Chapter Twenty
April Eighteenth
Wolfgang
June stirred to rustling while laying in his bed. Wolfgang had convinced her to stay the night when she had work the next day; that got easier and easier to do. He slept better when she was there and he liked to think that she did too. The bed weighed down close to her as his hands slid, circling her in the early morning and began pulling June into himself. “Good morning.”
His deep voice played on her ears. June groaned, still tired but worked her body to him even more.
“What time is it?”
Her voice was throaty.
he twisted to look at the clock, “five forty five.”
June scowled, “why are we awake?”
“Because.”
He pulled her chin up and kissed her lips repeatedly, waking her more. He adjusted, hovering over her, biting her ear and kissing her neck wildly with no protest, his teeth grazing her skin as he continued to kiss underneath each previous spot. Wolfie grabbed at her chest roughly, the texture of her cotton tee shirt was harsh between them.
“Are you okay?”
She breathed, thrown off by his aggressiveness. She hadn’t felt this much passion behind him during foreplay before.
“No, but I could be.”
He murmured, not letting go. “I woke up needing your body under mine.”
His hand lifted her shirt, “Or on, I'm not picky.”
“Wait,”
June pushed him back feeling grit under her and pulled out her mothers necklace, the chain broken again. “Oh no.”
She showed Wolfgang.
“Don’t stress about it,”
he grabbed the bundle and set it on his end table, “We can get that fixed. Come here.”
She welcomed him as he was feeling her puckered nipples and replacing his hand with his mouth giving a short turn on each. Wolfie jerked her waistband down to her knees in one motion, sliding two fingers between her legs. June began to moan quietly until his mouth found hers again, eventually pulling his hand and lips off of her and stripped his bottoms off.
He watched Juniper with dark eyes, following his lead by sliding her shirt off in the early morning glow, removing her panties and he crawled back over her. He throbbed as she gently caressed him and wanting it rougher than that, his hand engulfed hers to guide her, showing Juniper exactly what he needed. Still not satisfied, Wolfgang stopped after a minute of stroking to collect both of her hands, pinning them over her head and pushed her knees farther apart. Wolfie directed himself exactly where he wanted to be and looked at her, watching her body take the impact of the slow thrust of his hips.
He dripped her hands and felt along her body before adjusting her hips closer to him. Observing her face he bowed to her lips and whispered, “God, you’re perfect.”
June dropped her arms around his neck, not letting him up and met her lips to his.
Juniper
The door chimed as June walked into work. She started to realize that she was too busy to make a dress for herself. "Hey, golden," she said.
“Oh hello, Junie babe.”
He responded.
She set her bag on her station, “I have a question.”
“What is it?”
He answered without looking up.
“With the ball being less than a month away, I was wondering if I could maybe wear that black sample dress I made?”
" Well, I don't see why not."
"Alright, can we make sure it doesn't go anywhere?"
"Why don't you grab it and take it home today? Most of our orders have been taken."
"Thank you, golden. Do I need to pay for it?"
"No, thank you, how are things going with you and Wolfgang?"
"They're going good.”
She smirked. “The days we do get to see each other.”
"That's too bad, things will lighten up after the ball. Some days I wish it was close to the ball because of how slow it can get throughout the year."
*****
June sat at her station and ate her packed lunch while staring out the windows along the front of the store at people coming and going. Two women left the diner a few doors down and passed a group of gruff men, four of them. She took note of their faces as they followed one another. An older man with a hat, a tall man with a beard, She smirked thinking of Wolfgang before her eyes followed the third man, the only one who looked in the shop. The freckle under his eye and his birthmark on his elbow made it real. That was Ben.
Not able to catch her breath, she watched him vanish into the diner. June wanted to leave, run and hide to process this but was afraid he would watch from the diner. She didn’t know if he saw her or he was just looking around for her. She thought about texting Wolfgang but her mind was in a tug of war with her just seeing things, her mind playing tricks on her and the information that Wolfie had access to, did not describe Ben. The other part was that she unquestionably saw Ben.
Thirty six minutes later, the group of men returned to their vehicle, none of them paying attention to the shop. June grew furious, all she wanted was to move on and live a normal life. She had traveled thousands of miles to escape him and here he was, he couldn’t leave her alone, he couldn’t let her be happy. She stood, slowly crossed to the window in the shop and peered slowly to the glass to see no sign of him or the men he was with. Returning to her desk, she grabbed her bag, shoving her phone into it and phone and paced to Golden in the back, “Can I leave?”
“Is everything okay?”
He looked at the panic and worry on her face.
She lied, “I don’t feel good.”
“Oh,”
He backed up. “Yes, keep me updated so I know how you’re doing or if you’re contagious.”
“Thank you.”
She turned and darted out the door as quickly as she could. June ran, tears forming in her eyes. She ran north, knowing those men were headed south to the farm land. She ran past her street and she ran past Wolfie’s street. Exiting the residential streets, she stopped doubled over, catching her breath while sobbing, her lungs were on fire.
“No, no, no.”
She stood on the side of the road where the sidewalk gave out with her face, neck and chest wet from sobbing and let out the most guttural scream her body would allow, “No!”
Wolfgang
Brittanya ‘Is June with you?’
Wolfgang ‘No?’
He couldn’t wait for a reply and pressed the call button, “Hello?”
“What do you mean? Is June not at home?”
It was almost six and he had seen the shop close at five fifteen.
“No, she never got back to me about needing a ride.”
“Is she not with Whitney?”
He headed towards the front door of his apartment.
“Whitney has been at Fade’s since sunday.”
“Shit.”
He stepped outside, swinging the door behind him. “I’ll find her, thank you for calling me. Bye.”
He hung up without a response and called Juniper as he opened his Jeep passenger door, unlatching the glove box. Silence came through with no answer and he hung up.
Wolfgang felt uneasy about what he was about to do, he didn’t want to violate her privacy like this but neither Brittanya or him had seen her all day and she wasn’t answering calls or messages. Her work was also closed for the day, he knew that and curled his fingers around his work tablet as it ran slower than he wanted. Entering the application for Margaret’s personal persons, he typed Juniper Jensen in the search bar with one result. He selected her, thinking where she would have gone and why she ran off without telling anyone. Did someone take her against her will? He scrolled past her info and notes to a map link and his eyes burned into the tablet as it painfully lagged.
There she was, a blue dot in the cemetery. ‘Why the hell was she in the cemetery?’ He slammed his glove box closed and entered the driver side. The tire’s squealed as he abruptly shifted into drive. He couldn’t think of any reason she would be there and he dismissed the negative thoughts that plowed into his mind. Wolfgang looked for northbound traffic without stopping, in the clear he slammed the gas down knowing in a few miles he would find her.
Gravel hit the tire wells of his vehicle as he came to a stop outside the fence. He scanned the cemetery to find a blurry silhouette of a lone woman in the back sitting in front of a headstone. His eyes focused, Juniper.
He sighed with relief and worry grew in him. His wide stride carried him through the grass and over headstones, stopping fifteen feet in front of her. She lifted her head and Wolfgang looked into the most pained eyes. Her eyes, nose and lips, reddened with despair.
He finished his path to her, dropped to his knees and placed his hands on hers, “What happened?”
Her red eyes sat behind wet eyelashes, cleaned from makeup and looked up at him. She sniffled as saliva stretched across her lips as they opened, “I saw him again.”
He watched June’s chin tremble.
“I’m sorry,”
He stood taking Juniper with him, hugging her. “Do you know which guy he is?”
His head rested on her hair.
“Elijah, the farmer.”
She pushed away, “I was at work and watched him go to the diner with the others. He looked right at me. I know it was him, I saw his distinct birthmark on his arm.”
Turning away from Wolfgang her voice got louder, “I can’t get away from him, I ran from him and came to the island and he is still following me, haunting me.”
She spun back, “So I ran again.”
Wolfgang’s brow crinkled, grabbing her to hold still. “To the cemetery?”
“I didn’t know where else to go.”
Her face wet with more tears. “I don’t have family I can visit, dead or alive. I don’t even know where they’re buried. So, I came here to talk to your dad.”
“For starters, you can always come to me, any day, anytime. I will stop my world for you .”
He looked at the headstone, “but who is this?”
“I couldn’t find your dad, and I gave up.”
She brushed the sleeve of her shirt under her eyes. “I figured Aaron was close enough.”
“I love you,”
He kissed the top of her head, “Can I take you home?”
“Yes.”
*****
Wolfgang ‘Call me if she is having a hard time please.’
Brittanya ‘I will. Thank you for finding her.’
Wolfgang set his phone in his cup holder outside of his apartment and grabbed the tablet and the screen turned on still displaying Juniper's location. He exited out of her profile and searched Elijah. Two pinged in the search and he selected the new one.
Name: Elijah Roxton
Contact Number: 234-891
Address: 80 8th Street
He knew right where he was, four doors down from his apartment.
Stepping outside, he dropped his phone into his pocket, closing his jeep door and turned down the road. He could never tell Juniper how close this guy lived. He wasn’t sure if it was him or not, he wouldn’t really know. Fuck, he didn’t know what the guy looked like or what he was going to say when he got there.
He turned up the path and knocked with two knuckles. The door opened and Wolfie looked down at a brown hair, blue eyed man he had never seen before. He had nothing to say to ease Juniper, “Elijah?”
“Yeah, that’s me.”
Wolfgang filled the doorway as he leaned against the frame and took in Elijah’s appearance, “I was wondering if you knew Miss Juniper Jensen?”
“I’m sorry, I’m new, I don’t know anyone by that name.”
He gripped the edge of the door defensively.
“Well if you do see her, don’t touch her, don’t talk to her, don’t look at her. I’ve got some heavy shoes,”
His eyes fell to Elijah's feet, “Looks like they’d fit you perfectly.”
Wolfie rocked his body weight launching him off the wall. “I hope you know how to swim.”
He turned with nothing else to say and walked down the path back to his house.
He almost felt bad for threatening the guy, he couldn’t have been her ex, a squirrelly nerd like that? Not possible, her eyes would make a guy like that fold in an instant. Either way, he wanted to gut him thinking about what her ex had put her through.
April Nineteenth
Juniper
Staying home from work today June rolled over to her phone buzzing. “Hello?”
She rubbed her tender eye.
“Hey June, how are you?”
“Fine.”
Her voice cracked.
“Can I bring you lunch?”
She sat up, “What time is it?”
“Lunch time, I’m here anyway if you want to grab the door for me.”
“Are you serious?”
She stood, pulling the leg of her pajama shorts down from riding up and exited her bedroom.
“Yes, I have deli sandwiches from the supply store.”
“Okay, I’m coming.”
She opened the door and hung up. Wolfie turned the corner with a bag and two drinks.
“Hey.”
He leaned in to kiss her.
“Hi.”
She grabbed the bag and turned around, still feeling embarrassed about yesterday. “Can we just eat in my room?”
She didn’t turn to him for an answer and continued down the hallway.
“Sure.”
He closed the door and followed her to her room. June crossed her legs on her unkempt bed, still warm from her body. “Are you doing okay with everything that happened?”
“I guess, I told Golden I would be back to work tomorrow.”
“That’s good.”
He unwrapped his sandwich and took a bite, “I have something to tell you.”
“What?”
She held her wrapped sandwich in her lap, hesitant to eat anything.
“I went to his house.”
Her mind was still on Golden, “Who’s house?”
“Elijah’s,”
He swallowed and looked at her expression of shock, “You know the guy you thought might be your ex Elijah Roxton?”
Her blood chilled down her spine at the sound of his name and hands tightening around the soft bread before she set it on her knee, “What did you just say?”
teeth gritted, she felt her molar roots receive the pressure of her anger.
“I went to his house.”
His eyes observed as her jaw tightened and June stared through him like ice.
“Are you fucking kidding me? Elijah Roxton?”
His gaze shifted, “Was that not who we thought he was?”
He finished his first half of his lunch and began to wonder if she was mad that he went to his house.
“No, I didn’t know that was his last name.”
She looked at Wolfie displaying a confused expression. “That’s my name . Before Juniper, I was Roxtyn. That mother fucker stole my name.”
“Babe,”
He paused her, “He said he didn’t know you. I described you and everything. He has no idea who you are.”
“Are you going to tell me this is all a coincidence?”
She set her sandwich on her bedside table.
“Well, you said yourself he doesn’t know agriculture, and he looked like someone who would climax in his whitey tighties if you even looked at him.”
She folded her arms to create walls, “I’m not convinced.”
“Do you want me to talk to Margaret about him?”
“I don’t know,”
She was annoyed, embarrassed and pissed off.
“Okay, I’ll talk to her, see what he is about and I’ll let you know. She would rather know if there is any conflict between people sooner than later.”
June remembered Margaret telling her that she didn’t want Ben on the island. “Okay.”
Her face relaxed looking at him.
Crumbs sat in his beard, “You need to eat though.”
“I’ll eat it.”
Her arms became heavy. “Later.”
“Just promise me you’ll eat.”
“I will.”
She knew she would, she just wasn’t in the mood, she was sick of the mind games. If it was Ben or not, this wasn’t fun for her. She began to feel that her mind was playing games with her. She hadn’t seen him in three months and maybe she was forgetting what he looked like. June would pray that was true.