Chapter Fifty-Six
ADAM
The next few days were strange. Julie ended up sleeping in that spare room, probably more because she didn’t want to keep me awake than anything else. Did it mean I slept at all? Fuck no.
In fact, halfway through the first night, I realised that the only way I could cope with her being in that room, was if I slept right outside the fucking door.
So that’s what I did. I waited an hour or so, until she was hopefully asleep, and then I grabbed my duvet, and sat against the wall outside her room, wrapped in the duvet, and slept awkwardly, and fitfully against the fucking wall. It was agonisingly uncomfortable, but no more so than being apart from her.
She had been having long phone calls with Cass, and Lenore, who was fast becoming one of her dearest friends. The three women had bonded pretty well.
And the Bennetts, true to their word, which still surprised me, were being damn supportive. It started with a transfer of twenty thousand pounds into my account, which, when I questioned it, I was advised was for ‘any fucking thing we needed’. When I tried insisting on giving it back, they took major offense. Reminded me not to piss them off.
From there, there was the counsellor they’d arranged, who was visiting daily for an hour, to sit with Julie, and listen to her, and to support her.
Jeffrey was keeping in touch, and the older nurse from the clinic, who’d bonded with Julie in the short time she’d been there, was also checking in. All covered by the Bennetts.
It was incredible, really. I’d thought them to be the worst kind of men. The ones who preyed on others, and took great pleasure in the downfall of others. And they pretty much were. But they fiercely protected those within their ‘family’ as they called it. Fucking mafia, more like. They’d clearly decided that we were part of this ‘family’ now, and I was seeing a different side of them.
Take tomorrow, for example. We were invited to dinner at their house, with Marco and Lenore. A ‘family gathering’ they called it. I ran it by Julie, who actually jumped at the chance. I was trying not to take that as a blatant slur against my cooking, but that maybe she actually needed to be around others, and not be so isolated.
The other thing creeping up on us, though, was her return to work. She’d been given the week off, against her wishes, and although it had turned out to be so far from the holiday that her boss had insisted on, I was worried that she’d insist on going back.
So when I was woken this morning, by Julie practically tripping over my duvet, as she stepped out of her room, I figured it was probably the day to discuss the fact that I thought she needed more time.
“Adam, what the… is this where you’ve been sleeping?” She was starting to sound more like her old self, which seemed impossible to me, but was also a hell of a relief.
“Oh… uh… I was just... Uh… there’s no way I can explain this away, is there?” I stared up at her, my eyes still slightly bleary with sleep.
She smiled down at me. “You’ve been watching over me every night? No wonder you look so exhausted.”
“I like to think of it as ‘rugged’.”
She actually laughed. “Why don’t you go shower, and I’ll make coffee?”
She was still in her fuzzy pyjamas, the unicorn ones. I loved those.
“I can do it.” I protested, pushing up from the floor, and groaning, when my back made that awful crunching noise.
She grimaced, heading for the stairs. “Do as you’re told, Teller.”
Huh… I watched her leave, and then? I did as I was told.
In the living room, when I came down, dressed, and smelling a hell of a lot better than when she saw me last, I saw she was curled up on the sofa, coffee in hand, and looking adorable. The bruising on her face was fading much faster than we’d both hoped, and she didn’t look as fragile or haunted as she had, even yesterday.
“How are you feeling, my sweet angel?” I sat beside her on the sofa, and grabbed the coffee she’d made for me.
“I’m good. I mean, I think I feel more like me today.” She smiled, and sipped her coffee, and I watched her closely. I hoped it wasn’t something that would last a short time, and drop her back into the fragile state she’d been living in.
“That’s good, baby. I’m so proud of you. What do you want to do today?”
She sighed. “I don’t know. I know we’re having dinner with everyone tomorrow, and the day after, I should be going back to work. Doctor Doris is coming in an hour, is that okay?” Doctor Doris was her counsellor, and I’d never get in the way of that.
“Of course, whatever you need. I might go and get some work done in the office, while you’re with her.”
I’d been doing that so she could speak freely, without worrying about me being around. I wasn’t ready to leave the house without her, so it was the best I could do.
Of course, there was no work to do. I had no cases, except the one the Bennetts had massively overpaid me for, and there was no wrap-up for that. No report needed. No invoicing. I had fuck all to do and it was driving me insane.