”So, how did you like the show?” Jo asked her parents.
“I loved it! They are so good at what they do.” Jo’s mother was beaming.
“How about you, daddy?”
“Yeah, I liked it. I think you’ve got yourself a good man there, Joanna. He’s nice, and hard working.”
“You really think so?”
“Have I ever said something I didn’t mean to you?”
“I guess not. I’m so glad you like him! It means the world to me.” She gave both of her parents a hug.
“Mr and Mrs. Ericks! Joanna!” A voice called behind them. They turned around.
“Andy?” Jo gasped. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh, I’ve watched the concert. Loved it, by the way. How are you guys?” he turned to her parents.
“Oh, Andy, long time, no see. We really enjoyed the concert.” Jo’s mother gave him a hug.
“To think I’d bump into you here.”
“Well, we had to visit our only daughter when we got the chance. Not that often she’s around.” Jo’s dad looked at his watch. “Tina, we’ve got to go if we are going to get home before dawn.”
“You’re right, dear. Oh, Jo, I’ll miss you. Call.” She gave her daughter a hug.
“I’ll call. I promise. It’ll be easier now, not having to deal with the time difference and all that. I love you.”
“We love you too, dear.” Jo’s father hugged her and whispered so that noone else could hear: “Don’t be surprised if someone surprises you soon.” He let go of her and giggled.
“What? Dad, you’re not making any sense.”
“And I don’t intend to.” Still smiling he took her mother’s hand and they walked away. Jo looked after them as they left, puzzled.
“What did he tell you?”
“You’re still here?” She looked at Andy.
“Will always be, pumpkin.”
“What do you want from me?”
“Just to talk to you. I’ve accepted that we’re not together anymore.”
“Good for you.”
“Please. Just come with me, talk to me about what happened. I need closure.”
“Damn, Andy, you really do watch too much Oprah.” She couldn’t help but laugh. She’d always been amused by his fascination of Oprah and her talk show. It was he who’d called for her to come watch when Alex was on, talking about his addictions.
“Can’t help it. Women’s destinies fascinate me.” He laughed with her. “Seriously, Joanna. Please.”
“I don’t have that much time. We’re leaving for Norway in an hour and a half. I have to be here by then.”
“Well, I live in a friend’s apartment over there.” He pointed at an apartment building 500 metres away. “You remember Shaun, the aussie, right?”
“Oh, yeah. How’s he?”
“In Australia, at the moment. I’ve been kinda promoted, have to be here Monday through Wednesday, and he offered me to live in his apartment, so I don’t have to go back and forth every day.” They started walking.
“Nice of him. And congratulations on the promotion. You deserve it.”
“Thank you. So, how’s life? You like the travelling?”
“I do, actually. It’s great. I really love this job. Seriously, it’s all I ever dreamed of.”
They walked up the stairs, until he stopped by a door and unlocked it. “This is it. Not big, but it’s ok. Take a look around if you want to.”
She did so, thinking that he was right. It surely wasn’t big, a single room holding a bed, a couch and a TV, and the tiniest kitchen she’d ever seen. The walls were full of Bob Marley posters, and the windows had no curtains.
“Nice,” she said as she sat down on the couch.
He sat down next to her. “Yeah.” They fell silent, a comfortable silence that soothed her. He cleared his throat. “What happened, Joanna?”
“I don’t know. I felt trapped back home. The same faces, the same talk, the same shitty job.”
“The same shitty boyfriend.”
“Don’t say that. It’s not true. I loved you, and it broke my heart to leave you, but I had to.”
“Why? We could have made this work. You could at least have given it a shot before you decided it didn’t work.”
“We tried to make it work back home. We couldn’t. We fought all the time. Adding I don’t know how many miles to that and trying more? You know as well as I do it would have killed us. I did the right thing, even if I doubted that for quite some time.”
“Then you met Alex.”
“Then I met Alex.” She nodded. “I had to move on. Couldn’t cry for you anymore.”
“Why? Why him?”
“No, Andy. I’m not gonna sit here explaining why I chose him. Not to you.”
“Why the hell not? I deserve to know.”
“I just won’t.”
His hand flew out, hit her hard across the face.
“Ouch! What the fuck Andy?”
“You’re not leaving me this time.”
“What?” Her heart was racing, she was starting to get scared. He had never acted like this before, never during the seven years they’d shared had he hit her.
"Come here baby.” He pulled her close, ignored her struggle to break loose.
“Stop it Andy! What are you doing?”
“I’m kissing you.” He did, forced his tongue into her mouth, pinned her down on the couch with his body and tried to take her clothes off. She heard fabric breaking, her t-shirt was in rags, and his hands were squeezing her breasts hard through the bra. She tried to make him stop, but he wouldn’t listen to her pleas. His hands followed her contours down to her jeans, he shifted position to be able to unbutton them, still holding her down. She fisted her hands, hit him wherever she could, but it was useless. His eyes had a glaze she’d never seen before, he ripped her jeans off, then went back to her breasts, tugged on her bra so hard she could feel it cutting into her back before it finally broke somewhere in the back. She was terrified, tears were rolling down her face as she begged him to stop, told him he was hurting her, but he acted as if he didn’t hear her. He bit her neck, hard, and she screamed her pain out to whoever could hear her. As he was progressing down to her panties he let her go, and she took the chance, kicked him hard wherever she could reach, then ran for it.
Unfortunately she hit his arm, and he was right behind her, pulled her down on the rug.
“Don’t you try and leave me again. I won’t let you. We belong together.”
“Oh, shut up, you idiot. You think this is going to get me to love you again? Let me tell you that you’re dead wrong.”
“Dead. I like that word. That’s what you’ll be if you continue to deny me what’s mine.”
“I’m not yours. I’m my own person, and I have given all that I am to Alex.”
“Don’t you dare mention his name again. He doesn’t love you like I do. He couldn’t. It’s impossible.” He lay his hand across her mouth and nose, suffocating her. His other hand ripped her panties in two. He forced her legs apart and entered her. He let her breathe when he saw the panic in her eyes, and she took a deep breath, then screamed out for help from the man she loved.
“ALEX!”
Andy was furious. His fist hit her temple before she knew what’d happened, and saw her eyes roll back into her head, then lay his hand steady over her face as he finished what he was doing with a deep sigh.
“Joanna! I love you, Joanna.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
Contains a rather strong scene. There, I warned you. Now start reading! :)
