Boxer Next Door

by Summer Cooper

  “The press might want to get them to speak of the things that happen behind closed doors. I’ll only have a few of them over to do the cooking and cleaning until this blows over.” Jack replied.

  “They would go to that extent?” Rainn asked shocked.

  “You have no idea how far these people are willing to go,” Jack replied before letting out a sarcastic chuckle.

  “Do you want me to sit in on the interviews that you’ll conduct with the wedding planners?” Jack offered.

  “I think you are the first groom who has ever offered to lend a hand to the bride’s wedding planning!” Rainn answered before letting out an amused laugh.

  “Well, it’s my wedding too,” Jack also laughed.

  There was an awkward moment of silence that followed and Rainn wondered how she would address the elephant in the room.

  “Have you talked to your mother since?” she inquired. Her plate was almost empty now and she took a sip of orange juice as she waited for Jack to respond.

  “Not really,” Jack answered before clearing his throat and explaining “She left a couple of messages on my cell phone about the wedding and the media”

  “Have you replied to them?”

  “Some.” Jack went on to explain she knew that it was a very touchy subject for Rainn and treaded very softly on it. “She sounds concerned, for both of us.”

  He sounded slightly alarmed when he said the last bit and Rainn could detect it in his voice.

  “What about your father?” Rainn asked.

  “What about him?”

  “Does he know about the news? Will he come to the wedding?” Rainn probed on.

  “I don’t know and I honestly couldn’t give three shades of a monkey’s arse.” Jack replied.

  “You sound angry,” Rainn pointed out.

  “I am not angry at the man who abandoned me and didn’t want anything to do with me for the last God knows how many years”,

  “You don’t have to be sarcastic to prove your point,” Rainn chided and she could hear Jack scuffle to his feet, heading over to the liquor cabinet. She listened to the clinking of glass and the soft thud of bottle meeting the rim, before feeling the whiff of gin play on her nostrils.

  “Too early to drink, don’t you think?” Rainn asked when she heard Jack resume his seat after serving himself a drink.

  “Well, it must still be nightfall somewhere.” Jack pointed out and went on to sip from his glass.

  “You must notice that you get really sensitive about this subject all the time,” Rainn pointed out. She could hear Jack gulp down the drink like water and he got to his feet a second time. She heard him pour some more liquor into the glass. This time it was whisky and he walked back to his seat.

  “I don’t think you should be mixing such hard stuff this early in the morning,” Rainn warned as she heard him resume his seat, listening to him taking yet another gulp from his glass.

  “Rainn my love, I am a grown arse man. I can do whatever the hell I damn well please at whatever time of the day or night!” Jack shouted. He was both angry and defensive at the same time.

  Rainn knew where the conversation was bound to head and got to her feet. She felt through the different furniture in the room and wished that she was back at her apartment where she would be able to storm out, without the need to feel through the room.

  “I think you should go for therapy”, Rainn started “You need to sort out your daddy issues.”

  Jack was about to say something else in his defense when he was stopped mid sentence by Rainn.

  “It brings out a dark side in you every time you talk about him. It makes me have second thoughts about the man that I thought I fell in love with,” Rainn cried before walking out the door. Jack was left in the room pondering about what Rainn had just said, he knew she was right but he did not want to admit it. He took another swig from his glass and loved how the drink burnt his throat, gliding all the way to his stomach. He thought of what lay ahead and knew that he would need to step up for the sake of Rainn and their future family. His thoughts however, were diverted when he heard a distant clutter coming from downstairs followed by a slight stifled scream.

  Jack hurriedly got to his feet and went to see what was going on. Rainn was seated on the floor next to a broken vase in the hallway. Stewart the butler was at her side in a second and was trying to help her to her feet.

  “Are you ok, Rainn?” Jack asked worried “What happened?”

  “I walked into the vase, I must have forgotten that it was placed there”, Rainn explained “I am so sorry.”

  “No need to be sorry!” Jack cautioned “Are you ok?”

  “I’ll go and get the first aid kit, sir.” Stewart said as he turned his attention towards Jack “It’s not a deep cut.”

  “Thank you, Stewart” Jack replied gratefully and watched as he swiftly moved through the hallway.

  He turned his attention back to Rainn and Rainn bowed her head.

  “I am sorry,” she mouthed again and a few tears welled up in her eyes.

  “It’s ok.”

  Stewart walked back with the first aid kit and Jack accepted it from him before leading Rainn away to a living room sofa. He dressed the wound and watched as Rainn winced at the touch of disinfectant on the cut.

  “I need time to get used to the house,” Rainn said after Jack was done placing a bandage on the cut. Rainn had cut herself on her foot and she directed her hand to feel if Jack had done a good job on it.

  “Thank you,” she mouthed and offered him an approving smile.

  “We need to get you a walking stick.” Jack said.

  “I do not need a walking stick,” Rainn said defensively. She could feel the liquor on his breath as he moved closer to her.

  “I insist,” he said and from his tone, Rainn decided not to argue with him. The two sat in the living room, comfortable in each other’s arms and both took solace in the other’s presence. Rainn however, felt a fear at the pit of her stomach but decided to ignore it.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Rainn sat on the balcony on a lovely Sunday afternoon and went through the events that had unraveled in the previous few weeks. She felt the ring on her finger and used her right hand to take it off and feel it with her palms. It was the perfect fit and the fact that it meant something to her made her feel excited and warm inside. She listened to her surroundings as she did this and enjoyed how the birds sang in the nearby trees. Her mind thought of the few wedding planners that she had interviewed so far and her mind was decided on a couple in particular. She raced back to the songs they had suggested for her but had declined them all. There was a piece that she had been working on and she knew that it would be perfect for the walk down the aisle. She also had the perfect dress design and wished that she had the eyesight to see how lovely it was. Familiar distant footsteps disturbed her thoughts and she felt excited knowing that it was her lover approaching. She however felt disappointed when she listened more keenly, knowing he must be drunk from the staggering steps that he was making towards her.

  “Hello dear,” Jack said as he planted a light kiss on Rainn’s cheek. She felt a wave of disappointment rush over her again as her fears were confirmed. His breath reeked of alcohol and from the swish of his left hand she could tell that he was still drinking.

  “Started earlier than usual today,” Rainn commented and listened to him as he sat next to her at the balcony.

  “Well,” he answered and did not bother to add anything else to his short statement.

  Rainn did not feel like getting into a fight with him but she could feel the anger within her boiling.

  “I don’t like it” she said, getting to her feet to prove her point.

  “Well you had better get used to it,” Jack said and he too got up, walking over to where Rainn was. They stood face to face before Rainn could feel the strange new scent on him.

  “What is that?” Rainn asked curiously and leaned closer to him to get a stronger feel
of it.

  “Come on, Rainn! You have smelled the liquor on me before!” Jack complained.

  “No, there is something else other than the liquor”, Rainn insisted and moved even closer to him. She could feel it even more now, a strange scent unknown to her.

  “What is it?” Rainn insisted.

  “Ok, I may have smoked some meth earlier on,” Jack confessed and did not seem to care after his confession.

  “Where did you get it from?” Rainn demanded in an irritated voice.

  “What do you mean, where did I get it from”, Jack said sarcastically “Like I would tell you where I got meth from, I’m not insane.”

  Rainn felt his words hit hard on her heart like a sledge hammer but chose to remain silent. She knew that he was only acting this way because of the dig but was still very hurt nevertheless. She turned on her heel and started heading back into the house from the balcony but was pulled back by Jack who held on to her left wrist.

  “Where are you going?” Jack barked.

  “As far away from you as I possibly can get, I cannot be around you when you are like this” she wailed and turned again, trying to get away from him.

  “Don’t go!” he both pleaded and commanded, still with a firm grip on her.

  “Let go of me!” she shouted at the top of her voice.

  “You are not going anywhere,” Jack snarled.

  Rainn stopped struggling and turned to face him, she could feel his warm breath close to her and she did not like how his scent was overpowering her and weakening her knees. She mastered all the courage she could and spoke to him.

  “You need help Jack, you need to stop doing this to yourself!” Rainn shouted. From the way his breathing changed, she could tell that he was really mad.

  “I don’t need any help!” Jack shouted back “And you will not tell me what I need or do not need.”

  “I will tell you what I don’t need,” she barked “I do not need you in my life anymore. I cannot build a future with someone who does not love himself enough to admit that he needs help at a point of addiction!”

  Rainn did not know where she had gotten all that courage from, but she knew that it had been a long time coming.

  “You are leaving me?” he shouted back angrily, before throwing the bottle that he had in his hand. It landed on the ground floor straight from the balcony making a loud crashing sound.

  Rainn felt a fear rise from the pit of her stomach to the end of her fingers and toes. She could taste blood in her mouth and a cold sweat broke on her forehead. Her first instinct after this explosion was to run and run she did. She ran back into the house and knocked on a few things before landing face flat on the ground.

  Jack was of course hot on her trail and he let out a wicked laugh that made Rainn shiver to the very core of her being. She wondered why no one could hear all the noise that was coming from them and decided to scream and shout for help. She let out an ear splitting, thundering scream that made her throat sore. She did not stop at that and was just about to let out another when Jack sat by her side and placed a hand over her mouth.

  “No one can hear you from all the way over here” he said. He still had the wicked demeanor which made Rainn even more nervous.

  “I sent the staff away, remember?” he asked.

  “Why are you doing this to me? I thought you loved me?” Rainn asked and fought back a few tears.

  “I love you so much that I cannot stand to let you go,” Jack said. He reached into his pocket and took out a strip of cocaine that had been rolled into a joint.

  He then held up her nose and let the powder ran through her nostrils.

  Rainn immediately sneezed it out and felt her head spin around the room. She felt weak for a moment and her blood froze in her veins. She felt a slight high before a cold shiver ran up her spine and she hugged herself tightly.

  “That’s a good girl.” Jack said before lifting her chin up and adding more cocaine into her other nostrils.

  Rainn felt the same reaction as before; now struggling with a foreign headache and dizziness. She could feel her surroundings fade away and relaxed into Jack’s embrace. Her body was suddenly as heavy as lead and everything sounded distant.

  Jack held on to her for a minute longer before dipping his hand in the same pocket and pulled out a similar drug. He sniffed the cocaine through both his nostrils just as he had made Rainn do but chased down the drink with his usual gin poison.

  “If I can’t have you, no one will,” he let out and moved closer to Rainn. He made her heavy body lie on his chest and smiled when he thought of the Romeo and Juliet scene that he would give the homicide people once they walked in on them. He let the effects of the drugs take over him as he thought of what the afterlife might feel like. He felt encouraged that he would be with Rainn on the other side and hoped that she would not be blind in the other world. The effect on him was faster as he had taken a series of drugs prior and he was soon lying unconscious on the floor. He did not hear Rainn sit up; neither did he hear her crawl away from him on her stomach.

  Rainn felt restless, her body was partly paper weight and partly stone like. She fumbled through the room as she tried to make a recollection of having a phone perched somewhere in the vicinity. Her hand finally grabbed at a receiver and hope was rekindled in her when she placed it over her ear and heard that it was working. She punched in Yvonne’s number that she knew by heart and waited for it to connect. The long unanswered beeping sounds were tormenting her and she said a silent prayer that Yvonne would pick up the phone. Her head was feeling lighter and she could feel herself drift away into nothingness.

  “Hello?” Yvonne’s voice sounded over the receiver and Rainn felt relief by the sound of her voice.

  “It’s Rai…i…i..nnn” she managed to mouth before she realized that her speech was blurry and she could not really make out the words that were coming out of her mouth.

  “Rainn? Is that you?” Yvonne asked almost immediately with a concern in her voice. Rainn tried to speak up again, she tried to make the words come out of her mouth but it was an uphill task. Everything in her body seemed to be displaced, misplaced and rearranged.

  “Rainn? Rainn? Rainn? Are you there?” Yvonne asked again. Rainn could tell that she was talking to someone else in the room but it was a distant and strange voice to her.

  “I think there is something wrong with her, I can’t really reach her!” Yvonne spoke put loud to whoever she was with, in the room.

  “He… help me pl… please” Rainn managed to finally say after a lot of effort. Her body slumped to the floor and the phone fell from her hand as well. It rolled out to God knows where and Rainn could feel all the strength in her body slowly succumb to the drugs. She let her head face her lover’s direction and could feel a fresh pool of tears well up in her eyes at the thought of his limp, almost lifeless, body lying on the floor a few feet from her.

  She tried to search in her heart for any hateful word that she could utter out to him in these desperate moments. But even at that point, at that moment in her life when Rainn was staring despair right in the face, she could not find it in her to hate Jack.

  “You were my drug, Jack.” she thought to herself “You didn’t need to add any other.”

  Her eyes were slightly shutting and her lips could not move any more, all distant movement around her slowly came to her halt. Rainn could only imagine Jack’s face smiling down at her just as she had always imagined it. The image warmed her heart and she let out a slight smile before saying.

  “I love you Jack, I always will, in this world or the next”.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “Is she ok? Can she hear us?”

  Rainn slowly stirred, hearing frantic whispers and murmurings. Her body and mind were slowly coming round after the overdose Jack had forced upon her. Jack! What had happened to him, she wondered. Where was he?

  “Hello?” Rainn uttered weakly, head pounding. “Where am I? What happened?”

 
“She’s awake! She’s awake!” Yvonne and Margaret’s voiced chimed in unison.

  “Where am I?” Rainn repeated, looking confused. Her surroundings smelt very sterile; Rainn could detect the scent of strong bleach. She also smelt the cloying scent of lilies.

  “You’re in hospital, Rainn” Margaret explained, “You were in a terrible way when Stewart found you. God knows what would have happened if he wasn’t there! We might have lost you!” Margaret wailed, as she broke down, sobbing heavily as Yvonne took over.

  “Stewart returned after being sent away with all the other staff. He had a gift for you as a surprise and wanted to hand deliver it. Stewart had heard Jack talking of a walking stick and thought it might make your life easier, especially in an unfamiliar place. He saved you.”

  Rainn frowned as she listened to Yvonne’s version of the story, impatient to hear what else had happened. Where was Jack? She could kill him!

  “Stewart walked in to see you both unconscious.” Yvonne continued, “You had a phone near you, obviously calling for help. Jack had a small pool of blood near his head. Stewart checked you were ok first and then rang for an ambulance. He looked at the call history and contacted us shortly after.”

  At news of Jack, Rainn tried sitting up. A sharp pain in her head prevented her from moving too rapidly. Easing herself gently into an upright position, Rainn began to speak. “Blood? What happened? Is he alive? Where is he?”

  Margaret regained her composure and began to make soothing sounds, trying to calm Rainn. “Hush, Rainn. Don’t work yourself up, Jack is alive. The important thing is that you get better. You were very ill, we’re so glad you’re going to make a full recovery. ”

  “Where is Jack?” Rainn demanded angrily.

  Margaret and Yvonne shared a look, both secretly glad Rainn could not see. Suddenly, they were saved from Rainn’s questioning by the sound of the door opening. All three women turned their heads in the direction of the disruption, Margaret and Yvonne visibly relaxing. Rainn still looked puzzled and angry. From the sound of the slow, steady footsteps, she guessed it was a man. She smelt cinnamon and coffee. The air did not smell of wood or gin; it was not Jack. Rainn was silently pleased she would not have to confront her demons so soon.