Tennessee Whiskey

Chapter 6-Evan

Chapter 6

Evan

After spending some time with Mary after our session, I see her to her dorm to rest and then go to look for Devin. Seeing him sitting in the kitchen, nursing a coffee, I walk over and take the seat across from him. “You good kid?” I ask. He looks up at me and says, “Just waiting on Kathy to be done so I can talk to he about setting up a session.” He tells me. “Good. Mary and I just came from her office so she should be free. How about you go and schedule that session and meet me in meeting room three in about ten minutes.” I say. “Everything okay?” he asks. “Yeah. Just got something I want to talk to you about.” I tell him before standing and patting his shoulder.

Ten minutes later, Devin walks into the meeting room and takes the seat across from me. “What did you want to talk about?” he asks. “I know you take your job here seriously. Mary told me how you’re always making sure the women here are comfortable and letting them know where you are, so they don’t startle. That goes a long way here.” I tell him. “I just want to help.” He says and looks down at his hands on the table. “I know. And you’re a bigger help than you think. Just making sure that you are making them comfortable means a lot to these women.” I tell him. “I don’t understand why I’m here.” He says. “Mary said something to me that I think I might be able to help with but we’re waiting on two other people.” I say and about that time, Logan and Ashton walk in the door. They take seats around the table, so we are all on equal ground and Logan starts talking.

“Devin, when you applied here, we did a full background on you. We noticed that you come from a very well to do family.” He says. “I did. Lost my parents when I was nineteen and became my sister’s guardian. She was only ten years old.” He tells us. “We know. The reason we hired you is because you had more conviction and seemed more concerned with protecting the women here than you were earning a paycheck. We also see that you set up to have all of your checks donated back to the mission.” Logan says. “I don’t need the money. I just want to help. I promise that’s all it is.” He says. “We know. So, we have a proposition for you.” Ashton says. Devin looks at him and Ashton continues. “Our normal head of security, Rico, isn’t able to be here full time to look over things and handle the things that the head of security needs to do here on a daily basis, so we were thinking about offering the position to you.” Ashton says. “Me?” Devin asks, confused. “You’re like us. Izzy and I started this mission because we knew there were women and kids being abused and we wanted to provide a way out for them. Izzy’s infant son was murdered by his father and the father got away with it and started harassing her. We handled him.” Ashton says, looking at Evan and Logan. “Lori’s father was beating her, and his best friend was raping her. My daughter isn’t mine by blood but is still mine. We handled them too.” Logan says. “Mary’s mom was letting her drug dealer r**e Mary in exchange for drugs. I sent her to rehab a thousand miles away and then handled the dealer.” I say. “And that leads us to you. You’re here for the same reason we are. Because you know what it means to have someone you love to be hurt, or worse and you’re not only here working but giving back to the mission. That makes you officially one of us. Now, if you want the head of security position it’s yours and you can start on your next shift.” Ashton says. “Yeah. That’d be great. Thanks.” Devin says. “Now, onto the other reason we called you here.” Logan says.

“Mary said something about your sister. Do you want to tell us about it?” I ask. He looks at us and I say “Ashton is a businessman, Logan’s a lawyer and I’m a judge. But there’s nothing we won’t do to protect our families, and we handle things that the legal system fails to handle.” Devin looks at his hands and says “Like I said, our parents died in a plane crash when I was nineteen and I became guardian to my ten-year-old sister. We were close so it wasn’t a big deal for me to move back home and take care of her. My dad was this huge tech guy and developed a bunch of apps and sold them, so I still have enough money I’ll never have to work again. Anyway, when she was sixteen, she started seeing this guy and she started coming home with bruises on her and I stopped her from seeing him. Told him that they were done, and she was fine with it. But he started stalking her. We filed a restraining order, but he violated it and when the cops got there, they just told him to leave. Didn’t arrest him for violating it. She was headed into the house from school, and he rushed her. Drug her into the house and when she tried to fight him, he started beating on her. He brought a knife with him. He started stabbing her and murdered her right in the entryway of the front door. I found her when I came home from running errands. That was two years ago.” He tells us and we all sit there for a minute just taking it in.

“What happened after that?” Ashton asks. “Our security camera caught him dragging her inside and they arrested him. But for some reason when we went in front of the judge, his lawyer convinced the jury that even if they saw him drag her inside, that didn’t mean that he was the one that killed her. They jury found him not guilty because there was no video evidence that he did it. The knife was left beside her, but he used gloves, and the gloves were never found. He’s still walking around free.” He tells us. “I want you to give me all the info on him and the case that you can think of. We’re going to find him, and you will come with us to handle him.” I tell him. He looks at me shocked and I say “We said you’re one of us now. You’re here for the same reason we are.” And he nods. Logan hands Devin a notepad and he starts writing.

Once we leave the meeting room, I tell Devin we’ll call him as soon as we have him, and he nods before leaving to get some rest. As we walk outside, Ashton calls Rico with the information and Rico says he will call when they have him. “Are we sure about bringing him into the fold?” Logan asks. “Yeah. He’s always careful around here and protective of the women.” Ashton says. “Do you think he’d be up for helping with Lori’s program?” Logan asks. “We can ask. Don’t see why he wouldn’t. Plus, he’s been fully vetted.” I say and they nod. We go our separate ways until we hear from Rico.

I head back to my office to work on paperwork and handle a couple of other hearings before ending my day. Walking out of the courthouse, my phone rings as soon as I get into my car. “Yeah.” I say as I answer. “Hey man. Ready to meet?” I hear Ashton say on the other end of the line. “Normal spot?” I ask. “Yeah. See you there.” He says before ending the call. I drive to the outskirts of town where the warehouse we use stands. Pulling up outside, I see Logan waiting one me. “Devin inside?” I ask and he nods. We head inside and are just inside the door when Ashton starts talking. “Before we go in there, we need to talk about a few things.” Devin nods and Logan starts talking. “If we do this, that makes you one of us. It means when we call, you’re there too. That also means you’re included in family events. Completely one of us. That means we keep your secrets, and you keep ours. Do you understand?” he asks. “I understand.” Devin says. “Good. We found your sister’s ex. Travis is tied up in one of the rooms and Rico and his guys are watching over him. It’s up to you how he dies. This is your show.” Logan says. “Okay. Thank you, guys.” Devin says. “Don’t thank us. This is what we do. We have your back.” I say. “And I have yours.” Devin says back.

We head into the back room and see Travis hanging from a meat hook hanging down from the ceiling. We all walk closer, and Devin walks up to Travis and you see Travis glaring at him. “Hello Travis.” Devin says. “You. I should have known.” Travis says. “Yeah. Me. I told you after your trial that I wouldn’t let you get away with killing my sister.” Devin says. “Ashley was mine.” Travis says. Devin gets in his face and says with an eerie calm “You don’t get to say her name.” and you see the color drain from Travis’ face and a smirk comes to Devin’s face. “You, motherfucker, are mine.” Devin says before stepping away. He walks over behind Travis, where Travis can’t see him. “She was sixteen. She would have been eighteen this year. She would have been going to college. But you took that from her. Because of you, I won’t see her graduate high school or college. I won’t get to walk her down the aisle for her to get married. I won’t get to see my sister become a mother. Those were her dreams. She wanted everything and I was able to give her that.” Devin says before moving back in front of Travis and screams “You took that from her!” before stepping away. Travis goes to say something but one look from Devin and he stops. “Nothing to say?” Devin asks. “This will be the last time anyone ever hears you speak so if you’ve got something to say you better say it now.” Devin tells him. Travis finally looks up at Devin and says “She was mine. She was supposed to love me.” Devin gets in his face and calmly says “And you weren’t supposed to hurt her, but you did. She broke up with you because I made her. I am the one that made that choice. She just did it because she trusted my judgement.” Devin says.

Rico moves the cart with tools on it over next to the table where a chair sits. “Can we move him to the chair please?” Devin asks and Rico’s men do as they are asked. Once he’s tied to the chair, Devin asks “Can you put an extra restraint up by his elbows?” Rico nods and does as he’s asked. “You hit my sister. Choked her. You stabbed her, right there in the entryway of our house. Left her there for me to f*****g find.” Devin says. “She wouldn’t talk to me.” Travis says. “So that makes it okay to assault her and murder her?” Devin asks. Travis looks past Devin to us and asks, “Are you just going to stand here and let him do this to me?” We all laugh and say a collective “Yep.” Travis looks back at Devin and Devin says “These men are my brothers. They helped get you here so why would they help you?” Travis starts thrashing against his restraints and you can see the fear in his eyes. “Now the fun begins.” Devin says before taking the hammer from the cart. “You drug her into my house. My home. I saw the security video of her trying to fight you off. I saw you in her face and I could see how scared she was.” Devin says. “Rico, can you put a gag in his mouth for me? I really don’t want to hear him anymore.” Rico nods and does as he’s asked.

Devin takes the hammer and slams it into one knee before doing the same to the other knee and you can hear Travis’ muffled screams around the gag. “Oh, does that hurt?” Devin asks as Travis thrashes as much as he could. “Is that how my sister felt when you’d hit her? Grab her? Choke her?” Devin asks. Devin takes the shears and cuts off Travis’ shirt. Seeing his tattoos, he sees Ashley’s name inked onto Travis’ chest, above his heart. “You put her name on your skin?” Devin seethes. I walk over and pick up the filet knife and hand it to Devin and he nods his thanks. “You don’t deserve her name on your skin.” Devin says before taking the knife and slicing off the skin, removing the tattoo. Tossing the skin in the bucket that Rico put on the table, Devin moves back to the cart and grabs the hatchet. Looking back at Travis, he smirks. “You used your hands to hurt my sister. I’d say they need to be removed too.” Devin says before effectively chopping one hand off before doing the same to the other. After torturing him a little more, he steps behind Travis and slits his throat, letting him bleed out.

Logan walks over to Devin and puts his hand on his shoulder. “There’s a change of clothes in that bathroom over there and a shower. Toss your clothes out here and we’ll put them in the incinerator with him. Rico and his men will clean up.” Devin nods and heads into the bathroom while Rico and his men clean up. The three of us move to the side and Ashton says, “He handled that just like we would have.” I nod and say, “He looks like he needed it.” And they both nod. It’s not long before Devin comes out of the bathroom, in clean clothes and when he walks up to us, I ask “You good brother?” He nods and says “I feel lighter. Like I got her justice.” I put my hand on his shoulder and say “Because you did. We’re proud of you little brother.” And Devin just nods.

We head out and Ashton tells Devin to take a couple of days to chill out and that when he comes back, they will get him set up with his new position and that he wants to talk to him about helping with Lori’s program too. I get into my car and call Mary on my way home. “Hey Evan. Is everything okay?” Mary asks. “Yeah baby. Just wanted to hear your voice.” I tell her. “Do you want to talk about it? I can tell something’s wrong.” She says. “Do you think you would be up for staying with me tonight?” I ask. “I’ll be ready when you get here.” She tells me. “Okay baby. See you soon.” I say before we end the call.

Thirty minutes later, I am walking into the mission and Mary is waiting for me in the lobby. She sees me and walks up to me and cups my face. I lean into her touch and see concern in her eyes. “I’ll explain when we get home.” I tell her and she nods. I reach for her bag with one hand and lace my fingers with hers with my other hand. We walk out to my car, and I open the passenger door for her and once she’s inside, I put her bag in the backseat and get into the driver’s seat before starting the car and pulling out of the parking lot, heading home.

Mary reaches over and takes my hand and pulls it into her lap. “I missed you.” She whispers. “I missed you too baby. So much.” I tell her before pulling her hand to my lips and kissing her knuckles. “You’re everything to me Mary.” I tell her and she lays her head against the head rest, and she rolls her head to the side to look at me. “You’re everything to me too. I mean, I don’t know if I’m ready to say those three words yet, but I feel them.” She tells me. “That’s all that matters.” I tell her.

We pull up in front of our house and I help her out of the car and grab her bag. Leading her inside, I ask “Do you want to stay in our room, or do you want one of the guest rooms?” She looks at me confidently and says, “Our room.” I lean over and kiss her softly and say, “Let me take this to our room and I’ll meet you in the living room and we can talk.” I tell her and point to the living room. She heads towards the couch, and I run upstairs to drop her bag in our room before running back down to meet her on the couch. Jane comes in and brings us both a cup of coffee and we settle in. “I know something’s happened.” She tells me. “It has but it’s not anything bad.” I tell her and she nods before taking a drink of her coffee. “I spoke to Devin, and he told us about his sister, Ashley. He told us how she died and who did it, so we had Rico find him and detain him for us.” I tell her. “Does Devin know?” she asks. “He does. We took him with us to the warehouse. Devin got his justice for his sister, but he knows that this makes him one of us. We’ve brought him into the fold.” I tell her. “That’s good. He doesn’t have any other family, so he needs it just like I did.” She tells me. “I know. He’s good people. Did you know he has his paychecks set up to go back to the mission?” I ask. “I didn’t. Wow. But how is he paying his bills?” she asks. “Apparently his dad was a tech guy that created a bunch of apps and he’s got enough money to live off of and never have to work again.” I tell her. “That’s great.” She says. “He wants to be more involved with the mission, so Ashton offered him the position of Head of Security there and he accepted. We are going to talk to him about helping with Lori’s program too.” I tell her. “That’s great. He’s amazing with the women and kids there. They all feel safe with him. He’s…well…he takes care of us.” She tells me. “Did something happen?” I ask. “Well, you remember Anna? The one that came in about two weeks ago?” she asks. “Yeah. She came to the mission to get away from her abusive boyfriend.” I say. “Yeah. So, a few days ago, she was headed out with Kathy to get some things she needed, and Devin was with them. Her boyfriend found them as they were leaving the store, and he started trying to get to her and Devin knocked him out and called the police since she had the restraining order against him. Him being knocked out gave them time to get her out of there. He stayed on the phone with the 911 operator until they got to the mission and gave his statement over the phone to the officer and explained that his main priority was to get her out of there and someplace she felt safe.” She tells me. “I didn’t know that. Just means we really did make the right decision.” I tell her.

We talk a little more and she starts to yawn. “You ready for bed baby?” I ask. “Yeah. Is that okay?” she asks. “You never have to ask Sweetheart. You’re home. You want to do something, do it.” I tell her. “Will you lay with me?” she asks. “Already planned on it.” I tell her before we take our cups to the kitchen and head to our room. Walking into the room, she looks around and I tell her, “This is the bathroom, and this is our closet.” I open the door to the bathroom, and she sees there’s a his and her sink. We move to the closet, and she asks, “Why are your things only on one side of the closet?” I smile at her and say, “So you have room for yours.” She shakes her head and says, “I don’t have that many things.” I pull her close and say, “When you’re ready to move in, we can get you everything you’re going to need and want.” She shakes her head and before I can speak, she says “You are an amazing man.” I kiss her softly before leading her back to her bag and say, “Get a shower and I’ll get the bed ready.” She nods before kissing me again and heading into the bathroom to shower.

Once she comes out of the bathroom, she’s wearing a tank top and a pair of shorts. I am sitting against the headboard scrolling on my phone. I put my phone down and pull the covers back so that she could slip into bed. I move down the bed, and she lays on her side, her back to me and I snuggle up behind her and pull her close. She lets out a soft sigh. “You okay honey?” I ask. “Perfect.” She whispers and I kiss her exposed shoulder. “You’re home baby.” I tell her. “I’m home.” She whispers back.

The next morning, I wake up and she’s sitting in the window seat, wrapped in a throw blanket. I sit up in bed and see her profile and she’s smiling. I slip out of bed and over to the seat with her and lean down to kiss her. “Good morning beautiful.” I whisper against her lips. “Good morning.” She whispers back, still smiling. “I love seeing you smile.” I tell her. “You’re the reason I’m smiling.” She tells me. I look at her confused and she says “I woke up and you were still sleeping. I watched the sunrise. It’s the first time I’ve ever been able to look at it and feel safe.” She tells me. I don’t say anything, she seems like she has more to say. “You make me feel safe, Evan. I spent the entire night next to you and for the first time I didn’t have a nightmare. You let me know that you love me, and you make me feel like I’m the most important thing in your life. You are the most important thing in mine.” She tells me. I move closer to her and pull her into my arms. “So, what’s next?” I ask. “I still want to spend weekends here, at least for a little while, until I get used to being here, but this is home.” She tells me. “This is home.” I tell her before kissing her softly.

We head downstairs for breakfast, and I lead her out to the pool house. “Is this the pool house you were telling me about?” she asks. “Yeah. I think the lighting would be great for your painting and sculpting. Whatever you need to get set up, we will get.” I tell her. We walk inside and she sees how large the space is, and she walks around. “This is perfect, Evan.” She tells me. “I thought it would be. We can make a list later of all of the things that you need, and we start our art classes in a few days too.” I tell her. She walks over to me and kisses me deeply. “I love you.” She whispers. I kiss her hard and when we separate, I whisper “I love you too baby. So, f*****g much.”