Free Chasing Dragonflies by Tee Smith Page A

prompted bringing her back to the present.
    “Oh yeah, sorry.” She shook her head, trying to shake loose those bad memories.
    “Was he violent with you?” Patrick probed.
    “Some... he would tell me he had to discipline me. He never did anything to me like he did to Asha.”
    Patrick face paled and she knew she had said too much. She knew he wouldn't be able to handle it.
    “Sorry,” she whispered, reaching out and rubbing her palm on his exposed knee. “Maybe that's too much already? Maybe we can leave it there for tonight.”
    His hand covered hers and he turned looking deep into her eyes. Not blinking, not moving, they sat there for several long moments.
    When Patrick finally spoke, his voice was husky and thick. “I'm glad Asha was taken, not because of what happened to her, but if it weren't for her, you might have died out there.”
    Maddie nodded, he was right. The doctors had told her that Asha had essentially saved her life. Had she been asked some six months earlier, she would have been happy to have died out there. For six long years, she had no life. Now? Now she was learning to live again.
    Patrick pulled her into his chest where she rested her face, listening to his heart beating. She lifted her legs up on the couch and there they sat for the rest of the evening, watching television together in silence.

Chapter 8
    The next morning, Maddie was just stepping out of the shower. Wrapping herself in a big fluffy towel, burying her nose into the fabric she breathed in the scent of the washing detergent. Freshly washed, fluffy towels, what a luxury. It was the small things such as these than made her stop and think about how lucky she was to be out of that hell-hole. “Oh towel, you are awesome,” she smiled as she stroked it over her face.
    In the distance she heard a knocking and it broke her out of her trance. Where was that noise coming from? Straining to listen she heard it again. “Oh it's the door you idiot.” She reprimanded herself.
    “Okay, coming,” she called out.
    It was probably Xavier, he had text Patrick last night and said he would be around first thing. She must get herself a phone sometime. But then other than Xavier, she had no one to call anyway. There was always the phone connected to the wall in the kitchen. Her mind wandered back to seeing her mum, with the phone tucked between her chin and her ear while she worked away in the kitchen. She had been an amazing baker, her mum.
    Another knock. Why didn't he let himself in? Better yet, why couldn't slack-ass Patrick get out of bed before lunch time and do something?
    Wrapping the towel around herself and tucking the edge in at the top of her chest she scooted down the hall to the front door.
    “Sorry Xave' I was in the shower,” she started saying as she grasped the handle and pulled the door toward herself. She stopped dead in her tracks, it was not Xavier standing on the doorstep at all.
    “Ah Dex,” she whispered, her eyes widening as she took him in, the top of his shirt was unbuttoned, exposing a section of his bare chest. The weather had turned unusually warm for this time of year, the spring storms were starting early and the humidity was high.
    “Hi, sorry did I get you at a bad time?” Dex offered.
    Maddie bit her bottom lip and tore her eyes away from his bare skin that had momentarily caught her attention. Dragging her eyes up to his lips, that were turned up in a smile, then eventually his eyes. She was sure she had never seen a man so beautiful. In comparison Tom had been no more than a boy. Dex was definitely a man.
    “No?” she asked confused by his question.
    “Oh it’s just...” he trailed off as his eyes slid down her body.
    Maddie felt a sudden rush of panic and her skin prickled. It was like one of those dreams when you wake up at school and you’re naked, but this was not a dream and she really was naked. Well almost. Heat rose to her cheeks and she heard a low chuckle coming from this stunning man,