96. Telling Louis

Juliet

“Hey, Rodrigo. You here?”

“You’re late.” A voice came from one of the cubicles. He was cleaning.

“Yeah I’m sorry. I won’t be able to do this walk next month. Send a car.”

Rodrigo came over and picked me up. “Are you tired a lot…?” I nodded. “You comfy?”

“On this steel table. No. Can’t we get a material one?”

“Sure, I’ll put it on the budget… Your husband overseas.”

“Yeah, there is something I need to talk you about. I had some bleeding this morning.”

He looked worried. “I’ll have to do an internal exam. Are you okay with that?”

I shrugged, pulling down my pants. He gave me a gown and helped me into it. He placed a blanket on the table.

I watched him and snickered. “You planned this.”

He nodded. “You are my first real patient.” We both laughed lightly.

“So anything happened that I should know about. Did you stop drinking? Like I said…” I nodded. For the last couple of days anyway. “Smoking and… You and Louis? You guys taking it easy.”

I bit my bottom lip. Slowly shaking my head. “Is that what happened? Is he being rough with you?” I was quiet.

Rodrigo got agitated. “Juliet, you have to tell him. If that monster emerges while… That would break you guys.” I was immediately on edge. Louis had shown no signs. His self monstering hadn’t come out yet. Accept for the few small patches of leather he had on his body.

“I had not thought about it. He… is different… actually.”

“Like you were?”

I swore loudly. How could I be that stupid? Louis wasn’t being an ass.

“Okay. So tonight. No more rough sex. The baby comes first.”

He put a condom on the long probelike sonar thing. I was on my back, and he prepared me for it.

“Have you heard from Michael… Rodrigo?” He always avoided the subject. “You know something. Why won’t you say? I need to find him. I’m going a little out of my mind. If Qadir took him after finding out… where would he stash him?”

“Probably the last place you’ll think of.”

“I have had this whole compound searched. Even gone through with tech to find hidden rooms. And your still the one thing that doesn’t belong.”

“Spooky at a distance.”

“Exactly.”

The baby's heartbeat went bonkers next to me. My head turned to the screen. “I’ve even searched in your old house… where we met. I checked every location that had fighting cages. Wherever there are. I let them search Qadir’s study to find any clues. Nothing.”

“If I don’t tell you. Just know I have a very good reason. What is it with the way you feel about all of them?”

The way Rodrigo bit the inside of his cheek when I spoke about Michael… made me nervous.

“I don’t know. If anyone was first, it was Michael. He was there before Marcus. Watching for years. I can’t even wrap my mind around that. Would you not have fallen in love?”

“But Marcus was first for you.”

“Michael was there right after Marcus branded me. When I was all alone.”

“He didn’t tell you he was your watcher?”

I shook my head. “The butler.” That made both of us laugh. Rodrigo and I were becoming friends. It was the most outrageous thought.

I feared Marcus for so long. What he could become. I couldn’t live without him anymore. I feared Rodrigo. He was a part of my life. Time really did heal some things. Even if he did know about Michael. I didn’t have all the facts.

I got off the exam table. I had really tried building a relationship with Rodrigo so he would trust me and just tell me. If I told Louis, he would come down on this place and make Rodrigo talk. I didn’t want that anymore. I might be naïve and ignorant about it. But it felt like damaging that relationship just to find Michael wasn’t the right course of action. But it meant I wasn’t sleeping well at night. All the reasons building up.

***

Soren

I was sitting on her couch in the bookstore… waiting. It was less than a half-hour, or I would have to go. The thought of not seeing her ever again was depressing.

The back door pushed open. I was too scared to look up. If it wasn’t her… if she couldn’t make it. Juliet sat down next to me, taking my hand leaning her head on my shoulder.

She would never ask me to stay… The one thing about her. It was all up to me… She turned to me and stroked her fingers through my hair, tying it on top of my head. She handed me a gift. It was small and wrapped.

“I don’t think you have to worry. I’m coming home either way. I will come to find you.” I drew in a ragged breath. She knew just what to say, and she meant it. My hands cupped her face, and my lips pressed against hers. “You might have to wait a while… And… if you are married by then. I’ll congratulate you.” I smiled.

“Soren!” I heard Isla calling me. Juliet didn’t get up. She wouldn’t get up.

“Hi, Juliet.”

“Hello, Isla.”

“Come Soren. The truck is already waiting. We have to be on the list.” I nodded and got up. No point in prolonging the inevitable.

“Bye, Julie…”

Juliet was nervously biting her thumb. Nodding. “You’ll have to do it, Soren… I can’t.”

“I know.” I pulled her up and kissed her. Picking her up in my arms, pressing her into me so hard that our lips had to part, letting my hands run over her back into her hair before I dropped her. She drove me wild…

I did it for her. I just left.

***

Juliet

I walked up to the main gate of the estate. Damian wasn’t hanging anymore but sitting on the grass outside. No eyes no arms. Constand pain. Just sitting there. All I wanted to do was shoot him.

My heart was already breaking. I was going to have to tell Louis what was going on. Tell him about Soren… Walking up to Jessy, I held out my hand. He didn’t hesitate. He put the gun down on my palm. I pointed it down to the ground took the safety off. I walked over held up the gun. I pressed it in between his eyes.

“Thank You, Juliet.” I shot Damian, and he fell down at my feet.

The noise had echoed through the estate and down into the valley. But no one batted an eye. That was how things went there. I handed the gun back to Jessy. My eyes caught a figure on the steps in front of the main building. My gaze traveled up to Agatha. At least she noticed. We both nodded at each other. She also thought it was time. I walked slowly up the lane. The trees were lovely. That two hundred-meter stretch of road meant so much…

I heard Jessy behind me. I turned to him. “Who gave the order?”

“Kubra.”

I laughed. “And here I thought it was one of my husbands.”

“They wouldn’t dare…”

“Was that a joke Jessy?” He shrugged.

***

Louis was home for a change. I could hear him talking to my parents in the kitchen. I couldn’t deal with everyone, let alone him… For the next five minutes anyway. I had to get myself together. I came back from my disappeared state in our room.

I was fragile. Emotional and mourning another loss. I closed the door and got into bed. Diving deep under covers. I just shot a guy…Frustrated that Louis wouldn’t be able to comfort me. It was all my own doing… Stupid Juliet.

The door opened and closed. Louis got into the bed and pulled me underneath him. My pants went and not even all the way. He pulled up my legs, shoving himself in me without asking. Rough and hard again. I wanted to tell him to stop. I had to.

“Louis.” He did… immediately stop moving. I was glad that he wasn’t berating me again. Happy he wasn’t crying… My heart raced. His eyes cast down at my chest. He put a flat hand on my heart.

“Can you read me, please?”

His optimistic blue eyes shot up at my face. He stared into mine for a moment. His eyebrows raised for a second. The bright eyes turned to grey pebbles. Slowly he pulled out of me. Louis jumped up and back off the bed, away from me. Pulling up his pants and I did the same.

“WHAT THE F-! Juliet!!” He roared… So loud that everyone would have heard him. “I was hurting you. Why would you let me…?” He spat through gritted teeth.

I swallowed hard. He kept staring at me. Kept reading me. His eyes were as round as saucers. His heart started racing. Lips forming a thin line… compressed together… almost white… gritting his teeth. It looked like he was going to explode. He tried to speak. He wanted to say something and then screamed like I’d never heard him before. “JULIET!! What THE F-! What is wrong with you!!”

“I don’t know. So much was going on, and I was already three months when you returned from your world trip.” He stepped back even further.

“That night in the tub… Juliet, I was so rough that night.” His hands didn’t just rub his forehead. They went through his hair as he held it back, peering down at me. He turned away from me and back at me. Agitated.

“You’ve been rough ever since… quickies and… not asking… Last night was… different….” I couldn’t finish talking, so I thought about it. I thought about how I felt him not even being able to look at me anymore… about my visit to Rodrigo that day. The blood…

He stopped breathing. “I made you bleed.”

He spun around on his heels in one spot. As if moving was the only way he could manage not freaking out anymore. After some time, he turned to me… “I… don’t know what to say… I have you all to myself. I… didn’t think… It’s because I wasn’t reading you… I’m sorry baby… Why?”

“It’s just… I don’t mind if that is what you like.” He swore loudly, his hand jumping up, covering his eyes... “I just can’t… I need more, and it’s starting to hurt the pregnancy.”

I don’t think I could have insulted him more. He grabbed his bottom lip between his teeth to stop tears from falling.

He was speechless, but he knew that I didn’t want him to leave. He walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed. Holding back tears. Holding back his anger. “Why?”

“You were so busy. You didn’t want to hear me when I tried talking to you.”

A knock came from the door.

“Come in…” It was my mom. She seemed worried. Everyone was behind her. She opened the door even wider. Their gazes traveled from Louis to me.

“I’m pregnant… It’s… Chris’s baby.” When I said Chris’s name, a sob escaped me. “Rodrigo knows where Michael is, and he won’t say….” Another sob. “I think he’s somewhere in a hole dying.” The sadness was just too much.

“Carl, are you ready?” He nodded and walked over.

***

Louis

We were both crying. I couldn’t watch… as she changed. Gooseflesh covered every part of me as I thought about the last two months. Carl put the mouthpiece on. I didn’t even know they found it. Where had I been? I had never seen her being controlled. It would scare the living crap out of me seeing her like that.

My first episode hadn’t even happened yet. I had never crossed over. I pushed past everyone. Liam grabbed my arm. “You’re leaving now?” I yanked myself away from him.

There was really only one place I could go. I made my way to the science building. I knew where he was. Just never thought to go. Why would I want to see him? He fixed Juliet, and that was all he should have done.

Listening to myself, I already knew the problem. Listening to Juliet telling me I hurt her… I knew the problem.

I really didn’t like it rough. Not making love, just sex… there was a time for both… but the way I treated her… I felt like throwing up… I pulled the car over… and I did… at the side of the road. It was just blood… I swore…

I was turning, but it was different than hers. It was primal when I saw her at night. Or when I came home at all. I didn’t care. I just wanted her. Not being in her mind had made it worse. I should never have let her go one that long.

But again, I knew why I didn’t ask. Pushed her to say. Why I didn’t, as Chris told me to, “not let her turn inward again. Don’t let her lie…”

He wasn’t gone for three months, and I couldn’t fill his shoes. Marcus would have stopped it long ago… There would have been accountability. I wouldn’t have fallen for the Alpha role. Marcus could handle it… I was free from judging eyes, and I failed the test horribly.

***

The elevator opened. I walked past all the glass cubicles, entered his workroom, and laid myself on the steel table. Rodrigo was there. He was nervous. Juliet was right. He knew where Michael was.

I glanced at the corner where Michael had been tied up when Qadir met with him the first time. The second was when Kubra came for the buttons... Michael had been drugged… Tied up and gagged. Rodrigo had no control over his thoughts. Michael wasn’t there anymore. He was taken away just after Juliet came the second time. Michael had been there for so long... But I was on a world tour… too busy.

If I had come myself, I would have found the secret room. When I took over, I would have found him. I knew Juliet was searching her little heart out.

It also meant that someone in there had done it. Taken orders that were not from me. So, not only did I feel like I hurt Juliet, but I made Michael suffer. He might be dead.

“I’ve come for you to end my life.”

Rodrigo laughed. “So, dramatic… You can’t die. Who will take care of her? As you can see, there is no one else, Louis.”

The thought hit me like a bat to the face. I did this in the first place to be able to protect her. And nothing was settled. No… it would get worse… We could be invaded at any moment. Forced to go back.

“I’m not doing an outstanding job.” I sighed. I was just going to have to do better. Get control of the new ability that gave me so much power.

“Let’s see about those injections and whether they have made you a little batty. Juliet was here this morning. Told me she would tell you. I was kinda expecting you. Have some of the good stuff ready… I did tell Michael I had never done this with a man… Why he insisted…?” Rodrigo kept rambeling.