109. Summer

Michael

Juliet trained most of the morning with Louis… masked.

Carl giving orders... Kubra led the exercises. She was fit and healthy. Her back and shoulders were all leather... snake-like skin, and I didn’t know if I could touch it.

The few patches she had at the farm were nothing, but she looked different... I had not seen her naked since then… I had heard… Warden had told me she took it badly, dropping Caleb…

But seeing her in a thin strappy top exposed most of her. I was one to talk… I didn’t even want to see myself in a mirror. All my muscles were gone. All my hard work…gone. I groaned, thinking that I would have to start all over. Go out there and exercise with them… with her…

My physiotherapy was concluding. If I wanted my body back, I would have to do it myself.

I was getting to a point where I needed to think about talking to her. She had given me space. So much space… If I stayed, I would have to commit to marrying her…. “F-!” I completely forgot.

Why wasn’t I just leaving… I couldn’t even talk to her. Face her. Sleep next to them. They were training to fight freaking Ahasuerus. Going to use the masks to make her and Louis more lethal. Who was going to talk them through it?

***

Juliet

Every day I sat and watched Michael’s door. He left it open, but Louis told me to back off, so I did. Louis and Michael had been spending time together. Setting up his shop, making sure he sees his doctors. That he slept and was moving in the right direction. Louis was also reading him the whole time. Michael didn’t mind…Louis didn’t want to share any of it with me.

I was getting restless. He had been home two months and had yet to speak two words to me… Louis eyed me suspiciously around the fire that night. He was in my mind… And I was thinking about ways to push myself in there. I didn’t mind doing the work. Michael was there, and that was all that mattered. Louis pulled me up out of my chair. We were walking over the grass to our room.

He closed the door rubbing his forehead. “Baby… Michael has a problem with your skin….” I frowned. I was a bit hurt for a second. I never thought he would care. Although I did look like some freakshow. Weird green tattoo on my arm. My snakeskin back and two other tattoos reminded other men of who I belonged to.

“So if you… push yourself in there. Or sneak in at night thinking you’re going to temp him…. like you do with the rest of us… he might get spooked… He isn’t like us. Used to weird things. Seeing it is different than experiencing it. Feeling it… Remember how you felt when you first had to manifest in front of me… You won’t sleep with anyone like that, would you?”

I sighed. It was not what I wanted to hear. I shook my head. I sat down on the bed. I knew we left him too long. I felt like a failure. Above everything he had to go through, I wanted to push him. I was being selfish. Louis left the room. I heard him knocking at Michaels’s door. I stepped out so that I could listen to their conversation.

***

Louis

I knocked on the doorframe. Michaels’s door was always open. To me, that was a good sign. Juliet was impatient. No Marcus. Constantly training with no reprieve. She would not even think about drinking or smoking.

“Yeah, come on in, Louis.” He sat up from the couch, Magazine in his hand. Yawning. It was already late that night.

“How are you sleeping?”

“Fine with the pills I have. I think I’ll keep drinking them for a while. The antidepressants had quieted my racing thoughts. I actually feel normal… Some days…”

“That’s good, man.” Katty came walking in mewing, jumping on the couch, making herself comfy next to him. Michaels’s eyes stayed on her while he rubbed her head and stroked her.

“The shop got everything you need?”

“Yeah, and then some. I’m in heaven.”

I nodded. Since he had been back, I was in his head the whole day. Staying close. “You know I have like five Ph.D.’s in psychology.”

His head snapped up. I chuckled… “Me…having this ability is great, but… it can’t really help if you don’t use it… I can see what’s going on in your mind… But talking about it is where the real healing starts. Even if it’s one sentence at a time… Me and you… Or someone else. Getting it out in the open is the only way… If you’re okay with talking to me… we will have to spend some time together. I thought,… while you’re working on your bike… but I don’t want to bring that into your shop if that is your safe space.”

Michael grabbed his hair in one hand, dragging it over his shoulder to drape on the side. He was constantly fidgeting. Playing with his beard or taking off the beany he had on his head and pulling it over his head again.

“This is my safe space…” He whispered.

I was stunned at his answer.

“I don’t want to leave. If that is what she needs to hear. You can come to the shop with me… I’d actually like talking while I’m working.”

I got up to go. It was more than I had expected him to say.

“I just can’t talk to her right now….” I stopped at the door… trying to figure out why. But there was a wall up around Juliet.

“I want to ask you something but… I don’t want to hurt you.”

“It’s Marcus? Isn’t it…”

I spun around. Michael wasn’t completely gone… He bobbed his head when I didn’t say anything. “He hasn’t been here either. They haven’t…”

I shook my head. “She needs to have…”

“Fun?” I lowered his head.

I smiled, having the first glimpse into what was bothering Michael. “Marcus… Fun… No!” I laughed lightly. Michael chortled. “How could you think that?” He laughed.

“No… Juliet and Marcus have some serious issues to sort out… and it can only happen after… I don’t know how you see everything working… Or how you saw it working before….”

He snorted, “I have seen a lot, Louis. I actually had to watch her that three years of high school. I almost… interfered a few times… and Chris that night. I had to watch her and you.” He glanced up at me. “I want to walk away because it’s easy... Me not talking to her… isn’t even about her. It’s about me and being human, fragile and useless. You are all above me… I’m not strong and looking like this.”

Another insight into what was bothering him.

Michael stood up. Neither of us expected it, but Juliet came around the corner and walked up to him, grabbing him around the waist with the thickest jersey I had ever seen her in. A polo underneath and baggy pants. Covering every inch of her. Just not her face.

The moment she did, Michael’s core contracted. His body stiffened, and his mind went blank. It could go either way. He drew in a deep breath, and instinctively his arms wrapped around her. It was the first time I saw any emotion on his face… chin quivering. He was embarrassed, feeling less of a man. Slowly I walked out of the room.

***

Michael

I never wanted to see her covering herself up again. How much she went through to take off that veil. How she rebelled and wore nothing at all… I had heard what happened with Damian. I picked her up. She was still shorter than me. Smaller. She was still just a girl. My little Juliet.

I hugged her. “You want to go for a drive on my bike? Tomorrow morning?” I whispered into her ear. Taking in the scent of her. One I longed for. She nodded, and I put her down. She wasn’t even looking at me, walking to the door. I laughed lightly at all the clothes she had on. Louis was really making it very easy.

***

The desert was actually a very cool place to take a ride. Juliet had a long-sleeved shirt that covered her arms and back with a T-shirt over it. But she had on those short pants that barely covered her ass, sitting behind me on the bike. Her thighs pressed against me. If I peeked down. All I could see were legs with boots on. It did make me feel everything I needed to. I knew it was just a matter of time.

We were headed for a bar. There was already a row of bikes parked outside when we stopped. Juliet jumped off, and I let the side stand down. Before she wanted to take off the helmet, I pulled her closer and bumped heads softly. Our helmets made a noise.

She pulled hers off, and we placed them on the bike. Got a few comments about my ride. Juliet received a few stares… Up those long legs. … and I got a few words about the girl with me… I didn’t like it.

That day we spent out of the compound. She was quiet and let me take the lead. “Do you remember when we first met?” I asked. Louis’s words made me take a step forward.

“I remember you almost falling on your face.” One side of my mouth quirked up.

“I only had a chest full of ink. Nothing on my arms, legs, or feet. I was skinny back then. Still in watcher mode. Sniper mode. Army hair… short.”

“Honestly. I don’t remember the way you looked… But anyway, I couldn’t walk properly and kept falling down in the room… I was shot.”

“I heard you crying through the door. Had to listen to you struggle… The third time I heard the “thud,” I went inside… I lifted my hands in the air, saying that I was your… butler...”

Juliet smiled… “I thought you were my parents. I didn’t want to see them. I didn’t know where I was or what was going on.”

“I went down on my haunches and picked you up. I took the crutches and showed you how to use them, almost falling.”

She laughed.

“But I helped you into them. Adjusting the height.

***

Flashback.

[“You want to place them down first and swing yourself forward, landing on the good leg. Not the way I did it…”

She tried. “Yeah… just like that. Slow and steady.”

“Thank You.” She whispered after wiping away some tears.

“Your welcome… I’ll be right at the door if you need anything. I’ll be sitting on a chair outside your room. Until you are better. Orders and all. But if you don’t like it… You can say. I’ll leave you be.”

Her eyes roamed my features skeptically. “Something wrong?”

“Tattoos… I would love to have one….”

I smirked. “Well… that is something I can help you with. I do all my designs myself and if you like... I would do it.”

She giggled and nodded. “That makes me really happy… for so many reasons. A Secret one… maybe?”

I smiled. Being Juliet’s watcher and seeing her on a screen didn’t mean we would get along in real life, but we got along from the start.

She stared at me for a while…. “You have kind eyes… Like you wouldn’t hurt a fly… What’s your name? What do I call you?”

“Michael. My name is Michael.”

She held out a hand to me. It was so small. We shook, and she tried giving a solid shake.

“Juliet.” She said. As if I didn’t know.]

The irony still made me smile. I knew her so well. And having her so close was almost unreal.

***

“I know now why Samuel came to get me himself. It had taken him ages to get the right guy to sit and watch you….” I continued our conversation. She was quiet. I had brought up Samuel, and she didn’t want to ruin the day.

“Pool?” I ventured. Too much heavy. She clapped her hands and jumped up and in one place. I laughed out loud, my eyes at the roof. Juliet was already getting sticks from behind the counter.

I got another few stares from the same bikers that were just outside. Eyebrows raised at how cool she could seem but then do something silly like that… I shrugged, and they saluted me with a beer.

“She is a little young for you….” The bartender commented. “How old are you, sweetie?” Juliet burst out laughing. She laughed so hard that she just left to go pack the table.

“She is my wife.” Juliet spun around. The laugh was gone. She lifted up her hand and wiggled her ring finger. The bartender came around and gawked at the massive diamond on her finger.

The other people that heard it were also staring.

“How long have you been married?”

“I think I was…” I picked Juliet up and put my hand over her mouth. She was going to say fifteen.

“That’s enough fun for today.” She had that naughty glint in her eyes.

The bartender eyed us skeptically… Juliet turned around in my arms and hugged me. I kissed her on top of her head… After that, the people left us alone. There was no mistaking the connection we had.