by Claire Raye
Rescue Me
A Hawthorns Hills Duet
Caleb and Ruby Book Two
Claire Raye
Copyright © 2020 by Claire Raye
www.claireraye.com
Rescue Me
Caleb and Ruby Book Two
Cover Photograph by Sara Eirew Photographer
Cover Design by Amy Queau of QDesign
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission from the author. Please do not participate in or encourage the piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. All characters and storylines are the property of the author and your support and respect is appreciated. The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarities to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
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Chapter One: Ruby
Chapter Two: Caleb
Chapter Three: Ruby
Chapter Four: Caleb
Chapter Five: Ruby
Chapter Six: Caleb
Chapter Seven: Ruby
Chapter Eight: Caleb
Chapter Nine: Ruby
Chapter Ten: Caleb
Chapter Eleven: Ruby
Chapter Twelve: Caleb
Chapter Thirteen: Ruby
Chapter Fourteen: Caleb
Chapter Fifteen: Ruby
Chapter Sixteen: Caleb
Chapter Seventeen: Ruby
Chapter Eighteen: Caleb
Chapter Nineteen: Ruby
Chapter Twenty: Caleb
Chapter Twenty-One: Ruby
Chapter Twenty-Two: Caleb
Chapter Twenty-Three: Ruby
Chapter Twenty-Four: Caleb
Chapter Twenty-Five: Ruby
Chapter Twenty-Six: Caleb
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Ruby
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Caleb
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Ruby
Chapter Thirty: Caleb
Chapter Thirty-One: Ruby
Chapter Thirty-Two: Caleb
Chapter Thirty-Three: Ruby
Chapter Thirty-Four: Caleb
What’s Next?
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Books by Claire Raye
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Chapter One
Ruby
“I’ll get you a lawyer! Don’t say a fucking word!” Reid yells as Caleb is placed in the police car. Everything about this feels surreal, like it’s a huge fucking nightmare and I can’t seem to wake up.
Sienna has been hysterical since the second it happened and it’s clear Caleb isn’t the only one suffering from the effects of their lives growing up. All three of them are struggling with what happened and the similarity of what has just gone down with Professor Keller and what happened when they were back home in Rhode Island. The parallel of events is weighing heavy on all of us.
Reid has taken control of the situation, ordering Sie and I into the truck, and as if we’re on autopilot, we both do it. The sirens continue to blare and a few police officers remain at the scene. It’s not a scene; it’s not a fucking crime scene knowing what happened here. It’s the alleyway of our house, a place we were supposed to feel safe, but all of that has been violated by Professor Keller and his stalking.
Everything makes so much sense now: the trash can constantly being knocked over, the sound of someone lurking in the night and the silver Audi that nearly ran me over. I search my memory for anything else that I brushed off as nothing, but now realize was far from it.
My brain feels cloudy and heavy, and no matter what I do, all I can picture is what would’ve happened had Caleb not caught Professor Keller outside the window. Would he have broken into the house? It was just Sie and I home, but luckily Reid came home at the right time. Without him to stop Caleb I don’t know how far things would have gone.
As soon as I sit down in the truck, I break down. Away from the prying eyes of the officers and detectives, the sobs come hard and fast.
“You both need to pull it together,” Reid tells us, his voice firm, but he still reaches back and rests a comforting hand on my knee, while pulling Sie close to him. “They’re going to need to get statements from us…”
Reid continues talking, but it’s like a blur of words and noise that I can’t comprehend. I’m a fucking adult and I should be able to handle this, but I suddenly feel like this is beyond my realm of understanding. I want to call my parents. I want to beg my dad to come here and help me, help Caleb.
“My dad’s a lawyer,” I announce, like Reid and Sienna don’t already know this. “I should call him.” I nod my head furiously, like this should’ve been the first thing I did before the police even rolled up.
“Call him, Ruby,” Reid affirms, but then adds, “He’s a corporate lawyer though, right? Maybe he can give you a number of someone who can help us.”
I don’t waste another second, immediately hitting my dad’s number on the screen as I try to compose myself.
He picks up on the second ring, greeting me, but before he can even say my name, I’m wailing down the line.
“Dad,” I say, only able to get out a single word.
“Ruby, Ruby, what’s wrong?” he asks, the panic blanketing what he’s just said.
I’m not supposed to be the one to call him crying. I’m not supposed to be the one asking for advice on lawyers and police. That’s Mila. I’m the responsible one. The one they don’t worry about.
“The police arrested Caleb for assault,” I spit out, my words coming out in a rush because if I don’t say them fast enough, they’ll get lost in the sobs.
My parents know about my relationship with Caleb and in just a few days, we were all supposed to be spending Christmas in Lake Tahoe skiing and drinking and being fucking college kids.
“Whoa, okay, Ruby. Tell me what happened,” my dad says completely composed just like I knew he’d be. “A fight at the bar?”
“No, it wasn’t at the bar. A professor…” I try, but again fall short and the tears take over.
Reid reaches into the backseat, gently taking the phone from my hand and giving me a small nod of his head.
“Hi Mr. Collins. This is Reid. I’m Ruby’s roommate, Sienna’s boyfriend.”
He stops talking, and I wish I could hear what my father is saying, but putting him on Bluetooth or speakerphone is an awful idea with Sie and I wailing. Reid waits, listening and still somehow completely composed as he drives and creates a plan with my father.
“We’re on the way to the station right now. I imagine we’ll have to bail him out,” Reid now says and that causes Sienna to tug at Reid’s arm.
“How much will that cost? Do they take cash? How the fuck do you even bail someone out of jail?” Her questions are fired out rapidly and desperate. N
either one of us are thinking clearly or logically.
“Sie, please,” Reid says, turning to her, trying to keep his tone sympathetic but firm. Returning to my dad he now says, “Okay, yeah, can you text Ruby the number and I’ll call on the way to the station?”
He now hands the phone back to me and I swallow hard, trying my best to keep it together. The police need a statement from me and going in like this isn’t going to help anything. If I can’t even talk to my dad, what kind of mess will I be at the station?
“Ruby, listen to me,” my dad says in a clipped tone. “The police are not your friends in this situation. Caleb assaulted someone and whether it was warranted or self-defense, it doesn’t matter. They will look for anything to make him guilty. You are not to speak even if all they ask you for is your statement. Do you understand?” he pauses and waits for me to answer and I give a muffled, “yes” in response. “I have a lawyer for Caleb and everything is going to be alright, I promise.”
Just hearing his voice has helped me pull myself together. The girl he raised isn’t the kind who hides in the corner when things turn to shit and there’s not a chance in hell I’m letting Caleb go through any of this alone.
I’m not giving up on him.
“They can’t make me give a statement, right?” I ask, but not waiting for my father to answer, I quickly tack on, “And we can get Caleb out today?”
“No they can’t make you and they can’t hold you. As for Caleb, I did a quick search and other than the bar’s bankruptcy filing he has no other court records. You should be able to take him home without having to post bail since he doesn’t have a record, but I have someone on it. A friend of mine from law school is meeting you at the station. I told Reid everything.” He lets out an exasperated sigh and I mistake it as disapproval.
“I’m sorry, Dad,” I say, hating that I’ve now added to his stress, added to his worry. That’s Mila’s gig.
“Ruby, no. I’m glad you called me. You’re an adult, yes, but navigating the legal system isn’t something you or Reid or Caleb should be doing alone. Ed Warwick is my buddy and he’s on his way there now. You’re in good hands.”
I hang up with my dad feeling better about the situation. There’s no way anyone could possibly convict Caleb of anything. Professor Keller was outside my house in the dark, watching me through a window. Caleb feared for my safety and came to my defense.
But as I relax back, the adrenaline wearing off and the exhaustion taking over, I realize it’s so much more than just about Caleb defending me. It was about his safety too, something he’s constantly in fear of being compromised.
What happened tonight has set us back so far in his PTSD recovery and more than likely, finding Professor Keller in the alleyway was a huge trigger for him. It was something he couldn’t control when he saw what was happening and his mind instantly flashed to the night he was assaulted.
He wasn’t about to let that happen again and his natural instinct now is to never be caught off guard, to always be on the defensive. That was exactly what happened tonight.
We pull up outside the police station and Reid kills the engine. He turns to look at Sie and me, his face a wash of worry and fear, but also of anger and determination. I’ve always had my parents and Mila, but Sie, Caleb and Reid only have each other, navigating this world alone and blind, but somehow figuring it all out.
This will be their biggest test yet and I’m going to be by their sides.
“I think we should wait for the lawyer. Your dad said he’s on his way now. He’s local, but with traffic it could take a bit,” Reid says, filling us in on what he talked with my dad about.
My phone vibrates out with a text from my dad telling me again the name of his lawyer friend and including his contact information.
“What if we can’t get him out?” Sie desperately asks, ringing her hands in her lap. “He can’t handle this. He’s going to be a mess. Who am I fucking kidding? He was already a mess,” she now mutters, and I know she’s blaming herself for not getting him a therapist.
But there’s no way we could’ve known this would happen and I hate that Caleb has hit rock bottom. Although it may be just what we needed to happen. It felt like he was doing so well, but I was a fool to think my counseling major prepared me for the reality of the situation.
“Sienna, it’s going to be okay. Ruby’s dad said he has no priors and he’ll be charged with simple assault. More than likely he’ll be released without bond.”
“What does charged mean? Like he’s guilty of this?” I interject, like Reid has this vast knowledge of the legal system.
“I don’t know, but that’s why we need to wait for the lawyer. I can’t go in there with you two. You’ll be demanding answers and fucking shit up.”
As much as this whole thing isn’t funny, Reid manages to eke out some small smiles from Sienna and me. He’s right. Neither of us can stay quiet.
A few seconds later Reid motions to a car that has now pulled into the parking lot and quickly opens the door, jumping out with Sienna and I following closely behind.
“That’s him,” he calls over his shoulder as he walks up to the car.
“How do you know?” I ask, wondering if he somehow recognizes the guy from a description my dad gave.
“He drives a fucking Mercedes, Ruby. Look around.” He holds out his arms to the parking lot filled with low cost cars and unmarked police cruisers. “Who else could this guy be?”
Reid walks right up to the car as the guy is getting out and I’ll be damned if he isn’t right. The guy is about my dad’s age and he’s holding a leather briefcase.
“Reid?” the man asks, extending a hand as Reid nods in response. “I’m Ed. I’m here to help out your friend.”
“That’s exactly what we need.”
“I’m going to head into the station and I’d prefer if you three remained out here or in the lobby. Sometimes they don’t take kindly to a crowd of supporters, especially in college towns.”
Reid shoots us a smirk and I can tell it takes everything in Sienna not to smack him for being his usual arrogant self.
“This shouldn’t take long. I had my assistant run some background information on Caleb and brief me while I drove over. He should be out of here in the next hour or so. Just hang tight,” Ed says, acknowledging the worry each one of us is feeling.
We all watch as he now disappears into the station and we start our waiting game. Pacing the walkway and scrolling through our phones to pass the time, but each second ticks by slower than the next.
Eventually we walk over to a bench a few feet away and sit down. It’s late and the parking lot is dimly lit with the glow of streetlights. Sienna and I both yawn and her head falls onto Reid’s shoulder.
We don’t speak to each other, just waiting, stressing and worrying about how this will all play out. It’s not over the second Caleb walks out those doors and we know that, but just to have him out will be a relief.
We hear the sound of conversation and all three of us whip around, eyes wide, anticipation running high, but it’s just two officers. Their conversation makes its way to our ears and it’s infuriating.
“That kid is fucked,” one of them says and I instantly know they’re talking about Caleb.
Reid attempts to stand up, but Sienna clamps a hand down on his leg, her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed as she slowly shakes her head.
The last thing we need is another assault charge and with the white knuckled clenched fist Reid has firmly rooted at his side, that’s what would be happening.
“Professor Keller is one of the most well-respected professors on campus. There’s no way he did what this kid is saying,” the other officer replies.
“Luckily that kid has lawyered up because he’s gonna need it.”
I hate that Caleb’s motives and his word are being questioned because someone older, someone with far too much pull at the university in this damn town said his story is bullshit.
There’s
way more to this than just what happened in that alleyway. I’ve been fielding advances from Professor Keller all semester and then when Caleb came into the picture, I suddenly started failing his class. Everything about it screams abuse of power.
“Fuckers,” I mutter under my breath. “This is bullshit.”
“We all know it is, Ruby, but we have to let Ed do his job. Caleb’s stronger than we think,” Reid says, now talking me down.
Stronger than we think?
But is he anymore?
All I want to do is hold him in my arms and tell him everything is going to be okay. My heart is breaking for him and all the progress he made because as they loaded him into that police car, he looked far more broken than I have ever seen him.
Chapter Two
Caleb
I’m sitting in a room by myself, when the door opens. I glance up, exhausted, my head feeling like lead even as it pounds. A guy I’ve never seen before, dressed casually and clearly not a police officer, walks in and looks directly at me.
“Hey, Caleb, my name’s Ed,” he says, smiling like I’m supposed to know why he’s here. He glances down to my hands, which are cuffed to the table and his smile disappears. “Hold on,” he says, turning back to the door to say to someone, “Can we get the cuffs off him, please.”
I hear someone outside the room talking to him, but whatever he says clearly isn’t what Ed wants to hear.
“It’s a misdemeanor offence. He’s not a risk and this is completely unnecessary.”
His voice is firm this time and I watch as one of the uniformed guys who brought me in here now walks into the room and uncuffs me. I pull my wrists toward me, my fingers rubbing over the indentations the metal has left on my skin.
“Thank you,” Ed says, before closing the door behind the officer as he leaves.
He then turns and walks toward the table, pulling out a chair on the opposite side and taking a seat. He puts his bag on the floor, pulling a notepad out which he puts on the table in front of us. He then puts his linked hands on top of it and looks directly at me.
