Jules
Present-day:
After they got back home, Dean refused to leave her side even when she told him that she didn’t want him around.
She went as far as to check herself into a local mental facility to work through her issues and gain some much-needed space from her brother’s best friend.
Her brother, Jagger, had spent countless hours trying to help her, and she worried that sooner or later they would all just get sick of her and take off, much like Dean did at the beginning of their relationship.
The pain of his being gone for weeks on end and not knowing when or even if he would come home in one piece made her crazy.
They had one perfect night together and even made plans for the future, but then he was gone, and she never felt more alone in her entire life, not even when her parents died and her brother had to return to duty, serving in the Air Force.
She was used to being alone, but Dean made her sweet promises to change all of that for her, and he lied.
She had no choice but to leave, so that’s what she did.
She left Dean a note, taking the coward’s way out, and ran straight into the worst shit storm she had ever been involved in.
After spending six weeks at the hospital undergoing intense therapy sessions, Dean was there to collect her when she was released.
She wanted to march herself right back into the hospital and demand that they sign her up for another six weeks, but she knew that they would tell her just what they had earlier—they couldn’t do anything more for her, and she should contact a therapist to work with her on the outside.
Dean took her back to his cabin, which was just a couple of miles from where Jagger and she had grown up, and settled her into his spare bedroom.
He didn’t push her like she worried he would, to move into his room and pick up where they left off.
Dean was the first one into the room where Wolf held her captive.
He saw the way that she was bound to the bed and gagged like an animal.
She was sure he didn’t miss the bruises and bite marks that Wolf left all over her body every night that he took her against her will.
Wolf broke her, and that’s the person Dean found that day and every day since.
Jules was broken, damaged, and she didn’t know if she would ever be able to find her way back from what Wolf did to her.
It was best for them both if Dean just accepted that and moved on—let her go, but he’d barge into her bedroom, morning after morning, and bark at her to get the fuck out of bed.
And, every day, she reluctantly obeyed, starting her day and heading to work.
It was a crappy existence, but it was hers and all she had right now.
A part of her wanted Dean Quinn to leave her the fuck alone, and the other part of her was scared to death that he would do just that.
She didn’t know how she would function on her own, but if something didn’t change fast, she was afraid that she was going to find out.
Because a man like Dean wouldn’t wait around forever.
Jules knew that she was running out of options, but she still had one left.
She could leave—again. It was her go-to move and one that left her in a whole shitload of trouble the last time she left.
She felt that she didn’t have a choice then either, just like now.
She wasn’t good for Dean then, and she certainly wasn’t good for him now—he just needed to face facts and stop pushing her to get up, get better, and give him a chance.
She wasn’t ready for what he wanted—a relationship, sex, and everything else that went with it.
Jules knew that she might never be ready to give him what he needed from her, and she couldn’t do that to him.
She’d made him a promise once. Hell, she planned on spending her future with him at one point, but then, she foolishly gave up on the best thing to ever happen to her and walked away.
She walked right into a shitty situation that led to her brokenness, and there was no way of changing that now.
She couldn’t go back and change the past; all she could do was try to find a path forward, and Jules knew that would involve walking away from everyone that she loved—including Dean.
Finally deciding to leave gave Jules the energy that she needed to get out of bed, shower, and get dressed.
Dean was already at work, and when he texted her asking if she was up, she replied that she was and lied and said that she was having a good day.
It was code for, “You don’t need to drag my ass out of bed today,” she just hoped that he picked up on that.
She felt as if she were holding her breath for the next hour, waiting for him to come barging into her room to check on her, and when he didn’t, she pulled out her suitcases, packed as much of her belongings as she could fit into her little beat-up car, and wrote Dean a note telling him goodbye.
She left one for her brother, too, not sure that she’d be able to contact him without him demanding to know where she was.
If she was going to do this, run away and hide from her life, she’d need to make a clean break. It sucked, but it was the only way.
Jules didn’t bother looking back at Dean’s cabin as she drove off. There was nothing there for her except for painful memories of a life that she’d never planned for herself. No, it was time for her to move on, and looking back wouldn’t change that fact.