by Alisa Mullen
“No, I am Pierre,” he said with his normal sexy smile. I would have believed him except his fucking French accent was gone. He didn’t even notice since he started to grab my hand to bring me back out to the docks. I flinched away from him.
“Where is your fake fucking accent, Pierre? And while we are at it, how long have you been working for Johnny?” I demanded.
I was shaking now. I needed Brennan. Why the fuck had I come with Pierre? I should have stayed with him and now… Oh my God, Johnny knows where I live. He will know everything. He probably already knows everything. I was duped.
“Mr. Lennox is a client of mine. I was sent here to watch over you. He was just making sure you were doing okay since you left without word,” he answered in a tone meant to calm an agitated animal. Again, Pierre... Mark started to move closer to me. I backed up and tried to find anyway to escape his grasp.
“Bullshit!” I spat out. “Johnny is completely aware that I left with word. I believe my last words to him were fuck and off.”
“Okay then, Jules. His other message is that he would like you to know that Grace came back to him while you have been gone. He says that you really are a slut and that board doesn’t lie. I even tried it out,” he confirmed with an adoring look at the board. “No matter who you have fooled here on this island, you can’t untie yourself from that little wonderful quality of yours.”
The fucker was on top of me in two seconds. I actually had counted them as it was my new method of calming my body and brain in tricky situations. This qualified as a fucking tricky and freaky and fucking awful situation. His hands went straight to the short shorts that Brennan had told me not to wear and where he started to assault me with vigor. His hands and fingers gave new meaning to grabby hands. It was disgusting and repulsive.
I screamed... loud. He blanched at me before he slapped me clear across the face.
“Come on Julia, you know you want it. You want me. Johnny tells me you are an easy lay but you have made me work for it,” Pierre... fuck, Mark hissed out. His hot breath on my upper chest made me cringe. If he kept up with the French accent, I may have been a little nicer to the guy but I was one hundred shades of pissed off.
I let him do his thing for a few moments while I thought of the moves I had learned in self-defense class. Bucket list. Check. I wondered if he had been following me back then, too. Fuck it. I was doing this and getting the hell off of this boat, away from Pierre, that stupid OUIJA board and the song that started to play on the cell phone once again. Johnny. I needed to run far from Johnny.
With a two finger jab at his eyes and a swift kick to his nuts, I watched Pierre or Mark or whoever the fuck he was fall down in one swift thud. I high tailed it out of there but not before grabbing his phone. I got to the end of the dock before I called the Island Police and told them Pierre had attempted rape. I told the woman as I started to cry that I needed to go home. They could and would find Mark on his boat or near the docks by either land or water. The female police officer was blatantly adamant that I was to go directly to the station or find a safe place nearby for the police to question me. I snapped that I was going home and again told her that they could find me there. I needed Brennan. As I hung up I realized that there wasn’t any DNA to make the accusation stick but at least we would all find out what Pierre’s real identity was.
When I got to the house, Brennan and Loves were both gone. Fuck, he said he was going to the beach. I went to the last back bedroom and locked the door. I sat in the corner and went through Mark’s phone. There were thousands of pictures of me. I was eating at my kitchen nook. I was smiling with Kelly. I was tossing the ball at Loves on the beach. I was taking a shower? I immediately went to hit delete but thought better of it. The more sick photos on his phone, the easier a restraining order would be made on him.
Emails and texts sent back and forth to Johnny showed that Johnny was planning his trip to the Vineyard within the very next week. He was obviously livid that Brennan was back in town. There were even photos of Brennan at that wedding with Sasha. She was looking up at him. He was wearing a suit. He looked stunning but his face? He was obviously lost and not returning any of Sasha’s smiles. He looked downright miserable and a small smile crept on to my face. Brennan loved me.
Pictures don’t lie. That was the only lesson that my absent father ever taught me. I will never forget that day. The one day that my father gave five solid minutes to me and me alone. I snapped out of my reverie about my father and looked at the next fifty photos of Brennan. Why the hell were there photos of him, too?
I thought about the OUIJA Board. Johnny had claimed that he had gone out that night at my brother’s and tossed it. I never did see the board again but he could have hidden it in his bag or his suitcase that weekend. Why would he have kept it? Why did he lie to both Kent and me that it was gone for good? Was it the OUIJA board that finally brought him to the realization to monitor me? Why did Johnny want me followed? What did he have to gain from doing this to me?
I heard the loud obnoxious knocking on my front door. It was the tell-tale signal of a police officer. I swear they had a class about how loud to pound on people’s doors.
I jumped up, unlocked the door, and rushed down the hallway to look out the window. I saw the three island cruisers in my driveway and sighed a breath of relief. I opened the door to my preferred policeman, Officer McMains.
Mitchell McMains and I got to know each other over coffee down at the landing one morning last winter. I remembered it was freezing and he asked if I wanted to watch the water from inside the cruiser. Winter views of the ocean are extraordinary. Two hours later and we were best pals. I went to him whenever I had an issue with people not picking up their dog’s shit on the beach. He would laugh and hand me a donut to appease me. It always worked.
“Jules, you poor girl. We got Mark Drury down at the docks. He was trying to untie the ropes when we got to him. He is not a happy camper right now. Did you know that he is a private investigator?” the older white haired man remarked. I hugged against his tensed up frame and brought him to the kitchen. I dished out a piece of banana bread and poured him some coffee.
“Not a Frenchman, I take it?” I scowled. Officer McMains chuckled around the bread. He shook his head and rolled his eyes.
“When they are done processing him and getting his statement, he will be escorted off the island with a ‘no return’ invitation.” His stern voice was nice but it didn’t convince me in the slightest.
I sighed. “Is that enough? I mean I don’t want to press charges but what if he comes back?” I objected. A bunch of crackling and thrashing came from the side door and I looked away from McMains to see what the commotion was about.
Loves and Brennan broke through the screen door with enthusiasm and Officer McMains’ hand went to his gun. When he saw Loves, he instantly set his hand away and went back to eating his bread unaffected.
“Julia, what is going on?” Brennan came over to me and inspected my body.
“Pierre is not Pierre. He is a fucking PI for douchebag Johnny. He has been following me for months. Brennan, Johnny knows exactly where I am and he is... like I think he is psychotic,” I said a little more panicked as each word came out.
Brennan’s jaw had dropped very low. He pulled me in for a hug. “We will do whatever it takes to fix this. You are not in harm’s way. You are protected here with me. I will not let anything happen to you, Julia.”
“That’s right,” Officer McMains said as he stood up from his plate and grabbed his police hat. “We have video surveillance on the Ferry landing. We will put his and this Johnny person’s face on the monitors with the others that are not welcome.”
Brennan and Officer McMains spoke more about what they could do while I spaced out. I was as flabbergasted as to why Johnny cared so much. He did sound like he was on something again. Maybe drugs and the tour pressure were getting to him. Did he really miss me that much to hire Mr. French Creeper? Why did it matter if Bren
nan was here? Why did Johnny still care after all of this time? No matter the answers, he was acting extreme and for the first time in years, I didn’t feel safe and it didn’t matter how much security there was.
I didn’t realize how much time had passed until McMains and Brennan shook hands and promised to be in touch with each other the next day to work on their idea for more security. Brennan folded two pages of notes that he had been writing while talking to the officer. I looked down at my hands and noticed they were shaking. I hardly heard my voice when I said goodbye to my favorite police officer.
THIRTY-THREE
BRENNAN
Julia and I didn’t sleep much that night. I felt her shaking and Loves could tell she wasn’t good either. I tried to get her to talk but I think she just wanted time to think. I rubbed her back and her shoulders for hours. I told her how much I loved her and I would protect her forever.
Sometime during the night, she left the bedroom with Loves on her heels. I didn’t follow. She hadn’t asked but, God damn, I wanted to know what was going through that beautiful brain of hers. Minutes later, she came back with two sheets of paper and two pens. I noticed one of them was her bucket list.
I sat up and turned on the side light.
“What is it?” I asked.
She scratched out one thing on her bucket list and I watched as she wrote “finished” across the list. She handed it to me with the most amazing smile I had ever seen. My anxiety dissolved and I looked down at the sheet. She had crossed abstinence off of her list. Did this mean? Was she? I looked up to her and she nodded in confirmation.
There were still items on the list that obviously weren’t done. Go to Paris. Write a book. Learn to make dough boys. I pointed to them and raised my eyebrows in question.
“This is a new bucket list. This is Jules and Brennan’s bucket list. We are one now. Let’s make a list. It really helps keep your mind off the stupid shit in the world,” she said as she started to write out the title and the date.
I laughed when I saw she had written “Have loads of orgasms together”.
“This is really one that will never be checked off,” she laughed the sweetest belly laugh.
She handed me the pen and as I took it, I started to feel uneasy. Would she like what I really desired to put on the list? I was terrified but if we were going to be one now, she had to see my expectations.
I carved “#2: Get Married” on the paper. I made it clearly confirmed so that if people found it in a hundred years, they would consider it factual evidence that we were in love. I didn’t look at her while I handed back the very special document. I could feel the blast of warmth in my face and my heart was pounding so hard. She didn’t gasp or yell but started to write hers. She passed it back to me with just as much special caution.
She squiggled a smiley face next to my number two and then wrote “#3: Have a baby or two?” I was so thankful and felt the immense smile on my face. Yes. We were there. We were doing this. We were in this together. I regarded her and her eyes were bursting with tears. God, in that moment, I would do anything to take any disbelief out of her mind. So I pacified the moment the greatest way I could.
I crossed out her “two” and “the question mark” and changed it to “three” so it read “Have a baby or three." I followed up with “#4: Julia will publish book”
“Hell yeah!” she exclaimed as she read my bucket list item. Loves considered Julia and then sighed. I was getting the impression that he dealt with her outbursts frequently.
We continued our bucket list for an hour before she took it, dropped it on the floor, and then threw her whole body on mine. We were naked in record time. She played with me while I stroked her. When I finally pushed into her without any protection, both of our eyes went wide as we melted into each other.
“We love each other,” I said. I then yelled it. I yelled so loud and she joined in. It was so fucking liberating. I pumped into her and we moaned together over and over.
We had number one checked off... for that night anyway.
The next morning, I went to my office and started to make calls about our own personal security cameras. I wanted the shots of the Ferry landing, too. I wasn’t letting anything happen to my new family. Julia wandered in and I minimized the screen.
“No lies, Bren,” she said. “No secrets.”
“I want cameras,” I said firmly.
She nodded and came over to sit on my lap. She had a mug of coffee that I immediately rescued from her hands. I kissed her on the cheek as she clicked the browser back on.
“Where we get to watch the fun from? Shit, now I don’t have to go down there to make fun of people,” she said. She was smiling and laughing until she thought of something and her face went slack.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Pierre... Mark... Whoever he was. That’s what we used to do. We would go to the landing and make fun. He was such a great friend. I just can’t believe it. I can’t believe I won’t see him. He never existed. It is so fucking weird. Creeps me out,” she said on a shiver.
“Well, I like making fun of people. I will be your new French tutor,” I taunted with my eyebrows waggling.
She pushed the curls out of my face. She grabbed the beanie off my desk and put it on her head.
“Nah, I am going to cancel Paris. I really liked the idea of publishing that book. It is going to be about the murder of that girl that came through the OUIJA board,” she said out into space.
“Whatever you want. I will do whatever you want. I do have some jobs to get through this summer but the fall looks open. Let’s plan a trip somewhere, okay?” I asked with hope.
She nodded and slowly kissed my lips. I put my hand on the back of her head where my beanie met her hair and got aroused all over again. She placed the coffee onto the desk and then straddled me in the chair. Within minutes we were panting out each other’s names and I screamed so loud. It felt so good to love this woman in my office in our home. It was one of those moments that I realized that despite the past and its awful, painful memories, I was content. We were moving forward. Julia amazed me more now than ever before.
When she got up and off of me, she slithered her panties back on and declared more coffee. I sat there in paradise long after she left the room. I went back to looking for camera systems while I kept myself out in case of a repeat performance.
She didn’t come back. An hour later, I found her out in the garden. She was humming and Loves was lying in the sun next to her. I got down on my knees and pulled her to my body.
“Well, hello there my beautiful man,” she said.
I was so God damn lucky. Yes, Julia, I am your man.
“Hey,” I said, a little hoarse. “I am going into town for some things. How about I make you dinner tonight?”
She gave me a look that said I didn’t know how to cook and my look back said you want to make a bet?
“Ten dollars,” she stated without emotion.
“You are on,” I retorted and kissed her nose as I got up to head into town.
I went to the only jeweler in town. A nice looking woman saw me come in and I noticed her once over of my body. Sure, I might be a bit on the good looking side but my days of entertaining women were over. Open relationships were a joke. I had learned in therapy that Amelia had done a number on me. Several numbers, actually. She ran my life and the moment I caught a whiff of the air outside of her imprisoned walls, I started to see more clearly.
“Hello, what can I help you with today?” she asked in a seductively low voice. I smiled at her. Dimples and all. I wanted a good deal.
“Engagement ring, please. Large,” I said, pointing down at the glass cases of jewelry. It took her a moment for my words to register but she recovered quickly. I wondered if she knew Julia. She would be laughing her ass of at this woman right now.
“Of course. We have sets over here and we also have an onsite custom jeweler if you want to go with something of your own design,” she said
, much more professional now.
I shook my head. The engagement ring was for the moment I asked Julia to be my wife and my only lover forever. However, our rings would be permanently inked onto our fingers on the day of our wedding. It would most likely be her first and last tattoo. I laughed at the look she probably would have sitting in the chair. Poor girl and it was going to hurt like a bitch.
“Just your largest square cut,” I said in a decided tone.
“Largest?” she questioned in amazement.
I nodded and started to pull out my credit card. Money was no object when it came to Julia. I would offer to buy half the house that I knew she already owned out right but it would all become ours anyway.
“Is eight carats okay? Oh, and don’t you need it sized?” she asked, looking at my credit card with a perplexed expression.
“They are all sixes, right? That is standard?” God, I hated the fact that I knew this. This was to be my first marriage. Amelia didn’t count anymore.
“Yes, that’s right,” she answered.
“Well, it turns out my girl’s left ring finger is a size six, so wrap it up,” I said.
Ten minutes later, I had the ring. I got a chill as I walked out of the jewelry store. I felt like someone was watching me. It was an odd feeling and as I made my way to the market, I couldn’t help feeling like I was being followed.
After a beautiful dinner that I prepared, Julia handed over the ten dollar bill and gave me a smacking kiss.
“That was awesome spaghetti.” She rubbed her belly and burped.
“Nice,” I beamed as I took a sip of my wine. She got up to get the wine bottle, noticing that my glass was empty. I strategically placed her ring in its box in front of her cleared plate and waited.
When she sat back down, she poured our wine and sat back. Only seconds passed before she saw it and gasped.
“Holy hell, that is a big piece of ice, Brennan,” she squealed. She tore it out of the box and I got down on one knee.
“Julia, I love you. You know that too much has kept us apart for too long. I want you to be my wife, take my name, and have a family with me. I will follow you to the ends of the earth for just one kiss. But right now, I just want one word. Please marry me, my love?”