Her Mistake

by M. J. Perry

  “I never meant to hurt either of you.”

  “I can see that and he will too. You need to pack a bag, but go and tell Peter it’s safe to come in first. I’ll pack the box with the stalker shit in so I can look through it properly at the office.”

  “Ok.” She agreed and headed to her front door. Before she opened it Jason called her name, and she turned to him. “It’ll be ok baby; we’ll sort it all out. I promise.”

  She nodded. Jason always keeps his promises.

  Grace found Peter just outside her front door leaning against the wall, both his arms and his legs crossed and his face filled with concern when she caught his eye.

  “Hey.”

  “Are you ok?” He searched her face.

  “Yes, I’m fine honestly.” She reassured him at once. She didn’t want him to worry about her because she’d already caused him enough to last him a life time.

  Peter let out a breath and pulled her into his arms. He’d hoped they would sort it out, that’s why he left them to it but part of him had hated leaving her vulnerable to Jason. Grace wrapped her arms around his waist and he relaxed slightly, she seemed fine.

  “Did you and Jason sort things out?” He asked quietly.

  Grace let out a giggle surprising him. “Yes. We’re going to try to put the past behind us. It won’t be easy I know that but I’m glad I get the chance to try to make things right.”

  “That’s good news Grace.” It pleased him because he wouldn’t have let her disappear from his life again even if Jason would have but being stuck in the middle of them would have been shit.

  “How can I ever make up for it though? I mean I left without saying goodbye. I was just so scared and I made the wrong choice. At the time it seemed like my only choice.” She asked him sadly.

  He sighed. “Grace yes you should have told us but we can’t undo what’s happened we just have to go on from here. You better not disappear again though.” He warned her.

  “I won’t.”

  “Promise,” He demanded.

  “I promise.” Jason wasn’t the only person who kept their promises and Peter knew that.

  He gave her a squeeze and then pushed her gently away. “You have packing to do; I imagine you’re coming home with us.”

  “Yes, Jason already gave the order.” Grace sighed; she knew she had no choice. They wouldn’t let her stay here alone and she didn’t want to be alone, anyway.

  They walked into her home together. Jason was in the kitchen making drinks. He looked at Grace. “Are you going to pack?” He asked her.

  She nodded and walked straight to her bedroom, pulling her case from under her bed she packed enough for a week, she’d come back for more if she needed to. She had faith in Jason and Peter that they’d find her stalker soon. She didn’t know everything they did at their security firm but the things she knew like the fact they were badass and had only the best working for them made her confident it would be ok. Would they catch her stalker before the week ends? She hoped so. She packed her toiletries and some shoes and closed the case and used the handle to pull it out of her room and into the living room where she could hear her men talking quietly.

  Her men…

  The thought almost made her laugh out loud, they weren’t her men anymore no matter what they said, they both won’t ever forget and they certainly won’t forgive, especially Jason. Peter had been her best friend for so long she knew him almost as well as herself; she knows he blames himself for not knowing what was going on with her. He’d always been her protector, and she hadn’t let him help with the biggest problem she’d had, still has. She was such a selfish bitch; she should have thought it all through before doing anything. Panic made people do crazy shit.

  She caught Jason’s eye as she walked in the doorway and smiled at him.

  “Come and sit down and drink your coffee.” He ordered softly.

  Grace put her case down and took a seat taking the mug Peter passed to her.

  “We’ve seen the cards and we’ve got an idea of what’s been going on but you need to tell us all of it. I know I said we could finish talking about it tomorrow but I think it’s best to do it now and then when we walk out of that door we know it’s all out in the open.”

  Grace nodded. She agreed, she didn’t want to keep hashing it out and maybe once they knew everything it would ease her worry. Taking a sip of her coffee first she put it down on the table in front of her and looped her fingers together looking at Jason.

  “From the beginning?”

  He nodded.

  She took a deep breath and began. “I got a card at work about a week after I’d moved into Jason’s room officially. It was on my desk when I arrived, it said ‘Grace my angel do you not know yet that you are mine?’ It freaked me out because who the hell would send me something like that? I threw it in my desk drawer and forgot about it, putting it down to a joke or something.”

  “Why didn’t you show me?” Jason asked.

  “I honestly forgot about it, the library was manic that day and we’d had more school reading groups than usual.”

  “When did you get the next one?”

  Grace sighed. “I got it the next day. It was on my desk when I arrived to work along with the other one, someone must have taken it out of my drawer and placed it on my desk.”

  Jason and Peter shared a look.

  “What?” Grace asked.

  “He must have been watching you to know where you’d put it. For all he knew you could have thrown it in the bin.”

  “I know I thought that too so I asked Jill if she’d seen anyone around my office and she hadn’t but it’s not like someone couldn’t just sneak in is it. I put them both in the drawer and decided to tell you that night.”

  “Ok. So why didn’t you?”

  “When you came home you were really tired, you’d been working on that case of the missing child and I could see it was getting to you. I didn’t want to add to that.” She said sadly.

  “Why didn’t you come to me Grace?” Peter asked.

  “For the same reason and because I knew you would tell Jason and again, I didn’t want to add to his or your stress.”

  “That was stupid. You know you always come first with both of us.” Jason growled.

  “I know that and I didn’t want you making a mistake on your case because you were worrying about me. Besides, I’d only had two cards at that point, and they weren’t threatening.” She defended.

  “Then what happened?” Peter asked in a calm voice. He was fuming inside but he could see that Jason was much worse. They had to get the story before Jason ripped into her otherwise she would stop talking to them.

  “Nothing, well not until the Saturday after I’d received the first card. I got a bouquet of roses. They were beautiful and expensive. Jill grabbed the card before I could read it claiming that I was a lucky bitch for having such a wonderful boyfriend who sends me such amazing flowers. I knew they weren’t from you.” Grace shook her head.

  “Anyway Jill read the card out loud, and it said ‘Dear Grace, you have my love, always.’ I kept a smile on my face the entire time people were talking about you and how perfect we were together. When they finally left me alone, I pushed the card in the drawer with the others, and then at home time I went out the back way and threw the flowers in the bin behind the library. I didn’t know I was being watched until I had a text sent to my mobile telling me I was an ungrateful bitch.”

  “Again I ask why the hell didn’t you come to us?” Jason gritted.

  “I’ve thought about that too and I think I was trying to pretend it wasn’t happening and you guys not knowing made it easier to forget about it at home.”

  “Fuck.” Jason cursed.

  “Then what happened?” Peter asked again.

  “I had that photo of Jason with the dot over his heart next. It came with a letter that said it would be my punishment for being with another man when I belonged to him. I panicked and worried all day about it an
d I wasn’t sure if this guy was just bluffing to scare me or if he was capable of killing you. I rang Jason once I’d calmed myself down, I knew I couldn’t keep this from you especially when you were now in danger but it went to answer phone.”

  “We’d found the little girl.” Jason reminded her.

  “Yeah but at the time I didn’t know that. When I couldn’t get hold of you I thought the worse. I rushed home to see if you were there and I saw the house phone was blinking. You’d left a message to tell me you’d found her and you’d both be late as you had to sort things out. I was so relieved you were ok, but it made me see that I couldn’t cope with the thought of you being in danger let alone actually being in danger. I knew I had to leave.”

  “So you just packed a bag.” Jason stated.

  “I got more and more cards the week before I left all of them threatening violence towards you and I started to panic, so I made plans and packed my bags. I have a friend from school who I kept in contact with, she owns a bakery and I went to stay with her and help her out. I thought I’d lost my stalker but not more than two months later I went to my car after my shift and someone had thrown a brick through my window. There was a note too, and it said ‘Did you really think you could run away from me? “I called the police, and they took my statement but they basically said it could have been a random act. There were no witnesses, and no cameras were on my car so they had no evidence. No one saw anything.”

  “Fucking hell Grace,” Jason said roughly.

  “When I got home, there were rose petals all over my bed with a black nightie laid out on my pillow with a note saying ‘Don’t make me angry again.’ The police had nothing again. From then on I got flowers every Saturday and the odd card and letter but no more threats. Until four months ago anyway, a guy called Steve who I’d got to know pretty well while I’d been working at the bakery gave me a hug. It was totally innocent, just a friendly hug as he’d just proposed to his girlfriend Beth and she’d said yes. I leant over to kiss his cheek and hugged him back. Anyway I got a card posted through my letter box that night and it was too much, it was threatening towards Steve and me. He said he would kill any man that I touched who wasn’t him. I kept myself away from every man then, I didn’t dare say hi without worrying they would end up dead in a ditch somewhere. I decided right then I was going to move back home.”

  “Why did you wait so long to come back then if you were that scared? I don’t understand.” Peter asked.

  Grace sighed. “I was building up my courage I guess. There was also the matter of finding a job and somewhere to live and that took time. I was lucky that the library gave me my old job back and I’m sure I have Jill to thank for that.”

  She dropped her head feeling worn out. There is no way she can bury her head in the sand now.

  “It’ll be ok, we just need to work out who this bastard is and catch him.” Peter said into the tense silence. He closed his hand over hers and squeezed.

  Grace wiped her tears away with the back of her other hand not even realising she was crying.

  “Go and wash your face Gracie and we’ll go home.” Jason said.

  ****

  Jason looked over at Peter when Grace left the room. “I can’t believe all the shit she’s been through. I want to kill the mother fucker with my bare hands.” He growled.

  “Me too but we have to find him first. One of us needs to be with her at all times from now on because he’s going to go ape shit when he realises she’s moved back in with us.”

  “I thought the same thing. We need security measures in place for her until it’s over.”

  “I know. I’m not sure what kind of threat he is yet, but he sounds unstable for sure.”

  “Yep and he’s after our Gracie. I’ll kill him before he even gets near her.” Jason promised. He’d make sure this person pays for making Grace terrified and for taking her away from him.

  ****

  Grace got up unsure why Jason had told her to wash her face until she looked in the mirror. She hadn’t realised how much she’d cried, her face was streaked with tears and her eyes were red and puffy. Knowing Jason had seen her like this made her cringe then she shook her head at herself. He’d seen her at her worse like when she’d had the flu and he’d rubbed her back when she threw up or when she was on her period and she felt fat and spotty. He’d looked after her all those times and more always telling her she was beautiful even when she didn’t feel it. She splashed her face with cool water and used a towel to pat it dry; taking one last look at herself she made her way back to her living room.

  Jason and Peter were both looking tense. “Is everything ok?”

  “Yes, just making plans.” Peter answered.

  “Shall we go? Do you have everything you need?” Jason asked as he walked over to her case.

  “I think so. I can always come back if not.” She picked her handbag up and slung it over her shoulder.

  “Good. I’ll drop you both off home and then I’m going to the office to start research. I’ll look through your box and the police reports.”

  “Ok, but the police did that too, and they got nothing.”

  “I know but our resources are better, we don’t have all the red tape they have.” Jason explained.

  Peter picked up the box and headed to the door.

  “Is this all you’re taking?” Jason asked in surprise. The case was so light there couldn’t be much in it. She used to pack more to stay a night at their house before she moved in permanently.

  Grace shrugged. “I got used to traveling light.”

  Clenching his jaw aware Grace was watching his reaction he tried to calm down, he didn’t want her to feel she couldn’t speak about the past without him going off his rocker but it would take him time to be comfortable about it. He followed Peter to the door and waited until Grace had walked out before he followed her, locking the door behind him.

  Chapter Four

  The ride to Jason and Peter’s house was quiet. Grace didn’t really know what to say, and she figured the guys had a lot to think about. When they pulled up outside she leant over and kissed Jason quickly on the cheek. “Thank you.” She whispered.

  She opened her door and climbed out, Peter was already getting her suitcase so she waited until he came round to her and then followed him to the front door. Jason drove off as they stepped inside.

  She looked around while Peter turned the lights on and took her case into her old room. There had too much on her mind earlier to notice that nothing had changed in the house, it all looked the same, the throw pillows were still on the sofa where she’d put them just after she’d moved in to add some softness to the living room. Her photo was still on the shelving unit along with photos of her and Jason and Peter. That puzzled her. Why would they keep her photos after she left like she did? Shouldn’t they have taken them down, erased her from their lives?

  “Grace. Are you alright?” Peter called making her jump.

  “Yes. I guess. Why didn’t you take down the photos?”

  “No matter how pissed off we were with you we couldn’t forget about you sweetheart, we didn’t want to cut you out of our lives.”

  “Even though I cut you both out of mine,” Grace finished for him. “I never stopped thinking of you both. The whole time I was away.”

  “We knew something had happened and we worried about you all the time, we didn’t know if you were in danger and not being able to find you was a fucking nightmare.”

  “I’m sorry.” Guilt was evident on her face.

  He sighed. “It’s ok. Let’s not talk about it anymore. Why don’t you go take a bubble bath and when you’re ready, we can go out for dinner. I’ll get Jason to meet us there.”

  “That sounds nice.”

  “Italian?”

  “Yummy, it’s been a long time since I’ve had it.”

  “I’ll ring Jason now and let him know. I’ll see if he has any news.”

  “He only went about twenty minutes.” She re
minded him.

  “Jason is good Gracie, I mean really good.”

  Nobody could find out information that fast. She hoped he had found something though; she wanted it to all be over.

  “Fingers crossed.” She said and went to her old room to have a bath, they always relaxed her; she hoped this one would too.

  ****

  Peter dialled Jason as soon as he heard Grace close her door.

  “Do you have anything yet?”

  “Not really. I might have a lead on the flower deliveries. The guy used the same florist before Grace moved away and he used them for the roses today. I rang them and they confirmed it’s always a cash payment in person. Hopefully given he ordered them every Saturday I should be able to get a description of him from someone.”

  “That’s fucking great. When are we going?”

  “Don’t tell Grace yet I don’t want to get her hopes up in case it’s a dead end. He might not even order them himself; he could be sending someone to do it for him. We’ll go tomorrow, he might even show up and we could catch the bastard in action. I would love to get my hands on him.”

  “Me too, I won’t tell her yet then, we’ll wait until we have something solid. We were thinking dinner tonight at the Italian place that Grace loves in about an hour and a half as she’s just about to go in the bath.”

  “Yeah ok I’ll finish up here and come home to change first.”

  “All right, I’ll see you soon then.”

  “Yep, bye.”

  ****

  Jason logged off his computer and stared at the screen. His emotions were a mess. He’d told Grace they had to move on but he wasn’t sure he could. He still held so much anger but it was complicated. His anger was directed at Grace but instead of being angry that she’d left he was angry she’d let someone force her to leave. He understood she thought she was doing the right thing but where was her trust in him? Trust in his abilities to protect her and himself, trust in them and their love? When he found the fucker doing this, he will bear the brunt of it, and he will find him there was no doubt about it. Nothing motivated a man more than the woman he loved being threatened. He did still love her and he wouldn’t ever stop loving her, she was the one for him, he’d always known it and this time he would make sure she understood. She won’t get the chance to run off again.