by Amity Cross
It was not going to be easy.
“How is Juniper?” Josh asked. “That shit last night must be scary for her.”
“She’s shaken up,” I replied, my heart twisting. “I mean, whoever it was got into our fucking room.” I gritted my teeth.
“Do you think they’d try to hurt her?”
I tensed, but the thought had crept into my mind as well. Farmer had begun screening the mail that’d come to the McMansion and had opened up a couple of months’ worth of stuff I’d been too lazy to open myself. He’d texted me that morning to let me know he’d found two letters with creepy shit spelled with cut out newspaper print. Pair that with the trespassing, the perverted parcels, and the breaking and entering at the hotel…
“I hope not, but that’s why we have the extra security.” I nodded towards the guy in the front beside the driver. “I’m taking any chances. You guys shouldn’t either.”
Josh nodded. “When did shit get so fucked-up?” he mused. “This was supposed to be the dream, man.”
“Dreams always come with nightmares,” I murmured, looking out the window. “You can’t have one without the other.”
When I arrived back at the hotel, Statfield gave me the all clear. Then the moment I’d walked into the hotel room, Juniper launched herself into my arms.
Sitting in the back of yet another town car on the way to LAX, I could still remember the sensation of holding her close and breathing in her vanilla perfume. Her copper hair had shone as I’d stroked my fingers through it, and I’d wanted nothing more to embrace her forever.
The lights of the city flashed past as we tore down the 405 towards the airport. The road stretched to fourteen lanes, and they were still busy even at this time of night.
I looked at Juniper, who was staring out the window in that wide-eyed wonder she always held. She hadn’t travelled until I’d taken her on tour, and everything she saw—from a fucking Walmart to a state monument—enthralled her. Tonight, she seemed shaken and a little far away, and I couldn’t blame her.
“You okay?” I asked.
She turned and nodded. “I’m just glad to be going home,” she said, nestling against me.
I grinned and pressed a kiss on her forehead.
“What?” she asked.
“Home,” I murmured. “You said we’re going home.”
“Well, where else am I going to live?”
Lifting my arm, I circled it over her shoulders and held her close. “Is this how people move in together?”
“Probably not, but it’s how we do things—unconventional and chaotic.”
I chuckled softly. “That’s the story of my life.”
15
Juniper
Barely a day after we arrived back in Sydney, Harry and I were in a car, driving across the city.
“Where does Annalise live again?” I asked as we flew down a highway and into a tunnel lit with orange lights. Shades sat in the front with the driver—a guy named Bob—and Harry was beside me in the back, playing on his phone.
Statfield had come with us from the States, and I was glad he was around. Just because we were home again, didn’t mean the threat from the stalker was over. The police still didn’t know if it was one person or two, considering the separate incidents in two countries that sat so far apart. For now, all I could do was wait and hope they caught them.
“Enmore,” Harry replied.
“Enmore,” I mused. “That’s near Newtown, right?”
“Yep. Inner city—trendy, a little hipster.”
“And expensive.”
“I wonder how she can afford it?”
I shrugged, not wanting to think about how much Vix had paid her off. Considering the lump sum I’d gotten, it wasn’t a stretch to think Annalise had received one too.
When we arrived, Shades got out first and did a walk of the area before we were allowed to get out.
“Does it bother you?” Harry asked, nodding towards the burly bodyguard.
“It’s restrictive, I guess, but I’d rather be safe right now.” I glanced over my shoulder as we walked up the security entrance.
The apartment block sat on a busy street and was a great deal more modern than the surrounding buildings. Enmore was an older part of the city, but a lot of developments had gone up in recent years. A small IGA supermarket took up part of the ground floor and a bottle shop sat on the opposite side of the entrance. Handy.
Harry pressed the buzzer for the right apartment and we waited. Shades stood next to me, looking every bit the bodyguard.
The intercom buzzed. “Hello?”
“Annalise? It’s Harry and Juniper,” Harry said as he pressed the button.
A moment later, she buzzed us in and we climbed the stairs to her apartment. Harry knocked on her door, and it opened slowly. A bright hazel eye peered out at us, the door jamb hiding a pretty, yet shy face.
“Hey,” Harry said, offering her a huge smile, “I’m Harry and this is Juniper.”
She looked me over and opened the door all the way. Annalise was a small, yet beautiful kind of woman, her olive skin tone hinting at an ethnicity I wasn’t familiar with—Mediterranean, perhaps? Her long black hair was pulled back into a loose braid, with wisps of baby hairs flying free around her hairline. I could see why Vix had held her close—like all the assistants in her entourage, Annalise was stunning.
“Hey,” I said, making sure to smile.
After a moment, she gestured for us to come in without saying a word. Narrowing her eyes at Shades, she begrudgingly let him inside, though he chose to linger in the hallway of the apartment instead. All things considering, I couldn’t fault her for her apprehension.
Despite her place being modern, she’d decorated it with kitsch artwork and retro-inspired furniture. A bookshelf sat on one side of the living room and I paused to scan the titles. There were lots of books on film and music—coffee table editions and autobiographies. Over a sixties era side table hung a framed film still of Marilyn Monroe, and on another wall, hung a colourful pop art piece. Sitting on the kitchen island was a little potted succulent and a pair of cat-shaped salt and pepper shakers.
She’d set out some glasses and a jug of water packed with slices of lemon and lime on the coffee table. Beside the tray were two packet of chocolate Tim Tam biscuits—double chocolate-coated and classic. I got the impression she didn’t have visitors very often and my heart went out to her.
“So,” Annalise said as we sat on the couch, “what’s this about?”
“I’m just going to cut to the chase,” Harry replied. “We’re trying to prosecute Vix.”
She instantly paled and glanced at me. “When I agreed to talk, I didn’t know you were trying to prosecute her,” she said, looking worried. “If I say anything on the record, I’m screwed. I told you on the phone, I signed a non-disclosure agreement.”
“She blackmailed me into signing an NDA too,” I said. “And I’m not backing down.”
Annalise’s eyes widened and made a face. “You’re a braver woman than I’ll ever be.”
“Someone has to stand up to her, but we can’t do it alone. We need your help,” I urged. “The more voices we have speaking out, the better our case will be.”
“Vix is manipulative to the point that she has you believing you’re the one in the wrong. Towards the end, I thought I was doing myself a favour by signing that contract, but it never turned out that way. The only thing you’ll get out of this is trouble. Whatever she’s got on you, she’ll use it without hesitation. I-I can’t help you.”
“If you’re so worried about retribution, why did you agree to see us?” Harry asked.
She rose to her feet and began clearing away the glasses. “You need to leave.”
“Please, Annalise,” I pleaded, “if we don’t make a stand, then she’ll continue to hurt others. She’s stolen millions of dollars from Beneath, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
Annalise paused, her hands shaking so much th
at the glasses were clinking together. “Millions?”
“We get that responce a lot,” I replied. “You can understand what’s at stake here.”
“I—” She shook her head and set the glasses down on the kitchen island. “I don’t know anything about that.”
Somehow I got the feeling that she did, and I glanced at Harry, who gave me a pointed look.
“Annalise, if you know something that can help us, please help. We’re doing all we can, but it’s not enough. If we don’t have evidence, she’ll walk away a free, very rich woman.”
She shook her head and leaned against the counter. She drew in a deep breath and wiped at her forehead before darting out of the room and down the hall. A second later, a door slammed.
“Um…” Harry began, but I held my hand up.
“Stay here.”
Venturing down the hall, I passed a bedroom then the laundry, before finding the only closed door around the corner.
I knocked softly. “Annalise?”
When she didn’t reply, I pressed my ear against the wood and listened. The sound of someone drawing in chocking breaths echoed out of what I assumed was the bathroom and I tried the handle. It twisted and I pushed, thankful she hadn’t locked it.
Annalise was curled up on the tiled floor, tears streaming from her eyes as she struggled to catch her breath.
“Shit,” I cursed, kneeling beside her. “Annalise? You’re having a panic attack. Here…” I coaxed her up. “Sit on the toilet seat and put your head between your knees.”
She crawled across the floor and dragged herself up, positioning her body like I’d said. Taking the face washer that hung over the edge of the basin, I doused it in cold water and wrung it out tightly. Then, I folded it up and set in on the back of her neck.
“Deep breaths,” I coaxed, “in through the nose and out through the mouth.”
I pressed my palm on the wet towel and waited as her breathing steadied and the tremors in her shoulders settled. It wasn’t the first time I’d sat with someone in a bathroom like this. Memories of mint-coloured tiles filled my mind’s eye and the familiar scent of my mother’s perfume wafted up my nostrils. A thirteen-year-old kid comforting her mum as she struggled to breathe. I blinked, and I was back in Annalise’s little apartment, staring at the bottles of fair-trade strawberry shampoo and conditioner that sat on the edge of the bath.
“Any better?” I asked, rubbing soothing circles on her back.
She nodded and sniffed.
It boiled my blood that Vix had wrought so much havoc that this poor woman was forced to deal with anxiety like this. It hadn’t taken much for her to crumble, and I felt a new kind of hatred rise inside me.
“This is why we have to stop her,” I murmured. “I can’t let her do this to anyone else. It’s not about the money, it never was.”
“Then what is it about?” Annalise choked out.
“Justice, accountability, and I really want to say revenge, but that never really helped anyone. Doing this for revenge is just as poisonous as the things she’s done for her own gain.” I thought about Sebastian, and how he’d been planning to take the fall for everyone if things went south. I was glad I’d talked him out of it. Pursuing justice was better than the revenge plot we’d begun with. “Maybe at the end of all this chaos, we can all be better people because of the way we fought it.”
“She humiliated you,” she said after a moment. Raising her head, she stared at me. “How are you so strong?”
“I was broken,” I replied, remembering how I’d fled back to Point Mambie. “Looking back, I don’t really know what kept me going. I thought Sebastian had let me down, my tits were all over the internet, and I had Vix breathing down my back with the threat of releasing more footage if I didn’t sign an NDA. I had to sell my mother’s business before I left to be with Sebastian, and when all this happened, I was homeless. I had nowhere to go. Adrift, I guess you could call it.”
“That’s why you’re strong,” Annalise declared. “I drowned, but you pulled yourself up and kept going even when you had nothing to hold on to.”
I smiled, my thoughts drifting to Vanessa, Hugo, and Ziggy. Fuck, I missed them so much right now.
“I had some amazing friends,” I said. “I didn’t have much in the way of things, but they were there to pull me back from the edge.”
“You’re lucky.” A tear fell from her eye and ran down her cheek. “I lost everybody. You see, work was my entire life. My friends were there, my boyfriend, everyone. She turned them all against me.”
“You dealt with all this on your own?”
She nodded and drew in a shaky breath.
“Well,” I declared, “you don’t have to do that anymore. Here.” I took the face washer from the back of her neck and patted at the mascara smeared underneath her eyes. “It doesn’t matter if you want to testify or not. Whatever you decide, I’ll support you, but know this… you mean something, Annalise. I know this sounds cheesy as fuck, but do you want to be friends?”
She blinked as if she was stunned by my question.
“You don’t have to answer straight away,” I went on with a smile. “It’s an odd question, but given the circumstances…” I shrugged. “Wanna go make sure Harry and Shades haven’t eaten all the Tim Tams? I saw you had double-coated ones.”
“I-I’ll just be a minute.”
“Okay.” I pushed to my feet and set the face washer on the edge of the basin. “But I can’t promise I won’t eat all the Tim Tams.”
She gave me a weak smile and I left her in peace, returning to the lounge room.
“Is she okay?” Harry went to stand, but I gestured for him to plant his arse back on the couch.
“Give her a minute.” I sat beside him and plucked a Tim Tam from the packet. “She’s been through a lot and we’re asking her to move mountains.”
I knew all about loneliness and the things it could do to your heart and mind. Paired with Vix’s manipulations, it amplified everything to the point she probably didn’t know if there was a way out of the turmoil despite trying to break free. This was a huge decision she had to make and one we couldn’t push her into.
When Annalise finally emerged, we glanced up sheepishly, knowing we’d eaten almost all of her chocolate biscuits. She glanced at the handful of leftovers and smiled a sad kind of smile.
“If you can assure me I won’t get any backlash over this, then I’ll help you.” She glanced at Harry before adding, “I just… I can’t take another hit. It was a long time before I could trust again, you know?”
“We’ll do everything in our power to protect you,” I replied. “Once we’ve got everything, we’re going to the police and give our statements. They’ll protect you too. Vix can try and fight our breach of contract, but by that point, they’ll both be null and void. We both signed under false pretences.”
She glanced at Harry, then back at me, before she turned her gaze on her feet. The apartment fell into silence as she deliberated, and the only sound that permeated the anticipation was Shades shuffling from foot to foot out in the hall.
“I know how she did it,” Annalise said. “I know how she laundered the money.”
I looked at Harry, who appeared to be just as shocked as I was.
“I’ll do it,” she went on. “I’ll testify, but you have to promise me one thing…”
“Anything,” I said, her words stoking a fire in my heart.
“You have to come good on your offer to be friends. I’d very much like to be part of something again.”
“Done.”
And that’s how we came to have a new friend in our battle against Vix, and how the very American Shades wound up with a bunch of extremely coveted Aussie chocolate biscuits—wrapped in paper towel—for the ride home.
16
Juniper
I studied the Christmas decorations that hung in the shop windows as we drove through the inner city. Tinsel, wreaths, and trees glittered behind shimmering glass, an
d all the light poles were decked out with festive designs.
With just over two weeks until the big day, the streets were packed with shoppers weaving in and out of stores.
I’d never been a good gift buyer. I’d go to the shops and circle around, trying to find something that reminded me of my mum or Vanessa—because who was I kidding? They were the only two people I ever bought presents for growing up—and I’d work myself up into a lather when I couldn’t find anything. I’d end up getting a gift card and a box of chocolates, or a rushed last-minute thing I’d found at one of the local craft stores like smelly goat’s milk soap and lavender oil, or something similar.
Now, I had a whole brood of people to buy stuff for and as per usual, I hadn’t even thought about it—Harry, Josh, Damon, Nate, and even Annalise. I even felt the desire to get something for Shades—a pair of aviator sunglasses, perhaps? Then there was Sebastian. What would I get him? There didn’t seem to be anything in this world worthy to wrap up in corny paper covered in cartoonish Santas and present to him on Christmas morning. Nothing at all.
“Hey,” I said to Harry, “have you thought about Christmas presents yet?”
“No.” He let out a groan. “Don’t remind me. I’ve got a million nieces and nephews and that’s bad enough. What are you and Sebastian going to do this year?”
“Honestly, with all this going on, I haven’t even thought about it. We’ll probably stay at the McMansion.”
“It’s your first Christmas together,” he argued. “You have to do something special.”
“In a perfect world where there weren’t any stalkers, we probably would,” I mused. I felt excited just thinking about the prospect of a quiet few days at home before the new year. Sebastian and I had no immediate family, so it was just us outside of the band—no commitments meant we were free to do anything—which sounded really great.