Curvy and the Beast

She walks over to the couch, and once she’s sitting, I hand her a shot before sitting beside her. I clink my glass against hers, and we both drink it down quickly. The burn of the liquor helps soothe some of the rage that’s been warring inside me. She winces, and it’s the most adorable thing I’ve seen all year, I doubt she drinks much. I take her glass and set mine and hers on the coffee table in front of us.

“How are you feeling?” I ask, looking at her clenched hands she has resting on her lap. Her trembling hand moves up her face to feel what he’s done to her. “I’ll get you some ice.”

I stand and go to the freezer and put some ice into a clean kitchen towel. When I come back Addison isn’t where I left her, she isn’t anywhere. Fear starts to consume me. “Addison!” I shout worried she’s ghosted on me or worse, Denny has somehow found his way back to my place and taken her.

“I’m right here.” She calls from the hallway. “I wanted to wash up and see what I looked like.”

She comes back into the living room and takes the ice from my hand and presses it against her bruised cheek and winces from the pain.

“I’m going to make that fucker pay for what he’s done to you,” I say more to myself, but she ends up hearing too.

“No. I can’t have you caught up in all of this. Thank you for getting me away from him, but I need to do the smart thing and get the police involved. I should have done it long before now, but I was hoping this was just a case of unrequited love. Then I need to call work and let them know I’m okay and get home to rest for work tomorrow.”

“You’re not leaving,” I tell her.

“Excuse me?” She asks, standing with wide eyes and flaring nostrils. She’s cute when she’s pissed, but I don’t think she’d appreciate me telling her that yet.

“Addison, what happens when he wakes up? Do you think he’s going to just give up and leave you alone? You need someone to take care of you and protect you.”

“What I need is to keep my job.”

“You’re not going back there. No way in hell am I letting you work at that place. Do you know the kind of people who go to a place like that?” If I thought she was pissed before, that doesn’t have anything on the way she’s looking at me now.

“I didn’t ask your permission Crews. Now get out of my way.”

She tries pushing past me when I don’t move out of her way, but I hold out my arm to keep her back. I grip her neck and wait until she’s looking up at me. “He’s already attacked you once. He won’t stop until he’s gotten what he wants. You’re going to wind up dead. Stay here, until I have dealt with him, then you can go back to your perfect little life.”

“You want me to stay here with you?” She asks, sounding defeated.

I nod. “I guarantee this is the safest place in the city for you.” She looks torn. “Please let me take care of this for you and keep you safe. After everything you did for me, this is the least I can do.”

“Okay, I’ll stay.” She whispers.

3

Addison

It’s been three days, and I don’t know how to feel about the situation I’ve knowingly agreed to. I’m torn in too many directions and worrying about it is only making it worse. The first night I was here, Crews set me up in one of his guest rooms and made sure I had everything I would need to be comfortable, including one of his large t-shirts for me to sleep in.

The next day, his housekeeper arrived with bags of clothes and toiletries, all in brands I have been accustomed to my whole life. The gesture was sweet, but I would have rather spent time getting to know him instead of sitting around his house, twiddling my thumbs while he was away doing whatever it is that he does. There is only so much television a girl can watch.

I called my parents that morning and told them I would be staying with a friend for the next few days while she was going through a bad breakup, then I called work and told them what really happened. I told them I wouldn’t be back until Denny had been caught and asked them to save my job for me. Dr. Murray assured me the job was mine when I was ready for it. They know about Denny because we have seen him so many times over the past couple of months. He had been one of the patients at the clinic, but once the appointments became a regular occurrence, Dr. Murray realized that he was only coming around to get pain medication. Dr. Murray refused to see Denny after that, but it wasn’t the last time we saw him. I tried brushing it off as him just wanting to get pain meds, but he started leaving me little trinkets on my car and notes saying we should be together. He had never done anything illegal before the other night, just gave me unwanted attention, the attention that from someone I was interested in would have been appreciated.