Page 8 of My Fake Fiancé

Juliana

I peer around Kurt’s shoulders, taking in the room in front of me. Nothing looks to be out of order but the room is quite dark and I can’t see much. I want to go check the small two bedrooms and our one bathroom but the darkness makes the apartment feel eerie. I can tell something is wrong but I really can’t see anything with the lights off. I step out from behind Kurt and feel my way across the wall to where I know the light switch is, I flick on the light switch when my hand lands on it.

When the light turns on, it illuminates the small living room, showing a large figure sitting on the couch. Callum sits with his legs spread apart, leaning back on the couch, making himself at home. His face is sporting a nasty bruise just beginning to appear on his jaw. I freeze instantly, staring at him while he glares at me. Callum has yet to move, he remains seated, just staring at me.

I can’t seem to get myself to move either but Kurt takes action almost immediately. He leaves the door open to make for an easy exit then he walks over to the couch and looks down at Callum.

“Get up,” Kurt says, his voice firm and warning. He stands above Callum, still keeping himself between Callum and myself.

An amused smirk appears on Callum’s face that turns even more sinister when he notices Kurt standing in front of me, protecting me. Callum turns his stare on Kurt. He stands up off the couch, slowly. Kurt stands up straighter and while Callum is a tall and large man, Kurt’s athletic stature gives his extra inch a lot of intimidation. But I’ve seen Callum fight and he does not play by the rules, nor is he one to give up easily. The idea of the two fighting worries me but I push that aside and bring myself back to reality.

“Callum,” I say cautiously and Kurt looks at me while Callum continues to stare at Kurt. I try to stay focused on getting Callum out of my apartment, I’m not even quite sure how he got in in the first place. “What are you doing here? How did you get in?”

“You didn’t think I would let you get away that easily did you, love?” I can feel my body wanting to shrink back and hide from him but I force myself to stand still. I take a deep breath and then sigh.

“Callum, you broke up with me. You need to move on.” I put my hands on my hips trying to appear more confident but it only makes Callum smirk more. Callum turns his attention to Kurt when he speaks next. Eyeing him and looking back between the two of us.

“Oh? Do I? Just like you have?” Callum takes a step closer to Kurt who looks a little uncomfortable with the confrontation. But I see his emotions start to shift more towards being annoyed. Honestly, I am getting pretty annoyed with Callum’s behavior too. “I can’t allow you to get away with disrespecting me like that.” He practically snarls at Kurt, taking another step closer, wobbling a little, clearly drunk but he regains his balance quickly.

Kurt holds up his hands trying to make peace. “Hey, man, I meant no disrespect. I just did what anyone would do if they saw someone pushed to the ground.” His words sound innocent but I see him stand taller as if egging Callum on.

“Stay away from what’s mine. Juliana is my girl.” Callum spits venom as he speaks and I know I need to step in before he tries to start a fight. Before I can speak though, Kurt says something that makes me stop in my tracks.

“She isn’t your girl. You broke up with her months ago and now, she is my fiancé. So, you need to back off.” He finishes his point by giving Callum a look then grabbing his arm and dragging him to the door.

I just stand there unable to react to everything that’s going on around me. I thought I had more control over myself than this but after everything else tonight, I am just exhausted.

Callum is obviously wasted, enough so that he doesn’t put up a fight even when Kurt grabs him so maybe he won’t remember this whole incident by the time he gets over the hangover he’s going to endure tomorrow morning.

“I’ll be back!” Callum shouts as Kurt ushers him out. “You can’t do this to me and expect to get away with it. I will ruin you!”

I hear Callum’s words getting quieter as Kurt pushes or drags him down the hallway. I also hear a thud and a couple of muted curse words then the slam of the stairwell door followed by silence.

The silence takes over the small apartment and suddenly my head begins pounding. The silence is too much for me, the headache is overwhelming. I sink onto the floor in the middle of the room and begin to cry, cradling my head in my hands.

It’s been such a long night.

Chapter 9

Kurt

After I ushered Callum out of the apartment, I forced him into a cab ignoring his half-assed, Bond villain, threats and easily dodging his swinging arms. He kept swearing incoherently and threatening to expose our fake relationship. This statement gives me pause, but I know his words mean nothing, just a drunken exclamation. Callum recovers his pride enough to tell the cab driver his address before slamming the door shut and staring off ahead of him, pouting like a small child. His new demeanor makes me smile and I wave as the cab drives off, then head back into the apartment building chuckling to myself.

I wait until the cab disappears, just to make sure he isn’t going to try to come back tonight. When I’m sure he’s gone, I go back up the stairs to Juliana’s apartment. When I go down the hall to her apartment, I notice the door is still open and I see her sitting on the floor in the middle of the room. She is cradling her head in her hands.

“Juliana? Are you okay?” I kneel next to her and lift her face to look up at me. As I search her face for any signs of emotion, I notice that her eyes are red and she looks like she’s barely holding back more tears.

When I came back to her apartment I watched as her face went blank and she hid all emotion from me. I wonder why she thinks she would need to hide her emotions from me.

She nods then pushes my hand away from her face but I grab onto her elbow to help her stand. She brushes imaginary lint off her legs when she stands up.

“Thank you,” she says quietly, her voice devoid of emotion.

Why is she shutting me out? I think to myself. I guess we don’t know each other very well. Hopefully, that changes over time. I know I did the right thing when I agreed to go along with this fake fiancé idea. Especially after everything I’ve seen so far from Callum’s behavior and how Juliana reacts to him. She is starting to hold her own against him but when he left, she completely collapsed and shut down. I can see how emotionally draining her relationship with Callum was. Maybe our relationship can help brighten her spirit again. Even if it isn’t quite real, I can still show her what a good relationship should be. Or at the very least, we can have fun as friends.

“It’s not a problem,” I say, brushing away her thanks. “I’ve got your back,” I reassure her with a smile.

“Thanks for everything. I know this isn’t exactly how you pictured this night to go. But I am grateful for your patience.” She speaks formally and for some reason, I know I shouldn’t push her. I nod, accepting her thanks this time, and take a step away from her.

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