on.
There was a soft knock at the door and Sera sighed. That wasn’t Greg. He never knocked like that. She jumped up to answer the door and Psy stopped her in her tracks, throwing out his massive arm to block her.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“Answering my door,” she replied with more than a hint of defiance. She may be a victim, but she wasn’t a child. No one needed to tell her what to do.
She pushed past him and he hovered behind her with a scowl plastered on his face and his arms crossed in front of his chest.
She opened the door to see her best friend on the other side. Darla’s cherubic face surrounded by golden ringlets was exactly the happy sight Sera needed.
“What are you doing here?” She asked with a huge smile and a big hug.
“Well, I thought maybe we would have a sleepover since you wouldn’t come to my place…” she trailed off, eying the hulking man behind Sera with an appreciative eye.
“But I see you already had the same idea… and you weren’t wrong.” She finished her appraisal of the stranger with a little purr and laughed at Sera’s horrified expression.
“I just wanted to check on you, sweetie,” Darla added, turning Sera’s face side to side to look at the nasty bruise covering half of it.
“Are you sure you won’t let my brother kill him?”
“Positive. That’s the last thing you need.”
The blond pouted and sighed.
“Well, okay… I guess you don’t need me here, huh?”
Sera gave her a look that very clearly said ‘I can’t believe you just said that!’ without saying anything at all. They knew each other’s looks well enough to nearly read the other’s mind. Darla knew what she was saying, she just didn’t care; she thought it was amusing to see her best friend all wrapped up over a guy. It had been far too long since Serabelle last let herself enjoy the company of someone else. She hadn’t even really been very open with Darla lately which only added to the blonde’s concerns. It was nice to see that Sera’s attitude might be changing in that regard. She needed to heal from all of the damage that Greg did to her.
Darla waggled her eyebrows at her friend suggestively before waving at Psy.
“Nice to meet you!” She said brightly.
Psy didn’t respond. His scowl didn’t budge. His arms were tense as he clenched his fists unconsciously.
“Well, call me if you need anything sweetie, and let me know what’s going on, okay?”
Sera nodded.
“I will.”
“Okay, I love you,” she finished with a tight hug.
“I love you, too.” She didn’t know why tears sprang to her eyes at that very minute. It was so touching that she had a friend that cared about her so much. She knew that some people went their entire lives without having the kind of friendship that she and Darla shared. It was special and she was so grateful for it. She just hoped that she wasn’t being an idiot for turning down the offer for help.
Darla left and Psy still glowered at Sera without a word.
After twenty minutes of this behavior, Sera finally had to say something.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
His jaw twitched with barely contained rage and she suddenly knew what it felt like to be the target of his anger, something that she hoped to never know.
“I’m here to protect you, Sera. I can’t fucking do that if you just open the door for everyone that comes by.”
She frowned. She could see his point, but he didn’t know Greg like she did.
“But that wasn’t Greg. I know his knock…” she tried defending herself, but it came out more apologetic than anything.
“What if he sent someone else over here to check on you? What if he was using someone else to get inside? Did you think about that?”
“Well… no… I didn’t think…”
“You’re right, you didn’t think. You jumped right in with no regards to your safety. You have to let me protect you Sera. It’s what I do and I can’t do that if you won’t let me.” How did he