by Riley Moreno
Like the worst had never even happened.
Ethan was sitting on the edge of the bed in a crisp white shirt and gray slacks. His face brightened when he saw her, and he extended his hand. Touching him was never a problem, and she winded her fingers through his as he pulled her closer to his side.
“You know,” he started. “I’m okay with just staying in. You look lovely.”
“I’m hardly wearing anything,” she teased.
“That’s my point, Juliet.”
Stretching up to meet her lips, Ethan claimed her mouth and kissed her tenderly. Everything was different now and so much better. He was the man that was supposed to hold her, to kiss her, and no one else ever would. Kim should see this, too. It would show her that she could be happy with Brian or any other man of her choosing.
“We’ll be late,” she murmured as she gently pushed him back and dropped the towel. Ethan sighed at the sight of her bare body, and she smiled shyly over her scarred shoulders.
“I like it when you look at me,” Julie said. Reaching into the drawer, she stepped into her panties and dangled her nylon stocking in his face.
“Give me a hand?” she asked.
Ethan settled her on the bed and eased the tights up her smooth legs. Every few tugs, he stopped to kiss her flesh, and she stroked his back whenever he lowered his head in her lap.
“Can I tell you something?” he asked with his head buried in her knee.
Julie murmured her assent with a grin, but when Ethan brought his eyes back to hers, she was struck by the worry surrounding his face.
“What’s wrong?” she asked. “Ethan?”
Softly touching his face, Ethan reached up and clutched her hand in his. She could feel the nervous energy pouring through his palm, and she gripped his hand tighter as she gazed into his eyes.
“Ethan?” she asked again.
His face fell, and Julie stroked his hair as she silently urged him to tell her what was troubling him.
“She has to blame me,” Ethan finally said.
Julie knew where this was going, and she shook her head as she petted his tortured face, wanting nothing more than to cut his fears right off at the pass.
“Don’t do this,” she whispered. “Kim knows that you didn’t have a choice. Or a chance to---”
“But what if I did?”
He moved to the window and looked down to the city street. Spring was coming, yet cold air still forced its way through the window when the moon hit the sky. The days were growing warmer, Julie’s body had thawed, and Kim was sure to follow suit once she knew that home was forever and nothing bad would happen to either one of them ever again.
Julie stepped to his side, wrapping her arms around his waist as she tried to nuzzle the tension away from his back.
“Please stop,” she muttered. “Don’t torture yourself with it. You couldn’t have known.”
Ethan started to nod, but then he pressed his palm to the glass and pursed his lips.
“Because I just believed what I saw,” he said. “Those bastards tricked me like they tricked you. I should have… I should have…”
He couldn’t finish the thought, and suddenly Julie was nervous as she turned him back to face her. Ethan’s chin was at his chest, and his eyes were closed as the lines on his brow swirled wildly above his thoughts.
“You’re back there?” she asked, already knowing the answer.
Julie tried to take his hand again, but Ethan kept it away, his voice morphing into a ragged whisper.
“I think about it now and… and I… sometimes I think that I should have left you in that tree.”
Surprised to hear that, Julie’s shoulders sank.
“Left me?” she asked.
“Yes. And gone back. If she was dead, I could have brought her body back to her mother. But if she wasn’t? And she---”
Again he looked to the glass, and Julie wondered if he only wanted someone else to save. After all they had shared, they seemed miles from that possibility, but an old fear started to rear its head until Ethan whipped his body around again and gathered her in his arms.
“And what kills me is that even if I had known, I don’t think I could have done it.”
Peering up into his eyes, she blinked back tears and touched his face.
“I didn’t want you to go,” Julie said. “Not then.”
She kissed his cheek and rested her head to his shoulder.
“Not now,” Julie said as she relaxed in his embrace. Ethan held her close and kissed her hair, stopping only to whisper into her ear.
“Because I loved you then like I love you now,” he said.
Julie exhaled and kissed him again, far more fiercely, her hands swirling across his back as he tightened his hold. When Kim saw this, she would know that there were ways to be happy after the ropes and the dungeons, and she start to believe in the end of the road that they had never really reached.
“Let me show you off,” Julie said. “I’m proud to have you with me, and I want Kim to see.”
Ethan started to object, but Julie touched his neck and patted his cheek.
“It’s going to be alright,” she promised.
Needing to get the night back on track before it even started, Julie skipped away from him and held a navy blue dress with a high neck and sleek zipper before her body.
“You like?” she asked.
Ethan folded his arms across his chest and laughed lightly.
“Of course,” he said.
Stepping into the dress, Julie’s hands fumbled at her back, and Ethan moved to help the zipper along.
“Allow me,” he said.
Julie smiled as he cinched her into the garment, and she flipped her hair over her shoulders before turning back to him.
“How do I look?” she asked.
“Stunning,” Ethan answered. Lifting her off the ground, Julie stood on the tips of her toes and smiled into his eyes.
“We can do this,” she said. “I want you to meet her. To really meet Kim.”
They were led to a reserved table in the back. The other table was empty but set, and Julie hoped that it would remain abandoned for as long as possible. Out in the open was Kim’s suggestion, but now, without warning, Julie started to latch on to Ethan’s fears. Maybe they should have done this behind closed doors where they could talk freely if it came to that. Kim had to have a story to tell. But she probably wasn’t ready. That’s why they were here, to start back around a place where no one could ever lead them off into the woods without a million eyes noticing a second capture.
Ethan held her hand under the table.
“I’m right here with you,” he said. “I don’t want to be anywhere else.”
She leaned in to kiss him when the sound of Kim’s voice turned her head. Julie braced herself for the emaciated figure with ragged auburn hair, but she gasped when she saw this new version of Kim.
Her hair was still short but styled, and it looked like a few full meals were working their way to putting the meat back on her bones. She was still a shadow of her friend from that fateful summer and before, but she looked enough like herself that Julie knew no fear as she charged forward and took hold of her arms.
“Kimmy!” she cried. “You look great. So much better.”
Kim cast a quick glance at Ethan then melted into Julie’s eyes.
“I feel better,” Kim said. “Guess I just had to get home.”
Julie couldn’t help but notice the tinge of bitterness in her friend’s voice, but Kim laughed it off and reached behind her.
“He’s been helping me along, too.”
Seeing Brian, Julie’s first thought was that he was the last thing that Kim wanted before they were taken. Had she stuck close to him, they might never have made the trip. Would Greg have found another way to capture them? To enslave them?
She swallowed those thoughts down when Brian took her hand.
“Hey, Jules,” he said. “Long time no see.”
At
the touch of his hand, Julie felt as if she was spirited back to the dorms. Kim lounged on her bunk and asked for another hit from a joint. For the most part, Julie declined, but when she imbibed once, Brian slapped her back through the coughing and told her to just breathe through it. That didn’t make it hurt less, and Brian had carried her to her bed and tucked her in as the ceiling swirled overhead.
So it’s not your thing. No big deal.
He made the same play now as he lightly kissed her cheek.
“So this is weird,” Brian started. “But I… we’ll get through it.”
Kim smiled as Brian wrapped his arm around her waist. It was normal and like nothing had happened, but Julie could hear Ethan struggling to fit into the scene, and she told the others to hold up as she hurried back to his side.
“Come on,” she said as she held his hand.
Ethan’s body sagged as she brought him into the fray, and he looked only at Brian as Julie made the introductions.
Better to start him out slow. Tell him who Brian was first.
“Nice to meet you,” Ethan said in a stiff voice as he shook his hand. Julie caught the hint of a glare in Brian’s eyes, but it was swiftly replaced by a softer stare and a hanging head.
“Thanks for helping Jules out.”
Julie could sense the unspoken but as he held Kim. Had Ethan been right? Was this only another night in the darkness that would leave them both scared and scalded? Kim was far from the enemy, but maybe it was still too soon for her to see him.
“Kim’s grateful, too.”
Julie’s body stayed tense as Ethan met Kim’s eyes. Her face was unreadable, and Julie imagined her screaming and striking out at him for leaving her behind. Ethan’s doubts had worked their way around her soul, and just when she was ready to call this a mistake, Kim stunned her in a way that she never had before.
She hugged Ethan around his neck.
Straining to hear, Julie only caught one phrase.
“I am so glad that you were there for her.”
Kim morphed back into the big sister that she had never had, and she rubbed Julie’s hair as her breath penetrated her eyes.
“So are we sitting down, Jules, or what?”
Julie didn’t need to hear anything else. She took Ethan’s hand and eased him back to the table. Water was waiting, and Kim lifted her glass in an impromptu toast.
“To the future,” Kim said.
They clinked glasses awkwardly, and when Julie watched Ethan swallow even as every hair was still on edge, she lowered his glass and took his hand.
Over the table this time.
“It’s looking good,” she said as she lingered in Ethan’s eyes. His face relaxed, and Julie turned her gaze back to Kim’s.
“Let’s hope it keeps that way,” Kim said.
Kim ordered a round of real drinks for the table.
“Whiskey?” Julie asked. “Since when---”
“It’s been a long time, Jules.”
Kim drained her glass quickly and took Julie’s hand.
“I’m going to have to lay the blame at Greg’s feet soon,” she said. “Are you okay with that?”
More than okay. He deserved to pay and spend the rest of his life in a small cell, and Kim would make for a convincing witness.
“Yes, I---”
“I’ll tell them how he looked at me and always wanted to get me in a bed,” Kim said as she finished her second drink and beckoned for the waiter to bring her a third. When it came, she slurped before she spoke.
“You know how it was, Jules,” she continued. “Always trying to catch me just coming out of the shower or getting too close to me in the pool.”
As much as Julie loathed Greg, these were words that were never meant for him. They were better applied to one of Amanda’s many exes. Kim had always said that she had a good one.
“Kimmy, I don’t---”
“Then let’s drop it and grab some grub,” Kim said. The others ordered variations on fish and chicken. Kim asked for another drink.
Julie didn’t touch her steaming salmon as it rested on the table. Ethan nudged her to try to eat even as his arms trembled, and as she found her way back to his eyes, Kim slammed her glass down and clapped.
“He really likes you, Jules!” she screamed. “No wonder he left me behind.”
Brian tried to silence her when the next private table stepped through the doorway. Kim growled at them for all of a second before fixing her eyes on Ethan.
“Couldn’t be bothered to see if you got it wrong,” Kim said.
“Kim?”
Brian was gentle as he tried to ease her away from the table, but Kim held her ground.
“Or did you just like the silly little virgin? Wait! Hold up!”
Kim stretched across the table and grabbed hold of Ethan’s collar.
“Cherry was already popped,” Kim said. “So she sort of knew what do, right? You like her like that?”
Ethan seemed ready to say no, and Julie was on the verge of begging her to stop when Brian took charge and lifted her into his arms. Kim fought for all of a few seconds before her eyes rolled back in her head.
“Sorry,” Brian said. “She gets like this when she drinks.”
Julie ignored the gaping jaws at the other patrons and followed him through the busy restaurant past an assortment of other stares as Brian neared the curb and hailed a cab.
“It’s hard for her,” Brian said. “But she wants you to be happy.”
Julie nodded until Kim held her face and stared hard into her eyes.
“He’s like so old, Jules,” she said. “But if you think you can stay happy, so be it.”
The yellow car appeared mercifully, and they were gone. Julie watched the cab drive away, and she knew that Kim was in more pain than she was letting on. And it was her fault. She started to sink to the pavement when a pair of strong arms lifted her off the ground.
“Juliet?”
She couldn’t look at him. Not when Kim thought she saw them for what they really were and especially not when she might fall into his arms and hold him until the bones in her arms broke.
“Juliet?” he asked again.
Julie stayed silent as he walked her down the street and turned each corner right before they might crash into it. Soon a familiar stoop came into view, and Julie had to sit.
Ethan was at her side.
“Didn’t go down like you hoped,” he said.
Julie nodded as he took her hand. She wrestled it away and heard him moan when she denied her touch.
“Juliet, please.”
She looked into a face tormented by the loss of her, and she thought of Kim. She had only been changed because of the misfortune to know her. Same with Ethan. He had been a kind of happy with his solitary life, and now Julie had messed one more thing up beyond repair.
“I’m sorry!” she cried.
Unable to fight the need to hold him, Julie was in in his arms, crying into his chest as he clung to her.
“It’s all my fault,” she wailed. “I broke her. I’m….”
Lifting her head, she grabbed his face. Ethan’s jaw was like steel, but his eyes smiled when he saw her, felt her close.
“You’re mine,” he said. “And I’m going to take care of you.”
As he carried her up the steps and kicked the door open, Julie felt safe. Ethan would protect her at any cost, and as he unzipped her dress and eased her back to their bed, he stripped and snuggled beside her.
“Don’t cry anymore,” he said. “I have you.”
Ethan kissed his way down her sides. She moaned when he dared to bring his lips between her legs, but the thought of what Kim had become forced her to push him away.
“Juliet?”
She couldn’t bring herself to look at him, and she hid her face in her hands. It had all seemed so perfect, so right. But there was no way of getting past what was done to her.
“I’m sorry,” she moaned. “I can’t anymore.”
Lik
e everything else sweet, it had been stripped away from her, and Julie quivered as Ethan folded her into his arms.
“I could just hold you tonight,” he said.
Se almost smiled as she curved into the crook of his arm and kissed his strong shoulder.
“I need that,” she said. “Please, Ethan?”
He obliged with soft hands that curled around her cheeks. His lips seemed nervous until they found hers, and Julie’s mouth suddenly curled into an anxious smile.
“She had a point,” Julie said.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Just a silly little virgin raped her first time around.”
Ethan slightly pulled away from her as he kept her in in his arms. He didn’t kiss her but spoke softly.
“You’re not silly,” he said. “Don’t ever think that.”
Even as she was safe in his arms, she looked into his eyes and had to wonder.
“But if you found me like… like the way Kim is now?” she asked. “Would you still want me?”
Ethan kissed her lips, her eyes, her scar, and when he brought his eyes back to hers, his mouth expanded into a grin.
“Any way that I can get you,” he said.
Julie started to part her legs even though she was far from ready again, but Ethan brushed the hair from her eyes.
“Don’t” he said. “Tonight was maybe too much too soon.”
“And you knew that---”
“We’re not doing I told you so, Juliet.
Julie snuggled against him and tried to forget the restaurant. Kim didn’t understand what she was, what Ethan was to her. But as he kissed her cheeks, her neck, Julie had to hope that one day she would be happy just to have someone hold her and not lash out or need the whiskey.
“Thank you for that,” she murmured. “Next time… next time I see her, it’ll be better. It… it just has to get better someday.”
6
“Mr. Barber just wants to go over some things,” Morales said. “Trial date’s on the horizon. For Greg Heller anyway.”