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Justine eyed her again. “When Blake came by for lunch today, he mentioned Will turning up at the shelter. Is that what you’re thinking, that it would be him?”
Dammit! How did she know everything?Rebelle gave a noncommittal shrug.
“The bar will be a great place to start, as you’ll have Taylor’s full support if you ever feel uncomfortable. Also the new guy, Ben, is a sweetheart and you’ll have Kayleigh there too so you won’t be on your own too much. It’ll be a good way to ease yourself into interacting with men again. And if you find yourself struggling then take a break, give yourself some space and use the techniques we’ve worked on.”
Rebelle nodded, this sounded doable. There were places she could escape if she felt overwhelmed and vulnerable.
“Breathing techniques will be useful to you. Interacting with men isn’t necessarily something you can control but your breathing is. Using techniques to gain your control back will truly help you. They’re simple, if you find yourself struggling with a situation then take a step back, imagine you’re blowing upa balloon or blowing out a candle. Take a breath in and release it in a slow exhale,” Justine added.
They practiced a couple of times and then it was time for Rebelle to leave.
“Raspberry is the nicest so far,” Rebelle mumbled, looking for something to talk to Justine about that wasn’t therapy.
“Oh yeah? I’m glad you liked it, it was nice and sweet but I bet now I have a red tongue?” Justine stuck her tongue out which was indeed striped candy red. Rebelle nodded then stuck hers out and Justine smiled wide.
“Next time let’s try blackcurrant?”
“Deal,” Rebelle replied. She swayed slightly on her feet.
“Are you okay?” Justine asked, her eagle eyes missing nothing.
“Yeah, just a bit of headrush, must have stood up too quick,” Rebelle lied, and she knew Justine knew she was lying.
“When did you last eat?”
“This morning,” Rebelle lied again.
“Wanna have dinner with us tonight? I know Blake would love that.”
“Thank you but I need to get back to the shelter.”
“At this time of night? Aren’t you going home?”
Fear pulsed inside Rebelle at her slip up. “Late night feeding then I’ll go home.”
Justine looked like she wanted to argue but she didn’t say anything, and they both headed to the door of the office, Justine preparing to lock up.
“Next week, you can tell me all about your first shift at The Bucket but if you need me before then, just call.”
“I will, thank you for this evening. I really appreciate what you’re doing for me.”
“It’s what friends do.” Justine shrugged. “I’ll just say, we know Will. He’s one of the good ones but I know that doesn’tmean much right now. I don’t know of any reason that you need to be afraid of him. Hell, if he ever did anything wrong the whole world would know about it in seconds anyway!”
Rebelle frowned, not knowing what Justine meant by that.
“But even so, you can count on us that if something happened, we would help you. Blake would be there in a heartbeat. We’re here for you,” she added.
Emotion clogged Rebelle’s throat and she nodded in lieu of responding. They went their separate ways, Rebelle watching as Blake met Justine outside her office to drive home together, the joy in their faces as they looked at one another couldn’t be denied.
Rebelle began the long walk back to the shelter, mulling over Justine’s words and wondering if maybe she had been too hasty in calling Blake on Will earlier.
Chapter 4
“Adjust your plan. Pivot, use your creative thinking.” By now, Will was used to rejection and it wasn’t the first time he’d had to alter a strategy. He hadn’t failed, he just needed a minute to reconsider his options. He got back in his car and drove away from the shelter.
He couldn’t believe Rebelle had called Blake on him. Why was she so resistant to his help? Blake had warned him away from her before, but Will had just thought Blake was being an overprotective big brother figure and looking out for her. He had told Will that Rebelle was anxious around strangers and was likely scared Will would hurt her. On reflection Will could see that he was intimidating and had often used that to his advantage in the business world. Being tall, built and covered in tattoos didn’t exactly scream,“I’m completely harmless!”, neither did his reputation as a Viper. He couldn’t blame anyone for not wanting to get caught up in hungry paparazzi and journalists scavenging for a story.
He needed to befriend Rebelle, show her he wasn’t a creep and work his way into her good graces. And he could volunteer at the shelter, do something worthwhile for once. Then maybe she would see he was actually a pretty good guy and he could take her out.
