Unreal 2 Cold Illusion - Winter's Chill: (Adult Suspense Thriller) Page 8

  “Did I ever tell you… no. No I know I haven’t.”

  Just like Juliet, Ethan had his own painful memories. Every time he thought of his mother’s laugh or his father teaching him how to swing a bat or his sister teasing him because he wore too much aftershave, his mind inevitably went to that night when the people he loved were brutally taken from him. He could not talk to anyone, even her, about before.

  But maybe he should start to try.

  “When I was eight,” he started as he began rummaging through the cabinets for bowls and an electric mixer, “my sister and I got the bright idea to bake our parents a cake for their anniversary. Not like we had the money to buy them a proper gift, so we thought this was the next best thing.”

  He got some eggs from the fridge and door opened the cardboard box.

  “So I wanted to do angel’s food,” he continued. Juliet smiled and moved to his side.

  “Guess some things never change.”

  “Damn straight,” he said. “But she wanted to do chocolate, so we got the bright idea to just throw everything in the same bowl, mixed it all up, and topped it off with strawberry icing.”

  Juliet made a face.

  “And should I even ask how...”

  “It was disgusting. But my parents said they were proud that we had tried, cut two pieces, and ate every single bite. Of course, they tossed rest of the cake the next day. Like I said, it was awful.”

  He took Juliet’s hand and laid a soft kiss on her brow.

  “Let’s see if I’ve gotten better with time, huh? I’ve always wanted to give it another shot. Could be fun if we do it together, right?”

  Juliet still seemed sad for not having the last of her gifts ready in the first place, but then she rolled up her sleeves, and he saw the light start to return to her eyes.

  “Let’s give it a shot.”

  7

  He was obviously much-improved from the little boy who put too many ingredients into the same pot. But Julie still had to pick some eggshells out of the batter before they poured the fruits of their labor into two round pans. As the cake cooked in the oven, he took the quilt back to the bedroom. Julie felt a pang of regret nip at her soul. She could have given him so much more if…

  No. She swore that she would try not to think about it. At the very least, she could give him that gift.

  “So…”

  Julie looked up when he returned to the kitchen and noticed the purplish bruise starting to form around his jaw.

  “Oh! Wait.”

  She took a handful of ice from the freezer and wrapped it in a clean dish towel.

  “Sit down.”

  “Juliet---”

  “Please, Ethan.”

  He followed her order, and as she pulled her chair closer, she held the makeshift icepack to his injured face.

  “I’m so sorry I did that.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I got a hard head.”

  His hand met hers against the cool cloth, and Julie looked deeper into his eyes.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure,” he answered. “What do you want to know?”

  “Do you ever… do you ever talk to your parents? Or your sister?”

  He tensed at the sound of her questions, and she wondered if she should have asked it in the first place. She never would have dreamt of it but for the fact that he brought them up first.

  “Talk to them?”

  “Yeah. You know like… like when you’re trying to figure something out. You might ask them for advice. Have you ever done that?”

  She waited and watched as he considered her question carefully. Then, lowering the icepack to the table, he sighed.

  “I guess maybe I do, without even realizing it. Why?”

  “I… and I’m not breaking our pact here. But sometimes… sometimes I talk to Kim.”

  Kim was always the person that Julie went to with the big stuff. It made her mom squeamish to deal with anything heavy, and now Julie understood why. Sharon Heller was woefully underqualified when it came to facing up to things and trying to make sense of the shadows all around her. Maybe that is why Julie feared so many things even before their final, fateful trip. It was different with Kim. She was the kind of friend who told her to relax into life and give new experiences a chance. It could be argued that that advice had not served either of them well in the end, but Greg’s scheme was far beyond their control.

  “What do you talk to her about?” Ethan asked.

  Julie smiled shyly and looked away.

  “I… sometimes I talk to her about you.”

  Bold enough to glance back, she saw Ethan’s eyebrows shift towards his hairline.

  “Oh really, and what do you say?”

  She brought the ice back to his face with one hand and ran her fingers down the other side of his face. Maybe it was how they had met or all that she had been through, but he still had the kindest eyes that she had ever seen.

  “I tell her… I tell her how good you are to me. How… how I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have you.”

  He pulled away from the ice and softly kissed her cheek. She felt a buzz of warmth circle her heart at the feel of his lips on her skin.

  “Thank you, Juliet. That’s the best gift you could have ever given me.”

  She met his smile and leaned forward in her chair.

  “You would have liked her, Ethan. She was… she was fearless, so full of life. She could have done anything if…”

  This was easier in theory, the not talking about the baggage lying scattered all around them.

  “I’m sure I would have,” Ethan said. It as if he wanted to keep her off the cluttered pages of her past and turn her mind to something simpler.

  “And would she have liked me?”

  Julie thought hard before she answered. If she had lived long enough to know what he had done, she would have known nothing but gratitude. Anything else was impossible. But Julie stepped away from that and imagined a scenario where she met the man in some far more innocent setting. She might have bumped into him at a coffee shop and spilled a latte all over his shoes. Anyone else would have railed at her for her clumsiness. Ethan would have told her that it was no big deal and smiled.

  But if she was being honest…

  “Probably not at first,” she teased.

  “Oh really, why’s that?”

  “Because… well she would have wanted me to fall for someone…”

  The last thing that she wanted to do was hurt him, but Ethan just laughed and nursed his injured jaw.

  “Someone not so long in the tooth?”

  Julie scrunched her face and playfully patted his thigh.

  “Why do you do that? Ethan, you are not an old man.”

  “But your friend might have…”

  She could hear Kim chiding her for settling, thinking that she could do better. Kim would have gone out of her way to turn Julie’s head to anyone else. Even as Julie still would have known that she would never want anything more than Ethan.

  “At first, sure, but then she would see how sweet you are. She would have seen me happy with you. Yeah. She would’ve grown to like you, Ethan. She… I mean she never really would have done it, but she might have even gotten ideas about the two of you together.”

  Again her mind went to that place where Kim was the one who had survived the nightmare. Maybe they would have taken comfort in each other. No doubt Kim would have emerged a different person than the girl that had envisioned their vacation as a series of never ending hookups. The thought of Kim sitting her now in her place was far from abhorrent to her. If Kim had survived, Julie would have wanted her to be happy.

  “Well no one’s ever taking me away from you,” he said, still talking past the darkness and trying to keep the conversation as normal as possible. “You’re stuck with me, Juliet.”

  “Good,” she whispered as she smoothed his hair from his face. “No place I’d rather be.”

  The timer ding
ed, and she moved to take the cake from the oven. Inhaling the sweet smell, she knew that they would have to let it cool before even thinking of icing. As the cake rested on the stove, she turned back to Ethan and held out her hand.

  “Let’s go to bed.”

  He was up like a shot and shook his head.

  “We don’t have to---”

  “No. Not like that. I… I just want to feel you sleeping beside me.”

  She saw him blush, and as he placed the ice in the sink, he took her hand.

  “And I want you to sleep, Ethan. Please promise me that you’ll try.”

  With a smile and a nod, she led him back to the bedroom. This time was different. She was feeling no fear of failure. It would be good to just hold him and try to dream a good dream.

  Wearing only a t-shirt and boxers, he climbed into bed beside her and turned off the light. As his head hit the pillow, a sliver of moonlight crossed his face, and she touched his jaw again.

  “I’m still sorry about that.”

  Ethan lifted his finger and traced the line of her scar. She remembered those first moments when she did not trust him, when she thought that he would hurt her like the others. Even thinking that made no sense now. She trusted him with every part of her being, and even though she swore to forget Morales’ plan for justice, she believed that Ethan would find a way to keep her out of the witness box.

  8

  He honored his promise and finally closed his eyes. When she heard his breath, slow and heavy, Julie snuggled closer to him and found her way into her own dreams.

  She was with Kim at the end of the trip that had never started. Both girls were tanned and rested. As sad as it was to see the adventure end, they were better off for having shared it. There was no Matt. No Pete. No endless days of confinement.

  “Home sweet home,” Kim sighed as she pulled her Camry up Julie’s driveway.

  “Guess so. It was fun though, wasn’t it?”

  Kim nodded as Julie got out of the car at the sight of her mother and Greg waving from the front door. Julie hoisted her three simple bags from the car as she headed towards her parents. She expected Kim to be right on her heels, but when she did not hear the sound of her door opening, Julie looked back over her shoulder. Kim stayed behind the wheel, not moving.

  “Kimmy?”

  Julie let her bags fall to the grass and sprinted back to the car.

  “What’s the problem, Kimmy?”

  Kim looked to Julie through the open window; she noticed gray pallor pour over her friend’s face, and when she spoke, her voice cold monotone.

  “It’s not fun, Jules.”

  Julie’s eyes shot open. As she blinked and reached to be sure that Ethan was still at her side, her heartbeat steadied at the sight of him sleeping. Her head sank deeper into the pillow, and she tried to wrap her head around the dream. A part of her hated herself for living but it was as if Kim, who had to be in heaven after their shared hell on earth, was taking a page from Sharon Heller’s playbook and blaming her, too. Julie wondered if their friendship would have survived the hit that Greg was the one responsible for their troubles. If it had not, that would have been one more precious thing lost for all time.

  Ethan stirred in his sleep and turned towards her. Forcing the bad thoughts down to the pit of her soul, Julie waited with a smile until he opened his eyes and mirrored her grin.

  “Good morning,” he said.

  If she wanted to be normal, this was as good a place as any to start.

  “Happy Birthday Ethan.”

  She kissed his lips without fear and gently touched the bruise on his face.

  “It looks better today.”

  “So do you.”

  He held her close for a few moments, and then Julie’s eyes drifted towards the window.

  “Oh! Look!”

  Ethan followed her stare, and they both saw the snow spilling from the sky. Julie shifted from his side and looked down at the city block covered in soft, powdery white. Maybe because it was still so early, maybe because it was Saturday, but the world looked so peaceful, and as Julie kept trying to shake off her strange dream, she wanted to be a part of the world just outside their window.

  “Let’s go to the roof!” she said as she flounced back to the bed.

  “You want to?” he asked, her excitement so contagious that it penetrated his voice.

  “Yes!”

  They bundled up and stepped into the snowfall. Julie sighed as she watched the flakes fall and melt upon her gloved fingers. The air was cold, but the wind was gone. A warm, contented feeling settled under her skin as she moved to the ledge and stared up at the sky.

  Kim.

  Julie knew that the dream was just a crazy collection of everything that raced through her head before her promise to Ethan that she would try to forget for this one day. Kim was somewhere up there, sitting on a cloud, and Julie pictured her stretching her hand to the sky and scattering the snow for her to see. This was her gift to Julie, and she smiled at the thought as Ethan drew nearer and pressed her body to his.

  “It’s beautiful,” he whispered into her ear.

  “Absolutely.”

  He kissed her hair and held her tighter.

  “So are you.”

  Julie said nothing and just rested in his arms as the snow covered them. She imagined the snow falling forever and cutting them off from the rest of the world. They would stay hidden and happy.

  “I have another present for you, Ethan.”

  His nose nuzzled her hair, and she could feel his smile against her neck.

  “I don’t need anything else---”

  “I love you.”

  It came out quick, and when she felt him start to back away from her, she wondered if she had said the wrong thing. Maybe that was not what this was. He had saved her and vowed to protect her, but love? She knew that he would do anything to keep her safe, but was that where whatever they had started and stopped all at once?

  “Juliet?”

  She looked up and focused on his eyes. They stared at her in amazement, and she started to frown at her mistake. But then he gently touched her face, her scar, and his smile expanded.

  “You have no idea how much I love you, too.”

  Julie lifted her body to the tips of her toes and kissed him as the snow swirled around them. Whatever lay ahead, she would be fine. Because she had him at her side, and she would never let him go.

  “Okay. Open your eyes.”

  When they finally returned to the apartment, Ethan said he was going to grab a quick shower. Julie seized the few moments she had to herself and iced the cake with record speed. Carefully placing it at the center of the table, she arranged seven candles in a tight circle.

  Then she heard his footsteps nearing the room.

  Julie made a dash for his side, and she caught his hand before he could see her handiwork.

  “Wait! Close your eyes.”

  He started to speak, but then his lids fell and she guided him to the kitchen.

  “Perfect,” she said as she ran her hands down his arms and smelled the scent of the quick shower wafting off of his body in fresh, clean waves. Julie struck a match, and when it was just right she told him to look.

  “Juliet,” he said with a laugh.

  She brought him closer to the tabled and rubbed his back.

  “We’ll ice the next one together. I promise. But right now, you have to make a wish.”

  Julie watched his face as he considered his options. Then he looked into her eyes and touched her hair.

  “It already came true.”

  She clasped his arm and laid her head on his shoulder.

  “Then how about you wish for more of this?”

  Ethan did as he was told and snuffed out the candles with one blow. Julie clapped and hugged him close. More than anything, she wanted his wish to stay true forever.

  They spent the day in each other’s arms, watching the snow fall, watching old movies where pretty people kissed
their way to happy endings. Julie was not pretty. Her scars saw to that. But she almost forgot them as he stroked her arms and kissed her hair.

  “It might not be so easy,” she finally said.

  “What do you mean?”

  She hating breaking the pact, but as day turned to night, it needed to be said.

  “Seeing Morales on a Sunday. Maybe you should just drop it. It’s okay if---”

  His fingers moved under her chin, but she avoided his eyes.

  “I… I don’t want you to worry about it. I said I’d take care of it.”

  Julie pictured him rising early the next morning, phoning Morales when his feet were barely out the door. She would agree to meet him, but what then? Would he fly into a rage and force her to call for backup to drag him from Leo Barber’s office until he was left to languish in some cell? She did not want that. Not for him. And she did not want to face the next night or any night alone.

  “I’m going with you,” she finally said.

  Ethan started to shake his head, but Julie steadied him with a slightly trembling hand and stayed in his eyes.

  “Yes, Ethan. I’m going with you. I want to tell her that I won’t do it. She’ll hear it from me, and then… then she’ll leave us alone.”

  “Juliet---”

  “I can do it. If… if you’re with me, I can handle it. Just… please don’t leave me alone.”

  Her trembling intensified, and Ethan held her close. She wondered… no. She hoped for another night when she could give herself to him without fear, and then they would know happiness beyond his birthday wish.

  “Okay, Juliet, together.

  9

  Leo Barber’s office was a place of must and mahogany. With narrowed eyes, Julie saw the degrees hanging on the wall over his desk, and then her eyes rested on pictures of the man behind the nameplate shaking hands with every manner of politician. In each photo, Leo Barber’s smile was bright, but his eyes were devoid of emotion. His manicured eyebrows and tanned skin suggested a man that had never known any true struggles, but he had to have seen things. That is why he could nott laugh with the men and women frozen in triumph at his side.