One and a half months later…
After straying his eyes from Harlow Murphy, Maddox’s ex-girlfriend to me, Caidyn asks, “You good?”
I lift my chin before clipping my seat belt into its latch. “I’m fine. Thank you.”
Shocked by my blasé reply, Caidyn peers at me with worried, uneased eyes.
I laugh. “Don’t look at me like that. She’s Maddox’s friend. Nothing more.” That could have been articulated a little less bitchy, but it is what it is. “Furthermore, I doubt anything she could say will have him smiling as largely as we did.”
We’ve just finished an hour-long impromptu visit with Maddox. It wasn’t held in the secret room where my monthly ones with him take place. It was in a standard, rectangular-shaped area with corded phones and assigned cubicles, but the message we came to give him wasn’t dampened by the location.
His baby sisterfinallyleft her room.
We didn’t mention the fact it was to go on a date with a man Maddox would rather pummel than welcome into the family.
Brax Anderson has been good to Justine. He forced her out of her room, took her to a concert, and encouraged her to renew the studies she indefinitely postponed many moons ago. She is finally getting her life back on track, and it has me hopeful the rest of her family will soon follow.
“All right. If you’re sure…”
I sock Caidyn in the arm for leaving his question open before nudging my head to the exit of the lot. “I’m sure. Maddox and I are solid.” Ignoring the quickest flare of doubt blistering through Caidyn’s unique eyes, I add a request to my command. “But can we stop by a drug store on the way home? I need to fill a prescription.”
Caidyn swipes his tongue across his lips before asking, “A prescription for…”
“For my ankle, dummy.” I knock my knee against his, silently egging him about getting senile in his old age. He did turn twenty-six last week.
My playfulness doesn’t weaken the snip of interrogation in Caidyn’s voice in the slightest “Why do you need a prescription for your ankle?”
“Because I had a partial tear—”
“Almostfourmonths ago, Demi.”
I don’t appreciate his father-like tone, but I take it in stride. I missed having a fatherly figure during my teenage years, so I won’t give this up for anything. “Yeah, but my pain threshold remains the same.”
“In your heart. Your ankle is fine.”
When I read between the lines of his snappy tone, I reply matter-of-factly, “I only take the recommended dose.”
“From what I’ve heard and witnessed, like clockwork, every four hours,” Caidyn fights back. “You’ve not missed a single dose the past three months.”
“Ouch!” I push out with a grunt when he kicks me in the ankle responsible for our argument. “That hurt!”
He slants his head and cocks a brow. “Well, at least now you have an excuse for the pills you’ll pop today.”
When I sock him in the arm, he veers onto the wrong side of the road.
“You’re being extremely rude.”
“Yeah, I am,” he agrees without pause for thought. “But I’d rather be honest than have Maddox chew my ass out for another thirty minutes like he did back there.” He thrusts his hand to Wallens Ridge State Penitentiary disappearing on the horizon.
“What are you talking about? You guys were discussing Justine, w-weren’t you?” My stutter can’t be helped. I’ve never seen Caidyn so mad. If he holds the steering wheel any tighter, I’m afraid he might snap it.
I discover the reason for his anger when he barks out, “Justine barely got a look in… because when it comes to you, no one else matters to Maddox.”
Now I feel extremely guilty and nervous. I’m not anxious I am the axis of Maddox’s world. I know my importance in his life. He’s never made me doubt that. I’m fretful about Caidyn steering his Jeep past the drug store we generally stop at every trip. I took my last lot of pills four hours ago. I’m due for another dose.
Painkillers are the last thing on my mind when Caidyn asks, “Did you see the way Maddox looked at you, Demi? How he couldn’t take his eyes off you.”
“He always does that.”
