by Stefani, Z.
“Julian.”
“Now!” he roared and lightly swatted her butt.
She scowled as she got into the bed. He got in next to her as she continued to glare at him.
“Stop pouting, I’m only doing what’s best for you,” he said as he lay back against the pillows.
“I’m getting a little sick of what’s best for me.” She pulled off her shirt and lay down.
If she had to suffer, then he had to suffer as well. Flashing him was the least she could do. She wasn’t dumb—she knew what he was doing.
Julian almost lost his composure when he saw her bare breasts. He reminded himself that it would only be for a little while longer. She was healing nicely, and he would be done securing the house soon. Then he could finally do what he had wanted to do since they returned from the hospital.
“Be thankful I didn’t make you stay in the hospital for a week under intense observation.”
“I would have escaped.” She pulled the blanket up to her chin and turned away from him.
He sighed in relief as she covered her breasts. He hoped she fell asleep quickly because there was an ice-cold shower calling his name.
“No, you wouldn’t, the only reason you escaped the first time was because I let you,” he reminded her.
“That’s what I let you believe,” she retorted with a yawn.
***
The next morning, Heaven awoke to the smell of bacon and eggs. She moaned in delight as she jumped out of bed.
“You kept your promise.” Heaven smiled as she walked towards him.
“I’m sorry if it seems as if I’m avoiding you, but I’m just trying to get this place secured.”
“I know. I’m sorry for being so bitchy…I just miss you.”
“I miss you too, Princess. I’ll be done soon, and then we can make up for lost time.”
“I can’t wait.”
“I had them prepare your favorites. Bacon, toast, and pancakes with strawberry syrup.”
“It smells delicious…you’re amazing.” She kissed his cheek as he pulled a chair out for her. She moaned again as she sat down, “I’m starving.”
“Me too,” he said, grinning.
She fixed their plates, and they began to eat as if they hadn’t eaten in months.
“I swear I will not eat another bowl of soup for the next ten years,” she vowed before stuffing a piece of bacon in her mouth.
Julian grinned as he continued to eat. Heaven finished before Julian and poured herself another cup of coffee. Julian’s phone rang just as she started to pour his coffee.
“Julian, can you come down?” they heard Royce’s voice over the speaker.
“No way, we just started,” Heaven objected.
“Ian is at the gate demanding to speak with you,” Royce’s voice filtered back in into the room.
Both Julian and Heaven stopped what they were doing and looked at each other in surprise.
“Ian?” Heaven gasped.
“Fuck Ian,” Julian moaned.
“He said it’s an emergency, something about Uncle Ayden.”
“Ayden? Is everything is all right?” Heaven asked. She knew it must be serious if Ian was willing to come to Julian’s house.
“I’ll be right back,” Julian murmured as he headed towards the door.
“I want to come with you.”
“No, you stay right here,” Julian demanded before he left the room.
Julian stormed down the stairs, out the front door and straight to the main gate.
“Thank god, I didn’t think you would come to see me,” were the first words out of Ian’s mouth.
“What are you doing here?” Julian asked his brother.
“Can I come in?” he asked and Julian finally opened the door.
“I don’t have time for your shit today, Ian. What do you want?”
“Have you talked to Dad?”
“No.”
“He was just released from the hospital—Julia shot him twice,” Ian informed him.
“Is he all right?” Julian was taken aback by the news.
“He’s fine now. He lost a lot of blood, gained a few stitches and a couple bullet holes. Then again, we all have scars from that woman—some worse than others,” Ian said with anger. Ian was done with his mother. The woman had not batted an eye when she found out that Julian had almost been killed. Then to make matters worse, she attacked Ayden. The woman had no heart, and Ian was finally seeing the truth about his mother.
Julian looked at him strangely; he wasn’t sure how to react. Ian never spoke badly of their mother, so Julian was wary.“What provoked her this time?” Julian asked.
“The news of her husband’s other son.”
“I’m surprised she didn’t kill him.”
“Trust me, she tried. Thank god she’s always been such a bad shot,” Ian replied.
“Where is he?”
“He’s staying between the office and a hotel. He moved out of the house and filed for divorce. The doctors want him to take some time off from work, but he won’t. You know how he is,” he finished, and the two brothers silently stared at each other for a few moments.
“Was there anything else?” Julian asked.
“Yes, that’s not all.” Ian shook his head and then hesitated for a moment.
“Well?” Julian could tell that he wanted to say something.
“Nothing,” Ian said before he abruptly turned around and left.
Julian shook his head and turned back towards the house. He wasn’t sure how to take his brother’s unusual behavior.
“What the hell did he want?” Julius asked Julian as he walked near them.
“Julia shot Ayden.”
“Damn! Is he all right?” Royce and Julius both jumped up, ready to go see their uncle.
“Ian said he’s fine,” Julian answered.
Royce exhaled loudly. “I knew it was just a matter of time before she tried to kill him.”
“I thought she was going to kill him that last time,” Julius added.
Royce shook his head. “She came close.”
“I’m convinced that woman is thirteen percent demon.” Julius said.
“I’m going to call him to make sure he’s all right,” Royce said as he stepped to the side.
“I’ll be back down; I need to tell Heaven what’s going on,” Julian told his cousin.
“Take your time, we got this,” Julius yelled to Julian.
Julian raced up to the room and threw open the door. He slammed it hard behind him and took a deep breath.
“What happened?” Heaven darted off the bed and went over to him. She knew the moment he walked through the door that something was wrong.
“Julia attacked my father,” he informed her as he sat on the bed.
“What do you mean she attacked him?”
“She shot him.”
“You’re kidding? Is he all right?” Heaven asked in shock and worry.
“He’s fine; one bullet grazed the side of his head, and the other one went through his arm. Ian said he went right back to work the next day.”
“Yeah, that sounds like your father. I can’t believe your mother did that.”
“She’s a piece of work,” he said as he rose from the bed.
“Where are you going?” she asked as she watched him grab his cell phone.
“They’re tearing down the old fence in preparation for the new one. I need to get down there—the workers should be here by now.”
“No, Julian, not now.
“I need to get this done.”
“You just found out your father was shot by your mother; you really should take the rest of the day off. Just stay here with me; I want you to get some rest,” Heaven pleaded with him.
“As much as I would love to, I can’t. I need to get this fence down.”
“But—“
“No buts. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Keep that phone on.”
“I will.” She frowned as she watched him leave the room.
***
Julian worked himself like a dog. He worked without speaking to his family, but they understood. Julian was trying to work himself to exhaustion. He was trying to work hard enough to forget his troubles. He didn’t want to know that his co-worker was trying to kill his fiancée. He didn’t want to know that his mother had tried to kill his father. He didn’t want to face Heaven one more time and deny her. He needed her now more than ever but keeping her safe was more important.
He had a bad feeling about Gavin, a feeling he couldn’t shake. He was bombarded with images of Gavin attacking Heaven. They were images that would not go away. Gavin would always be a threat, and he would always be in the back of Julian’s mind.
He waited until he knew that Heaven was asleep before he went to the room. He had talked to her on and off during the day, explaining how busy they were. She complained and argued, but finally fell asleep. He crept into the room and lay next to her. Instinctively, she turned to him, and he smiled. Under normal circumstances, he would take advantage of such an opportunity.
You’ll be done with security soon. Then you can lock her away and take advantage of her for the next thirty days, he reminded himself.
***
Julian was going to extremes to keep her safe. Although Heaven appreciated his concern, he was becoming unmanageable. He was relentless, and wouldn’t listen to reason. She couldn’t get him to understand how dire her need to get out was.
“Let’s go visit your father; then we can go eat at that little café by work,” Heaven suggested.
“No.”
“Have you even talked to your father yet?”
“No.”
“He was shot Julian; you really should call him,” she snapped.
“He’s fine.”
“How do you know that if you haven’t talked to him?”
“Fritz and Riley are keeping close tabs on him.”
“I really think that we should go see him.”
“No.”
“Then let’s go to the park today; the weather is gorgeous.”
“No.”
“The movies?”
“No.”
“Fine, I’m going for a walk.” She took a step, but he stopped her.
“No, you’re not.” He grabbed her arm, but she yanked it back.
“I need to get out and get some air. I’ve been inside of this house since the night Gavin was arrested. I need to get out of here.”
“Not yet.”
“What are you going to do when we go back to work? Will you attach a camera to me and monitor where I go?”
“No, I plan on handcuffing you to me. Besides, we’re not going back anytime soon; we’re taking a little more time off.”
“We just took a lot of time off.”
“We’ll go back next Monday.”
She stomped her foot. “That’s like another whole week! Absolutely not, that is out of the question.”
“Just until I know that Gavin is locked up tightly in prison. We’re pushing for a speedy trial. I have a guarantee that he will be in prison by Monday.”
“I can’t wait another week; I’m going crazy! I can literally feel my sanity slowly slipping away,” she cried dramatically. “I cannot wait to get back to work. Maybe things will finally get back to normal.”
He wanted to tell her that nothing would ever go back to the way it was, but he didn’t want to destroy her hope.
“You’ll be back soon enough,” he said dispassionately.
***
Heaven frowned as the boredom set in. She was getting ready to sigh when she heard the familiar knock on the door. Only one person knocked like that.
“Come in, Alice.” Heaven smiled as she watched the door open and Alice step in.
She was thankful for Alice’s visits while Julian was busy working. Alice was the best source of entertainment. From her antics, to her long, drawn-out stories, to her makeup and clothing—she could keep Heaven entertained for hours.
“Hello, my dearest darling.” Alice mimicked Sybille’s dramatic words as she walked over to Heaven.
“I swear you sound just like her,” Heaven chuckled.
“I got this new eyeshadow, and I bought one for you too.” She handed Heaven the palette of eyeshadow.
“Thank you.” Heaven smiled, looking down at all the different colors.
“I got you the more natural colors, and I got the bright colors for me.” She opened the palette to show Heaven the rainbow-colored pigments inside.
“Yeah, that’s definitely your style.” Heaven grinned as she looked at the fluorescent shades.
“I know. I am so excited to coordinate them with my outfits. I have this great hot-pink and lime-green zebra-print dress I’ve been dying to wear. I think I’ll match the eyeshadow.”
“I really liked that pink and brown cougar-print eyeshadow you wore the other day.”
“I love that color pink.”
“You’re really good. When you open your car shop, you should add a station to do makeup,” Heaven joked.
“I should…that’s an excellent idea. Makeup and mechanics go together like peanut butter and jelly,” Alice said sincerely, and Heaven couldn’t help but chuckle.
“My sentiments exactly.”
“Nothing better than getting beautified while getting your car fixed. Oh, that reminds me, your curtains came. I also had the butler get your box out of storage. I’ll have them bring everything up before I leave.”
Heaven grinned. “Perfect. I can’t wait to splash a little red around this room.”
“I’ll help you decorate when I come tomorrow.” Alice clapped her hands in excitement.
“Sounds like a plan.” Heaven nodded.
***
Later that day, Heaven was growing restless. She was glad that Alice had visited with her for a while. However, Julian had been too busy to have lunch with her. She was irritated; she still felt that he was overreacting.
She sat on the bed, dead with boredom, when she decided she needed an immediate change. Although she was going to wait for Alice to decorate, she couldn’t wait another moment to put up the new red drapes. She got everything ready, moved the chairs before the windows and laid out the drapes. She stood on the chair and carefully balanced herself. She was in the process of trying to take one of the old ones down when Julian walked in.
“What are you doing?” he roared as he raced over to her.
“If I have to stay in this room, then I want red curtains!” She was ready to fight for this.
“I don’t care what you do to this room, but I told you to take it easy. Taking it easy does not include standing on chairs and changing drapes!” he yelled as he grabbed her off the chair and took her over to the bed.
“Changing the drapes is not going to kill me…I’m fine. I told you I was feeling a lot better. My head doesn’t even hurt anymore.”
“You were knocked to the ground and hit your head; you have a concussion. This is not up for debate, Heaven—I will tie you to the bed if I need to. You will stay off your feet,” he barked as he walked over to the window. He yanked down the drapes and grabbed one of the new ones she had neatly laid across the other chair.
“The doctor said it wasn’t a true concussion. I can at least help you,” she said as she attempted to get off the bed.
“If you get off that bed, Heaven Deville, I swear I will beat your ass the moment you’re healed. Stay on that bed!” he barked as he quickly put up the new drape.
“Beating my ass is a damned good idea. Why don’t you take me to the basement while you’re at it?” She smiled seductively.
“After I finish this, we’re going to bed. I have to get up early as they’re coming to install the new fence tomorrow.”
“You managed to take the entire fence down already?”
“Yes.”
She shook her head. “And you actually decided on barbed wire?”
“It will prevent an intruder from trying to jump the fe
nce.”
“It’s starting to look more like a fort than a mansion.”
“That’s the mission,” he said with a grin.
