by Amity Cross
He raised his fists, the knife clutched in one hand, and it was at that moment, I realized he’d picked up on my tells. He knew I was a boxer. Knew how to defend against me. But the way he’d fought, the way he’d known how to take me down…he was a fighter, too. By the way he bounced on the balls of his feet and how he was poised to counterattack, this guy knew his shit. He was a pro, and the way he went for my back… He knew me.
“Who the fuck are you?” I roared. “What the fuck do you want with her?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he brandished the knife—the knife that was coated in Juliette’s blood—and swiped at me. Dodging his blows, I managed to get under his defense and rammed my shoulder into his stomach. Forgetting about the blade still clutched in his hand and beyond feeling the pain that tore through my spine, I lifted him up over my shoulder, and with a roar of pure anger, I heaved.
He slammed against the wall and fell facedown onto the concrete. Spinning, I readied myself, but he didn’t move.
Kicking him in the side, I pushed the guy over. The moment I saw the knife sticking out of his chest, I cursed, turning away. He’d landed on it… Fuck.
With shaking hands, I grasped his balaclava, pulling it up and off his head. Staring at his face, my stomach began to roll with nausea, and I edged away. I didn’t know what to do. What to feel. I’d been duped. We’d all been duped.
Tommy.
29
Juliette
I hardly remembered the moment Tommy stabbed me.
Somehow, I’d found my way to the police station on Sydney Road, bursting through the front door and screaming for help. I’d bled all over the floor, but apparently, I wouldn’t let them touch me until they found Caleb. I didn’t remember much else.
When I’d arrived at the hospital, the doctor told me it was normal to have gaps in my memory. It was the shock, he said.
I must’ve fallen asleep after that because the next thing I knew, I was waking up to sunlight edging through the curtains. It was quiet, the hospital room empty apart from me. How lucky for me. I’d scored a single.
Turning my head, I stilled as I saw Caleb beside me. My heart began to thrum wildly at the sight of him. The last image I had of him was in the alley. He’d just tackled Tommy.
Oh, God, all this time it’d been Tommy. The guy who’d been grooming me for one-on-one training to fuck me. Now I saw the truth, and it wasn’t about sex. It was about revenge and murder. All those years ago, I’d come home early and interrupted him in the middle of his sick fantasy. I took Melanie’s life to spare her the pain of her passing, and by doing so, I’d taken his prize.
Oh, God. I stared at Caleb, latching onto him. If he was here, then he was okay, right?
He was sitting in a wheelchair, his elbow positioned on the armrest, his chin propped in his palm. He was wearing his usual Beat T-shirt with a hoodie flung over the top, and a blanket was draped over his legs.
His eyes were closed, and I wondered if he was sleeping.
“Caleb?” I whispered.
His eyes cracked open, and when he saw me looking at him, he smiled lazily. “There she is.”
“What…” My tongue felt like sandpaper.
“What happened?” he asked, straightening up. His eyes were hooded, and he looked as if he’d been there a while.
I nodded, feeling groggy myself. Attempting to shift, I winced, my side pinching as I moved.
“Don’t move too much,” he said gently, wheeling his chair closer. “You had surgery. That’s why you probably feel like shit warmed up right now.”
“Surgery?” I frowned. I didn’t remember…
“The doc told me you passed out not long after they brought you in. The knife nicked some important shit inside you, so they had to fix it.” He smiled and glanced at the door. “I told them we were married. They wouldn’t let me in otherwise. Some stupid family only rule.”
“Oh…” Being married to Caleb sounded nice but not for a while. I still wasn’t sure he wanted to be with me. If it could work.
“You’re going to be right as rain, you know,” he said.
I stared at him, wanting to ask more questions, but the energy was eluding me.
“I can see your mind ticking over,” Caleb said gently. “Do you want me to tell you what happened?”
I nodded. “I need to know. Tommy… He said things to me… He said he…” I closed my eyes, tears threatening for like the millionth time that week. “He… Melanie…”
“He was the one?” Caleb cursed under his breath. “Well, after you ran, we fought. I didn’t know it was him until… He fell on his knife.”
My eyes flew open. Did that mean…
“He’s dead, Jules. He can’t hurt you anymore.”
I sucked in a deep breath, my entire body trembling. I didn’t know if it was from shock or relief, but I didn’t have to fear him for another second. He was dead.
“Not long after, a bunch of cops showed up,” Caleb went on. “By then, I could hardly move.”
“What?” I stared at him and began to understand he was in a wheelchair. He was in a wheelchair.
“I’m okay,” he said, reading my panicked expression. “I can still feel everything, but the fight inflamed my injury. I have to stay off my feet for a while. I cracked a rib or two, and I’ve got some bruises that’ll look pretty black for a while, but that’s all.”
“You could’ve ended up in a bed beside me,” I murmured.
“He tried,” he replied. “He knew where to hit, but I was…” He shook his head. “It was all dumb luck.”
I studied him, hardly daring to believe this was real. Caleb saved me. He’d been there when I’d needed him the most despite all the shit I’d done. He didn’t blame me.
I took in his features, noting the yellowing bruise over his cheek and below his eye and the new cuts on his face. He hadn’t shaved in a few days, and his jaw was covered in a thick layer of scruff, the messy beard making him even more handsome. Caleb was always so clean-cut, but I liked this look on him. It was a little bad boy.
“This looks old,” I whispered, gently brushing my fingers over his cheek.
“That was Dad’s handiwork.” He shrugged. “He and I had a very passionate discussion the night you… Ah, well, you know.”
“Your dad punched you?” My mouth fell open.
“I punched him first,” he shot back. “He deserved it.”
I began to fret. Tommy was gone, and my fear of Mel’s murderer coming after me again had gone with him, but there was still one thing that would always be out there, waiting to be exploited. The moment I’d ended her suffering.
“Don’t worry about him,” Caleb murmured, taking my hand. “I fixed it.”
I frowned, not understanding.
“His blackmail hinged on me,” he explained. “He’s got nothing to gain anymore. I cut them off. My dad…I won’t be seeing him again. I’ve made that very clear. He wouldn’t dare harm you for fear of losing any chance of winning me back. I am his precious Carmichael legacy, after all.”
“Are you sure?”
He smiled, his lips curving lopsidedly. “Positive.”
It all seemed too easy. Everything was wrapped up into a neat little package, but I still hadn’t explained my past to him. He knew it all, but I hadn’t told him myself. A part of me wanted to believe he was here despite all of it, but another still doubted his intentions.
“Caleb, I—”
“You don’t need to explain yourself. Not to me,” he said.
“I should’ve trusted you,” I murmured, my throat burning. “I should’ve told you what I’d done. I was going to the night I…but your dad got to me first.”
“Shh,” Caleb crooned, lifting my hand to his lips. Kissing my knuckles, he smiled. “I know all of it from start to finish, and I’m still here. I told you how I feel about it in my letter. Nothing has changed. I understand, maybe not all of it, but I understand as well as I can.”
“I…” I was on th
e verge of tears.
“I still feel the same way about you, Jules. You’re my girl.”
“But my name, my… I lied.”
“You never lied, Jules. You were honest the entire time. I knew you had a troubled past and it might be something fucked up. I knew there were things you weren’t telling me. You never hid that. Besides, a name doesn’t make you who you are,” he said. “It’s your actions that define that shit. You could change your name to Ethel, and you’d still be the same person.”
I cracked a smile. “Ethel?”
“You know what I mean,” he said with a chuckle. “Point is, I’m not going anywhere. You’ve got me hook, line, and sinker.”
His resolve, his strength, his belief in me… It was dazzling.
“Caleb?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
He smiled, his fingers tightening around mine. “Love you, too.”
My parents arrived that evening.
When the police notified them of the attack, they’d gotten on the first plane from the Gold Coast to Melbourne. They had their faults and hadn’t dealt with Melanie’s death at all, but they were still my mum and dad despite the frustrations. I was glad to see them.
And Caleb? He hadn’t left my side, much to the annoyance of the doctors. He had his own injuries to heal, but he was stubborn. They’d wheeled him away, but he’d just wheeled himself right back.
When my parents barged into my room, they were surprised to see him sitting there, but he won them over immediately with his boyish charm and level head. Even my dad—a man who always loathed to show any emotion whatsoever—shook his hand and thanked him for helping me, all with a tear in his eye.
We’d hardly had a chance to catch our breath when I saw a commotion outside. Peering through the window to the hallway beyond, I saw Dad talking to a man and a woman. He was on his way to my flat to get me a change of clothes since I was allowed to go home in the morning, but hadn’t gotten far, at all.
“Who’s Dad talking to?” I asked, gesturing to Mum.
She stood, following my gaze, but at that moment, the little group broke apart, and they came into the room. I glanced at Caleb, but he only nodded to reassure me. It must be the police.
The woman smiled, her blonde hair reminding me of Melanie’s. They were completely different even though she looked just as athletic. She pointed to the badge hanging from the waistband of her jeans.
“Hi, Juliette, I’m Detective Charlotte Croft with the Victoria Police,” she said. “This is—”
“Detective Rand,” I finished off for her, recognizing the middle-aged man who’d followed her in. He’d been around a lot when Melanie first died. He was the lead detective on her case.
“I’m sorry we had to meet again under these circumstances,” he said. “But we do have some good news for you, Miss O’Connor.”
It felt strange hearing him call me that even though it had been my surname for most of my life. I identified more as Juliette Spicer now, but Caleb was right. It was just a name. It didn’t make me who I was.
“Thomas Rossi, the man who attacked you on Wednesday night, his DNA matched samples that were taken from your sister’s bedroom,” Rand continued. “He was the man who killed Melanie, just like he said.”
“Oh, God,” Mum exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hand.
“He’d been watching you for a few months,” Detective Rand went on.
A chill ran through my veins, and I glanced at Caleb. “He was watching me?”
Rand smiled and patted me on the shoulder. “The level he’d gone to was unprecedented. I know it doesn’t make it any easier to hear, but you couldn’t have known. He was smart. Been doing it for a while.”
“We’ve been able to close two other cases with the evidence we’ve gathered,” Detective Croft said. “And foil another before he got to her.”
I felt sick. He’d been so close this entire time. I began to tremble, and I didn’t still until Caleb took my hand. At least they saved the other girl, whoever she was.
“We have the evidence to confirm his guilt now,” Detective Croft went on. “The case will be closed.”
“Does that mean there will be no action against me?” Caleb asked. “For the fight?”
“It was self-defense, son,” Rand replied. “We’ll need to take official statements once you’re both up to it, but in my professional experience, there’s nothing for you to worry about.”
The two men shook on it, and there were tearful thank yous all round. Once the detectives had left, Mum sat on my bedside, her hand resting on my knee.
“It’s going to be okay now. I want you to come home, sweetie,” she said. “Please. Your father and I don’t like being so far away from you.”
“I don’t know…” I began. The thought hadn’t had a chance to cross my mind. Everything had happened so fast I was having trouble catching up.
I glanced at Dad, who just shrugged in his typical steely man way. He would never actually say it, but I knew Mum spoke truthfully for him.
Did I want to go back to Queensland where so many bad things had happened? Sure, it would be tough, but there were over twenty years of good memories, too. Mel and I had grown up on the beaches of the Sunshine Coast, swimming, surfing—or I should say I’d sat under an umbrella reading while Mel surfed—chasing boys, studying at Uni, following our dreams…
But I could stay in Melbourne. I’d started to build a life here with my work and now with Caleb. It wasn’t so bad.
I looked to Caleb, hoping he would show me the way just like he had the first day I’d stepped into Beat.
“I would go anywhere with you,” he said, lifting my hand to his lips and kissing my knuckles. “The decision is yours.”
His blue eyes gazed into mine, and all I could see was love. My heart swelled, the fear I’d carried around for the last six years, vanishing.
It was gone, and I was free.
I could do anything I wanted now.
Anything at all.
30
Juliette
“We enlarged the cock,” Jade declared, slapping a paperback on my desk.
Staring at the cover for Alexis Storm’s new romance, Fighting Desire, I looked at the crotch of the headless model they’d used for the art and tilted my head to the side. The area sat right in the middle of the letter o in Storm.
I nodded. “There’s a marked increase in girth.”
Jade sank against my desk with a relieved sigh. “Thank fuck for that. Hutchins chucked a tantrum and made the designer blow it up.”
I laughed, covering my mouth with my hand. There was never a dull moment at Slattery Press.
“Hey, Jules,” Dom said, leaning back in his chair. “Your hot slab of man meat is waiting for you in reception.” He fanned himself.
I glanced at Jade, who waved me off with a roll of her eyes. “Go stick your tongue down his throat already.” I opened my drawer and pulled my bag out, and she snatched the paperback up. “Back in an hour, okay?”
“Sure thing, boss!”
“Oh, stop it.” She turned but hesitated at the last second. Glancing back she said, “Jules… We’re glad you’re back.”
After a week of bed rest and three more days of light duties, I was more than happy to be back at work. I was going stir-crazy. Binge watching all my favorite TV shows sounded like a dream, but after two days and three seasons of Gilmore Girls, I was completely over it. Not even Caleb Carmichael, his posh apartment, and his MasterChef cooking skills could sway me.
I smiled as I rose to my feet. “Me, too.”
I was glad I’d decided to stay in Melbourne, although Mum was extremely disappointed. Home wasn’t that far away, and I’d promised I would visit with Caleb on the next long weekend.
Caleb watched me cross the office, a smile on his handsome face. Pushing through the glass door and stepping into reception, I couldn’t stop looking at him. I’d c
onvinced him to keep the stubble, and man…what a hottie.
“Hey,” I said, kissing him on the lips. “How’d you get out of training?”
“I’m the boss. I do what I want,” he replied, threading his fingers through mine. “I wanted to take my girl out for lunch on her first day back. Sue me.”
I laughed and pressed the call button for the elevator. “You miss me already?”
“Every second we’re apart.” He pinched me on the ass, and I yelped.
“You’re hopeless.”
He puckered his lips as the elevator doors swished open, and he tugged me inside. Like me, he’d only just returned to work with strict orders to take it easy. In another six weeks, his ribs should’ve healed enough not to bother him anymore. Honestly, I was grateful his back had come good so quickly. He definitely hadn’t lied to me when he said he knew how to manage the old injury.
“So,” Caleb went on, pressing the button for the ground floor, “have you made a decision yet?”
“You only asked me to move in with you this morning,” I complained. “I said I would have to think about it.”
“You’ve had five hours. That’s plenty.” He winked, a devilish grin on his face.
“Isn’t it a little fast?” I asked with a frown.
“Pfft,” Caleb said, rolling his eyes. “You’re worried about moving too fast? After what we’ve been through?”
He had a point. After the mountain of shit we’d climbed, not even an earthquake could break us apart.
“You’re sure? Like, really sure?”
“Jules.” His grip tightened on mine.
I sighed. “Yeah, yeah, I know. Stop doubting every little thing.”
I still had a lot of work ahead of me, but I’d had a good head start. I’d come to depend on some negative behaviors to cope with Melanie’s death, and breaking them would take time.