Pervade Duet: Pervade London & Pervade Montego Bay

by Vanessa Fewings

  A shiver of uncertainty made my skin crawl. This was meant to be our safe place, our sanctuary. Xander’s one-time bachelor pad had morphed into a cozy home for two after he’d asked me to move in with him six months ago. I’d left that rented room on Gloucester Street, grateful to be swapping it out to live with my dream man in Marylebone. Xander made life close to perfect. Though, like anything that resembled perfection, it had apparently all been an illusion.Until now I’d seen no end to our contentment.

  I wanted to climb into bed and not get out until I knew all this was behind us.

  The ten carefully spaced chessboards remained in place. But the pieces could have been moved and I wouldn’t have a clue. The furniture was untouched, as were the black and white prints Xander had taken from his travels that hung artfully on the brick walls, including photos from Paris, Milan, and New York. A constant reminder of his worldliness and the fact he’d traveled extensively, unlike me.

  But now I realized there were so many things I still didn’t know about him. Perhaps I didn’t know him at all.

  Walking from room to room, using only the dusky moonlight flooding in through the windows to guide my way, I checked each room with an unhealthy dose of paranoia.

  I peered under our bed and poked around in the cupboards, then quickly moved on to the spare room to check in there, too.

  Xander’s office was secure and his three computer screens were still there. How he worked on all three at the same time was mind-boggling, but I’d watched him do it, swiveling in his desk chair as his focus jumped from one screen to the other. This was why he loved playing chess, he’d told me, so he could unwind from the intensity of what he did in here.

  I only had a vague sense of what that was. Something tech-related, something about networks and conversations and translations and all the other things he’d told me that had my eyes glazing over. I tried to show an interest but his tech-speak was beyond me.

  Finishing my walkthrough, I tossed my handbag onto one of the chairs and plopped down on the couch, dragging a throw over my legs and resting my feet on the coffee table. I didn’t want to go to bed yet. I wasn’t sleeping until Xander got home.

  I pulled out my phone and sent him a text to let him know I’d bailed on The Biltmore. Then I rested my phone face up on the coffee table so I’d see his reply.

  With heavy eyelids, I fought sleepiness, getting up only once to pee and grab a glass of water before returning to my spot on the couch. My head pounded with the stress of waiting as I replayed my interaction with James.

  Half in a daze, I set the tumbler on a coaster and watched the condensation on my glass of water evaporate.

  The front door slammed.

  I sprang up, my heart pounding as those haunting hours at The Savoy slithered back into focus.

  “Xander?” Staring toward the foyer, I waited for him to appear while mentally counting the seconds it took to walk the distance.

  The wall clock showed it was eleven-thirty.

  The only noise I could hear was my own breathing.

  A shadow fell over the tall man’s face as he appeared and a scream tore from me…

  “I went to The Biltmore,” Xander snapped. “That was a waste of time I don’t have.”

  I put a hand to my throat. “You scared me.” My heart was pounding. “I texted you and told you I was here.”

  “What did I tell you, Emily?”

  I blinked in confusion. “I thought you meant not to call or text anyone else. You didn’t say anything about messaging you.”

  “I told you not to use your phone.” Xander ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

  “Tell me they didn’t hurt you?” I said softly.

  He shook his head. “That will only happen if they don’t get what they want.”

  “What do they want?”

  His pale blue eyes stared into mine. “Me.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s the way things are.”

  “Can you be any more vague?”

  “We can’t stay here.”

  “Tell me what you did to make them angry.”

  “They’re not angry. Emotions never factor into their decisions.”

  “Decisions about what?”

  He shrugged.

  “Who are they?”

  “Look, I need to protect you and I can’t do that if you’re using tech.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “Stay off the Internet. Don’t use your phone. And for God’s sake don’t use your credit cards. Use the one I gave you.”

  “You’re making me paranoid.”

  “Good.”

  I flinched, realizing he’d prepared for this. “You knew they’d come for you.”

  “I was careful.”

  “Then how did they find you?”

  He sighed. “It’s like trying to hide from the sun.”

  What the hell?

  “Are you a drug dealer?” I snapped. “Or one of those people they use for smuggling…a mule?”

  He burst into laughter. “No, I’ve never shoved drugs up my ass. Still, the night is young.”

  “This isn’t funny.”

  His smile faded. “I’d gotten to the place where I believed we could have all of this. I thought James would understand.”

  “Do you have to sell the flat? It’s okay as long as you and I are together.”

  Sadness filled the hard lines of his face. “Forgive me.”

  “Why?”

  “I never meant to expose you to any of this. That’s why I was reluctant to have anyone in my life.”

  “We can’t look back,” I said. “We face this together.”

  “Then we need to think about our next move.”

  “Which is?”

  “Grab your passport. We’ll be better off in Europe.”

  “I can’t leave, Xander.” I wrapped my arms around myself. “I’ve been waiting on Friday’s audition my whole life.”

  And he knows this.

  Xander stared at me. “I’m sorry, Em, you’re going to have to delay—”

  “James knows about my audition.”

  A stark silence filled the room.

  “He had the maître d’ give me his business card. On the back was a note wishing me good luck for Friday.”

  Xander glanced in the direction of the front door. “Have you got it?”

  “In my purse.”

  “Give it to me.”

  A minute later, in the kitchen, I watched Xander at the sink holding a flame to James’ business card as wisps of smoke spiraled toward the ceiling.

  I glanced at the smoke detector, which thankfully had not gone off. “Does he know where we live?”

  “Emily, I need you to pack.”

  “So that’s a ‘yes.’” My voice trembled. “When can we come back?”

  His expression was apologetic.

  “You burned his card so I wouldn’t call him?”

  He didn’t respond.

  “We have to pack up the flat,” I said. “We can’t walk away from all this.”

  “The stuff doesn’t matter.” He reached for me. “You do.”

  I stepped back. “I’m not missing that audition, Xander. I’ve put in years of practice building to this one chance.”

  “Em, please…”

  I shook my head. “I’m calling the police.”

  “They own the police.”

  “That’s not possible.”

  “Let me deal with this.”

  “You need to tell me everything.”

  “It’s best you don’t know. Trust me, right now it’s the only thing keeping you safe.”

  I hurried back to the living room to grab my phone. “I’m calling Kitty.”

  He came after me.

  “I need to tell someone, so they know we’re in danger.”

  “You need to do what I say.” He snatched the phone out of my hand and threw it on the coffee table.

  “Then give me an explanation.”

  He mulled over his answer.
“Think of them as the dark matter of power. And like dark matter you know it’s there, there’s just no evidence to prove it.”

  My thoughts scrambled to catch up.

  “Are they politicians?”

  He gave me a sad, sweet smile. “I wanted to be free of it all for a while. Clear my mind. But then…I met you.”

  Closing the gap between us and leaning into his chest, I wrapped my arms around his waist. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  “I wasn’t expecting to fall in love.”

  “You make it sound like a problem.”

  He pressed his lips to my forehead. We stayed locked in an embrace for several minutes. This…this was home. He was everything to me and falling in love with Xander had been so easy.

  I would fight the whole world to keep us together.

  Our first date where he’d kept me at a distance, acting elusive, now made sense.

  “You understand me like no one else,” he said softly.

  Crushing my cheek to his chest, I said, “And you get me.”

  His rare intellect and my musical gift had drawn us together.

  “I need you to pack a bag, Em,” he said softly.

  All this time Xander had been running from someone.

  “I don’t want it to end,” he whispered.

  I looked up at him. “What?”

  “Us.”

  Would his fear cause him to revert back to that closed-off, secretive man whose trust I’d worked so hard to gain?

  I broke the quiet. “How dangerous is James?”

  A wave of emotion flashed over Xander’s face.

  “He seems reasonable.” I recalled the man’s suave demeanor.

  Xander looked away.

  I brushed Xander’s hand away.

  He was trying to comfort me. I was too unnerved to let him. I didn’t want to be in a room at The Biltmore Hotel. I wanted to be home.

  At 2:00 A.M. I should be getting a good night’s sleep. I should be excited for my audition tomorrow—the one that could get me into one of the most prestigious orchestras in the world. But attending that event was uncertain now.

  Xander sat on the edge of the bed and watched me pace.

  We’d left our Baker Street flat several hours ago. Our suitcases were in the corner. Clothes spilled out from mine where I’d rummaged around for my toiletry bag in a fit of panic. We were on the run from some unseen force and my frustration with Xander hadn’t lifted. I refused to unpack.

  Denial was a safer place.

  Our hotel room was lovely with its plush carpeting, king-sized bed and marble tiled bathroom, but it felt like a prison.

  My stomach ached with uncertainty.

  Xander hadn’t given me any real answers as to what was going on with him or who those men were, and his continued secrecy had left me bewildered.

  My pacing had brought me once again to the far side of the room. “I can’t live this way.”

  “I’ll upgrade us to a suite.”

  “I mean on the run, Xander.”

  My Strad was in the corner, tucked away in its case. I didn’t care about my clothes, or shoes, or anything else, as long as I had my violin. But my old one, which I had a sentimental attachment to, was back home and the thought of someone damaging it made me sick.

  Maybe I was looking at the situation all wrong. Maybe I should return to a place of gratitude. Put it all into perspective. Take responsibility for dating a man with a secret past. I’d known going into the relationship that there was so much about this man I might never understand, but I’d pushed that knowledge aside because I’d wanted him in my life.

  He was more important than anything.

  I walked over to him and put my arms around his neck, trying to remind him how much I loved him, and that I would be here for him no matter what. He was suffering just as much.

  Xander pushed himself up and eased my hands off. “I’m going down to order room service.”

  “You can’t call down?”

  He shook his head.

  Xander had gone cold on me again and it made me nervous. It felt like he was pulling away.

  Frustration heated my face. “Are you suggesting the people you’re running from will know you’ve ordered food if you use our room phone? How, exactly?”

  He patted his jeans as he looked around for his wallet. He wasn’t even going to charge the order to the room. And he was refusing to answer my questions.

  One decision had brought me to this—made on the day I’d watched Xander step off the carriage in the Underground onto that deserted platform. I’d had a split-second to decide whether to join him, whether to take a leap into uncertainty. That tunnel had been more than a metaphor, it had been a prediction.

  He headed out. “I won’t be long.”

  “You have to let me go to my audition.”

  He stopped at the door but didn’t turn around. “We’ll talk about it when I get back.”

  “There’s nothing to talk about.”

  Xander looked over his shoulder at me. “James knows about it.”

  “What can he do?” I raised my hands in frustration. “I’ll attend my audition and leave.”

  A flash of pain crossed his face…as though in that moment he’d made a difficult decision.

  The door slammed shut.

  I stared at the spot where he’d been standing, knowing that his pained expression was caused by the guilt he felt for doing this to us. His eyes had shone with the tears he held back.

  I wanted him to know I forgave him…and I should have told him this. Whatever happened we’d be okay.

  Ten minutes later, a knock at the door had me sighing with relief, thinking we’d be able to talk some more. I rushed forward and flung it open.

  James Ballad’s foot shot forward to stop me from closing the door.

  “Go away!”

  “Don’t make a scene, Em.” With a shove he pushed the door open and me back with it. The bathroom had a lock, but I refused to hide and leave my violin or our other possessions vulnerable.

  With a pivot, I straightened and faced the man who was now standing imperiously in the center of our room. He was taller than I remembered, or maybe it was his threatening stance or the fact I was here alone with him.

  His expensive suit appeared to be melded over his toned physique. James’ gorgeous features and playfully ruffled short hair would make one think he meant no harm. His bright chestnut gaze burned through me with a profound intensity.

  My heart hammered. “What do you want?”

  “To talk.” He scanned the room, noting our suitcases, and then his stare found me again.

  He’d been waiting for Xander to leave. I just knew it.

  “There’s no easy way for me to say this, Em. Your life is about to change. I need you to face it with grace.”

  “How do you mean?” I drew in a sharp breath.

  “You’ll meet someone new.”

  “Get out.”

  “I’m here to protect Xander.” He gave me an amused look. “That name does suit him.”

  “What are you talking about?” Exasperated, I didn’t give him a chance to reply. “I was there, remember? In The Savoy when you two talked. He doesn’t like you.”

  “Did he say that?”

  “Not in so many words.

  “You’re out of your depth, Em, and you’ll soon be part of Xander’s past. Accept your fate and leave.”

  “We’re getting married.” I watched his reaction as he studied my diamond ring.

  “Your engagement is over.”

  “You don’t get to say—”

  “Rest assured you’ll be well taken care of.”

  The audacity of the man! “You can’t get rid of me, James.”

  “Hmm.” He paused. “Your audition’s tomorrow, right?”

  I gave him a hate-filled glare.

  His eyes crinkled into a smile. “With one phone call—”

  “How dare you sabotage my career.”

&nb
sp; “Actually, you didn’t let me finish. With one call I can ensure you’ll have a place in the London Symphony Orchestra.”

  “I don’t want your help, and Xander wants nothing to do with you. He loves me and he’s never going back to you.”

  “It’s useless to challenge me. The decision’s been made.”

  “I’ll call the police.”

  The look on his face made a shiver run up my spine. “That would make things more unpleasant for you.”

  “Not from where I’m standing.”

  He shoved his hands into his pockets. “I’m trying to be your friend here, Em.”

  No, he fucking wasn’t. “You don’t get to call me that.”

  “Xander has shown you what he can do with technology. I, too, have those resources.”

  My frown gave my ignorance away.

  “You have no idea what he does?” He looked surprised. “Well, there’s that at least. You’ve had your fun and now it’s over.”

  “Threats won’t work.”

  “It’s not just a threat. If you tell anyone about this, I will end you…and then I will end them.”

  The sound of a keycard being swiped was followed by the door bursting open. Xander hurried in, snapping a concerned look first at me and then to James.

  “Nice of you to join us, Xander,” said James calmly.

  Xander studied me, as though making sure I was unharmed.

  “He won’t leave,” I told him.

  “She has a big day tomorrow.” James held his stare. “She needs some sleep.”

  Something passed between them and Xander gave a nod of understanding.

  “What was that?” I snapped.

  James turned his back on me and rested a hand on Xander’s shoulder for a moment before walking out the door. Xander shrugged it off and didn’t even watch him leave.

  A chasm opened up beneath my feet. “What just happened?” It came out as a sob, because I knew.

  He reached for me. “Em.”

  I stepped back, my chest tightening at his look of resignation.

  “Come here.”

  “Tell me what’s happening.”

  “You know I love you, right?”

  “What happened while you were gone? Did they threaten you?”

  “It’s complicated.”

  “We’re going to be married.”