Reaching Rachel (26 page)

At that moment, Rachel’s phone started ringing and she fumbled for it, looking at the screen. “I don’t recognize the number.” But it was the area code from Jacksonville. A rock settled in her stomach as she pressed the answer button, Kayley watching her intently.

“Hello?” She knew her voice was shaking. She couldn’t even try to control it right now.

“Rachel,” his husky voice sent her stomach straight to her feet.

“What’s going on, Devin? Are you okay? I’ve been trying to call you for hours.”

There was silence on the other end, but she knew he was still there. “Babe, I’m sorry.”

She rested her head in her hands, knowing she wasn’t going to like what was about to come out of his mouth. “What happened?”

“I’m in jail.” Rachel gasped, putting her hand to her mouth as the words she never wanted to hear came out of his mouth. The worst case scenario had happened. He threw everything away. For her.

Kayley’s concerned eyes watched her, but she didn’t even have the energy to tell her what he just said. She wanted to crumble right here. Immediately, she felt herself start tensing up, her heartbeat increasing, and panic starting to take over.

“Rachel. Listen. Breathe. I can hear you starting to panic. It’s okay, baby. I’ll figure it out. But, do you think you can come here? I hate to ask you this, but I don’t want to get my family involved if at all possible.” Devin’s family lived in Jacksonville, his parents and his three sisters. “A—and, I need you. I’m sorry, Rachel. I should’ve listened to you.”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Rachel said wearily, not even responding to his apology. Hanging up the phone, she looked into her friend’s eyes, willing herself to keep the tears at bay. Tears wouldn’t help now.

“He was arrested.” Kayley’s hands flew to her mouth, but not before a gasp escaped. “I know. He just ruined his whole life. I have to go, Kay. I’ll call you and let you know what happens.”

Kayley stood up when Rachel did, hugging her quickly. “Do you want me to go with you? I can drop the kids off.” Rachel shook her head no, and Kayley nodded. “Are you okay, really okay?” Rachel knew what she was asking. This kind of stress is what would cause her to fall into panic attacks and anxiety.

Rachel nodded. “I have to get there, see what I can do to try to save what’s left of Devin’s career. This is exactly why I never told him.” She kissed the kids on their soft heads and she walked away, wishing her life was as easy as theirs.

Rachel pulled into the precinct, turning off the car. She remembered this place like it was her home. She had spent so much time waiting for Devin here, hanging out with the guys. Being back in Jacksonville came with mixed feelings. She would probably feel better if she wasn’t here because Devin was in jail.

Walking up to the front doors, she was startled by the door opening first. A man stepped out onto the sidewalk, his face swollen like he’d been in a fight. Dried blood was spattered on his uniform shirt, and she stopped in her tracks as she realized who it was. Zack. He saw her at the same time, and his lips lifted in a sneer.

“Well, well, well. Look who we have here. Come to rescue your Prince Charming? I don’t think you can save him, Princess. He’s being booked for assault of an officer. That’s really too bad, huh? Defending his whore. So cute.”

Rachel narrowed her eyes, stepping towards him bravely. “Listen here, you self-righteous prick. You know that after all that you did, it shouldn’t be him in that cell. It should be
you
. And I’m not going to stop until he gets cleared of all charges, and they find out the truth about what a slime ball you are. You deserved everything that he did to you and then some. I only wish I could’ve been there to witness him kicking your ass.”

Zack threw his head back and laughed. “Rachel, you’re funny. I’m surprised it took you this long to tell him the truth. I guess you believed me, huh? I never had a recording of you and me, because we didn’t even sleep together. You were so gullible, so easy. I would’ve totally framed Devin for rape though, just for my own entertainment. But you were too weak to fight for him, huh? That’s just sad. Guess you weren’t meant to be.”

Rachel smacked him loudly across the face before she could stop herself. “How dare you. You may have convinced a naïve young woman that you had the power, but let me just tell you something. I’ve been through
hell
and come back from it. I’m still here. You are nothing more than a smashed bug on my windshield. You are less than nothing. Your threats don’t mean anything. You have no control over me, or over my relationship with Devin.”

Zack smirked. “Oh, that’s right. You did have quite an ordeal back there in that little beach town you settled in. What’s it called, Sunset Beach? So cute. And Devin got a job there now, adorable. It’s just too bad what happened to you there, with that lunatic Mark Stevenson. What did he tell you his name was … Justin? And to do what he did to you, in your own house … you just haven’t had the best luck, have you?”

Rachel’s mouth dropped open, and she was unable to recover her response. She knew that some of what had happened had been televised, but not all of those details. “H—How do you know about what happened?”

Zack crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Well, before Devin got himself arrested, he told me.”

“He did not,” Rachel spat back. He would never. “I sure as hell know that wherever you got your information, for whatever reason you think you needed to keep tabs on me, Devin
did not
say anything to you. He came here to confront you, not to tell you things about me. So you can go to hell.” With that, Rachel pushed past him and into the precinct, leaving Zack standing on the sidewalk, watching her.

“Rachel!” a loud booming voice called to her as she stepped up to the desk. It was Sheriff Watkins, one of her favorite people in the department. He stepped past the front desk and enveloped her in a hug. “We’ve got some trouble with your boy, I’m afraid.”

“It’s not what it seems,” Rachel said, determined to get Devin out of this. “I need to tell you everything, from the beginning. But first, can I see him? Please?”

Sheriff smiled. “Of course. He’s in the holding cell. When I saw Griffin bring him in I couldn’t believe my eyes. I’d heard that he was here to visit, and was looking for someone. But never in my life did I think I’d see him come in here in handcuffs. He keeps saying that Miller did something to you, but at this point, it’s his word against Miller’s, and I’ve got witnesses that he was beating Miller up.”

“I know,” Rachel said, following him down the narrow hallway. “It looks bad. But Devin’s right. And I’ll tell you everything you need to know, right after I see him.”

Sheriff unlocked a door, leading her to a small holding cell at the end of a hallway. Her eyes searched for him, her stomach twisting until she locked eyes with him. He stood up to walk to the bars, and her breath caught. Zack had gotten a few hits in too, because his right eye was swollen shut, and his right hand was wrapped in gauze. He had spattered blood on his tee shirt, but she was still relieved. He was okay.

Opening the door to the cell, he indicated for Devin and Rachel to follow him into an interrogation room across the hall. Once inside, he turned to both of them. “Devin, I’m not going to lie. You have the possibility of being in serious trouble here. We have witnesses that show you beating Zack almost unconscious on the side of a busy street. I’ll have to pull the dash camera in the cruiser, too …”

“The camera!” Devin shouted, interrupting. “Pull the camera. We were standing in front of the car when he admitted everything he did to Rachel! That’s the key!”

Sheriff looked back and forth between them, then sighed. “I’m going to have to get Miller back in here, aren’t I? This isn’t going to be simple. If you’re right, and what he said is on video, that seriously helps your case. I’m keeping a lid on this for right now, Devin. But I’m not happy about it. I’ll be back in 5 minutes.”

He closed the door behind them, and Rachel sighed. “He admitted it on video?”

Devin scooted his chair so he was sitting knee to knee in front of her. “As long as his video was running, yes. You didn’t sleep with him, Rachel. It was all a set-up, a ploy for him to mess with me. For whatever reason, he set his sights on ruining me.”

Tears filled her eyes. “Nothing happened?”

He caressed her hands. “He drugged you, and took off your clothes, but the rest was a lie. He told you that you slept with him so that you would be convinced you did something wrong and break up with me. He’s a cowardly ass and got his kicks out of manipulating a 21 year old girl. Then, just in case you weren’t convinced enough, he threw out the threat that he would frame me for rape.”

“Oh my god,” she cried. “All this time, for nothing! I’m sorry, Devin. I should’ve just told you, let you deal with it. It’s all my fault.”

“Rachel.” Devin scooted even closer, lifting her chin so she would look at him. “Stop. This isn’t your fault. You were trying to protect me, and you thought that what he had told you was true. If anything, it’s my fault.”

“Why?” Rachel looked into those eyes that she loved so much, wishing she could rewind time and be having this conversation back then. They had lost so much time together, over what ended up being nothing she did wrong and everything to do with a cop with a God complex.

“I never should’ve believed you would do that. I let my emotions get the best of me. I was upset when I heard Zack bragging about you to another cop. I know now he was doing that on purpose, setting the whole thing up. He was testing you to see if you would do what he said. So then when I came to you, I knew by the look on your face that something was wrong. But I let myself believe that you had done it, because you refused to give me any information. I allowed my anger and my bruised ego to overshadow my common sense. I didn’t trust in you, in us. I ran away from it instead. So if it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine. I’m a cop. I should’ve seen that you were terrified, that something wasn’t right. But all I did was feel sorry for myself. I’m sorry, Rachel. I’ll never be able to tell you how sorry I am.”

She pressed her lips to his, emotion bubbling up to the surface as she felt his warmth. “This is exactly why I couldn’t tell you. Look at where you are now. Arrested. If they have what he said on video, they also have that you were beating him up. Does it even matter that he did something to me 5 years ago? You’re going to lose your job, Dev, and then what? What do you do then? You’ll resent me …”

“Stop,” Devin commanded. “He had to be confronted. He was even still keeping up on both of us, did you know that? He knew where I worked, what had happened to you. He’s got problems. I don’t know how far he would’ve taken them, but this had to be done. No matter what happens.”

“How can you be so calm when your whole life could be over, Devin? I just don’t understand it!” Rachel screeched, panic starting to take over.

“My life is just beginning,” Devin said matter-of-factly. “Whatever happens, you are the only thing that I need. My job is my job.” The door swung open, and in walked Sheriff, with an angry Zack behind him. Rachel and Devin watched silently as they both sat down across from them at the table.

“Gentlemen,” Sheriff said in his easygoing but firm manner. “It seems we have a problem here, and we aren’t going to leave this room until it’s solved.”

“Did you get the video?” Devin asked, glaring at Zack but asking Sheriff.

“Working on that now. I was just talking to Zack about what his role is in all this. I told him that I was getting the video from his cruiser, and that’s what made him finally start talking.”

Zack refused to meet any of their eyes, “So the punk told you that he used drugs to make my girlfriend believe she had slept with him, then threatened to have a girl accuse me of rape and plant DNA on her if Rachel didn’t break up with me?”

“Well, that wasn’t exactly what he said,” Sheriff looked angrily at Zack. “Miller, if even half of that is true, we are going to have a serious problem.”

“So he can come here and beat me up and get away with it?” Zack said furiously, standing up.

“Sit down,” Sheriff commanded. “I’m not talking to him right now, I’m talking to you.” Just then, the door opened and another officer indicated that the video was ready.

“Stay here with them,” he commanded to the officer. “Neither of them can get up or talk to each other, or I’ll put them both in a cell together for the night.”

The door slammed shut behind him, and Rachel sat there in silence, wondering what in the world was going to happen. If he saw what Devin seemed to think he would see on the video, what did that mean for Devin? Would he be released?

She looked at him, a question in her eyes. He knew what she wanted to know, and he shrugged his shoulders. Sheriff was a very fair man, but he wasn’t sure what he would do. All he wanted to do right now was finish what he had started out in the street. Zack wasn’t as messed up as he needed to be.

Within minutes, the door was reopening and Sheriff was back, dismissing the other cop. He sat down without a word, and Rachel’s stomach quivered. She tried to search his face for any clue, but he was as stoic as a statue.