to my knees when I saw a bruise darkening on one of her ribs. I tenderly fingered it and lay my head on her stomach hugging her to me with my hands on her hips. I kissed the bruise tenderly as I stripped her of her underwear. I looked up and saw her head leaning back a glistening tear being shed and her breath catching. I slowly got back up as I found another bruise on her shoulder and I kissed that one tenderly as well while I unclasped her bra. I let her get in the soaker tub and settle in while I jumped out of my underwear and got in, behind her. I took the loofah and began to soak her shoulders and back with suds and water. She lay into me and wrapped my arms around her. I found myself no longer able to contain my emotions. I was able to hide the fact that I had silent tears falling down my face by sitting behind her but now, the heaving of my chest was giving me away. The last thing I wanted to do was be the weak one in all of this when I should be her rock. I couldn't forgive myself for not being able to protect her any better.

Devon's POV-

I felt Shane begin to shake behind me and realized something wasn't quite right. Well, nothing was right from the get-go but something was wrong. I turned to find him on the verge of massive sobs. With what had happened, we were both so focused on me that I never took into account if he had suffered at all through this attack. I quickly got out of the bath, wrapped my robe around me and then pulled him to follow me. I wrapped a towel around his waist and he sat down on the ledge of the tub hunched over, his face in his hands.

“I'm so sorry I wasn't here.” He tells me.

“What?” I said almost at a whisper. “But you were.”

“I shouldn't have left.” He says softly. I stood in front of him, rubbing his shoulders and upper back, whispering “It's okay. I'm fine.” over and over again. As he calmed, his arms found my hips and pulled me in closer to him as his face pressed against my stomach. I held his face against me, running my fingers through his hair. I held him like this for what felt like minutes until I felt his hands start to rub up my waist, his face now buried into my womb, he began to stand. I let my arms cascade over his shoulders until they land on his biceps, our faces but a few inches apart, watching our eyes communicate with one another, trading off on our mixed emotions. I could feel my breathing getting heavier as my need to feel him all over me became overwhelming. I know he could see it in my face. It was equally written on his. I took the skin on his pecks in my mouth as I kissed him and began kissing down his torso. I felt the growl building inside of him through my lips and the rippling effect I had on the muscles of his body as they tensed accordingly to where my kisses landed. I felt his hands reaching for me, to bring me back up to face him and so I abide.

“Let me help you see how you're not to blame for any of this.” I whisper on his lips.

Shane's POV-

I lay in bed with Devon who was now sleeping on my chest. Sure, I wanted to make love to her, to make her forget and give in to her urges. I'm a guy, what makes you think my urges wasn't there? I just couldn't give into it. I didn't want for us to ever associate our making love with these abusive experiences. Instead, we had spent the last few hours holding each other, barely saying a word. It was amazing how content I could be, simply holding her. How we could tell what we wanted by looking and studying one another instead of having to say anything. That night, I watched over her as she slept. I found myself day-dreaming about what I envisioned our life being like.

Marty's POV-

I couldn't believe my ears when Sidney called me as I was half-way home to tell me what was going on with Devon and Shane. I couldn't fathom what it would be like nor did I ever wish to find out. Sidney reassured me that she was fine and that she was going to head to bed but I knew it couldn't be further from the truth. I turned the car around and headed back the way I came.

Ten minutes later, I was in her driveway. I had been right; she hadn't gone to bed. She sat there on the porch swing, by herself with those wheels turning in her head. She hadn't even noticed me driving up the drive, she was so deep in thought. I got up and out of my car and headed toward her. Mr. Donitelli came out the front door.

“Are you sure you're alright, Hunny?” I heard him ask her as I walked toward them quietly.

“Yeah. I'll be in in a bit.” She tells me and then finally notices me.

“Alright. I'll let you two be.” He says. “It's good to have you back, Marty.” He pats me on the shoulder before leaving us be.

I sat down and wrapped my arms around Sidney. She appeared more in shock than anything else. I knew she was in hell for her best friend and that was understandable.

“Are you sure you're alright?” I asked her. She nodded into my chest. “Now, come on, lets go inside.” I tell her. It's fair enough to say that I wasn't leaving tonight. I spent the night on the Donitelli's couch as I held their daughter, reflecting on the past few days, my feelings and most importantly, what I wanted out of this thing I had with Sidney. After tonight, I knew it would nearly kill me if anything would happen to her.

Devon's POV-

I woke up early and snuck up and out of bed. I looked at Shane sleeping peacefully. I smiled and backed out of our room. I decided that I'd try my hand at making breakfast. With luck against me, I dropped the carton of eggs onto the floor, I spilled my coffee trying to clean up my first mess, scolding myself in the process. I heard a tisking sound and knew all too well that Shane was standing behind me as I was trying to mop my mess away. As I reached for the paper towel, I saw Shane's smirk.

“What?” I fired off.

“Whoa! Wrong side of the bed this morning?” He teased. I blushed.

“Nah.” I said. “Butterfingers is more like it.” I explain and I stop mopping my mess, realizing that I was making it worse seeing as I was now all slimy with egg all over my legs. I looked at Shane hopelessly and slightly embarrassed.

“Note to self, keep you out of the kitchen unless you're baking me cookies.” He tells me as he helps me up. “Go get yourself cleaned up while I take care of this.” I watched him run his fingers through his hair, as if shaking the leftover of his sleepiness out of him before cleaning up the left over of my mess.

I came out of the bathroom, to find him in the doorway fully dressed. He noticed my look of confusion.

“Get dressed.” He tells me seriously.

“What?” I said.

“Get...” He started but I stopped him.

“I know what you said. Where are we going?” I ask him.

“Breakfast.” He tells me.

“Ah.” I say.

Shane's POV-

We ended up at my parents place for breakfast which I thought was fitting because it was a good way to reassure them that everything was fine with Devon. As we were leaving, the police had called and informed us that Devon's father was going to be held in jail until his first hearing which was scheduled for Tuesday. The way I saw it, the sooner we got this whole court thing done and over with, the sooner his ass could be locked away for good and we can move on. Regardless, it would be a long two day wait until then.

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