It’s never that easy

Chapter Sixteen

A few weeks have passed. The police have had no traces on the guy who attacked me. The army have been brilliant with Jamie and have let him stay in the country as long as he works at the base instead. Not without a fight though. Jamie won’t leave the country until he knows this guy has been found. Which I prefer because when I am on my own, I feel on edge all the time like someone is watching me. But it’s not very often that I am on my own these days, everyone has been brilliant with me, making sure one of them are with me if they can. I’m not letting him stop me though. I’ve been carrying on with my life. Going to work, having dinner out with Jamie, sorting the last details out with Zoe (which the wedding is only a week away), and chilling with Gemma.

Jamie and I are out this moment at one of my favourite Italian restaurants. We are sitting at a candle lit table eating some cannelloni when I saw him. I stared, not being able to move.

“Keira? What’s wrong?”

“It’s him. Jamie, it’s him,” I cried.

“Where?”

“Red jacket.”

With a flash, Jamie was heading towards his table. I shouted for him to stop but he didn’t. He grabbed the guy by his collar and threw him onto the table. I ran up to him, trying to stop him from punching him, but I couldn’t. He’s too strong for me.

“You think it’s clever doing that to a woman you sicko?”

He said something after every punch.

“I’m going to kill you for what you’ve done to her!”

In the end, the police arrived and pulled Jamie off him. They handcuffed them both but I asked for the detective who was looking into my case which they said to speak to her at the station. They kept the guys apart at the restaurant before they escorted the other guy out, he turned towards me.

“Nice to see you again,” he smirked, “maybe we can do it again sometime.”

Jamie started towards him again until I tugged him back towards me. He looked at me, seeing the pain in my eyes and gestured for me to go into a hug, I leaned my head into his chest.

“It’s okay, he’s gone. He can’t hurt you again.”

“Can we go home?” I asked the police.

“We have to take him in I’m afraid.”

I followed them to the station and sat there which seemed like hours. The police came to see me a couple of hours later saying the guy has confessed to everything in the end. They had to riot his home first. They will be charging him. They found a lot of photos of me over the past few months, from me coming out of work, being out with the girls and being with Jamie. The ones with Jamie though he had scratched Jamie out of. He also had a scarf of mine which I thought I had lost two weeks ago. Apparently he came into the coffee shop when I use to work there and saw me there. I was kind to him and he started to stalk me from there. They said Jamie would be out in the morning and to go home and rest. But I couldn’t go not until I knew he was fine. So I slept in the station.

He didn’t get out until late afternoon as they needed to question him. When he did we headed home and went to bed for some proper rest.

I’m glad it is all over now. At least now I won’t have to look over my shoulder while I’m out. That still didn’t stop me from sleeping though. I just laid in Jamie’s arms, staring at the ceiling. Suddenly, Jamie pulled me in closer and kissed my cheek.

“Can’t sleep?”

“No,” I said looking at him.

“Talk to me!”

“I’m just thinking.”

“About?”

“You!”

“Me?”

“Yeah. How lucky I am to have you. You have been my rock throughout all of this. Thank you,” I said, kissing him passionately.

I climbed on top of him, moving my hair to one side to get better access to his devouring lips. Jamie suddenly stopped, looking at me.

“Are you sure you want to?”

I nodded at him, “I want you. I need you.”

Without hesitation he grabbed hold of my hips and rolled me onto my back, kissing my neck. His hands moving down my body. His fingers tormenting me, rubbing me. The pleasure he was giving me was out of this world. He entered me, stroking me hard. I arch my back wanting more, putting my fingers through his thick, brown hair. He moved up, looking at me in the eyes. I smiled at him, stroking his cheeks as he slowly slipped inside. He was so soft with me. But this is not what I want. I need him now.

“Harder!”

“You sure? I don’t want it to be too soon.”

“Yeah. I just want to feel you.”

After having my permission, he sped up and went harder into me. I leaned my head onto his shoulder, biting him with pleasure. Feeling like electricity was pulsing through my veins. As we finished, he leaned down and kissed me on the forehead, falling to lay next to me. I turned and leaned into him, intertwining our legs, kissing him on his chest. He moved my hair out of my face as I put my hands on his chest to rest on, looking up at him.

“You okay?”

“I am now. Thank you for being here. I’d have been a wreck if you had gone back.”

“That is why I fought for you and I will no matter what.”

I kissed him and fell asleep holding him tighter than ever.

The next morning, I woke up with a note on Jamie’s pillow.

You looked peaceful sleeping. Emergency at coffee shop X

Great. His last day here before heading back to base and he’s gone to the shop. I hope it’s a good reason. I’ll go see him now, I have something to ask him anyway. So much for spending the day together.

I walked into the shop not seeing him anywhere until I walked closer to the counter. He was crouching underneath, so I banged on the counter to make him jump. He got up, banging his head as he did, not looking impressed and ready to argue when he noticed it was me and smiled.

“Sorry baby. I didn’t mean for you to bang your head.”

“Hey stranger,” he said leaning over to kiss me, “It’s okay, I’ll survive.”

“Did you see that?”

“See what?”

“Steph. She just gave me a look.”

“What look?”

“I don’t know...a look.”

“I’m sure she didn’t. Anyway, what are you after?”

“What? I can’t just come and see my handsome boyfriend?”

“No... not you,” he laughed.

“Other than the fact of coming to ask why you’re here?”

“I’m here because Nathan needed to do some wedding thing. But you have that look in your eyes.”

“What look?” I ask innocently. “Fine...I need you to come to my parent’s house with me. It’s their 40th wedding anniversary and they’re throwing a party. I can’t bear to go on my own and for some reason they wanted you to come. So Pleaseeeeeeee for me?” I asked grinning at him and giving him the puppy dog eyes.

“Fine. I give in already. How can I turn that face down?”

I squealed at him. “Thank you baby,” I said leaning for another kiss. “She did it again.”

“Who did what again?”

“Steph!”

“Don’t be daft.”

“She did. Never mind. I’ll have my usual please then I’m off to see Gemma.”

“Coming right up.”

He came around the counter and passed me my drink. He put his hand on the bottom of my back and escorted me to my car.

“When is the party?”

“Tonight.”

“Tonight?”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“It’s fine. I’ll see you tonight then?”

“Yeah...want me to pick you up?”

“Yeah. I’ll get Steph to shut shop. Can you pop to mine and pick up my suit?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Thank you,” he said handing me a key. “Keep it when you’re done.”

“What?”

“I didn’t want to do it this way but I made a key for you. I’d like you to come and go as you please.”

“Oh, Jamie. This is the best thing ever,” I screamed, leaping into his arms and kissing him all over his face. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too. I’ll see you later.”

We kissed goodbye and I got into my car, driving to his place first. When I got to his, I noticed how messy it was so I decided to ring Gemma and get her to meet me here so I can clean a little. How he can live like this I don’t know. I placed my phone in his speakers and started the kitchen first. That wasn’t as bad as the living room and his bedroom. Gemma arrived while I was mid-way with the vacuuming.

“What are you doing?”

“Well, if I’m to stay here, it needs to be clean.”

“What do you mean?”

I held up his key in my keys in front of her. She looked at me in excitement.

“No! He didn’t?”

“He did. He’s given me a key to his place. He said I can come and go as I please.”

“Wow. That is a big step for him.”

“I know. I never thought it would be this soon.”

We smiled at each other and carried on with the cleaning. After an hour or so, we finished up and I got Gemma to pick out a suit with me.

“So what are we looking for?”

“Something that will please my parents, mainly my dad. He’s never taken to Jamie.”

“His army uniform then?” she laughed.

“Might be a good idea,” I laughed with her. “What about this one? It has a waistcoat too.”

“Yeah that’ll do nicely.”

It was just a plain black piece. I best go home myself and get ready. I was thinking my low cut, floor length, black dress so we would match. We would look stunning together.

The time came when I had to go pick up my man. As I arrived, I saw he was already waiting outside for me. I got out of the car to pass him his suit, not before I got a kiss of course.

“Wow! You look stunning.”

“Why thank you Mr. Michaels. I do have to make some kind of effort with me being the daughter and all,” I laughed.

“I think it is I who needs to impress tonight and show your parents that I am worthy of you.”

“They’ll love you. Just like I do. Now go and get changed before we end up being late.”

“I’ll do it in the car.”

Before I could argue, he had already taken his top off and started to place his shirt over his shoulders. I couldn’t help but stare at his beautiful torso. I bit my bottom lip when he looked at me.

“Like what you see?” he smirked.

“I’d like to see more,” I winked, moving towards him and placing my arms around his waist under his shirt.

“Later, I promise,” he leaned down and kissed me deeply.

“You better!”

We got to my parent’s place, to see that loads of people have already turned up.

“Oops, I think we’re late.”

“That’s your fault Miss Dixon.”

“Why is it?”

“For fondling me.”

“I wasn’t fondling you. I was just admiring what’s mine.”

“I’m yours am I?”

“Always,” I declared kissing him on the lips.

We laughed and Jamie place his arm around my waist, leading me to the house.

“You ready?”

“Yeah. Let’s go meet your parents as an official couple.”

In the end, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. We decided to sneak away at around midnight. At first Jamie got a grilling from my dad, the usual, ‘if you hurt my daughter, I will personally see to it, that you will never walk again.’ But after a few laughs, they realised they had things in common such as football and the love of cars. My dad ended up taking Jamie to his collection of vintage cars that’s stored in the garage.

Nick and I of course had to make a speech of how wonderful they are as a couple and as our parents. Dad also did a beautiful speech about how much he loves mum and how much his love grows every day. I couldn’t help myself but lean into Jamie when he said that. Jamie leant down and kissed the top of my head.

After the speeches, Jamie and I danced until the food was ready. We ate a beautiful hog roast and profiteroles with cream for dessert. We danced again. I also had a dance with my dad while Nick danced with mum. Jamie and I then danced the night away until Jamie got a tap on his shoulder asking if they could cut in. It was Max my childhood sweetheart from school. As I was dancing with Max, giggling, I could see Jamie watching with his arms folded across his chest. He had a jealous glint in his eyes. I couldn’t resist but laugh at him and feel warm inside, knowing I could make him feel that way. It was great catching up with Max again. I walked up to Jamie and placed a gentle peck on his lips.

“Jealous are we?”

“Me? Why would I be?”

“Jamie!”

“Okay. A little. Can’t have another man touching my girl.”

“Oh baby,” I said laughing, Jamie giving me a quizzical look. “You have nothing to worry about. He’s now married with a little boy,” I explained wrapping my arms around his neck.

He just looks at me in astonishment. “Now I feel stupid.”

“Well I think it’s cute.”

“Really?” he questioned.

“Yes, really. It shows how much you care for me and I love that.”

“I love you.”

“I know,” I smiled up at him, “come on I’m ready to party some more. Let’s go home and get changed for Fish Bowl.”

“Okay. I’ll drive.”

We said bye to my parents and Nick and headed back to mine. Jamie already had some gear at mine, so we got ready there. It didn’t take long until we left again. We arrived at Fish Bowl and spotted Ben with his new guy. I ran towards him and gave him a massive hug.

“Oh, how I have missed you.”

“It’s only been a week.”

“And? Can’t I miss my best friend.”

“Well, I suppose I am easily missed,” he laughed. “What’s new with you girl? You look ravishing. Where’s Jamie?”

“He’s at the bar. Speaking of Jamie. Guess who’s been given a key to the man cave!”

“Oh my God! You haven’t?”

“I have,” I said with the biggest grin on my face. “What’s more is we have just come from my parent’s anniversary party and I think they approve of the new and improved Jamie.”

“Well, he does seem a lot different since he has been with you.”

“You think? I think it also has something to do with him being in the army now.”

“No it’s definitely you. He’s been better than before. I’ve never seen him this way. When I first met him at the resort, I thought he was so an egotistical player who only thought of his d**k. But by the end of the week he had changed. He wasn’t that player anymore, well not as much anyway. Since being around you he’s changed his life for the better. For you.”

“Thanks Ben. Just what I needed to hear.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Here babe,” Jamie said, wrapping his arm around my shoulder, handing me a drink.

I took a sip while wrapping an arm around his waist. I put my drink down onto the table nearby and interlinked my hand with Jamie’s that was resting on my shoulder.

“Aren’t you two the most stunning couple I have ever seen. Power couple alert!”

“Ben!” I blushed.

“Yes she is stunning,” Jamie agreed, leaning down for a kiss.

“Don’t make it cringey now Jamie,” Ben laughed. “Oh! Don’t look now but your ex has just walked in Jamie.”

“Who? Abbie?”

“Yeah.”

“We haven’t seen her since you two split up. I was having an awesome day. I hope her being here doesn’t spoil it.”

“She won’t. Just ignore her.”

“How? She’s already spotted us.”

Jamie looked over to her and turned back to me. She was giving us a scowl from the bar.

“Yeah maybe we should move on.”

“No Jamie. I want to stay. I’m not letting her get to me. This is my favourite bar and I’m not leaving until I want to.”

“Okay. You’re too stubborn sometimes, you know that?”

“That’s why you love me.”

“True. That’s why I loved the chase with you.”

“Good! I’d have hated to be too easy for you,” I smirked.

Jamie stood up from our table, giving me a kiss and headed towards the men’s bathrooms. Ben didn’t want to dance so I grabbed Carl to dance with me instead. This way I could also get to know him better and see what he thinks of Ben.

“So how are you and Ben?”

“He is amazing. I’m glad you told him I was watching him.”

“He told you about me telling him?”

“Yeah he did. So thank you.”

“You are welcome.”

We were dancing away and chatting when I was suddenly tugged on my right shoulder to be faced in front of Abbie.

“What do you want Abbie?”

“I see it didn’t take you long. You’re a boyfriend stealing w***e, you know that?”

“Look Abbie! I’m sorry for what happened between the two of you but you can’t blame me for that!”

“Yes I can. We were fine until he came home and saw you. And that letter you gave him about how he had changed. That just took the piss!”

“You saw that?”

“Yes I saw that. He kept reading it but wouldn’t tell me what it was. So I had to take it from his hands and I read it.”

“That wasn’t for you to read!”

“I don’t care. You wrote to MY boyfriend and was messing with his head. What else was I to do?”

“Leave him?”

“You b***h! I’m glad I got him to write that letter now.”

“You what?”

“Oh, he never told you? Yeah I made him write it. I knew it would hurt you, just like you hurt me. Blaming me for him changing. I don’t think so love.”

“Well I do. You were a controlling psychopath.”

“Whatever. I’m just glad I was able to make him do it.”

“Wow! I know you’re a cold-hearted b***h but that’s too far.”

“You deserved it. Everything. And I don’t regret it.”

“Well done. You got me good. Now if you don’t mind, we’re celebrating.”

I turned my back on her, grabbing Carl’s arm and headed towards the table Ben was sitting at. But that wasn’t the end of it. Suddenly, she started screaming and pulled my hair back, pulling me towards her. I tried to fight back but she was too strong and had pinned me down to the floor. She was slapping me in my face and punched me once in my eye. I tried to block her by covering my face with my arms but she just carried on hitting me. Then her weight shifted off me. When I removed my arms, I noticed Jamie had her held in his arms, restraining her while she sobbed.

I couldn’t handle this. This was supposed to be a special night for us. I walked up to her and whispered in her ear, “he was always mine.” I grabbed my coat and walked out.

A few minutes later I could hear someone running behind me. I turned around and saw Ben headed towards me.

“Hey. You okay?”

“I will be once I’m home.”

“Looks like a shiner already,” he said touching my eye as I winced. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. Where’s Jamie?”

“He’s still trying to calm that b***h down.”

“Oh?” I said looking disappointed.

“He said to wait for him and that he’ll be out soon.”

“Tell him not to bother. I should be his priority not her!”

“He didn’t want to let her go…”

“Why not?” I shouted. “Sorry Ben, I know it’s not your fault. She’s just wound me up so much.”

“It’s okay. He thought she might come after you again if he came after you and left her alone.”

“Sure he did. Tell him I’ve gone home.”

“Okay. Do you want some ice first?”

“Nah, I’ll get some when I get home.”

“Okay, love you,” he said hugging me.

“Love you too. Say bye to Carl for me.”

“Will do. Text me when you’re home okay?”

“Yes.”

I grabbed a taxi and headed to his place. I didn’t want to explain to Gemma what has happened. She would go on the warpath herself and I can’t deal with that. I’m too tired and I needed some ice for my eye.

When I arrived at Jamie’s, I threw my shoes off in the hallway and headed to the kitchen for some ice. After about five minutes of applying the ice to my eye, I left it to melt in the sink and headed to bed. I brushed my teeth and inspected my wound in the mirror. It is going to be a right shiner in the morning. I headed into his room and dropped my dress onto the floor. I got under the covers in just my underwear and put my head onto the pillow when I heard the front door open and slam. I heard footsteps running up the stairs and heard the bedroom door open.

I didn’t look up and laid there, pretending to be asleep. I heard him sigh with relief. After a few seconds, I felt the covers lift up and this sudden warmth next to me, wrapping his arms around my waist. I leaned into him and placed my hands on his arms as he leaned his head on my shoulder. This is what I like. It was nice to be in his arms even after that fight. It was so soothing to be able to drift off to sleep, knowing I was safe in his embrace.

I’ll admit though. The next day wasn’t nice. It must have been one of our biggest arguments to date. I hate arguing with him but he wasn’t getting where I was coming from.

“What the hell was I supposed to do Keira. I couldn’t just leave her there. If I had let her go, who’s to say that she wouldn’t have ran straight outside and started on you again. I wasn’t going to let that happen.”

“You could have just given her to one of her mates or better yet to a bouncer to look after her.”

“I couldn’t do that to her.”

“Why?”

“I feel responsible for her Keira. We made her like that. I couldn’t just leave her like that. I had to talk to her and calm her down. She had broken down Keira. We were sitting on the floor. Her in my arms sobbing, rocking to soothe her. What else could I do?”

“I don’t care Jamie. I was shaken up myself. Look at my eye! She really hurt me. I’m lucky it wasn’t worse than what it was with the rage in her eyes.”

“I’m glad too,” he said soothingly walking towards me. “If she had done anything more to you I don’t know what I would have done.”

“What like writing a letter that she told you to write?”

“Oh!”

“Yes. Oh! She told me everything. Why did you write it? That really hurt me.”

“I’m sorry. I did it to get her off my back. I was going to find you when I got home but I never got the chance and then we made up. I didn’t want to lose you again by telling you about the letter,” he said getting closer again.

“Don’t Jamie,” I said backing away from him. “I’m going out for a while. I need to get out of here,” I exclaimed walking past him.

“Keira,” he pleaded trying to catch my arm as I passed, but I moved away so he couldn’t reach me.

I walked towards my place to clear my head. I needed to go and feed the dog. I can’t expect Gemma to do it for me. It was a good, long walk home. I’ve come to realise what an i***t I’ve been. He’s only protecting me.  I took my phone out of my pocket with loads of missed calls from him. There is one voicemail too.

“Keira. Please pick up your phone. I’m worried now. I’m sorry okay? Just come home so we can talk. I love you.”

I can’t do this to him. He is being sincere. I’ll go and grab the dog and head back to his with some of my things. We need to make up. The wedding is tomorrow and I can’t go with us not talking to each other. Luckily my car is at my place so I was able to go back to Jamie’s quicker than me walking home. As soon as I walked in Jamie was sat on the stairs with his face in his hands. He looked up at me so distressed. I took off the dogs lead before Jamie picked me up and held me in his arms.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered in my ear.

I looked at him.

“No. I’m the one who should be apologising. You were only looking after my well-being. I’m sorry. I should have waited for you.”

“Yes you should have. I was looking all over for you when Ben found me and told me you had gone home. I panicked in case you had gone back to yours and not ours.”

“Ours?”

“Yeah. I realised I want you to come live with me. Not knowing whether you would be here when I got home was horrible. What do you say?”

I leapt into his arms, kissing him.

“Of course I’ll move in.”

Whoever said makeup s*x is the best, they are absolutely correct about that one. It was amazing. Even though the s*x was amazing I hope we never argue again. I hate it.