The bed creaked and she stopped where she was. Julian was turning over, away from her, and snuggling into Sophie. They both stopped moving and she carried on, her naked form crawling across the floor. She so didn’t want to be discovered then. Outside the door, she stood up and started to dress as quickly as she could, hopping as her leg got caught in her trousers. She heard someone get up and she quickly ducked into the nearest doorway to hide again.
It was Sophie, looking for a toilet and she, Devia, was hidden in the toilet. Devia quickly stepped into the shower, behind the shower curtain, and crouched down. Sophie came in, naked, and sat on the toilet. She sat and urinated a steady stream. Devia watched her wipe herself dry. She watched her go to wash her hands. As Sophie looked in the mirror, she looked at her own reflection and then saw Devia crouched in the shower, behind her. Her eyes opened wide.
“What the f…?”
Devia, suddenly fearing that she was discovered, leaped forward and pulled a leather belt that was hanging over the towel rack, around Sophie’s neck and tightened it. Sophie was struggling with her, her fingers trying to get under the tight leather band. She tried twisting and turning, scratching and clawing at Devia, and none of it mattered, as Devia was bigger and a much heavier build. Devia held her tight by the neck and just kept on tightening and holding on. She looked at Sophie’s reflection in the mirror as she strangled her, a small smile on Devia lips. She saw the panic and confusion in Sophie’s eyes. Devia pulled it as tight as it would go. Tighter and tighter; so that her airflow was completely blocked. Sophie was making gurgling sounds, her face going red, and then redder still, the blood vessels bursting in her eyes as they started to bulge, she started turning blue. Her lips first then her tongue started to swell and protrude. She gurgled once more before her bladder released a few drops of urine onto the floor. She slumped down, her eyes lifeless, wide open and staring into space.
Devia stood panting. She hadn’t realized as she caught her breath that she held her breath throughout the entire event. She looked around, not sure what to do. She loosened the belt, and felt her neck, to be sure. Dead. Dead as a door nail. Devia snorted. Another unexpected bonus; two threats to her relationship with Julian, gone. Things were beginning to look up again.
“Not so pretty now, are we?” She whispered to Sophie. “Look at your ugly blue tongue and blood shot, bulging eyes. Nasty red mark you have around your throat too…”
She grabbed a large bath towel and wrapped Sophie up in it so it would be easier to drag her out. She pulled her across the bathroom floor and out into the hallway. It was harder there as the floor was carpeted. But in another way, it was better because dragging her body would be quieter, although it made her feel much heavier. Devia pulled her into the hallway. She wasn’t sure what to do. There was no way she could pull her all the way to her car down the street. She would have to find a place inside the house. Pulling her heavy dead weight forward, she saw the closet under the stairs. Devia quietly opened the door and lifted out some things that were in the way. She pushed Sophie’s body inside, covering her with coats and the rest of the things she had taken out. You wouldn’t even know anyone was there. It was all such and disorganized mess.
She heard a snore coming from the bedroom. Julian was oblivious and sleeping. So she picked up her jacket and Sophie’s handbag from the counter and left the house by the side door.
She smiled and practically skipped all the way back to her car.
Chapter Seventeen - Julian
Julian stretched and yawned. The room was in darkness. He didn’t know what time it was. He just remembered the fact that he had fallen in love. After a year of being alone, he knew he loved Sophie. She had come into his life and brought light into his life with it. His heart felt joyous. He smiled in the dark, his hands resting behind his head. He cocked his head and listened. Where was she? Had she gone to the bathroom? Gone to get a drink?
He got out of bed and ambled through to the living room. It was in total darkness. He switched a light on. She wasn’t there. He walked around the house, switching lights on as he went. She wasn’t anywhere. Strange. Strange that she would go without saying goodbye, just crept out without saying anything. He hoped she didn’t regret the events of yesterday. He went back in to the bedroom and tripped over her clothes. He laughed, now he knew she would be back, she had obviously borrowed his, and gone to get something. A woman didn’t leave her clothes behind. He smiled and went for a shower. He stepped in a slippery wet patch on the floor and almost skidded across the floor. The carpet was all messed up and so he wiped the floor with a cloth and straightened the mat. The toilet hadn’t been flushed and so he flushed it. He would have to teach her to tidy up after herself. He wasn’t her keeper, but maybe as it was early and she was tired, she didn’t want to disturb him. He showered and came out, wrapping the towel around his waist. He smiled, as he found his brown leather belt hanging over the towel rail. ‘That’s where I put it,’ he thought.
He picked it up and took it to his bedroom where he threw it on the bed. He would wear that today. He picked up Sophie’s clothes and threw them all in his laundry basket, to do with his wash later. He dressed in jeans, a casual loose shirt and put the belt that he had found, on.
He went around the house and opened the curtains, room by room. Today he was going to start sorting out his closet . It was time to remove Crystal’s things from there. He was finally ready to face it, and to start going through her things. He needed to move on. It wouldn’t be fair to Sophie if she saw Crystal’s things still hanging in the closet. It would mean that he would have to explain things to her too. Tell her of the events that emptied his heart before her. He didn’t want to do that because he didn’t want any downer on their time together. He would just close the door on that chapter and start again. He could change the children’s bedroom into a study or something too. But until he had time to do it, he would lock the room, so she wouldn’t go in there. Up until now, they had avoided coming to his house and for the most part would go saili ng or out for dinner.
He went back into his bedroom, opened the wardrobe and took out Crystal’s clothes. He started folding them on the bed. There was one red dress that he saw her in every night, in his dreams. He was tempted to keep it, but instead, he added it to the pile with the rest. A couple of times he was almost in tears, but he steeled his heart and carried on. If he had a choice, he would never have had to say goodbye to her. She was ingrained in his mind, in his heart and he had wanted to be with her until his dying day. That day, far off in the future where you are both so old, that it’s a relief to step out of the body and become young spirits again. He had looked forward to growing old with her. He thought of Sophie, she was young, and he hoped she would stay with him, and love him the same way he loved Crystal, and now her.
He was willing to take a chance on her. He would be a fool not to. He carried on folding the clothes, working swiftly through them. He looked down at the floor, and found one of his shoes, wet inside. He looked up at the ceiling for a leak, but found none. Fetching some empty boxes from the garage he filled them with everything. He also put the wet shoe in the charity box and threw the other in, to join it. It looked as though a cat had peed in it. He marked charity on the boxes and carried them out to the car. The phone rang and he put them beside the back door of his E e xplorer, to load later. When he went into town, he would drop them off. The phone stopped ringing before he could get to it. He wondered when Sophie would be back. He realised he didn’t even have her telephone number so he could call her .
. Maybe she was calling him. Did she have she his number? He couldn’t remember.
Outside, in her car, Devia watched him putter around the house. She had dressed up especially for him, and now that she could see she had been losing weight, she felt much more confidant he would not refuse her. In the past year, she had been exercising more, horse riding more and also having sex with him nightly. Her figure was now svelte and toned.
She r
ang the doorbell. He opened it, smiling, expecting that Sophie would be there and his face dropped when he saw Devia.
“Hi Julian,” she said brightly, pretending she hadn’t see the look on her face. “I just thought I would come over and see how you are doing . We haven’t spoken much since Crystal…Well, you know.” She stepped forward, expecting to be let in, and he let her pass, not quite sure whether to bar her entry or not. He really wasn’t in the mood for Devia. She had been so clingy with him in the past and that was the last thing he needed or wanted. She also spoke to him with a fake sincerity that he now found grating, especially now that he had met Sophie. There was no comparison between the two, one was happy and laughing all the time. Devia, she seemed to walk around the world with a constant scowl and her own thunderstorm of negativity above her head. She was forever trying to boss him around. He had been glad when she had left, and had tolerated her from the distance of her seat at the marina. Julian wanted her no closer than that.
“What do you want Devia?” Julian asked outright. He wanted to get rid of her before Sophie returned. He didn’t want Sophie to get the wrong idea, and it would be the wrong idea. He wouldn’t touch Devia with a ten-foot pole and he didn’t want her messing up his relationship, which was just starting with Sophie.
“Oh, I didn’t want to tell you straight out.”
“Tell me what straight out?”
“I heard a young girl in town, talking about you.”
“What?” He said in confusion. He wondered what she could possibly say, or know that would be of interest to him.
“Well, not really talking, laughing more.”
“What, I am sorry, I don’t get you.” His brows furrowed as he started to lose patience. Where did she get her ideas that he wanted anything to do with her? He had never encouraged her.
“I was in the coffee shop this morning to get my morning coffee, and there were these young kids, all s itting at laughing together.”
“So what has this got to do with me?”
“It was you they were talking about.”
“So what? I still don’t get you. I don’t care.”
“Oh, but you will. There was this girl…erm” She paused to make it look as though she were trying to remember something. “Sophie, I think.” She stopped talking again to watch his eyes become more interested in what she was saying. She felt such power, and she loved his sudden interest in her. She continued. “Well she was laughing about how she was screwing around with this older guy, and that he was so easy.” Julian’s face went white as his heart shattered into a million tiny pieces. “Yeah, said she was leading him on for money, or something.” Devia looked down at her fingernails, and pretended to pick at a hangnail. She looked up to see the pain in his eyes, and she smiled inwardly. “To be honest, I didn’t take much notice, until she used the name Julian and mentioned the name of your boat.”
Julian turned away, his jaw clenching as he tried to hide his raw emotions. Sophie had been the beginning for a new life for him, and she wasn’t who he thought she was. She was just playing with him. He felt stupid and clenched his fists, wanting to hit something, or someone. Devia watched every emotion cross his face and she revelled in his pain. It was delicious to see. She wanted to lean in and kiss him hungrily. The more vulnerable he became the more she wanted him.
“She said she stayed over, last night and you screamed you loved her when you came. She was laughing at your stupidity.” Devia looked directly at him, a small smile playing at the corner of her lips. Julian was gutted. He tried to hide his thoughts and feelings from her as she spoke. He didn’t want to hear any more. With each word that she spoke the door to his heart was slamming tightly closed.
“Was it really you she was talking about? I would like to think I was wrong, but I thought I should let you know either way.” She smiled, a fake ‘poor you’ smile.
There was no way that Devia could have known that. She might have seen them together at the marina, but she had no idea about what had happened afterwards. Or what he was like in bed, or had said to Sophie, in his moment of passion for that matter. She couldn’t know.
“Ok. Thanks for stopping by Devia.” He said curtly. He grabbed her by the arm and pushed her roughly back towards the door. He was afraid that he would lose his temper and he didn’t want her in the way, nor did he want her to start giving him the ‘poor you’ speech again. He opened the door and pushed her outside, and then closed the door firmly. He went into his bedroom, and paced backwards and forwards as he thought what to do.
Outside, Devia stood confused and angry. Why hadn’t he reacted the way she had expected him to? Walking back to her car, she saw the charity box left by his Explorer. She bent down and went through the folded things. She smiled again, when she found the red dress. She was delighted to find it. She needed that dress to continue to visit him in the night. Getting in her car she drove off, all she had to do was wait for nightfall, so that ‘she’ could visit him.
Julian was sick of everything. He was angry, raging inside and he didn’t know what to do or where to go. He phoned Andrew to see if he had any bookings for him. He offered his yacht for anyone that wanted an upgrade, but Andrew said things were quiet. He said he would call him if things changed.
He was still so angry and hurt that he took Sophie’s clothes out of the laundry basket and threw them in the bin. If she wanted them, she could dig in his trash for them. He got in his car and drove around, fighting the urge to argue with someone. He needed to calm down.
He was coming up to a T-junction and was just turning into the lane; it was his right of way, when a car suddenly slammed into the side of his pickup truck. ‘Could this day get any worse?’ He thought angrily. He hit his steering wheel and swore loudly.
It was all he needed to totally lose it. He jumped out of his car, went round to the driver’s side of the car that had hit him. He yanked open the door and grabbed the woman inside, pulled her out, to her feet and started shouting at her. She looked at him in total shock.
“You stupid fucking bitch. What were you doing? Are you fucking blind?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t see you coming out in time. I slammed on my brakes. I tried to stop. I did. I tried, but you were just there.” He hit the top of her car with his other fist, and continued to shout. Other cars stopped and their passengers started coming over to assist the lady who was now crying, her arm held firmly by Julian. He was shaking her as he spoke.
“Hey you! You can’t do that. That’s assault. Let go of the lady. She said she’s sorry.” A woman’s very angry voice rose above the others, and he turned to see a confident attractive woman striding towards him. She was impeccably dressed, her dark glossy hair expensively coiffured, and she was dripping in jewels.
“What?” Julian looked down, and saw he still held the arm of the woman who had crashed into him, his red mist of rage, suddenly clearing. He looked at the woman and his hand holding on to her arm, in surprise.
“I’m sorry lady. Are you all right?” His voice and demeanour suddenly changing. He stepped back and put his hands up in the air to show he was backing off. She was sobbing in fright, but nodded back, then looked at the cars and cried again.
“My husband will kill me.”
“Driving like that lady, you won’t give him the chance.” Julian said wryly. He looked at the side of his passenger door, all crunched up and mangled. The window was broken and glass had shattered everywhere.
The woman who had brought him to his senses came over and put her arm around the sobbing woman.
“Do you need help Ma’am? Are you ok?” The woman nodded her head. “Ok, then let’s sort this mess out, so that everyone can carry on with their business.” She called the police, so that they would both be able to claim from their insurance companies, she kept them both calm and basically took charge of everything. Julian was quite astounded by her performance. Before she left she gave him a business card, with her own mobile number on it, in case he needed any fu
rther assistance. She got into her Mercedes sports convertible and drove off. He was left looking at her card and rubbing the back of his neck.
Later, when all the hassle of the car accident had been dealt with, and he had sorted a hire car for himself whilst the car was in the garage for repairs, he called her.
“Listen, Lady. I don’t know how to say your name, but I wanted to thank you for your help today and apologise for my anger. I’m not normally like that.”
“My name is Venia…pronounced Vin-nee-Ah.”
“Ok, Vin-nee-Ah,” he repeated slowly. “Thank you.” She laughed at the end of the phone, laughed at the fact he had taken the pronunciation of her name literally. People often did. It was a Danish name, and it had troubled everyone that had to say it. She had grown up with the nickname of ‘vein-ier’ at school and also ‘twenty denier’ had been another popular name given by the bullies. Over the years, she had gotten used to it being mispronounced, but no one had said it this way and it actually made her laugh at her own name. He sounded so sweet when he said it.
“No problem at all. It just looked as though you needed some intermediary.”
“What I actually needed then, was a drink! After the day I had had. I just couldn’t believe it.”
“Yes, she was in the wrong. I saw the whole thing, but accidents do happen, and I doubt a drink would have helped at all. It never does.”
Dancing With Devia Page 13
