Protecting the Enemy

by Christy Newton

  ***

  After he’d gotten a hold of his expedited Private Security License, Reid purchased the new guns and ammo he’d need for his business. He bought extra for the employees he would have to hire. He’d keep his firm small and service important individuals as well as smaller companies. Maybe when Jewels came back she would help him run the firm. Excited to be starting something new, he placed the untainted Glocks into his trunk and headed home.

  Chapter 20

  Reid couldn’t take sitting around the apartment any longer. Being there without Julianna was torture. The reason why when she’d gone missing after the explosion, he couldn’t stay there. She’d already been gone four days, though it felt like much longer. He grabbed his coat and walked outside. The owners of Chopsticks kept the stairs clear of any ice and snow. There was about two inches of snow on the ground, but the cold didn’t bother him. What did bother him was that the walk wasn’t getting his mind off of Jewels. He circled around. As he passed the drug store he thought back to the little pregnancy scare they’d had. Some day maybe he would get that family with her that he’d always hoped for. He walked back to the apartment deep in thought.

  Jewel’s car was parked beside his. His heart raced as he ran up the metal stairs three at time. Reid opened the door and almost burst with joy. Julianna sat on their sofa looking gorgeous. There had been a small part of him terrified that he’d never see her again. She stood up when he walked into the apartment. She looked different, happy. And those tight white jeans, was she trying to give him a heart attack?

  She bounced over to him and hugged his neck. “I missed you.”

  “I missed you, too.” He kissed her sweet red lips and almost cried from happiness. “Are you okay?”

  Julianna’s slate-blue eyes looked into his. “Yes, more than okay. I forgave myself.” She let out a sigh. “I wouldn’t have ever agreed to join ETE 7 if I’d known the truth. As lost as I was that day Brandon came to take me from the hospital, I still wanted to help people. I know you told me that already, but I just had to get away for a bit to really think about things and when I’m with you, you tend to make it hard for me to concentrate on anything else.”

  He ran his fingers through her silky hair. “Is that a bad thing?”

  She smiled. “No, but while I was separated from you, I got a lot accomplished.”

  He licked his bottom lip and narrowed his eyes. “I’m not sure if this is supposed to be making me feel better or like shit.”

  She pursed her lips and cupped his face. “I moved on, put ETE 7 behind me. I found my grandma, Vivian Fox or Viv.” She laughed. “She doesn’t want to be called grandma. She lives in a charming little town in Connecticut called Fairhope. I stayed with her and learned a lot about my mom and myself, about what I need and want.”

  As long as he was included in that. “Which is?”

  “I had a wonderful time with my grandma, but I missed you and wanted to come back to you. Even if you were, by chance, not here waiting any longer.”

  “I’m so happy to hear you say that.” He placed his mouth over hers and she wrapped her legs around him. Starving for her, for the way she could make him feel, he laid her down on the sofa. With a grin, he took off his shirt and pants and tossed them on the floor. She wiggled out of her clothes giving him an amazing view.

  “Aren’t you going to pull out the mattress?”

  “No time.” He bent down and kissed her neck, breathing in her sweet fragrance. Her body was his, he needed to claim her. They needed to make up for the time that they were apart. He’d try to make their love making last, but he was close to exploding as it was. He placed kisses all over her neck while his fingers traveled to his favorite places. When he got to certain spots, she dug her nails into his skin. He couldn’t hold out any longer. Starving for her, he plunged into her softness and made her his. They could power the city with the friction they created. They ended up on the floor tangled up in the sheets. Too exhausted to care, they didn’t bother climbing back up to the sofa.

  ***

  Still naked, Julianna brought Reid a steaming mug of coffee. She was all tingly and blissful over the way he’d touched her an hour ago.

  He reached for the mug. “Thanks, Jewels.”

  “You’re welcome.” She laughed. “Looks like you got a lot accomplished with me gone, too. There are groceries in the kitchen!”

  He sat up, the sheet falling from him. “Yeah, and I did more than just get groceries. I’ve decided to start my own security firm. I already have the stuff I need to become established. I was wondering and hoping if you’d like to be my partner. How does being a private contractor sound?”

  It sounded perfect. “I’d like that.”

  The mug warmed her hands as she glanced out the window at the snow flurries dotting the baby blue sky. “Did you doubt that I would come back?”

  He touched the tip of her nose. “Maybe for a second. Did you doubt that you’d come back?”

  “Not really, but I knew it wasn’t fair to make you wait for me to figure things out. I knew you’d already spent a lot of time waiting on me after the explosion that took my memory. And I didn’t know how long it would take, a few days, weeks or even months.”

  “Don’t even say that. I’m not sure my sanity would have held out that long. I drove to Mercy Hospital. I had to see where you’d been during all our lost time.”

  She reached over and placed her hand on Reid’s. “You did?”

  “Yeah. I’m sorry I didn’t find you. I should have tried harder.”

  “You did. It wasn’t your fault.” She paused. “I want to remember the part of my life that has more holes than Swiss cheese. The doctor I had at Mercy said that I could try hypnosis. I think I’m ready to try that. Would you take me?”

  Reid raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure that’s a good idea right now?” He twirled a piece of her hair through his fingers.

  She placed her hand over his. “Yes. We’ve wasted enough time. I’m ready.”

  “You don’t have to. I don’t need you to remember for me.”

  “I know. I need to remember for myself. I’m tired of being in the dark. I think it’s the only way we can truly move on and start a new life together.”

  He rubbed his face and sighed. “Okay, but none of those phony doctors, I’m finding you someone with a PhD.”

  She’d had enough phony people in her life to last a lifetime. “Deal.”

  “Jewels, I have a confession.”

  She raised an eyebrow.

  “I… sometimes feel like I’m cheating on you with the old you.”

  She laughed. “What does that even mean?”

  “I love you more now than I did before and the sex… it’s always been great, but now it’s more… intense.”

  Julianna put her arms around his neck. “Reid, I love you. And if all you’re guilty of is loving me more than you did seven months ago, I’d say I’m a pretty lucky woman.”

  ***

  It had only taken Reid a few days to find what he considered a qualified hypnotist. The only problem was that he couldn’t get Julianna in for another week. In those seven days she’d tried to remember on her own without success. In fact, the harder she tried the less flashes of memories she’d gotten.

  She was tempted to call the other hypnotist that Reid deemed less competent just to get it over with. Now that her appointment was in the morning she was glad she’d listened to Reid and waited. The last thing she needed was another freak getting inside her head.

  “Do you think we should get a plant?” Reid walked up beside her as she gazed out the window at the cars below.

  “A plant?” She turned to him confused.

  He leaned with his palm against the wall. “Yes or a pet maybe.”

  “What has gotten into you?”

  “Don’t normal couples have houseplants or pets?”

  She laughed. “Since when are we a normal couple?”

  “I think we could be. We could start with
a fish or bird. Maybe work our way up to a cat.”

  “Hmm, I think we’d better start with the plant. Just to be safe.”

  “So let’s go buy one.”

  “Now?”

  “Why not?”

  She shrugged. “Let’s go buy a plant.”

  ***

  Julianna left Reid in the waiting room as walked into the hypnotists’ office with sweaty palms.

  A man that couldn’t have been much older than Reid smiled when she entered the room. “I’m Doctor Albright, make yourself comfortable.” His voice was soothing and firm.

  The vinyl chaise sat in front of a bookcase filled with thick hardback books. A chair with a small round end table set a few feet away from the chaise. She took a seat and leaned back into the oversized chair feeling like a child. The doctor had told her that her memory loss was her brain’s way of protecting her from memories to painful for her to deal with at the time. What if she still couldn’t deal with them?

  Fear threatened to make her stand up and walk back out of the room. Did she really need to know about her life before the explosion? The lost feeling she’d felt for so long reminded her that, yes, she did. She had to be brave. Reid promised he would protect her for the rest of their lives and she believed him.

  “You have to relax or this won’t be successful.”

  She wiped her hands on her pants and lowered her tensed shoulders.

  “Close your eyes, Julianna. Breathe in, breathe out. Feel yourself relaxing into the chair, until you can’t decipher your body from the chair itself.”

  She nodded and took a deep breath, letting her body sink further into the chaise. It was comfortable, thick foam almost like her old mattress had been.

  “Think back to the very first memory you have. Slip out of the present and let your body float to the past. Nothing to fear, you are only observing from a distance. Nothing can hurt you. Now tell me what do you remember?”

  Julianna opened her mind. She was in the peach hospital room feeling lost and scared. Tubes were inside her nose, an IV needle taped to her arm. “I’m in the hospital. I just woke up, but I don’t know how I got there. It’s cold. I’m scared.”

  “Keep your body floating, Julianna. Stay relaxed. Go deeper. Remember what made you end up in that hospital room.”

  She turned her head and walked past her hospital bed, past her pain. Fire. Heat. Blood. She shivered at the mess. She was trapped—something had fallen on her. Her head turned. A bloody lifeless face stared back at her. A familiar face. She screamed causing smoke to fill her lungs. And then all went dark. “The explosion. I remember.”

  “Tell me about what happened before the explosion. Float deeper into your mind. Remember.”

  She pushed deeper. “I arrived at the warehouse to get my instructions. Boss wasn’t there, but he was always there. Something was wrong. I looked around. Had I gotten the address wrong? The warehouse should have been empty. It wasn’t. Large wooden crates were stacked up in the corner. The air smelled foul causing me to dry heave. I rushed to get out, but the doors caught fire, then the crates exploded. I fell back and hit my head. Something had me pinned down. When I turned my head, I saw that the something was my worst foster mother’s dead body.”

  “That’s enough for today, Julianna. Float back to the present. Listen to my voice—it should get louder as you come back.”

  Julianna gasped and opened her eyes. Her face was wet with tears. “I remember! I remember everything.”

  ***

  Reid sat outside the room having second thoughts. What if this therapist made Julianna worse? What if it somehow made him lose her all over again? The door opened and Julianna rushed over to him and hugged him tight. He wrapped his arms around her.

  She hugged him. “I remembered.”

  His heart skipped a beat. “You did?”

  “Yes. I know who I am. The bad and the good, all of it.” She kissed his lips.

  “Do you remember us?”

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  He tried to keep the skepticism from showing on his face. “When I proposed?”

  She smiled and touched his cheek. “It was a beautiful evening. We were on a sailboat in the harbor. The same boat you took me to on our first date. Twice.” She paused to laugh. “You told me to turn around. You fastened a gold necklace around me. When I looked down and touched the diamond ring on the necklace, you asked me to marry you. I said yes. And I was happy.”

  He felt a weight lift from his shoulders. His hands cupped her face. “Welcome back.”

  She laughed. “Thanks, but I have to tell you something. Well, two things actually. Do you want to go out to the car?”

  Reid nodded and took her hand. They walked out of the building and got into Reid’s Jag. He turned the heat up, then placed his hand over hers. “What is it?”

  “The first thing is that I had sex with another man while we were engaged.” She frowned. “Only I didn’t know we were engaged, because I couldn’t remember. So I’m sorry and if it is any constellation, he wasn’t so great and it only happened that one time.”

  “Hmm, I don’t like it.” He touched the tip of her nose. “But I guess I can forgive you just this once.”

  She let out a breath and nodded. “The second thing is something I never told you before, about my childhood.”

  “Okay.”

  “None of my foster parents loved me. I was used to it. But one woman I lived with, when I was ten, she was the worst one of them all. She was compulsively clean and if I messed up anything in her house, moved one item out of its place, she would make me scrub a rough brick wall with a wet sponge she’d cut into tiny pieces, until my fingers bled.

  “I hated her. One time she’d gone too far. She punished me when I hadn’t even done anything wrong. Enough was enough, so I swallowed my fear. I stole change out of her purse and took a bus to the police station. I showed them my bloody fingers and told them what she’d been doing, how she’d been punishing me. A nice young officer removed me from her care and arrested her. It was then that I decided I wanted to become a cop, to help innocent people and to lock bad ones away.”

  “God, Julianna. I wish I would have known you then. I would have protected you.”

  “The explosion was even more traumatic for me than we realized. That same woman that I just told you about, her dead body was the last thing I saw before I blacked out in the warehouse. Boss must have found out what she’d done and shoved her in there with me. Maybe in his own sick way, he thought he’d served her justice. I think since I thought I was going to die and lose you and that her face would be the last I’d see, it caused me to forget. To lose my memory. It was my way of coping.”

  He pulled her close to him and stroked her soft check. “I’m so sorry you had to go through all that and that you thought you were alone.”

  “I want you to know that even though I remember, I am still who I am now. Memories or not, I’m different.”

  “Jewels, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  She kissed him. He could feel her pouring her soul into the action. When their lips parted she looked into his eyes. “I want to go away, make a fresh start with you.”

  Reid stood up and held out his hand. “I thought you’d never ask.”

  She smiled and took his hand. “Are you ready to leave Baltimore and ETE 7 behind us forever?”

  “Yes, but there is one thing I must do first.” He couldn’t leave his brother forever without saying goodbye.

  ***

  Reid had to tell Noah that he’d made a difference in his life. Without Noah’s guidance he could have turned into someone like Boss or Senator Grant. Julianna walked beside him, until they reached the front rows of pews.

  Reid bent over to whisper in her ear. “Wait here. I won’t be long.”

  She nodded and sat down. He walked toward the back of the church where Noah emerged from the corridor.

  “I thought I’d never see you again.” His foster brother stood at
the same height as Reid. Except for Noah’s crooked nose and priest attire, the men’s features were similar. A lot of kids had thought that they’d been biological brothers.

  “Hello, brother.” Reid shook his hand.

  Noah greeted him with a nod. “When you took your bag, I figured that was the last I’d see of you.”

  “Are you disappointed?” Reid couldn’t help, but smirk.

  Noah kept a straight face, but showed concern in his eyes. “That depends. What’s going on?”

  “I guess you could say I quit my previous job for love.”

  “Love is a good thing.” Noah looked over to Julianna and smiled. “Does it have something to do with that pretty woman sitting over there?”

  “It does. I love her, Noah.”

  “I see. So when you quit your job, did that bring more danger to your life or lessen it?”

  Noah knew more about Reid’s career choice than he’d let on. Reid rubbed his face. “More, but that’s all over now. I didn’t come to ask you for anything.” He placed a hand on Noah’s shoulder. “I came to tell you that you will always be my brother and to say goodbye.”

  “You are finally on a righteous path and now you’ve come to say goodbye? Why?”

  “I need to start my life over someplace fresh. It’s time for a change.”

  “So is this goodbye for now or goodbye forever?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I see. Thank you for coming to see me before you start anew. I will pray for you and your new life.” He looked over at Julianna and nodded with a small smile. “You’re always welcome in this church.”

  Reid hugged Noah. “Thank you. For everything.”

  Noah pulled him into a hug.

  Julianna stood up as Reid walked back toward her. He blinked the tears out of his eyes.

  Julianna looked back at Noah. “Did it go okay?”

  He didn’t turn around. He didn’t have to. It was time to move forward. “Yes. Ready to go?”