Julia's POV:
"Excuse me?"
My eyes are narrowed as I glare at the two men in front of me. I hope this is just some joke, because they sound outrages!
"You want me to put myself in harm's way, just to get rid of someone because you couldn't do your job right?" I ask, shoving my hand towards Hunter. He grimaces at the way I state it, but that is how I see it. "You should have focused more on your job than a relationship that was a complete fuck up." My anger from earlier is boiling and Stephanie steps forward.
The peace maker.
"Julia, that;s not necessary." I turn to face her and I see Bianca behind her. Her face shows pain, but I don't feel any guilt.
"Tough shit." I shrug and shove past Hunter to head to the stairs, but he grabs my arm. I fave him. my anger not subduing, "Grab me again, and I will break your fucking nose."
"Then do it, maybe I do deserve it after everything I have done to you." My face falls. "But please, Jules. Tyler, Steph, Gabby and everyone is in danger because of one psycho that clearly doesn't understand boundaries." I didn't even notice that he had pulled me closer towards him. "I promise, I really do, that you will not get hurt; and if you do, I will never forgive myself." His eyes looks sincere.
I look away from them, and I feel my stomach turn and twist. Why is he so bipolar? Was he always like this?
"I-" My eyes meets his again and I feel myself wanting to hug him, to feel safe again, but I leave it. "Okay." My shoulders sag and I nod my head. "Fine, I'll contact him and tell him to meet me somewhere, but!" I pull away from his grip, "I will only do it once back up is already there and hiding, because I refuse to be in danger." He nods his head and a small smile forms.
"I promised, didn't I?"
I don't answer him and turn away from him to head upstairs. I hear footsteps following and Stephanie joins me in my room. "I am so sorry that they had put you in the spot like that." I can see that this is exhausting to her. She's a mother now and her wedding party was a fuck up. Now this as well, I would be exhausted too. I pull her into a hug, not feeling as safe as I do in Hunter's arms, but appreciating the feeling.
I pull out my phone and I dial my mother's number. She answers on the second ring, sounding very happy.
"Hi baby, are you okay?" I smile at her motherly feeling when she sense that something's off, but I lie to her. I can't let her worry about me. "Hi momma, I'm fine. I just wanted to call you. I will see you before I fly back and I just wanted to tell you that I love you so much." She says it back, and I feel my heart get a little lighter. I needed my mom's voice to calm me a little bit, even though she was part of my thunder storm in high school.
Stephanie hugs me again after the call with my mother and she sighs. "You will be safe, Jules. We won't let him harm you, and you know that." I nod my head, but something terrible still feels off. What if it doesn't go as plan?
Nothing ever goes as plan.
That night I had a restless sleep. Hunter was just in another room, and Bianca was in another one in the house. They didn't want to go home since they had a feeling that Justin could be lurking somewhere. I understand that, but that made me more nervous.
I woke up with a terrible head ache, but I didn't let it get me down. Even my coffee didn't seem strong enough that morning and I honestly wish it did. When Hunter came in the kitchen, his hair was wet. Indicating he had a shower not so long ago. At least he was fully dressed.
"How did you sleep?" He takes a seat next to me as I hold my empty mug and I shrug. "Terrible and you?" He doesn't answer me for a couple of seconds. "Same." It felt very uncomfortable between us, but I appreciate the silence. It speaks louder than words with the different emotions swirling around us.
"What if this is all my fault?" I ask out loud after a long pause. His words from earlier is still swirling in my head along with the rest of my thoughts. I feel him touch my hand that is around my mug and he slowly unwinds my fingers from it. "It isn't, I was wrong for saying it was." I look at him and he smiles softly at me, the sadness lurking in his eyes.
"I was angry and confused, just like you are about Bianca and I." I look away from him, trying to pull my hand away from him, but he refuses to let it go. "Please Jules, don't push me away like this." He begs softly and that's when I feel the waterfall forcing it's way back up. "Me? Pushing you away?" I ask as the first tear escapes.
"You've been pushing me away since the I left and not once did you reach out to me."
"You left me," I shake my head and I stare at him, tears rolling now.
"I didn't leave you because I wanted to, Hunter, I left you because you felt that the distance would affect us negatively. I always wanted to come back to you, every day I wanted to, but I felt that you didn't even want me anymore."
"Of course I wanted you! Dammit, Julie, I love you." My heart stutters as I stare at him wide eye. "Lov-.." I blink once and more tears slide down my face. He reaches out and wipes them away, "Yes, I love you. I still do, and when you left I felt torn." \
"Bianca was only suppose to comfort me. We didn't plan to get serious or get in a relationship, but we are human, Jules." He starts to explain, his own tears falling. "She made me forget about my pain when you couldn't. She knew how I felt and she danced perfectly to my broken melody." I let out a small sob and I wipe my face with the palm of my hand, trying to get rid of the tears.
"I didn't know if I was going to propose to her, and when I found out about her cheating I knew it was a sign. We aren't met for each other. We never were." He seems so distant, and I can see she broke his heart. Just like he broke mine when I found out. "I love you, Julia. I know this, because when I saw you after all these years, months, I knew I love you and only you."\
"Our broken melodies, it is a perfect beat when we are together." He cups my cheek and I lean into his hand, even if I want to fight against it, but his words are true. I felt complete when he held me after all these years. I felt at home and peace again.
" I love you too, Hunter." I whisper and a smile breaks through his tears. "That's all I wanted to hear, baby." He kisses me, softly and gently. I don't fight against, I kiss him back and I feel the peace envelope me. I missed him so much.
When we hear footsteps, we break apart and Stephanie enters the kitchen with a groggy Gabby. She smiles at us, like she knows exactly what happened. "Good morning you two." She greets and Gabby rubs her eyes. "Good morning." I greet back and Hunter nods his head. He looks at me, but I just keep my gaze on Stephanie as she places Gabby in her high chair.
"Are we going to get rid of Justin today, or..?" She looks at us with a questioning gaze and Hunter looks at me. "Yes." I nod my head and she smiles, "Good, we are here for you. Tyler had already called the team last night and they are more than willing to help. He will be behind bars as soon as we get him."
My phone buzzes on the counter and I pick it up, a message pops up on my screen. "It's him." I sigh and I open it. "He says that he wants to see me, without anyone, He needs to speak to me and that he will leave me alone afterwards." Hunter looks into the distance and starts shaking his head.
"No, he knows we are planning something." He stands up from the chair and moves to the window, looking outside. "He knows something and now he is trying to fool us. We can't fall for this." I stare at him as he moves between the windows, peeking out each one. "I am contacting the team. When you meet him, someone will be standing near by, for if something happens then we can jump in."
I feel the fear crawl up my spine, but start typing a message nonetheless. "Where?" I ask and his message comes through barely a second afterwards. "The same house where Aiden had you." I shake my head. "I can't do this, I am sorry." I put the phone down and Hunter walks to me, holding my shoulders and crouching a bit to look me in the eye.
"We promised to protect you, and that is what we are going to do." I am shaking, but he is right. I will be protected. I grab my phone again and asks him for a time.
"Ten minutes from now."
Hunter's POV:
I can see that she is scared, and to be honest I am scared too. I am scared that I am going to lose her, I am scared that he is smarter than us. I am scared that something terrible will go wrong and then I lose my girl entirely. I am at a point where I want to cancel the entire thing, but I feel that this will get worst.
The building that I am parked in front off is the same building that made a huge mess in high school. I never thought I would see it again and I had hoped that that they had bulldozed it by now, but here we are.
Julia is sitting with her head in her hands, Tyler is in another car parked around the corner to stay hidden and a few other vehicles are scattered around the block with backup. They reacted fast, but it is good. "Julia, stay calm. It is daytime, it is too busy for him to try anything that can attract attention." I pull her closer and kisses her forehead.
"I am still scared." Me too. I am very scared, but what can I do? I have to protect a lot of people and not just Julia, and she's the only one who can help me to do this."We are just outside the building, after about five minutes a few guys will sneak in and they will arrest him. He already has a crime record, so there won't be any hesitation to arrest him." She only nods meekly and unbuckles herself.
"I'll be back in a few." She whispers, and I can see that she is trying to keep her calm. As I watch her walk to the building a sinking feeling forms in my stomach. Something is very off, and I can't put my finger on it. I start to look around, but I don't see something out of the order. A few minutes passes and the back up starts to sneak in the building.
I get out the car, the feeling growing and I take one step closer, but I stop when I hear a shot fire. It takes a few seconds to realize that the shot wasn't the back up and the realization dawns when I see more guys running into the building and Tyler running around the block.
"Julia! It's Julia!" He yells and I feel myself running to the building, but I can't think. Everything feels in a daze. When I barge through the door, I see the guys holding Justin to the floor as he tries to struggle against them and I see Julia's body on the ground. I few guys are with her, but I run to her anyway.
"Stay back, Hunter." Fred, I think, is holding my chest and I stare at Julia. She is moving her head from side to side, saying something and one of the guy's answers her but I can't hear a thing. Only buzzing in my ears.
"She will be okay, she wasn't shot anywhere near organs that could cause her death, but she is losing consciousness. The paramedics are on their way." I can't register what he is saying, but when my eyes falls on Justin I feel anger in me. I shove Fred to the side and I head towards him.
"You fucking bastard!" I grab him on his shirt when they pull him. "How fucking dare you!" I punch him, hard, I can feel his nose crack under my fist, but I keep him on his feet by holding his shirt with one hand. "You could have killed her!" He grins at me with a bloodied face.
"That was the idea, genius." He spits blood, "If I can't have her, no one can." I punch him again and this time he falls. I kick him in the stomach and that is when Fred pulls me away. "Hunter! Stop!" I can feel the hatred in me.
"I will kill you my fucking self if I see you anywhere near her again!" I yell, ripping myself away from Fred and stalking towards Julia. She's half awake, and I hold her haind. "I am so sorry, I shouldn't have allowed this." I look at her blood soaked shirt, he shot her in the side. "I-" I look at her, the tears falling.
"I am so sorry, my baby."