Diamonds Are Not Forever

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Elliot

Clifford fell into a steady pace at my feet as I guided Juliette along the woodland path around the perimeter of my parent's land, the thin layer of frost that had settled on the top of the grass melted under my boots with each step.
She was wrapped up in one of my mother's old cardigans, her cheeks a rosy pink as an early afternoon breeze whipped around us.
Her copper hair  complemented the backdrop of the changing leaves overhead, each needle of light that broke through the branches highlighted her curls as they fell down her back in a low ponytail.
Juliette looked like she belonged exactly where she was stood. If she didn't, she had me fooled.
"I can't believe you grew up here." She gushed, reaching down and giving Clifford a soft pat on top of his head as he rubbed his nose against her for attention.
I shrugged, kicking a loose pebble up with the toe of my boot absentmindedly.
Juliette shoved her hands deeper into her pockets to fight off the cold, "It reminds me of a costal walk my grandad would take me on in Howth, although it's a little chillier there. The Irish Sea is a cruel mistress."
"Do you miss it, Ireland?"
Juliette's face dropped a fraction as she looked down to inspect her shoes, the oversized boots she'd borrowed from Frankie drowning her too-small feet.
"I miss my family most, but it feels good to go and be surrounded by my ancestry too. I haven't been in so long, our visits slowed down after my grandfather died."
Juliette fell into step beside me as I led the way towards a clearing near our end goal, her face passive as she lost herself in thought.
"Your mum moved over here with your dad, right?" I'd heard all this from Millie when she had given me the low down on Juliette, but it still felt good to hear it directly from her mouth.
"Yeah. She met my dad whilst he was visiting a friend in Dublin City, she fell in love and followed him back to England. Quite the whirlwind romance. My grandad Jimmy was not happy about her moving so far away, but he soon came around when he got his grandchildren."
I liked the way she brightened when she spoke about her family, you could tell she was a romantic – something that didn't come naturally to myself.
She was Juliette, but I was no Romeo.
I ducked under a low hanging tree branch as we continued along the path, I held it up and Juliette ducked under my arm to get past me, followed closely by Clifford on her heels.
"It must be hard, not having them around anymore." I declared, an obvious statement.
I could sense I was treading in uncharted territory, instigating the most intimate conversation we'd ever had with one another. But I had this burning need to know everything about her, more than I'd had with any other person I'd met.
Juliette could sense it too, the way she looked at me with uncertainty.
An awkward silence stretched between us.
I swallowed my discomfort. "I'm sorry, if I've overstepped-"
"No not at all!" Her eyebrows shot to the top of her head. "Sorry, it's just hard to talk about..."
She paused as if she was going to say more, but she didn't.
I wanted her in high spirits when I finally revealed where I was taking her, so I decided to make an attempt at lightening the mood.
"I see you stole my jeans, after I bought you all those expensive clothes too." I bumped her side with my arm, causing her to lose her footing slightly.
She hit my bicep, a failed attempt at revenge, and let out a genuine laugh, "They looked comfy, and they really are."
I liked her in my clothes, she filled them out better than I did. Which was strange, considering our vastly different body types.
"How did you, erm-how did-" I scratched the back of my neck uncomfortably, trying to form the correct sentence that wouldn't offend her.
"How did I get them to fit?" She finished my sentence, smirking at how awkward I was being.
I nodded, feeling like an idiot for asking.
She continued, pulling a dangling leaf from a nearby branch and inspecting it whimsically. "I learnt a trick with an elastic band, makes any pair of trousers fat girl friendly."
"You're not fat." I said automatically. All those months spent with Maya as she fussed over her weight for modelling shoots had taught me that was the default response.
"That's not true." She scolded me, letting the leaf fall from her fingertips and flutter to the ground.
Clifford examined it curiously, hoping it was food, but moved on with a huff when he discovered it wasn't.
"I am fat, its not a dirty word Elliot."
I turned the corners of my lips up at her, "Touché."
Juliette was not Maya, I'd come to discover.
"Where are you taking me, anyway?" she'd asked impatiently as the hooded path faded into open field.
I was taking her somewhere special, somewhere I knew she would love.
Suddenly, the view answered her question.
Nestled in a quiet clearing of thicket bushes and wildflowers was a large pond, situated by a worn looking cottage sat on high ground.
On the furthest side of the body of water stood a Willow tree, its leaves browning at their ends to reflect the season, dipping so low they almost kissed the surface of the pond. I'd spent so much of my childhood swimming in that murky water and hiding under that mighty tree.
This was my haven.
Juliette's eyes went wide on her face as she scanned the scene, her pupils dilating in the depths of her irises.
"Juliette, welcome to Hasting Hills."
Realisation registered on her face, "Hasting Hills, like Millie's painting?"
"The very one." I breathed, holding out my hand to her as we stepped over a few waywardly placed boulders. She took it without hesitation.
A perfect Autumn sun reflected off the ripples forming on the pond's surface, I reached down and plucked a stray reed from the ground as we walked the perimeter.
"My father built the cottage for my mother when they first moved in here after they got married, Hasting is her maiden name, hence Hasting Hills. It was a place for her to escape when Lavender House was getting a bit too much."
"Lavender House?"
I pointed in the general direction from which we had come from, "The main house."
"Oh."
I wafted the end of the reed through the air, Clifford jumping to try and catch it in his mouth every time I dipped it low enough for him to reach.
Juliette watched me from the corner of her eye, awe transforming her face as we eventually reached a veil of willow branches.
She reached out and ran the feather-veined leaves through her fingers, a low hum coming from the back of her throat.
"I get it now, the painting." Juliette mused to herself, her hand slicing through the leaves, creating a parting like a doorway. She glanced back at the pond over her shoulder, "I can picture it perfectly in the summer."
I looked down where my hand was still holding hers, then back up at her.
I felt the pang of something soft and unfamiliar in the pit of my stomach as she stepped away from me, her fingers trailing the length of my palm until her touch was gone and my hand fell back by my side.
Juliette disappeared inside the veil she had created, but I was only a few steps behind her as the leaves engulfed me too.
"This is the most beautiful place I have ever seen." Her head spun around as she looked up to the towering branches above, her deep brown eyes burning in the darkness of the overhanging leaves.
When our gaze locked, it felt like we were in our own universe of nature.
"I bet you bring all the girls here to impress them." She mused, the apples of her cheeks turning a deep shade of pink, begging to be touched.
"No," I breathed, my heart beating heavily against my chest. "Only you."


My mother had organised a games night for the family that Saturday evening, it was as ridiculous and as you'd expect.
The sofas in the living room had been pushed all the way back to make way for various boardgames splayed out on the plush sheepskin rug. Juliette was sat on the floor by the fire, one hand rested on Clifford's belly and the other clinging to a handful of cards. Nonna Sofia was sat up on the sofa beside her, her brows puckered together as she studied her own cards. Millie was trying to keep up in their game of Spades, but her mind seemed elsewhere as she played her hand.
My father and Uncle Oscar were quietly playing chess by the window, oblivious to the others.
Frankie, Ashley, Aunt Amelia and my mother were all hunched over a monopoly board, arguing over who got to be the top hat piece.
Despite the chaos, I couldn't keep my eyes from wondering back to Juliette.
She was cross legged, dressed in a cream blouse and tailored trousers I'd purchased for her at the boutique. Her hair was piled up on her head, a few small ringlets falling around her face as the soft warm light of the fire bathed her skin.
Every time she lifted her hand to arrange her cards or play her turn, Clifford would lift his head and nudge her for more attention. I felt a twinge of nonsensical jealousy, I was usually his favourite, but clearly not when Juliette was in the room.
As I took another sip of my brandy, someone cleared their throat by my side.
Ashley had left her game of high stakes monopoly and found herself stood peering at me through her heavily mascara coated lashes.
"Not joining in on the fun?" She always sounded like she was teasing me, about what I didn't know.
"I much prefer to stand here and observe." I informed her, irritated by her presence.
She rolled her eyes at me, "Well that's boring."
"What can I say," I took another sip from my glass and let my eyes fall back across the room. "I'm a pretty boring guy."
Ashley followed my gaze to Juliette, using a wad of fake paper money she had collected form the game as a make-shift fan.
"I don't believe that for a second. Jewel wouldn't be with you if you were."
I let out a puff of air as response.
She continued, "Consequentially, why is Jewel with you?"
"My money." I deadpanned.
Ashley snorted unattractively.
"Now I know that's not true." She said.
If only Ashley knew the truth, which she never would, the NDA saw to that.
I swirled the amber liquid around in my glass, feigning disinterest. All the while, a slow and steady burn rose in my cheeks.
"What makes you so sure?"
"Because," her forehead creased in thought. "Jewel is the most earnest and ascetic person I know. She cares too deeply to be materialistic. If she does want money, she wants it for the right reasons."
"Maybe you don't know her as well as I do." It was a low blow, at Ashley and at Juliette, but I said it to get a reaction.
It worked; her face went red as she scowled at me.
"Juliette is my best friend; don't you ever forget that. I'm a nasty fucker when I want to be, and I protect my own."
I couldn't hide the smirk from my face, "Consider me warned."
She was quick to cut me off. "How someone like you managed to win someone like her I do not know."
I could feel my poker face slipping. "Someone like me? Please do elaborate Miss Goulding."
She was all too happy to. "Cold, demanding, unfeeling."
Her lips curved around each word as her eyes glazed over with anger. Frankie looked up at us momentarily, but quickly averted his gaze when he saw the steam coming out of my ears from my interaction with his aggravating girlfriend.
Come get your fucking woman, I internally screamed at him.
My eyes scorched into hers, hoping she would combust on sight. "Just because we have signed a contract and you are fucking my brother Ashley, does not mean I'm not capable of dropping you from the company so fast your head won't even get the chance to spin. I'd be careful, if I was you, because I am more than willing to show you how unfeeling I can be."
Ashley's mouth opened and closed like a fish, from shock and pure rage.
After a large gulp of air, she leaned in close, her voice a deadly whisper. "Listen here, Elliot Truman-"
My name sounded like a swear on her lips.
"-You may have everyone else fooled with your holier than thou bullshit, but you can't fool me. And the second you hurt Juliette, which I know you eventually will, I'll cut off your balls and shove them so far down your throat you'll taste them for a month."
At that moment, Juliette looked up in our direction, like she had caught mention of her name. Her mouth fell into a frown when she saw me and Ashley in each other's faces.
A concerned Frankie suddenly appeared by Ashley's side, placing a hand on her shoulder to pull her back from me, she resisted before eventually taking a step back.
My brother's voice dropped low, so the other guests couldn't hear him. "Will you two chill the fuck out please, if you're going to fight do it outside, not in front of mum and dad."
"Your girlfriend started it."
I sounded like a petulant child, I didn't care.
Frankie dismissed me, turning his attention solely to his date. "Let's go cool off, shall we Ash?"
"Try not to choke on your brandy." Ashley smiled at me too sweetly as she stepped past and headed to the kitchen with Frankie, her pace matching the lines of anger coming off of her.
I drained my glass, my hands shaking from the fury coursing through my blood.
Well that escalated quickly.
When I looked back up again, Juliette had excused herself from her game of cards and was making a path towards me, her face etched with uneasiness.
Here it comes, my scolding for being mean to her friend.
She stopped in front of me, her brown eyes round in her head as they cut through me like a knife.
Her voice was barely a whisper as she spoke. "Look, I know this is all pretend and everything." She gestured back and forth in the space between us. "But I'd appreciate it if you didn't flirt with my best friend in front of your family."
The brandy turned bitter in my mouth.
"What the fuck?" I spat, barely keeping a handle on myself.
Juliette brought her thumb to her mouth, nervously biting the back of her nail as she checked to see who was listening in on our conversation. Luckily, everyone else seemed oblivious.
"I don't expect you to keep up the rouse all the time, but Ashley is off limits. Not just because she's with Frankie..."
I saw red.
Grabbing her arm, I pulled her out of the room and through a door leading to the hallway.
When we were alone and out of earshot from everyone else, my fragile equilibrium crumbled.
"Why the fuck would I want to be with Ashley fucking Goulding. Are you fucking stupid?" I was too angry, too agitated, to care what I was saying.
Juliette's face flashed with her own fury, crossing her arms over her chest as she stood firm. "No, I am not fucking stupid."
I dragged my hands through my hair, pulling almost to the point of pain as I paced up and down the length of the corridor.
"Well, you could fool me." I bit back.
I knew I was being a dick, but I was all riled up, by Ashley and by her. The afterglow of our afternoon at Hasting Hills long forgotten.
"When you're whispering in the corner like a pair of fucking teenagers, what am I supposed to think?" Juliette's voice wavered, her nostrils flaring.
"If you must know," I stopped mid-stride, so I was towering over her. "Your friend was just informing me how inadequate I am for you. So, if you climbed down from the fucking pedestal she's put you on for a second you'd see I wasn't flirting with her, I was fucking fighting with her."
Juliette's face relaxed, but only a fraction. "Well, that's just as bad..."
"God, I can't fucking win here!" I rasped, throwing my hands up in frustration and almost knocking over my mothers prized ceramic bowl on the console table.
Juliette flinched but didn't falter.
"You are being so...so...urgh!" She dropped her hands to her side. "Why are you being like this?"
I ran my blistering scowl down the length of her. "Maybe you were right before, maybe people like me can't be with people like you."
I wanted to take it back as soon as I'd said it.
But it was too late, the words were suspended mid-air as all the fight left Juliette's body. Her shoulder's sagged and her eyes started to mist, hurt framing her face.
"I understand." Her voice was hollow as she stepped past me, darting for the stairs.
I reached for her, but she evaded my grasp. "Juliette. Wait-"
She took the stairs two at a time, not looking back at me once as she disappeared before my eyes.