Shattered

31

Savana sits nervously in the car, waiting anxiously while Brice and his team leader confer one last time.

"It's alright, Savana. Brice will keep you safe." Grayson tries to comfort her.

"I'm not worried about my safety," Savana says and turns from him to hide the fear in her eyes and the tears she feels coming on.

"Grayson, Savana, I forgot to tell you guys that Dr. Halifax had a couple of cancelations for tomorrow. He's willing to come out and stay extra so that he can see you both and Jasper as well. He'll be here in the afternoon and will be staying for dinner if all goes well." KK tells them to help break the tension. There is something going on, something that he doesn't understand.

Actually he thinks that there are a couple of things going on that he doesn't understand and it's driving him crazy. Something to do with the one that they are extracting tonight.

"Savana, are you worried about Brice?" KK asks to try to understand.

Savana ignores him so Grayson explains.

"No, at least not directly it isn't. Sheila and Savana have a lot of bad history. I was part of it. I betrayed Savana when I was with Sheila. Sheila is very like the females Brice has dated in the past and as you can tell Savana is not. She is afraid that Brice will no longer want her when he sees Sheila. Sheila can and likely will try to steal Brice."

KK scoffs, "She can try. The reason there aren't any current photos of Brice with those like Monica, are because of Monica. She turned him off when he found out that she was cheating on him with his own men. Oh, didn't that go down well. There were more than a few men that were punished and harshly for that one. There are some that Brice still doesn't trust after that betrayal. Those on guard duty that let her back in will be punished.

"As for Sheila, well, after he saw you at the auction, Savana, he was enraptured. It is the only way to say it. He spoke out loud and I don't think that he even realized that he was doing it. When they pulled your head up and he saw you, he said, She's mine. No matter what it costs, she's mine.

"There was no way you were going any where else that night. I have no doubt that if you hadn't been so traumatized that Brice would have done everything in his power to get the feds to let you go with him any way.

"With how much Jonah owes Brice he wouldn't have been able to say no. He wanted you and he would have seduced you that night, except that you were in no shape for him to do so.

"You have him so wrapped around your finger that I am beyond amazed. He smiled a happy smile and you got him to laugh. Shit, Savana, I can't remember the last time he laughed. It was long before Ivy was sold that's for sure. The men don't want you to leave, because they are afraid that if you do that he'll revert to like he was before you came here. 

"You've made him human again, Savana. You've taken away a great deal of his anger. Before he was rather explosive from all the anger he holds inside because of his father. Now, he's letting it go, because he doesn't want to explode and you witness it. He's afraid that you will want nothing more to do with him if he does.

"Brice has changed, and for the better. Many would say that you've made him weak. I say that you've made him stronger than ever before.

"He's never really been upset about being interrupted when he's with a female before. Tonight I thought he would really kill me for interrupting things between  you two."

"Well they were just getting very interesting when you told him about the bitch downstairs."

"Sorry about that. I knew that if he knew that it was Monica that he would explode. I also knew that he wouldn't let you in until after he knew it was safe for you to be there. Sorry about blindsiding you like that."