“You will never fucking touch her again,” Ethan screamed, as he punched him again and again. “I will never let you hurt her. Do you hear me? She will never be yours. You better stay the fuck away from her.”
Jason stopped fighting back, but Ethan couldn't stop himself. He continued to punch him harder.
“Stop, Ethan, Stop!” Julie yelled. “I'm okay. Please, stop.”
He heard her pleading with him. Ethan shook his head and looked down. There was red liquid everywhere. His hands were covered in Jason's blood and his hand was swelled and purple. Ethan looked up at her. The fear in her eyes was replaced with concern.
“I don't think he's going to get up. Please untie me. I want to look at your hands. You have to make your flight. Gavin is going to be so mad at me. I don't want you to miss your meeting,” she cried as her head hung down.
Ethan stood up and walked to her, just as a police officer ran through the door with his gun drawn. John was the second officer into the room.
“Shit, Ethan,” John gasped. “What the hell happened? Julie, are you okay?”
Ethan hurried to untie her wrists before anyone else saw them.
“John, you need to go out there. It's bad enough Ethan is seeing this. I can't have you in here,” she cried.
“Is this him?” John asked. “Is this the piece of shit that did that?”
“Yes,” Ethan said, as he motioned to the guy on the floor.
“What the hell happened to your hands?” John asked.
“His face,” Ethan replied. “I had to help her. He was hurting her. I think my wrist is broken.”
Ethan held Julie in his lap while the police went through everything. Jason had gone through her things and trashed her house. They couldn't tell if he had done it the night before or that morning. Ethan was so relieved that he had gotten there before Jason was able to hurt her. She held her arms around his neck tight as she cried. Jason was beat up pretty bad. They weren't sure how bad his injuries were. The paramedics took him out of the house.
Julie looked into Ethan's eyes.
“Thank you for being here for me. How does John know who he is? How much do you know about him?”
“We can talk about that later. I want you to get checked out. We can ride with John,” Ethan replied.
“Where's Gavin? Please don't tell him.”
“He doesn't know where I went. He's on the way to the meeting. I haven't said anything to him,” he said, as he looked back into her eyes. “We need to talk about this. You're going home with me for now. Grab some clothes and what you need.”
Julie nodded her head and got off of his lap.
“I'm so sorry that I got you involved.”
She spent some time getting her stuff together in a bag, while Ethan let the paramedics put his arm in a sling. John grabbed her stuff and took it out to his car. Ethan saw her look down at the blood on her carpet. He hurried to her side and put his arm around her.
“Come on,” he said softly. “We need to go.”
They closed and locked her front door and got into John's police car. She looked back at her house and then over at Ethan. Julie held his arm and put her head down on his chest.
Chapter 24
John pulled his car into Ethan's driveway hours later. He promised Julie that he wouldn't say anything to Gavin. She got out of the car with her bags and walked with Ethan into his house.
Julie was okay. Jason had gotten in a few good hits to her head, but nothing was seriously wrong. They gave her a list of things to watch for. If anything happened she would go back to the emergency room. Her wrists had taken the worst of it. They were cut up and scratched from being tied up. When she pulled so hard to get out of it, the rope had dug deep into her wrist. It would all heal with time.
Ethan had a broken wrist, swollen eye, and his hands were cut up. He had a cast on and they gave him some medicine to help with the pain.
They hadn't heard much about Jason. He was in the hospital with head trauma. He had a police officer stationed outside his door.
Julie knew it was going to be a long road. She had been through it before and knew what to expect. Hopefully they would put him away for longer since it wasn't his first offense. She helped Ethan to his room and got him some of his medicine. He was in pain and needed sleep. Julie helped him get undressed and pulled the covers over him. She turned off the light and walked to the door.
“Where are you going?” he whispered.
“I'm going to go in the other room for a few minutes.
“Come here,” he said.
She walked over and got next to him on the bed.
“I need you to be right here. Get under the covers with me. I need to know your safe.”
He wrapped his arm around her waist and sighed.
“We have things we need to talk about in the morning. I want you next to me tonight. I need to feel your skin and know that everything's okay.”
She scooted herself down on the bed and put her head on his chest.
“Thank you, Ethan. You will never know how much what you did means to me. Thanks for not listening to me. You saved my life. Thank you for knowing I needed help when nobody else did.”
Julie closed her eyes and held him tight. Who knew what was going to happen in the morning.
***
Ethan opened his eyes. Was that a dream? He felt a sharp pain in his wrist as he lifted his arm. It was real. Julie was asleep on his chest. He didn't want to wake her up. She looked so peaceful and deserved some rest. What if he had been on the plane? What if he hadn't gotten there in time? When he thought about what could have happened to her, his heart broke. He would have felt that way for any of his friends, right? Of course he would.
She opened her eyes and looked up at him.
“Your face looks sore. Are you okay?” she asked. “I am so sorry, Ethan. I didn't know who else to call. How bad is it going to be that you are missing that meeting? Are you going to lose money?”
“My wrist hurts more than my face. I can think of a few things that would take the pain away,” he said as he laughed. “I'm glad you called me. I'm so happy that everything's okay. Don't worry about the meeting. Gavin will do just fine. It's more important that you're alive. Who knows what he would have done to you.”
“I have some stuff I need to talk to you about. Do you want me to make some coffee? I think it's going to be a long day.”
She got out of bed when he nodded. Julie went downstairs and made coffee. She brought up a cup for each of them. He walked out of his bathroom and sat down on the bed. She reached out and took his cast in her hand as she shook her head. He rubbed the marks on her face with his other hand. When she lifted her hand to his cheek, he gasped. Ethan grabbed her hands and looked at her wrists.
“I can't believe he did this to you. I'm so sorry I wasn't there sooner. How bad does it hurt?” he asked.
“It's not as bad as it looks. If I hadn't fought so much, it wouldn't be nearly as bad.”
She handed him one of the coffee cups and leaned back against the headboard of his bed.
“I'm sorry I wasn't honest about who had called me. He was a part of my life that I had left behind. I know you aren't going to ever be with me in a relationship. You're not that kind of guy. That didn't stop me from wanting to keep my past hidden. All of you look at me as either a kid or as a responsible doctor. Everyone acts like I have never made any wrong decisions or done anything I shouldn't have. I just didn't want to disappoint any of you. I didn't want you to see my mistakes. I'm embarrassed enough about things. There was no way I wanted any of you to make fun of me or put me down. I went through a very rough time in college. Not a single one of you ever noticed. I did a great job of keeping it hidden. It was hard for me. I was so lonely and afraid, but I was happy that none of you figured it out.”
She stopped and took a sip of coffee.
“Yesterday, you knew his name. How did you know it? Why did John make that comment when he got there?” she asked
.
Ethan let out a long breath.
“Do you want to tell me what happened, or do you want me to tell you what I know?” he asked.
“I dated Jason in college. Everything seemed to be going well. We had been together for a few months and had seen each other almost every day. He was the first guy I had sex with.”
She put her head in her hands. Ethan set his coffee down, reached over, and pulled her to his chest.
“I can't believe I am telling my brother's friend this. I hooked up with you,” she said, as she shook her head. “Once we had sex, he started acting possessive and pushy. It happened gradually. After a couple of months, I noticed how bad it had gotten. I wasn't able to go to class without him demanding to know where I was and accusing me of cheating on him. I was starting to miss classes and functions because of him. Finally, I told him it was over between us and he lost it. One night, he showed up drunk when I was alone at my apartment. My roommate was gone for the night. I opened the door when he knocked, and he forced himself into the room. He yelled and accused me of doing things with other guys. His anger escalated quickly. Before long, he was on top of me. He beat me up pretty bad. I'll spare you the details. It's hard enough to tell you the other stuff. He handcuffed me to the bed and tore my clothes off. I tried to get him away but couldn't.”
She quit talking and Ethan tightened his arms around her.
“You don't have to tell me anymore if you don't want to,” he said.
“I need to tell you. You risked your life for me. I at least owe you the truth. I know it will change the way you see me. I know that you won't want to touch me again, but I need to be honest with you.”
He went to say something, but she cut him off.
“I was naked and he was an inch away from being inside of me. It was so scary. We had sex before, but something about it was so different. He was being very mean, and I didn't want him touching me. I had screamed as loud as I could, but I didn't think anyone could hear me. Just as he was about to have sex with me, the apartment door opened. He jumped and yelled out. My roommate had come home to get something she had forgotten. She saw what was going on and called the police. They took him to jail and me to the hospital. I was cut up and bruised pretty bad. I stayed at college and went through court. It was hard to see him in the courtroom. My roommate went with me to everything. When they put him in jail, I felt so free. I thought everything was going to be okay. It didn't stop the bad dreams and I still check my locks over and over, but I knew he wasn't going to hurt me again. When that phone call came and I heard his voice at the shower, it scared me so bad. I never imagined that he was here.”
“When all of that happened, was that when you didn't come home for the holidays and your family was so upset?”
“Yes,” she answered, as she tightened her grip on him and let her tears fall.
He felt so much emotion coming from her body. Was she afraid he was going to pull away?
“I didn't come home until all of the bruising was gone. I didn't want there to be any chance of my family or any of you guys finding out what had happened. You remember that?”
“I remember you not coming home. It wasn't easy on Gavin. He was so upset that you weren't here. I kind of missed you too,” he tried to joke. “I can't believe you went through that alone. We all would have been there for you. You shouldn't have done that by yourself. I can't believe he hurt you like that. You must have been terrified.”
“How did you know his name?” she asked.
“I'm not sure how to tell you this. I don't want you to be mad at me or anyone else.”
“I need to know Ethan. What do you mean anyone else?”
He leaned his chin on the top of her head and took a deep breath.
“You remember when he called you?” he asked and she nodded. “I knew there was something going on. Some things you had said before that led me to believe someone had hurt you before. I saw the fear in your eyes when you hung up that phone. You wouldn't tell me anything and I was worried about you. Please know that what I did, I did because I care about you. You guys are my family. I care about all of you.”
“Please tell me.”
“That night, I got the number out of your phone.”
“You went through my phone?” she asked, as she moved away from him. “How could you do that? You didn't even ask me to explain first.”
He leaned back against his headboard and closed his eyes.
“I would do it again in a second. I know you're upset, but I needed to keep my family safe. You are part of that family. The next day you wouldn't tell me anything at all, so I called John.”
“You got your brother involved,” she snapped as she paced the floor.
“I called John and asked him to get as much information as he could. He got me the guys name and told me the guy had been in jail for domestic violence and attempted rape and then again for some other stuff,” Ethan said.
“Please tell me he does not know what Jason did to me.”
“He didn't know it was you. He only knew it was someone at the same school as you,” he answered. “I hired a private investigator.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” she yelled.
He knew she was beyond pissed, but she was safe. That was all that mattered. She would either get over it or never speak to him again.
“You spent money to hire a private investigator to dig into my personal life?”
“I did, and I would do it again if I had to. If you would have been honest with me, I wouldn't have had to do it.”
“I got through it all once. I planned on getting rid of him, without any of you guys knowing. I wanted all of you to be proud of me not disappointed. John was there yesterday. He has to know that I was the one Jason went to jail because of. What if he tells Gavin?” she asked, as she got off of the bed.
“None of us would be disappointed in you because some jackass hurt you. Why do you keep saying that? John won't say anything to Gavin about it. He said that is your job. The private investigator got me more information on Jason and what he had done to you. I had just gotten the information the morning the baby was born.”
“Was that the meeting you were talking about at the hospital? It was a meeting about me. What did he give you about that court case? There were pictures of me and very personal stuff in there. Shit, Ethan. I can't believe you read that stuff,” she said.
Julie slid down to the floor and cried. He got off the bed and went to her. With his arm around her, he continued to talk.
“I didn't read it. He explained the basics of what happened and gave me the folder. I never opened it. I didn't want to read anything you wouldn't want me to. That was your business. I promise you, I never opened it. I had enough information on where to find Jason. He hadn't contacted you since the phone call, besides the flowers. They were from him. Lisa went into labor and I had to fly out the next day. I was going to figure everything out while I was gone and take care of Jason as soon as I got back. John was going to check on you while I was gone. Jason must have been watching your house and figured out who I was.”
“He said he was going to kill you. I was so scared. I don't know why I ever went out with him in the first place. I didn't want you or anyone else involved. I shouldn't have called you. What if he would have killed you? It would have been my fault. I can't risk anyone else getting hurt,” she sobbed.
“He's in jail,” Ethan said softly. “He can't hurt anyone.”
“He won't be there forever. I don't know why he insists on hurting me, but he'll be out again one day. I need to move away from here. I need to be by myself.”
“You aren't going anywhere. It's going to be a long road. You need all of us with you. It's time for you to accept some help. I know you don't want to, but we all care about you. We will all be there for you.”
“I don't want to go back to my house. It scares me. I can't live there,” she said. “His blood is on my bedroom floor.”
“I want you to sta
y here for now. You can stay in the guest room if you want. I just need to know that you're safe. You need to talk to Gavin. I know you don't want to, but he needs to know. He is going to hear it from somewhere, and it would be much better coming from you. You know he's going to be hurt and mad. He loves you very much. With John being a cop and Josh being a firefighter, you know he's going to find out. It's not fair to them, to have to keep that from him. I will be there when you tell him or you can do it alone. If you want, I can have Josh and Lisa have dinner. You can tell him there. Not in front of everyone, but we'll be there in case you need us.”
“How did the meeting go? Did he call you? When will he be home?” she asked.
“He'll be calling me in the next couple of hours. He won't be home until Friday. Do you want to do it Saturday or Sunday?”
“Sunday,” she said. “I hope you didn't lose too much money because of me. Can I stay here until I talk to him? I will move in with him and Becky until I find a place.”
“You can stay here for as long as you want,” he replied. “The money's not important. I'm just glad everything's okay.”
She got up without a word and left his room. He sat back on his bed and let out a deep breath. Ethan started to drift off to sleep when his phone buzzed. He was shocked to see a text from Lisa.
“Is everything okay? Josh asked me a couple of questions about Julie last night. He wanted to know if she had talked to me about a man lately. What is going on with you two? I can't lie to my husband about giving you her address or giving her your number. Does he know something about you guys?”
Josh probably heard something at work, Ethan thought. He hadn't been one of the guys to respond. What would she have done if Josh would have been there too? Lisa thought Josh was asking about him.
“Everything is fine. That's not why he was asking. I can't say anything right now, but I need you to do me a favor. You and Josh need to have dinner on Sunday. Tell everyone it's so we can all see the baby. Figure something out. I'll bring the food. Just our group. Don't say a word to anyone about me asking you to do this.” he sent.
Battle for Love (Bachelor Billionaire #3) Page 15