Authors: Danielle Fox
“He didn’t touch me, Sam. Things were going well, great actually, and then he just left!”
“What did he say?”
“Something about not taking my innocence for fuck’s sake. And me deserving better than him,” I moaned.
“What and that was it? That was his explanation?” Samantha looked completely baffled. Just as I was.
“He sent two messages after he went.”
“Saying what?”
“My phone’s over there,” I pointed my nose in the direction of where my phone now lay, “you can read them if it still works.”
Samantha hurried over to my phone and retrieved it from the wooden floor. I watched her reaction as she read the first text. Her fine brows creased in concentration as she chewed on the side of her cheek.
“Well surely that means something, Emily? It’s obvious he’s fallen for you,” she soothed.
“Then why did he leave? Read the next one.” My eyes dropped to the floor as I waited for this reaction. But instead, she read it aloud.
“Emily, get on with your life and forget about me. Trust me when I say I’m no good for you. Please don’t contact me again. Goodbye, again.”
Her eyes flickered briefly to mine. “Bastard!” she fumed.
I used the facial wipes, in what
was
my bathroom, to remove the black evidence of my tears before leaving with Samantha to collect Maia. I was greeted at nursery by Jason. He had stayed true to his word and had not left the room for the entirety of the day, not even for a lunch break; instead he ate his home-prepared packed lunch in the classroom, surrounded by three and four year olds. I was truly grateful for his presence, more so than I could ever tell him.
I had been doing a grand job, so far, of pushing Julian to the back of my mind whilst in public. That was until Jason informed me of his plans.
“Mr Scott has assigned me here permanently until he orders me away, Miss Braxton, so no doubt I’ll be seeing a lot of you," he had explained to me as I waited in the doorway for Maia to gather her lunchbox.
“I’m sorry,” I replied, wincing slightly.
I felt more than a little guilty about tearing Jason away from his usual duties in clubs and pubs and landing him in a pre-school, of all places.
“No need to apologise, Miss Braxton. Makes a nice change,” he snorted with a wink. “I’ll protect her with my own life, Miss. You needn’t worry while I’m around,” he told me. And I believed him.
Jason was a very tall man, possibly even taller than Julian, but definitely not as broad or well built. He looked as though he had a very thin frame hidden underneath his knee length, charcoal, woollen coat. I wondered again what this man could possibly be capable of to grant him the honour of being Julian’s
top man
. He honestly looked as though he might break if you so much as flicked him. He wasn’t very fortunate on the looks front either. He was in his late forties or early fifties I would guess and his large, brown eyes sloped downward slightly at the edges, giving him a permanent saddened expression. His thin mouth also angled downwards at the corners, thus adding to his sadness. My mind briefly wondered if Jason really was Julian’s best security member or whether he had purposely chosen him in the hope that I wouldn’t look twice at him. Surely not?
Why
would he, Julian doesn’t want you
! my inner-self mocked. And of course, my inner-self was right. My stomach wrenched at the thought, feeling as though it had been struck with considerable force.
Samantha persuaded me to join her and Adrian for dinner out. We decided on Pizza Hut, Maia’s favourite. I honestly didn’t feel much like socialising but I forced myself to accept their invitation, for Maia’s benefit as well as my own. If I went back to Julian’s apartment, I would see him everywhere, I would feel him everywhere. My heart tried to convince me that this was a good thing, to see him, to feel him, but my mind knew better. I wasn’t going to allow a man that I barely knew to hurt me so deeply. I was stronger than that. I would do as he’d said and forget that I had ever met him.
Adrian was pissed. More than pissed. He hated the thought of me hurting and he hated the
‘bastard’
that had hurt me. When we met at the restaurant he had scooped me into a tight hug as soon as he looked into my sad eyes.
“Don’t worry about him, he’ll pay for this,” he told me as he held me against his chest, his strong arms pinning me to him.
“Don’t be silly, Adrian. He hasn’t actually done anything wrong, I’m just feeling sorry for myself.” I tried my hardest to smile as I spoke.
“Samantha told me what he said, I mean, what the fuck does any of it mean?”
“I have no idea, Adrian. I wish I did, but I’m not going to waste my time finding out.”
“It’s his loss, baby. How about we go and get your things from his place when we’re done here, you can both stay with me?”
“Sounds good to me,” I smiled.
A part of me, the part of me that wanted to wallow and sniff his T-shirts, wanted to stay at Julian’s apartment, but the sensible part of me told me that I simply couldn’t do that. I had to get out of there; I couldn’t stay in Julian’s apartment, rent free, when he had just left me. No matter what he offered, no matter what he had promised. I didn’t need him to keep me safe. I had managed by myself for the last four years and I would manage now, with the help of Samantha and Adrian.
So, after a pizza, we walked together back to Adrian’s place and saw Samantha and Maia safely locked inside, then Adrian and I made our way to Julian’s building. I would collect my belongings and then send him a message to inform him of my departure.
“Holy shit!” Adrian gasped as we entered the magnificent apartment. “This is incredible! He must have a hell of a lot of cash!”
“Nice, isn’t it?”
“Nice? It’s more than just
nice
, Emily. Remind me again why you aren’t staying here!” he chuckled, adding a wink for good measure. I gave him a sarcastic grin and rolled my eyes at him before going into the bedroom and leaving Adrian to explore and amuse himself.
“Everything in this place is state of the art! And I thought I was doing okay in life,” Adrian enthused as I joined him in the kitchen area.
“You are doing okay, Adrian, more than okay. Julian just happens to have more money than most, although I have no idea how.”
“Are you kidding me?” Adrian turned to me, his eyes widened with sheer shock.
“What?” I wasn’t sure how my words had shocked him quite so much, surely it was obvious that Julian was extremely well off.
“Emily, Julian Scott owns pretty much half of London. He has clubs, bars, gyms, magazines, apartment blocks and plenty of other businesses although I’m not sure exactly what they are. I know he has a massively successful publishing company, apparently always had a passion for literature,” he mocked, “he’s got a boxing gym round the corner, I’ve been there a couple of times with a friend.” Adrian was getting more excited by the second. His eyes looked wild and alive. “I’ve seen Julian box too, that’s something everyone should see, the guy knows his stuff!”
“Thanks, Adrian, but I think I’ll give that a miss, I don’t think I’d be welcome, besides, I’ve seen what he can do and I’m not sure I’d like another image like that in my head.” I shook my head as I pictured the limp body on the wet ground with Julian’s menacing eyes glaring into mine.
“What are you talking about? You mean you’ve seen him fight?” Adrian pressed, eager for me to share the experience. Adrian not only worked out in the gym, he was also heavily into the boxing scene. He had a raw passion for boxing and attended regular classes.
“Well, I didn’t see him fight, exactly, but I interrupted and saw the disgusting state of his poor victim.” I shuddered as the image came flooding back. How could I possibly be pining for a man that was capable of inflicting such pain on another human being, and more so, how could I have trusted him?
“Wow, when was that? At the club?”
“Yeah, some sleazebag grabbed my arm at the bar, Julian lost it.”
“Good job someone was looking out for you then,” he said, inhaling deeply as if to steady his emotions. “I’m not sure I’m happy about you working there, Emily. I know it’s not my place to say, but as your friend I’m concerned about you.”
“I’m not sure I’ll be going back now, Julian kind of fired me, said he didn’t want me there, that it wasn’t safe for me.” I rolled my eyes.
“Well, sounds like this guy’s got his head screwed on. Mind you, if he cares so much why isn’t he here?” Adrian asked his rhetorical question as he left the kitchen.
I ignored his question, I simply couldn’t answer it.
“Hey, you think he’d notice if I took the TV?”
“Yes, I think he possibly might, Adrian.” I laughed as I picked up my old shoulder bag.
Adrian effortlessly gathered the two small cases as we exited the lavish apartment and left Julian behind. I locked the door behind us and posted the key underneath it. Tears threatened my eyes but I blinked them away, taking a deep breath and pushing any thoughts of Julian aside. This was it now; this was the end of Julian; well, almost.
As we exited the building I paused against the side wall to send my message.
‘I have gathered my belongings and left your apartment. Just thought you might like to know so you can carry on like you never met me. Thanks for your help. Goodbye. Emily.’
Message sent.
On the walk back to Adrian’s apartment I was sure I spotted Julian’s Bentley on a couple of occasions. Although I’m sure it was just my imagination, my mind daring to hope that he might appear again, that he might come back for me. I knew he wouldn’t.
Adrian insisted on helping me when it came to Maia’s bath time. As she blew bubbles from the palm of her hand towards Adrian, he squealed and laughed as he tried to dodge them. Then he filled his own hands with bubbles and carefully placed a thick covering of the white mass around his head and chin. Maia giggled as she told me that Santa had come to give her presents. Of course, I had barely even thought about Christmas yet, November had just begun and I would usually have started my shopping by now, but with all that had been going on, I hadn’t given it more than a single thought. I would start tomorrow, I thought. Our usual routine was to hand Maia a toy catalogue and a pen and have her draw a ring around everything that she liked the look of, that way I could look through and decide which were suitable and which were not. I would stop by the toy store and pick one up in the morning.
When the bathroom was thoroughly soaked, I took Maia to bed and left Adrian to clear up the suds from the floor. When I came out of Adrian’s bedroom, where Maia and I would be sleeping tonight, Adrian was waiting for me outside the door. He cupped his large hands around my face, softly, making me blush and no doubt frown in confusion.
“You okay?” His voice was soft and quiet as his eyes searched mine.
“Yeah, I’m fine. You sure you don’t mind us taking your room?” I tried desperately to lighten the slightly awkward atmosphere.
“Of course I don’t, I wouldn’t want you anywhere else. You know I love you, baby girl, I’ll always be here for you.”
“I know you do. It means a lot to have you looking out for us both, you know. I really appreciate it. Love you.” I replied with a wink. I felt my lips quirk revealing my embarrassment at his declaration.
Shortly after 8pm, my mobile rang. I answered to the unknown number and was surprised when the voice introduced herself as officer Jill Roberts.
“What’s happening? Have you found Jay?” I asked. My stomach was in knots, my palms sweating as I listened. She informed me that they had tracked Jay’s movements and he was indeed in Cambridgeshire where he held residence. The query into the bouquet of roses had hit a dead end and they had found no evidence to suggest that it was Jay who had sent them. Part of me was overwhelmed with relief, knowing that he wasn’t here in London just waiting for his moment to attack. Another part of me was ever so slightly disappointed. Although he clearly wasn’t here looking for me, I would feel safer in the knowledge that he could
never
come looking, if he had been here and broken his probation he would be back in prison. The best place for him, in my opinion.
As I put the phone down I saw two very concerned faces peering through the small opening in the kitchen door. I grinned ridiculously as both Samantha and Adrian startled, realising I had caught them eavesdropping, and quickly tried to straighten themselves as if they had just been about to enter anyway.
“It’s all fine, guys. That was the police, they’ve traced Jay and he’s home where he should be, no evidence to suggest that he sent the flowers,” I smiled.
“That’s fantastic news!” they beamed in unison as they bounced toward me, smothering me into a group hug.
“You know what this means? We get to celebrate!” Samantha almost squealed with excitement.
“Why don’t you girls go for a drink across the road, I’m sure I can handle Maia,” Adrian grinned as he gently rubbed at the back of my shoulder.
“Oh, no. We couldn’t leave you. We’ll pop over and get some wine and bring it back.”
“Emily, please. You deserve to let your hair down after all you’ve been through. Go and enjoy yourself, I’ve got a class early tomorrow so I can’t drink anyway and honestly I could do with an early night. Let yourselves in when you get back. Go on, have fun!”
“You sure, big guy?” I asked, winking cheekily.
“Absolutely, go! Get out!” Adrian began ushering us both towards the front door, pausing to open it of course, before bundling us out.
I heard the lock click behind us and felt happy that Maia was safe. These past few days had been absolute hell, my every thought was driven by fear. Now we were safe, my little baby was safe. Adrian was right, I did need a drink. I needed to relax and unwind, and so as we giggled, we made our way to the small, homely pub across the road to Adrian’s apartment.
It was bitterly cold outside. Possibly too cold for a typical November evening. Adrian had rushed us out onto the street so quickly that I hadn’t even thought about grabbing my jacket on my way out.
The warmth of the glowing fire at the far end of the room was more than welcoming. We chose a table as close to it as was available. I had only been in this pub once before and I briefly wondered why. It had a cosy, inviting feel to it. Small, dark, rounded tables with typical green, cushioned stools filled the small space around the dark, wooden bar that stretched along the length of the room. The whole place was very traditional, to say the least, even down to the red, ridiculously patterned carpet.