Page 6 of Pax

“Not me,” she said, shaking her head. “You did that. I shouldn’t have left here. I should have told you.”

“Yeah. You should have,” said Cruz. “I’m not going to sugarcoat that. When you’re well, you can count on your new bosses giving you a good lecture about not leaving here without telling someone again. For now, you just have to get well.”

When Cruz turned to leave, Pax was standing in the doorway.

“Can I see her?” Cruz nodded.

“Just for a minute. She just took more pain meds.” Pax took the seat vacated by Cruz and reached for Deanna’s hand.

“I screwed up,” she said, looking at him.

“No, you didn’t. You saved those girls, and you held on. You lasted for us to get to you. All this will go away,” he said, waving an arm over her battered body. “You’re going to be great, and I’m glad you’re going to be working here.”

“Why are you in black?” she asked, staring at him dressed in black from head to toe.

“I’ve got something we need to do. When it’s done, I’ll be back to take you home. To your cottage.”

“Why are you being so nice?” she asked in a sleepy voice as her eyes fluttered shut.

Pax had no response for her as she fell asleep. He stood, kissed her forehead, and left the room. Cruz watched as the young man walked out the back door, shaking his head because whether Pax knew it or not, Cruz knew exactly why he was being so nice to Deanna.

CHAPTER FOUR

By the time Pax returned from his mission, Deanna was gone. She couldn’t stand to just sit around any longer, and she needed time to think about her life. Her parents had inadvertently left her a mess to figure out on her own that had nearly cost the pageant girls their lives and almost took her own life. She was angry, hurt, and confused by it all.

What really hurt was looking in the mirror. The once pretty face she’d grown up with was gone. Replaced by a misshapen nose, a jaw that seemed swollen and puffy, her left eye looking lower than the right.

“Hunchback,” she whispered, staring into the water of the fountain. When Faith asked how she could help, Deanna knew what she needed. She needed to get away. She needed to be in another place, away from everything that was familiar yet still safe.

So, Faith sent her to the house on Coronado. It was safe, monitored, and close enough that they could get to her if they needed to. But no one told Pax. They wanted him to either figure it out for himself or let Deanna call him on her own.

They were surprised that it took weeks for him to figure it out. It was late at night, but he ran to the cottage where his brother was guarding one of the new women on the property and knocked, praying he would be up.

“What’s wrong?”

“Deanna. I think she’s at the house in Coronado,” said Pax.

“Why do you think that?” asked Brax, knowing the answer.

“Because I’m not a complete idiot, just a slow one. Faith is the one who arranged for her to get away. Where else would she send her but to the house in Coronado?”

“So, are you going out there?”

“Yes. No. I mean, yes.”

It wasn’t a conversation he could have with his brother in a few minutes or even a few hours. Truthfully, he wasn’t even sure why he was going. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but his gut and heart were telling him to go.

So, he was going.

The first few nights at the mansion on Coronado were difficult for Deanna. Every sound made her jump, every breeze sending chills up her spine. She’d wake later in the morning, exhausted and still hurting.

Trips to the grocery store were done either very early in the morning or very late at night with a hoodie or ball cap over her head, ensuring that her face was shadowed.

But the truth was that the residents of Coronado were not the kind of people who would stare or ask questions. They saw men and women returning from deployment with injuries all the time. That’s probably exactly what they believed happened to Deanna.

Except that’s not what happened. She was attacked. Brutally, unjustly attacked for something that wasn’t her fault. She hated herself for feeling afraid, for being lonely, for wanting.

“Wanting,” she whispered to herself.

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