by Lila Lacroix
Jonathan feigned genuine alarm, eyes wide and open mouthed, he gasped, “Don't say that, you’ll break my heart.”
They laughed together, but she remained hyperaware that Mike might be watching them at that very moment.
“So, do you still know Jules? Should he be attending the wedding?”
A dark cloud rained on Jonathan’s playful expression and she regretted the question immediately.
“Sorry. You don’t have to tell me…”
“After what you’ve shared with me?”
She held his hand and smiled reassuringly.
“We grew up together. Never got on with my parents, and I’m an only child so he was like the brother I never had.” He inhaled deeply, then spoke faster, as though he wanted to get it over with, “We were dare-devils. Life seemed shit but risk made everything exciting. We jumped from stupid heights, climbed the tallest trees barefoot, dived into white waters and laughed as we crashed against rocks. We escaped all of those stunts with no more than scratches and bruising. We didn’t know how easily life could be snatched away. We were daft kids.”
“Oh god, who died?”
He looked down at his glass of water, “He err, he defended me against our bullies, outside the school gates. Two days later, on a Friday evening, he … died.”
She wasn’t expecting that and gasped at the pain in the slant of his eyes. “I’m so sorry Jon.”
He didn’t seem to hear her, “Eric, the bully, didn’t know what he was doing and Jules was beating him hands down. I think now it was fear. Eric had to prove himself to the rest of the scum in his gang, but he was being beat up by a guy younger than he was. So he pulled a flick-knife from his pocket and lashed out all over the place. Unluckily for Jules it caught his femoral artery. I tried to stem the bleed, but I was only fifteen. I didn’t know what I was doing,” he shrugged, swallowed, looked up helplessly at Julia.
“Awful.” She watched as he glared at theirs hands, entwined in the center of the table. “Do you think that’s why you don’t have genuine friends now?” Makes sense to me.
He shrugged again. “Never really thought of it like that. I could never replace him, so everyone else always seemed second best—at best. You know? So … maybe.”
She nodded, stroking the back his hands with her thumbs. “Then, I consider it an incredible honour for you to call me Jules.”
He smiled, his eyes damp, “I think he’d feel pretty good about it too.”
After their pizza, they left the busy restaurant and took a leisurely walk around the strip. It had quietened down a bit as families went home and many others had chosen a venue to spend their evening.
Jonathan and Julia had arranged for their lawyers to stay a few steps behind them the whole night, ready to take action if Mike showed up.
To anyone looking on, they were just two young lovers on a romantic night out, but in truth, they were the bait to catch a bad man lurking in the dark.
After an hour of dawdling, Jonathan received a text message, which read: “Looks like a no show. It’s been hours. Gonna head back. You guys stay safe. Try again soon. Sorry!”
“Shit,” Jonathan said, showing Julia the message, “they’re leaving us to it.”
“They can’t go yet.” she protested, after she read the message. “It’s only 9.30 for god sake, why now?”
They both looked around, expecting to find their lawyers sneaking off; instead, they found Mike.
“Hello Julia. Great to see the old you; I didn’t much like the stuck up brunette,” Mike said, smirking.
Startled, she gripped Jonathan’s hand and moved a step back. “You’re here …” her heartbeat quickened, and blood burned in her ears and cheeks. She had to keep up the pretence, remember their plan. “What are you doing here, Mike?”
“You left me, Julia. Why?” He glanced awkwardly at Jonathan for only a second, as if he were more irritant than opponent. Lowering his voice, perhaps to make it more intimate, she wasn’t sure, he said to her, “We belong together, you know that.” He tried to take hold of her hand.
At first, she recoiled and allowed Jonathan to step in front of her. Then, she remembered this was no longer the time for hiding.
She moved from behind Jonathan and said, “Mike, there is no Us. You must leave me alone. Jonathan and I are getting married. Do you understand?”
Mike frowned; denial had always been his thing. If he didn’t like or believe what he heard, he’d ignore it, refute it, or hit out at it. Failing any of that, he’d drink it into oblivion. He hadn’t changed on that score. She smelt the booze seeping from his pores and noticed his characteristic vein throbbing in his neck.
It was time to walk away, before he lashed out. “Goodbye Mike. Have a good life. I mean that.” She took Jonathan’s hand, got his attention and spoke to him with her eyes.
Let’s leave him before he explodes.
She doubted he got all of that, but he knew to turn, and they walked a few steps away from Mike.
Too easy!
“Wait, you can’t just leave me again,” demanded Mike, marching up to them. “I came a long way just for you, Sweetheart.”
She tried to ignore him, pulling a strangely quiet Jonathan along with her. But when Mike caught up with them and laid a hand on her shoulder, she flinched at his touch. “No!” she yelled, raising her hands around her head instinctively.
The silence of Jonathan had merely been hiding intense rage. Mike’s persistence finally pushed his button, making Jonathan swing round to bawl, “Back off!”
Mike, much smaller than Jonathan but drunk and a volcano of rage, stepped up to him, “Make me.”
Julia straightened up, put her kickboxing head on and stood between the two, one hand on each guy’s chest. Mike took this as a sign she was protecting him, instead of Jonathan, and smiled at her.
His yellowing teeth and pot-holed skin repulsed her, “I knew you still loved me, Sweetheart.”
She spluttered, “I doubt I ever loved you,” and regretted it as soon as the words left her mouth.
Mikes throbbing vein appeared ready to burst, “You bitch!”
Julia pushed Mike back and readied herself to kick the living shit out of him, should he attack her. “Like the gentleman said, back off. You’re not wanted here.”
Mike took in the sight of his former broken bird, ready to defend herself and gaped.
Jonathan stood at her side, “You heard the lady. Piss off.”
Mike’s face became a big red sweaty bulb, but even he saw himself outclassed.
Julia was no longer alone, and no longer afraid of him.
She knew she had stripped him of his power, despite her innards shaking. But he was crazy drunk, this could get nasty. What if he had a knife?
Suddenly, “Wait, stop!” The lawyers ran over before a fight ensued, much to Julia’s relief.
“Michael Roberts?” asked one lawyer, out of puff.
Mike straightened his spine but wavered with intoxication and slurred a little, “So what if I am? I have a right to be here.” His obvious confusion and awkward stance was a revelation to Julia. He looked pathetic, standing there surrounded by strangers. She almost felt sorry for him. Almost.
The other lawyer, a pretty female wearing a friendly smile, held out an envelope, “Looked everywhere, just to give you this. Here you go.” She had the perfect face of innocence to lull not so innocent though credulous folks into a false sense of security.
“For me?” asked Mike, face opening wide to possibilities. Excitedly, he snatched the envelope, “What is it?” Without waiting for the answer, he opened it. “Did I win something?”
The other lawyer shook his head and laughed, “Love it when it’s easy, but no, you didn’t win a thing. Consider yourself served.”
Mike’s red face collapsed in on itself for a second of realisation, and Julia’s stomach released a thousand butterflies as she gasped air.
“Cheers guys.” said Jonathan, shaking their hands before wrapping
an arm protectively around Julia. His heart still hammered in his chest, “Although, you took your time getting here ... things nearly got outta hand.”
…because he was going to rip Mike’s head off, judging by his heartbeat.
“Yeah, sorry,” said the male lawyer. “Good job we heard the altercation on the phone. You must have dialled to speak to me when he turned up and distracted you. Once we realised who you were talking to, we came back.”
Jonathan looked in his hand, where he gripped onto his cellphone with white knuckles, “Oh yeah,” he smiled, though still far from calm. The call was open, so he switched it off then returned the cell phone to his pocket.
The lawyers told Mike to get going or face criminal charges, then left. Jonathan and Julia called Roger, requesting he meet them ‘at the usual place,’ so Mike wouldn’t know where they were heading.
They left Mike reading the contents of the envelope, and silently hoped the night had signalled a turning point for freedom.
* * *
“You almost lost it back there. With Mike, I mean.”
“He touched you. God help me Jules, I couldn’t bear it when I felt the fear jolt you out of your skin.”
He was still visibly upset. She squeezed his hands, “Hey, I appreciate your instinct to protect me, but there’s no need. He never seemed so small before tonight, standing next to you. And you never seemed so big.”
“That’s because he’s a spineless dick who deserves to rot in hell.”
She embraced him, nuzzled her face into the spicy scented warmth of his neck. In his arms, she felt like a broken bird saved by a giant Eagle from the big bad cat, cosily tucked away in a nest atop a tall tree to heal. And she was healing a little more each day she spent with Jonathan. “Let’s get home.” She murmured, wanting nothing more than to ease his stresses.
“Please, don’t do this to me?” Mike asked, creeping up behind them, surprising them both again. “Why would you?”
Jonathan turned to him, arm outstretched in front of Julia, “Get lost, you know why she left you. If you come near her again, the best you can hope for is that I’ll call the cops. Get it?” Jonathan pointed at the letter in Mike’s hands, leaning his face close to his. A clear threat.
Mike’s face looked like a huge beetroot, rage simmering just beneath the surface. Julia remembered how Jonathan lost his best friend and needed to get this over with before someone really did end up hurt.
She moved in between Mike and Jonathan again, walking him back, her hands of Mike’s chest, “Mike, we don’t need to rehash the old days do we? You see I’m happy now, and as for you and me. Well, we were never good for each other. You said as much yourself. Remember?”
His attention moved from Jonathan and his threats to her, and her words. “But you don’t understand, I…”
She backed away from him the few steps, closing in on Jonathan. Then she wrapped her arm around Jonathan’s waist. “Move on with your life, as I have with mine.” She held her breath. Please get the message and leave us. I don’t want this to get nasty.
Mike flashed his puppy-dog eyes as his anger returned to self-pity and drunken tears. “But I can’t live without you, I’ve tried,” he blubbed.
Julia sighed, frustrated, out of ideas. Jonathan said, “You have no choice, have you no pride? Besides, I keep telling you it’s a criminal offense to be this close to her, don’t you get that?”
“Fuck you!” Mike raged at Jonathan, closing the gap she’d made between the men. “This is about me and Julia, nothing to do with you.”
It’s not sinking in. “Okay, listen to me.” she clicked her fingers to get him to look at her.
He did. “Of course Sweetheart,” said a desperate Mike, his eyes pleading her and his sweat dripping down the sides of his face.
She took a deep breath, “If you follow me again, you are committing an illegal act for which you could go to jail. That’s because I went to a judge and asked him to impose that order. I did that because you almost killed me and I want nothing more to do with you. Is. That. Clear. Now?”
“You, you wouldn’t…” Mike dared her.
Was he always this dense? Is it the alcohol, has it addled his brain? “If you push this, then yes. I will call the police who will enforce that order you’re holding.”
She enunciated the vital words, praying they’d finally sink in.
Julia watched as Mike glimpsed the offending paperwork, restricting him from taking what he wanted, as he sneered at Jonathan, another thing standing in his way, and he glared at her for daring to stand up to him for the first time. His lips silent, soon pinched together in a grimace.
Julia prompted him, “Do we understand each other Michael?” His mother was the only one allowed to call him that, as he’d cowered to her his whole life. He forbade Julia from using it early on, but in that moment, she wanted Mike to see her as someone else, to show him a woman who would never cower to him again. Her entire body trembled beneath her skin, and her head ached with the strain of maintaining a composed exterior. But it worked.
Mike stared, another fat tear rolling down his cheek. Her heart ached at the site; she never enjoyed hurting anyone. Even him, after all he’d done to her.
“We’re leaving now,” she said finally. “I suggest you go back to Chicago, Michael. Sort yourself out. It’s time to grow up and get a better life.”
Julia turned away from Mike, took a few steps holding onto Jonathan’s waist, pulling him alongside her again. Feeling light headed, her knees started to shake. Hold it together. She’d been tense, she hadn’t taken a full breath the whole time. But no matter what, she wouldn’t let him see this fragility in her. She peered up at Jonathan, “Take me home?”
They left him, and this time, Mike didn’t follow them. When they boarded the limo safety, she fell into Jonathan’s arms like a babe to her mother’s breast.
* * *
Back home, the autonomic restraint of fear and stress had dissolved, allowing her real emotions to flow uncontrollably, and her stomach to purge. She ran to the bathroom and vomited in the bathroom, collapsing in tears on the floor. “Oh Christ. I can’t believe it. We did it, Jon. Is it over? Say it’s over...”
Jon brought her a glass of Scotch, and ran her a bubble bath while he said, “Yes, yes. Calm down baby. Drink the Scotch. I put the kettle on for tea, too. But figured that would go down well while you wait.” She gulped it back in one go. “That a girl. You were incredible back there. I’ve never been so proud of another human being, Jules. I really do think you did it. I think he’s gone. “
She shivered, suddenly chilled, “What if he comes back? What if standing up to him only enraged him more? He could easily find out where you live—where we live. He might decide to take revenge on me for telling people what he did, for making him look small in front of you. I never should have done that, what was I thinking?”
“Rule of thumb is, when someone stands up to a bully, they move on.”
She remembered his nightmare with bullies and wanted to hold him tight.
Jonathan added, “He has no choices where you’re concerned. He knows he’ll be arrested. Plus, there’s no fun bullying someone who thinks you’re pathetic; they lose all power. And bullies terrorise exactly for that feeling of power.”
A surge of protectiveness for him allowed her to understand what he must feel about Mike, as a bully, as one of those kinds of people who killed his friend. “Thanks for holding back tonight. I sensed your need to rip him to pieces and yet, you restrained yourself for me. You allowed me to assert myself instead of wading in like a great testosterone fuelled ape.”
“I won’t lie, I wanted to be an ape more than you can imagine.”
“I can imagine, because if anyone hurt you, I’d be she-ape in a nano-second.” She smiled, wiped her eyes, blew her nose, then wiped her mouth, and threw out the soaked tissue she was holding.
“Come here,” he said, holding her in his expansive embrace. “Take a soak, can you smel
l that?” she breathed it in, it smelt like the Body Shop. “Susan got you Lavender salts earlier. They calm nerves, although I prefer the Scotch method myself.” He smiled sexily, with an air of compassion. “I’ll make you some Chamomile tea while you settle in.”
His quickened heartbeat pounded on her fingertips at his wrists; “Having you with me will calm me just fine, although the bath smells gorgeous. I must thank Susan. She’s so thoughtful.” He grinned, pleased to have made her happy. “How about you join me?” she asked him. “I think we both need to relax.”
Despite the invite and his wicked grin in reply, the events of the night meant as tempting as he always was, she needed to be held more than anything. “But don’t get any ideas!”
He made her tea and when he joined her in the tub, he sat behind her. She leaned onto his chest and the feel of his sex at the nape of her back was a strangely pleasing presence. He washed her hair in lemon shampoo, cleaned her body with her favourite soap and sponge. Then they reclined together until the water lost its delightful heat, both exhausted by the stress of the evening.
Later, in the bedroom, he spooned her, cuddled up close, and just before they were about to fall into a peaceful sleep, Julia whispered, “I love you, Jon.”
He squeezed her, kissed the back of her neck and her ear and turned her face to his. His intense gaze made her sleepy body pulse, and reinvigorate. He said, “What are you doing to me? I’m lost in you, Julia.” He kissed her hard, passionately, but more than lust, there was a deeper emotion, a desperation gripping his body. “I never knew I could feel so … much.”
He hadn’t repeated her declaration but glared at her as if searching for something more. Something beyond her eyes, into her mind and heart. “Say it again, Jules. Let me see your face this time.”
Then she understood. She wrapped her arms around him, raised one leg over his, so their torsos touched fully and their bodies entwined, and slowly, clearly, gaze to intense gaze she repeated, “I love you Jon.”
His throat caught a rouge gasp, his eyes darted, searching, hungry for every drip of feedback in hers. His nostrils flared with a sharp inhalation, and he held her hair, massaging her temple. His body moved in a rhythmic motion, until her arousal and the sensation of the moment permeated her fatigue. “I love you too. More than I cared to admit, until now.”
