Apartment 4B

Chapter 39 - Deacon

Neither of us even pause when we reach the door to her apartment. Both of us having flown up those stairs, and sprinted for her door.

That mother fucker...

I’m not sure I even fully register what I’m looking at as I throw her door open, and only starts to click back in while someone roughly grabs at the back of my shirt.

David’s face is busted to shit on the ground under me, the knuckles on both my hands are in shreds, covered in more than just my own blood... and I could not care less. The rough tug on my shirt’s there again as I raise my clenched hand, intending to ram it into his face once more. Her voice just comes through the cloud my minds in, right before I connect. My head whips around to her, watching as she shakes her head gently, and raises one hand to beckon me towards her. I’m on my feet and moving, half stepping on the fucker on the ground, before her arms wrap around my neck to bring my face down to rest on her shoulder.

Breathing her in, I hold her tight, the fury still running through me as my mind begins to start working normally once more. The images of her pinned under him on the couch, his hand moving down her skin before she thrust her elbow at him.. The slow motion movie of her trying to claw her way out, and away from him. Before my hand closed on the back of his shirt, and ripped him towards the ground. The picture show in my head finishes with the happier shots of beating the shit out of him, and completing my promise of putting him in hospital if he came near her again.. let alone tried to touch her..

Brooke’s hand comes up to stroke the back of my head, and I pull back to look at her, feeling like what’s going on is the complete opposite of what should be. I should be cradling her. Comforting her after the shit that's just happened, or finding out what the fuck happened before we got here, but the soft smile on her face stops me. The blind anger, the fury, leaving me the longer I look at her smile.

“Thank you.. but I swear I’m going to run out of frozen peas with you around, Rambo...”

My face breaks out into a smile to match her own, as I dip my forehead to lean on hers.

Holy hell, she is something else...

She surprises the shit out of me, almost every time I’m with her. Leaving me in stunned amazement of just who this incredible woman in front of me is. For hells sake, she just got attacked and is standing here cracking jokes, while trying to keep me together. 

“Anytime. I’m always here to protect you, short stuff.... Are.. are you ok?”

Her head nods, the smile still there while she looks up at me.

Fuck, I want to ask so much more, but I'm not sure if I'm stable enough to handle it yet. My hands are still twitchy, wanting to turn around and finish what I bloody well started on him. She looks remarkably unshaken though, holding herself tall and steady.

“Well, I wish you would’ve let me get a hit in... Oh, look, shit, he’s moving..”

My head turns in time to see Dom ram his boot in David’s unmoving body on the ground. I know he’s still breathing, his chest still rising but looks like he’s damn far from getting up, let alone moving anytime soon. Brooke clears her throat out, and Dom’s head swings straight to us, his hands immediately coming out to the side like he didn’t just boot the guy.

“.. What? I swear, he was moving.. You guys just didn’t see it as you were making eyes at each other once again.... So, am I calling the coppers then? Or are we letting Hercules back at it? Cos honestly I'm up for option two, with the indicator of it being a tag team effort.”

Nodding my head silently at him before swinging it back around to Brooke, my hand rises to lightly trace the red mark near her eye, looking like she’s bashed her head on something. I don’t miss her eyes widen, before pressing her lips together, and all I want to do it turn around and clobber him again.

He’s fucking hit her, or shoved her hard enough into something to mark her...

Knowing she’s loosing me, her hand glides around the back of my neck as she bring my forehead down to hers.

“Deacon, I’m ok.. really.. I mean I need to replace a spoon in there, and may think about carrying my new phone on me a lot more, but I’m ok. In fact, I think I was holding my own quite nicely while I waited for you two to eventually show up.”

Her grip tightens, trying to hold me to her as the body on the ground coughs and splutters, just as Dom finishes up on the phone.

“If I was you, mate, I’d just stay down till the cops come to arrest your ass. Although, I’m really hoping you don’t listen..”

His head lolls slowly along the ground, the swelling of his eyes making it more difficult for him to find her, but he still tries too. Brooke steps in to lean herself against me, my arm shifting to wrap around her shoulders and cup her closer. She sounds so strong, so clear as she talks to him. The implications of what she’s saying laid out enough without actually having to use many words.

“I’d listen to him, David... That’s not only my boyfriend standing here, but also my brother.”

Meaning he moves a fucking half an inch, and one of us will be on him.

I’m not sure if it makes it better or worse for him as Dom’s knees bend, crouching himself down while he leans in closer.

“Is it terrible of me, that I’m half hoping muscle bound over there damaged his ears too much for him to really understand, and that he moves anyway?... Come on man.. just a small twitch... that’s all I really need..