Chapter 2 #2
There she was. Juliette goddamn Ashford was in front of me, blinking the sleep away. Then those big hazel eyes locked on to mine and for the first time in five years, I got to see them in the flesh instead of in my head.
She blinked a few times, brows pulled together, all that long hair falling over her shoulders.
Then she jolted. Her eyes widened, a sharp gasp falling from those pretty lips as she looked at me and registered what was happening.
There was no way she’d recognize me in the dark—not with the balaclava on.
All she saw was a mad man standing by her bed dressed head to toe in black.
But I knew her. I knew her very, very well.
Juliette pressed her hands to the bed, looking like she was about to leap off. I moved fast. My hands grabbed at her hips and flipped her so that she was on her stomach, pressing her into the bed as my flashlight went flying, the light bouncing around us until it settled somewhere on the sheets.
“Stay still,” I said lowly. The first words I had said to her in years.
Would she recognize my voice? She was panicked and flighty.
Maybe it wasn’t clicking. Christ, it was barely clicking for me.
“Don’t move, princess.” The nickname I had for her rolled off my tongue before I could stop myself. “Just stay right there for me.”
“Please don’t hurt me,” I heard a voice say from the floor. His voice. “Please, please, please. Please don’t hurt me.”
“Wait, stop,” Juliette cried out, fidgeting below me. “Please, just stop.”
“Shh.” I stayed sitting on top of her, being careful not to give her all of my weight. “You’re gonna be fine. We just need you to tell us a few things. Can you do that for me?”
“I… I…” Juliette let out, voice all shaky. “What do you want? Please. Please, I just—”
“Stop fucking talking, Juliette!” There was that voice again. The man who had been in bed with her. Her husband. He had barked out the words. “You’re making this worse! Just be fucking quiet for once!”
I felt Juliette shake a tiny bit under me, my head tilting as I took those words in. I didn’t like the way he had just talked to her. There was a sharpness in his voice that he seemed to be accustomed to.
My throat cleared as I tensed up, letting a finger gently stroke against the soft skin of her shoulder. Instincts had taken over. Comforting her had always been easy, and there I was doing it again despite it all.
The lamp on her husband’s side of the bed was suddenly turned on by Bennett, casting a tiny glow on Juliette.
I needed the light to be brighter. I needed to see all of her.
All I got was the back of her head, her brown hair still looking so perfect despite being asleep just a minute ago.
She had on some white, knee-length nightie, showing me soft creamy skin I hadn’t seen in so long.
I watched as she heaved, her breaths shallow and rushed and panicked.
I rubbed a thumb against her shoulder again, trying to soothe her.
Why the fuck was I trying to soothe her?
“There’s no need to raise your voice, bud,” I said lowly, my eyes locked on to the back of Juliette’s head.
“What do you need us to do?” her husband asked.
“You got a safe?” I said.
“Yes. In the walk-in closet.”
“Code?”
“1964.”
“What’s in there? You got a gun in there?”
Juliette whined at the mere mention of the word.
Leaning down, my lips hovered above her ear.
Christ, she still must have used the same shampoo.
That scent took over me for a second. Her scent.
A beautiful, intoxicating combination of honey and cinnamon that almost made me groan with how much I had missed it.
“I told you: I’m not gonna hurt you,” I said. Hurting her husband, though? My hand was aching to reach for my gun, to point it right at him and take away his life in just a second flat. “Just need you to both cooperate, okay?”
She gave me a frantic nod in response.
“There’s no gun,” he blurted out. “There’s cash in there.”
“How much?” I asked.
“Three hundred thousand. Just over.”
“What else?”
“Some jewelry. My wife’s stuff.”
“Your wife, huh?” The words tasted so bitter, so wrong, so fucking painful even five years later. Once upon a time, I had wanted her to be my wife.
“You can have it,” he said. “Take it all. I don’t care.”
“Does she care?” I asked.
“Take it! It’s all yours!” he answered for her.
My eyes darted his way. He was a little too eager to give up Juliette’s shit. That made me wanna put a bullet in the back of his head even more.
“She might not like that…” I drawled.
The lights above us came on and my head turned to see Bennett in the doorway.
He was quickly making a beeline for what I assumed was the walk-in closet.
And thanks to him, I was presented with the perfect opportunity to see Juliette up close without the darkness in the way.
Her body was shaking that tiny bit and I could hear her letting out uneven breaths.
Lifting myself off her, I flipped her over, coming face to face with the girl I had fallen in love with so long ago.
God, she was beautiful. Always had been, always would be.
Big hazel eyes, long lashes, pouty lips.
There was pure panic staring back at me, and my heart hurt a little knowing that I was the one responsible for it.
Her eyes were all big as she blinked up at me rapidly, her chest heaving and her lips trembling.
Even her hands were shaking at her sides.
Could she recognize me? All she could see were my eyes. I wondered if they were enough to make her understand who was on top of her. A tiny cry escaped her quivering lips that made me hate myself. Fuck.
I kept her steady and unmoving, making sure to keep her secured under me, but that was for her own good, because the last thing I wanted her to do was run. We needed people to stay compliant. To listen. When they listened, no one got hurt, and I didn’t want Chase to lose it if we had a runner.
Shifting back, I did my best to keep less of my weight on Juliette now that I could see and track her better, and I was quickly filled with memories of all the nights we had spent with her pretty body pressed to mine. So many long nights.
But anger had replaced whatever I used to feel for her a long time ago.
When I got sent to prison, it was the sight of her face in my head that got me through the beginning.
When I was pulled away from my parents, from my mom who was already trying too hard to make ends meet and my dad who felt unneeded guilt because of what happened to him.
He felt like a burden when he was far from it.
But then I got the one letter she had ever sent me during my two years of prison, every last word still hanging heavy in my head. You were a mistake, Bridger. My worst one.
Not even a single visit either. Just a minute to look her in the eyes, to tell her I loved her, to ask if she’d wait for me.
Fuck, all I wanted back then was to fast forward through time to the day I got out and hold her again.
My plan had been to marry her, for her to be mine and for me to be hers forever.
It looked like someone else beat me to it, and the thought enraged me and bruised my heart all at once.
Clearing my throat, I reminded myself of where I was and what I was doing.
What we were doing. The plan was always simple.
Grab them. Tie them up. Shove their expensive shit into our bags and take off into the night, leaving them with a story to tell the cops and the grandkids.
But I hadn’t planned on bumping into her.
“You tyin’ her up?” Chase asked, nodding at me and Juliette.
My eyes stayed stuck on her. “I think I might stay here and keep her company…”
“Wait,” Juliette cried out, squirming underneath me, her voice drenched with panic.
I took a bit more of my weight off of her, giving her some freedom and hopefully a moment to stop her heart from racing. “I’ll be in here,” I said.
Chase sighed deeply. “What are you doing?”
“You get the stuff.” With a lazy hand, I waved over to the floor, motioning to her weak little husband who hadn’t even made a fucking effort to protect his wife. “I’m gonna be a little busy.”
“You’re not touching that girl.”
“I’m not gonna hurt her. I just wanna talk. Take him with you.” I pointed at the floor, gesturing to her husband.
“Why?” Chase snapped.
“Just do as you’re told, okay?”
“If I hear her screaming, I’m coming back in here.” Chase yanked the man off the floor with ease, pulling him over to the side of the room. “Time to show us all your fancy shit.”
My eyes flickered over to the right, watching as they disappeared through the doorway that Bennett had moved into earlier.
They’d be in there for a little while. That gave me a chance to focus on what was under me: the girl I hadn’t seen in five fucking years.
Her breaths were still coming out in short, irregular rasps.
The hands she had placed either side of her were trembling; her whole body was trembling.
“Oh, sweetheart, it’s been so long, huh?” I murmured, leaning down so that my lips were right by her ear. “Five years is a long fucking time to go without seeing you up close.”
“Who are you?” she asked with a pant. “What do you want?”
“You don’t remember me?”
“What?”
“I definitely remember you.” My lips stayed right next to her ear, feeling her shudder below me. “Pretty hard to forget you.”
“I don’t…” She squirmed, a little cry leaving her. “Please, I don’t know who you are.”
“You sure you don’t know? Last time I had you pinned underneath me like this you were in my bed, and you definitely knew who I was. Couldn’t get you to stop screaming out my name, and you sounded so damn good doing it.”
I let the words sink in as I hovered my face over hers. It took a good ten seconds, but finally, those pretty eyes widened even more than they had done earlier.