Defending Deanna

Chapter 4

It feels pretty great to be around Deanna again. Maybe we could find a friendship again when all this was over, and that monster was behind bars again. I want him gone forever but we would have to settle for 10ish more years probably and then Maddox and I had a date with the monster to put him in the ground. Nobody would ever know what happened to him but that was ok. I will take the secret to my grave and not miss a wink of sleep over it.

I hang up my clothes. I didn't bring a lot. I have no idea how long this arrangement will last but I was in it till the end. But as a security guy, I often had to get by with barely anything and also, I was always sleeping over at the Maddox house as a teen, so I was used to having one change of clothes and getting by. It was just a part of my life. I didn't really get attached to things much.

My stomach rumbles as I smell the distinct scent of Maddox family spaghetti. There wasn't anything all that special about it other than Deanna's mom always filled everything with tons of love. That had been new to me. Mom didn't give off a lot of love or compassion at all. But Mrs. Maddox was so sweet and loving even to a stray like me.

After Deanna had gone missing, things had changed at their house. Mrs. Maddox was always sad and down. Not that I blamed her. Her daughter was missing and possibly dead. She had every reason to be heartbroken. And once Deanna came back life was still a lot darker in that house.

It made me sad. Their house had always been fun and filled with life and laughs. There wasn't a lot to laugh at the last time I’d been there. That was shortly after Deanna came home and she was so fragile and broken.

She seems ok now though. I hope that she is happy and ok. I want that for her. There was a time when I had hoped that her happy future would include me. But that wasn’t an option now, truthfully it had probably never really been an option. She would find some nice normal boring guy. Maybe she already had.

To my knowledge, she wasn’t dating anyone but that didn’t mean she wasn’t. I didn’t ask those kinds of questions about her to Maddox, it would be a bit weird, and Maddox has no idea about my past feelings about his sister. I really hoped I didn’t have to be her security for a date or anything like that. I don’t know how I would handle that and if the guy were disrespectful to her, I don’t think I would be able to let that go. I would have to say or do something about it. Hopefully, that won’t come up at any point.

Once I’m unpacked as much as I unpack, I head out to Deanna putting the dinner on the table.

"Wow, good timing. You always did have the dinners ready radar. Somehow you always seemed to be there for dinner. “ She says laughing.

She wasn’t wrong. It was a radar that I fine-tuned over years of starving since my mom didn’t really cook much and then once I started going to their house, I was always trying to not be a bother to them as much as possible. I didn’t want to make it harder on her mom than I already did by being an extra mouth to feed. She was always so great and welcoming but still I felt bad about it sometimes.

She sits in a seat, and I sit across from her at the other place set out.

I take a bite and moan out loud. It's been a long time since he's had a home-cooked meal. I am usually the grab something on the go type. Cooking sucked, when it was just for you. And with my job, I was busy a lot and rarely home. Any food I bought to cook with usually went bad by the time I got around to cooking it.

Deanna laughs at me. But I don't even care. It tastes amazing.

I may have eaten my weight in spaghetti but again I don't care.

"You act like you haven't eaten in months.” She comments laughing.

"It's been a while since I've had the famous Maddox family spaghetti.”

Years even. I add in my head.

Her smile drops. "Yeah, things got pretty dark around the house after I came back. And then you weren't around much."

"Well, you seemed to need your space."

"I guess I did a bit. I had to work through some things."

“I'm glad you're doing better."

She smiles again but it doesn't reach her eyes. It's not her. It's fake and brittle and I hate it. She didn’t have a smile like that before. She has always been too genuine for that. She smiled real and often, and it could light up the room.

Clearly, she’s changed a lot in these 10 years. I understand why though. People can normally change a lot in ten years and most of them don’t go through all she did. That changes a person on its own. I am looking forward to getting to know who she is now.

She gets up to clean off the table.

I start to stand. "Let me help."

She waves me off. "No, it's fine. But speaking of doing better. I have a therapy appointment tomorrow. So, I'll be gone for a bit during the day, but you can make yourself at home."

I realize she doesn't understand how this security thing works at all. "De, um...I'm your security. That means where you go, I go."

She looks at me fast. "What? You're coming with me to therapy?"

"I kind of have to. That's my job. I won't go into the room with you. I'll just go with you and sit in the waiting room."

"I don't need a babysitter."

I get a strong sense of déjà vu in that moment. That's a conversation she had with Maddox and me so many times in the past. I was somehow always the one looking out for her, and she always resented it.

"It's not about babysitting. It's about security. I'm here to keep you safe and make sure nobody gets to you. I can't do that if I'm not with you."

She bites her lip again. It used to drive me crazy when she did that and I can't say things are much different now. It still drives me crazy and gives me dirty ideas.

“I will try my best not to cramp your style. I will be as invisible as possible, but if you fight this, it'll just make it harder. I will go with you but if I have to follow you and hide then it just makes things complicated. My boss has given me an assignment that I accepted. I will do it the best way I know how."

She sighs. “Ok, I won't make this harder. I won't fight you. I learned years ago that fighting Maddox just ends up hurting us both. I get it. I hate that I need security, but I do feel safer. So, we can get through this. I'll make you a list with what I have coming up so that you're prepared and can plan accordingly. "

I sigh in relief. I meant what I said. I will be there whether she likes it or not. I have a job to do, but also, I made a promise to my best friend and a silent promise to her to protect her and I wouldn't break that again. Not like I did that night 10 years ago. Nothing would come between me and keeping her safe... Not even her.