Inseparable: A New Adult Erotic Romance (9 page)

"Wait, they work in week long shifts, right? Is he going to have to move out there?"

"It’s two weeks out, one week back for this company. He can’t move or Sophie will go to court to take away his monthly visitation. I’m going to help him keep an eye on his place while he’s gone."

"I’m so sorry, Julie, that sucks."

"Yeah, tell me about it." She pinched her lips to prevent herself from crying.

"When does he leave?"

"Tomorrow." Julie could no longer hold back her tears so she sat down. Cathy sat next to her and put her arm around her friend’s shoulders as she sobbed.

"Just think about all the free time you’ll have for plotting your revenge."

Julie laughed as she wiped her eyes. "Good idea."

Cathy looked at her with concern. "What are you going to do?"

"I thought about taking pictures of the girls’ room and putting them on my table at the flea market to see if anyone would pay me to do something like it for their kids."

"That’s a good idea!"

"It’s a long shot, but it turned out so well. I’m sure other girls would want a room painted like that."

They continued to spray the strong disinfectant on the play equipment, trying to get it done before time to open, splitting up to cover more ground.

Julie continued to ponder Jack’s situation as she worked. He had worked for his Uncle before and said all they had to do was reactivate his old employee record. The pay was actually pretty good, but mostly to make up for being so disruptive to relationships and families. Jack seemed resigned to his change in status, but it was obvious it felt like he was going backwards. The last time he worked there was during his summers off from college, when he was younger and fitter. Julie privately worried that the job might not be as easy as he had made it out to be.

Despite her snap decision in the bathroom the night before to consider Jack her own, she was still surprised how quickly she had become attached to him. In the previous four weeks she had broken almost all her relationship rules for him, including overnight stays and involvement with kids. At first, he had been so raw that she had just wanted to take care of him. Later it was easy to rationalize that one more night over wouldn’t make that big of a difference. When her mother finally had to call her to see if she was alive she realized how deep she had let him in. She smiled as she thought, I don’t care, he is mine, all mine.

His good heart showed through his actions with her and the girls. She considered herself a good judge of character, so she found herself unable to imagine why Sophie had come to hate him so much. She had gone past the common stories about vindictive ex-wives to a level of malevolence that bordered insanity. Whatever Julie decided to do to her, she would have to consider that. Revenge is one thing, but unless she intended to start looking for places to hide a body again, she was going to have to be careful when she took action.

She returned to the manager’s office to organize herself for the day when she heard a knock on the glass front door. Expecting it to be another one of the staff arriving for work, she unlocked the door before she really looked through the morning glare.

"I was hoping you’d be working today," Sophie said. "I would like to speak to you privately if you have a moment."

Julie looked at her, noting the designer clothing and slim handbag. The girls weren’t with her, which might make her more likely to say something interesting. Julie didn’t believe Sophie was interested in a physical confrontation, and wasn’t particularly worried if she was. She opened the door and stepped aside to let her in, locking the door again behind her.

She silently led Sophie into the manager’s office and shut the door, pausing for a moment to straighten the desk before sitting. "What can I do for you, Sophie?"

"I actually wanted to speak to Jack this morning, but for some reason he won’t open his door or answer my calls." She smiled thinly. "Have you spoken to him since yesterday?" Julie nodded, and Sophie continued. "Well, things did not go his way at court, so I imagine he did call you to lick his wounds. You’re probably better at that sort of thing than I was. He tried to get me to lick all sorts of things. Oh well, that’s your problem now." Sophie seemed positively giddy at her triumph, so Julie kept her face fearful and confused, hoping she would say something more useful.

"The reason I am here is to deliver a message to Jack. He probably didn’t tell you about how he lost our life savings in Biloxi, did he? Or the fact that I had to tell my parents about it so I could borrow the money to bail him out of jail and pay off the casino? Or how he cheated on me with an exotic dancer named Cocoa who had been arrested with him? I can see by your facial expression that he didn’t. Well, I’m going to destroy him, just as he destroyed my reputation and standing in the community. I’ve not been able to go back to church and face our friends since this all began. And the girls, how can I allow him to continue to have any influence in their lives now?"

Julie knew there had to be some truth in what Sophie said, but was not foolish enough to believe her at face value. She allowed her face to show bewilderment and pain. Sophie let what she said sink in and then placed an envelope on the desk.

"This is a waiver of parental rights I’ve had drawn up by my attorney. I left one stuck in the door of his apartment, but I imagine it’s in pieces or ashes by now. He needs to understand that I will stop him from seeing the girls. It’s just a question of when and how much pain he wants to suffer in the interim. If he signs it, I will allow the courts to remove the painful financial burden it has placed on him. If he doesn’t, I’ll make sure that he not only pays for the next decade, but sees as little of the girls as I can manage, between the courts and my own influence over their little hearts."

Sophie stood quickly with a bright smile. "It has been a pleasure to see you again, Julie, especially under these circumstances. After I got over the initial shock of meeting you, I’ve come to see you the same way I view garbage men; as people you need to take the trash away. I also have to say that yesterday would not have been so sweet if he hadn’t begun to hope again. The surprise on his face was delicious, and a good down payment on what he owes me."

Sophie turned to leave."Lovely job on the room, by the way. Perhaps I’ll hire someone to paint something like it in the girls’ rooms so they can actually enjoy it."

Her final words were blunted by the fact that the door to leave was locked and she appeared foolish as she tugged on the handle. Julie walked up slowly, fumbling with the keys in apparent confusion, before opening the door to let her escape. After she had gone, a slow, evil smile crept across Julie’s face as she pressed the stop button on her manager’s digital voice recorder.

***

J
ack had already done his laundry and packed by the time Julie arrived at his apartment, and was cooking a light dinner of chicken breasts, roasted potatoes and green beans. He still shopped for food like a rich person, using fresh green beans and spices. Julie would have been just as happy with the leftover mac and cheese and a bologna sandwich.

"So how was your day?" he asked, trying to smile.

Julie looked at him, her arms crossed. "Why don’t you tell me what happened so I can help?"

"That obvious? Well, Sophie stopped by this morning, but I wasn’t in the mood to talk to her. She left some paperwork in the door." He clenched his jaw and blinked back the tears. "She wants me to give up my girls."

"What are you going to do about it?"

"Fight. That’s all I can do. I’m going to spend the whole time on the rig working all day and then at night I’m going to set up interviews for the week I’m home. It turns out they have Internet access out there now, so I’m bringing my laptop."

"I’m glad. She’s a monster. She came by this morning to see me at work."

"Damn." He looked down for a moment and spoke softly. "Julie, look, you didn’t sign up for this. I feel so bad for dragging you into my shitty life. I’m serious, if you want to just part as friends, I’d never blame you." He looked hopelessly lost.

"Would you like to hear what she said?" Julie pulled out a voice recorder the size of a cigarette lighter. "I lost a job once when a customer lied about something I said. I swore it wouldn’t happen again, so I record situations that might become an issue."

Jack stared at the recorder like it was a poisonous snake. He nodded and shut his eyes. Sophie spoke again, insulting Julie, baldly exposing his failures, and ending with her threats. When she stopped, Jack practically exploded out of his chair.

"That vile, evil-hearted witch!" He paced back and forth with his hands over his face. "That fucking soul-sucking vampire! I hate that god damned bitch, Julie, I fucking hate her!

"She always tells the truth, my Sophie, always her truth, but never the whole truth. That fucking casino, Jesus... it was a fucking scam, not a legitimate place. Our ‘life savings’ was a bonus check I got while we were on a sales retreat, because Sophie spent every other penny I made on that fucking Suburban she drives, the private schools for the girls, the fucking mini-mansion she insisted we buy. I decided I wanted to spend some of that bonus money on me before I got home, so a few of us stopped at a little casino off of I-10."

Julie watched him struggle with his anger as he paced like a caged animal. He barely looked at her, so she let him vent without interrupting.

He continued without pausing. "They were happy enough to take the check and open an account for me. I went a little crazy, true, but there was something off about the drinks, I swear it. I hardly remember the night, and I can drink like a fucking fish. I’m in sales for fuck’s sake. This one chick was egging me on, telling me what a big man I was, rubbing on my pants all night. They’d make me sign something every time they brought me more chips, so as it turned out I was signing promissory notes instead of markers against my bonus.

"At the end of the night they presented this huge bill. I remember being so confused and thinking, what the fuck happened to my bonus? They had my signature on a pile of paper that somehow obligated me to pay them, and when I refused they called the cops and had me arrested. It was a smooth operation; the cops appeared instantly, like they were hanging around waiting for this. Yes, it was fucking embarrassing, but it was a fucking scam. The reservation police made sure to keep me in jail for forty-eight hours, despite having taken my bail money that same night. Coincidentally, that is how long you can detect benzodiazepine in your system. You probably know them as roofies...

"So yes, I fucking lost a ton of money at an Indian casino, had to borrow from Sophie’s Dad, and got arrested at the same time some woman was charged with prostitution, but I wasn’t her john. The only thing she did was try to pick me up because I looked like a high roller, but even she said that I was too screwed up to fuck. And believe me, I know how much I can drink and I hadn’t had anywhere near that much that night."

Julie's hand went to her mouth as she realized what it meant.
Oh baby
, she thought,
no wonder Sophie was able to convince the judge to give her the kids
.
Why don't you see what she's doing?

Jack took a few deep breaths, then said, "I notice that she didn’t mention I paid her Dad back or that I went to our priest and confessed all this to try to work things out with her. Her only lie was that she didn’t give head. She does, she just sucks at it." He laughed sadly, shaking his head. "Oh, Julie, she’s going to kill me." He finally stopped pacing and just stood in the kitchen with tears in his eyes.

"I think you may be overlooking something."

"What do you mean?"

"She doesn’t need the money."

"You lost me."

"She doesn’t need the money. She doesn’t work. She dresses in designer clothes. She drives an expensive Suburban that I assume is still being paid off? And if you sign the paper she gave me, she’s going to let you off the hook on the money."

"Well, her family is rich."

"And yet you saw how she felt about asking her father for money." He looked at her in confusion. "Keep thinking, you’re almost there."

"...Oh, shit, she has someone else lined up!"

"There you go, now you’re starting to think. Why is it important that you give up your rights to the girls? Think it through."

He thought for a moment, sitting back down at the table. "I don’t know."

"I don’t either, but I can think of two possibilities. Either the girls aren’t both yours, or you and her new boyfriend wouldn’t get along at all."

Jack scoffed. "They have to be my girls; they look just like my sisters when they were young. But..." He paused. "The other possibility, I’ve been wondering how the receipts got into the office, because Sophie couldn’t do that alone."

"A co-worker or a boss, maybe? Someone who would benefit from your being fired. You mentioned you had big sales numbers."

"I need to think about this, Julie... Holy shit, you’re so smart."

"Don’t sound so surprised! People are people, and this sounds just like the kind of drama I’ve lived around all my life with my Mom. There are only two rules. One: follow the money. Two: people don’t just leave, they also go."

"I’ve heard follow the money, but the other one is new to me."

"I had a friend who lived with a guy who beat her, bad and often. She would never leave him, claiming I didn’t see his good side, or some shit like that. It wasn’t until she found someone else that she left. The point is that when people are moving around in their lives, they aren’t just leaving something, they’re also going toward something else. Sometimes it’s important to see what that is."

"So if she left, she wasn’t just leaving me."

"If she was, then it’s the first time I’ve ever seen it happen."

They sat down and finished their meal to enjoy their last night together. Their mood lightening significantly as they smiled and chatted with one another. They washed the dishes together, playing with the water and splashing each other. As they finished and turned off the lights, Jack took her hand and pulled her into the bedroom. They quickly undressed and met in the middle of the large bed.