Page 21 of The Marriage Auction 2: Part 3

Jack stared at the ground and put one foot in front of the other as the doctor led us into a small room. On the bed lay the woman I’d just seen yesterday on a video call looking vibrant and full of life. Now she was unrecognizable. Her face was swollen, half of it covered in thick bandages. A tube was taped over her mouth where a machine breathed on her behalf. The blankets were covering the rest of her body up to her shoulders so we couldn’t see what other damage she suffered.

Jack finally let my hand go and slumped into the chair next to the bed. He cupped her face. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner. I’m sorry I can’t save you from this.” He burst into shoulder-wracking sobs.

I put my hand on his back in support but said nothing. There wasn’t anything I could say that would even put a dent into his sorrow.

“I promise I’ll take the best care of TJ. He’ll want for nothing. And he’ll know you and Troy. My memory is long, and I will fill his life with everything I know about you both. He will know how loved he was.” He cried for a few minutes as he said a bunch of things in Norwegian. He didn’t seem to realize he was switching back and forth. “Jeg elsker deg,” he finally said, which I knew meantI love you. Then he stood and bent to kiss her forehead.

Jack turned around and wrapped me in his arms and cried for a long time, tears sliding hotly along the skin of my neck. Then he pulled back, wiped his eyes and took a breath. “I’ll go get Henrik and Irene so they can say goodbye. Then I’ll tell the doctor we’re ready.”

He eased past me, and then it was just me and Ellen.

I went over to the bed and put my hand to her shoulder. “I’ll take care of him, Ellen. I promise. May the goddess Hel protect you on your journey. Transcend in peace.”

Episode 65

Flashback

GIOVANNI

It took every ounce of strength and resolve I had to stay quiet while my lawyers informed me and my wife that she was facing legal repercussions for having fired a warning shot at Bianca.

“Considering the sexual assault, trespassing, and drugging charges that Ms. Bianca Cameron is facing, I am confident I can convince the DA to lower the charges to brandishing a weapon, which would come with probation, fines, and the loss of your gun permit but no jail time,” my lawyer explained.

“Whatever, that’s fine,” Jules waved flippantly. “I don’t regret what I did. Bianca would have escaped, and I wasn’t going to shoot a pregnant woman, but I knew the authorities were on their way and just needed to buy some time.”

“The fact that Lee is a highly decorated former-police officer and is claiming the warning was necessary under the circumstances is helping your case.”

Lee lifted his chin when my gaze went to him. He’d be getting a large bonus and a raise for having taken care of my wife—and me—during what was a terrifying situation.

I gritted my teeth and firmed my jaw, staring my lawyer down. “I can’t even believe Julianne is facing anything. She prevented a known assailant from leaving the scene of the crimebeforethe authorities could arrest her. Julianne was skilled in the use of the weapon, and no one got hurt. She’s a fuckinghero.” I fumed, reaching around my wife’s shoulders and curling her closer to me where we sat on her couch.

I’d been given a common date rape drug, and after I told the police what I could remember and Jules made her statement, the police told the ER staff to do something called a rape kit. The photos, the exam, the swabs… I shivered as I flashed on the nurse taking the swabs of the lipstick smears on my face, neck and chest. The counselor they insisted I speak to told me that, with the drug, there was no way I could have consented and I should try and remember that as I processed what happened. I’d been sexually assaulted, and every time I thought about those lipstick marks, I wanted to vomit. I couldn’t scrub my skin enough to feel clean, even though the marks were no longer visible. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on the here and now and make the memory disappear.

“Hey,” Jules brought her face close to mine, her fingers threading through my hair. “Don’t go back there,” she warned. “I’ve got you.”

And she did have me. In every way that mattered. Julianne had doted on and catered to me since I was released from the hospital a few days ago. We stayed in her apartment where she made sure I remembered to eat, watched movies to distract us both, and lounged around while I tried to wrap my mind around what had happened. It was all so fresh, and I didn’t expect to have random grotesque flashbacks of what Bianca had done to me.

Her naked body hovering over mine.

That red lipstick and her smarmy smile as she undressed me.

The complete inability to move or defend myself.

My mouth wouldn’t work. I couldn’t cry out or scream. I just had to take it.

Her mouth dragged down my chest as she did whatever she wanted.

Bianca rubbing her naked body across my lower half as she told me I liked it.

Suddenly, sweat beaded on my forehead and my entire body went white hot. Then came the sour, metallic taste in the back of my throat, and I knew what that meant. My breakfast was racing up my throat as I bolted off the couch to the guest bathroom near the living room. I fell to my knees and hurled everything I’d eaten that morning into the toilet. I heard water running as my stomach continued to flex and churn until there was nothing left but dry heaves.

A cool cloth was laid over the back of my neck, and I winced, knowing that Julianne was there, helping me through this, doing whatever she could to provide an ounce of comfort.

Her body wrapped around mine from behind. “Flashback?” she asked gently.

“Flashback,” I gritted out, my throat as raw as my mental state.

I felt her place a kiss on the back of my neck as she rubbed circles over the entire expanse of my back, letting me have a moment to process.

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