No one ever gets to me.
"Night, Jim" She kissed him goodbye, and watched, sighing softly as he disappeared into the darkness. He didn't visit again for another week. She stared at her phone, at the door, longing to hear his voice again. She liked it when they were together. She could be herself around him. He liked it too, she knew he did. The sudden loud ringing noise from her mobile made her jump slightly, as it disrupted her thoughts. She reached out, tilting the phone to look at the caller I.D. It was him.
"Hello, dear." He practically sang, his soft Irish accent making her smile through the phone. He was out; she could hear the cars in the background. She leant back into the sofa, they could be on the phone for hours and not run out of things to talk about; but he was a busy man. Time spent together was rare, precious even. "Nice of you to get back in touch." She meant it, and he knew she did. "I was thinking of joining you tonight, if you have no objections" She raised an eyebrow slightly. He knew she never had objections to seeing him. "Well…what if I had other plans?" The answer was simple. Tough.
He smirked down the phone, straightening his tie with one hand as he crossed the road to her street. He knew it was pointless. He was a mess. He'd been double crossed. He'd lashed out, angrily. His jacket was crumpled, and his head split, most likely in several places. He winced as he touched the wound again, gingerly. His shirt was ripped, and blood soaked, and he had a black eye starting to form. He didn't care. They'd come worse off. Nobody messed with him. He hung up, knocking gently on the her phone back down to the table, she glanced at her reflection in the mirror, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear before opening the door to him. Her eyes widened as she saw him and she stuttered slightly "Wh-what the hell happened?" She frowned, deeply concerned before moving out the way to let him in. She appreciated that he wouldn't want to stand on the doorstep and explain everything.
A small smug grin crossed his face as he slipped his hands in his pockets, walking through to her living room. "Nice to see you too." He looked around the room, analysing all the small changes from the last time he was here before turning to her with a grin. "Just killed someone, you know, the usual" He flopped down on her sofa, tilting his head slighting at her bewildered look. "What?"
"You…you look, bad." It wasn't usual for him to visit her when he was like this. The occasional cut and bruise she'd dealt with, but never this bad. He smirked again. "You seem concerned?" He looked up at her grinning smugly, and she looked down, averting his gaze. This only make him smirk more as he stood up, lifting her head to look her in the eye. "Always knew you cared." She rolled her eyes slightly. She knew what he was capable of, and she knew he'd used people like her before. She wasn't willing to be his next victim. She pulled away, ignoring his comment and flopping down on the sofa. He grinned again. "Mind if I use the shower?" She nodded but he wasn't looking. He'd already started making his way upstairs. She sighed again, closing her eyes, resting her head on the arm of the sofa. She'd tried so hard not to care about him, but he could charm anyone he wanted, and he knew it. He could be so caring, make you feel wanted, needed, and then he wouldn't be in contact for days. She needed to be stronger, resist him.
Jim slipped his clothes off, turning the shower on, and stepping under the flow of warm water. He stood there, letting the water run over him, cleaning his cuts. He didn't really want a shower, the hot water stung him slightly. He wanted to be downstairs. He wanted her to be cleaning his cuts for him. He tried to shake the image from his mind, muttering to himself. He couldn't care about her. He was using her, like everyone else. Right? She was all part of his plan. She had contacts. Contacts he needed. She meant nothing to him.
Then he thought about the time she was walking home. He'd been watching her. He saw someone following her. He felt…worried for her. He'd killed that man, then and there. She never even knew. He tried to shrug it off. It was nothing. He didn't want her hurt, because he needed information she had.
Abbie sat downstairs, she'd lifted her head from the sofa and had grabbed a coffee to focus her thoughts. Smiling a little as he came back down the stairs, wrapped in a towel, she lifted her feet, resting them on the table in front of her. "Want some clothes to borrow? Doubt you're gonna want to go home wearing what you've just changed out of." He nodded and she jumped to her feet, searching for some old clothes for him to put on.
Eventually pulling out an old football shirt and some jeans, she handed them to him, shrugging a little. "Best I can do for you, sorry." He took them, smiling at her a little. "Thanks, Abbie." She simply nodded in reply, wandering back through to the living room to let him change in peace. He sighed as she disappeared again; she knew what he did, and she wasn't afraid of him. She was different, and he liked that. He quickly pulled on the clothes joining her in the living room. "Hey." He smiled cheerfully at her flopping down next to her on the sofa. He immediately frowned. He wasn't like this around people, not usually. He was detached, cold, got what he wanted then left. Yet here he was engaging conversation with her.
"Alright?" She glanced over at him, turning her TV back on. She was determined to be stronger, to not fall for him. His voice was beautiful, he was gorgeous, and he knew it, took advantage of it, she wasn't the first to fall hopelessly in love with him. Well, she couldn't call it love, not yet. But she liked him, she liked him a lot. She missed him when he didn't call, worried about him. But she was wary; she knew about him, about his reputation. She couldn't show any signs of liking him for fear that he'd take advantage, use this against her. He'd done it before, why would she be different?
Jim's frown deepened as he noticed her slightly colder attitude towards him. "Fine. A lot better after the shower, cheers." Again, she simply nodded. He tried to ignore it, brush it off. He was angry at himself for feeling this way, but he couldn't help it. "Abbie?" She turned to face him and he paused, looking at her. He couldn't help but smile. "I…" She frowned again, turning properly to look at him. "Yeah?" He shook his head. "S'nothing." She raised an eyebrow, looking at him curiously. He tilted his head again, as if considering options in his head. Once he'd make his mind up, he leant forward, closing his eyes and kissing her softly. Abbie barely had time to close her eyes as he pulled away, standing up almost immediately. "I..I need to go, I've work to finish, sorry." He glanced around for his wallet, pulling it from his jacket pocket, and hurrying out the door.
She didn't hear from him again for what felt like forever. Hours, days, weeks. He ignored her texts, refused to answer her calls, and never seemed to be at home. She was confused. Why did he kiss her? Why did he leave? He seemed so different in those few seconds and she needed answers. After a few weeks she gave up, continuing with her normal dull routine. She met someone new, invited him over. It felt good to have moved on, as such.
Jim knew he needed to get over her. She was dangerous to his whole business. The day he'd walked out of her flat, he killed two people in broad daylight purely down to confusion and anger. He was becoming reckless and finding it hard to concentrate on his work. He threw his phone away, every call, every text, just made his head spin. He'd still follow her, still check up on her. He couldn't help but feel a sting of jealousy when he saw new people enter her flat. He growled as they kissed her goodbye and he walked away resisting the urge to slit the man's throat.
A couple of days later Abbie was in town, shopping. She knew someone was following her, watching her, she could feel it. It made her feel uneasy. As she walked down the small alley way; the only way to get to her house, Jim appeared at the other end, hands in pockets, as usual. He was wearing a black suit jacket, his hair was fluffier than usual, and he was wearing a scarlet red tie. She noted the tiny details. Fingernails were clean. He'd showered today, probably towel dried his hair, that's why it was so fluffy. A small knife on his inside pocket. She knew him well enough to know he would have a gun on him somewhere too. The front of his shoes were scuffed, but they still looked relatively shiny, meaning he'd probably polished them this morning, but the dust from the alley way would have caused the scuffing on the front as he kicked at the stones, waiting for her to arrive. He had the same expression he always had, a small, smug smile on his face as he looked up at her, his eyes sparkling in the daylight. "Someone seemed desperate to see me." He smirked, pulling the phone he'd retrieved from his bin, now from his pocket. "12 missed calls, multiple texts, let alone the answer phone messages. Did you not get the hint I didn't want to talk?"
He advanced towards her, never once looking away from her, his smirk never fading. "I made a mistake. I shouldn't have kissed you. You're nothing. You mean nothing." In one swift move, he pushed her back against the brick wall, his hand around her neck. "Now, you'll give me what I need, or I will simply take it." He shrugged a little, holding his other hand out for her phone. "I don't know why I never did this before. It's so much easier to just, demand things, rather than try and get involved with the person and build up trust." Abbie looked down. She hadn't trusted him, not fully anyway, but she didn't think it would come to this. She opened her bag, slapping her phone into his hand. Her voice was angry, but you could detect the hurt in it as she spoke. "Just take it, take it and don't come back." He ran his thumb over her lips gently, silencing her, and smirking again as she closed her eyes. "I don't think we need to be that drastic, do we, dearest? Now, run along." He relaxed his grip around her neck, moving away from the wall. "I'll be in touch next time I need something. You've been most helpful."
It wasn't long before she would see him again. She set the wine out on the table, and had already ordered the Chinese for about half an hours time. She opened the door and grinned at who greeted her on the doorstep. "Hey, Zach!" A tall, black haired, slim built guy stood at the door, chocolates in arms. He had beautiful blue eyes that lit up when he smiled. He handed over the chocolates, beaming. "Hey, honey." She moved over to let him in, kissing him tenderly before closing the door and moving through to the living room.
Jim was stood across the road, leant against a lamp post, in the darkness. Watching the pair of them in the door way made him growl and he slipped his phone from his pocket, texting Abbie; [I'm coming round. Don't care what you say. You've five minutes to get him to leave. JM]
Picking up her phone, she ignored the text, engaging conversation with Zach. After several ignored texts, she knew she was being watched and she text back; [What do you want, Jim? Leave me alone. I'm moving on with my life.]
Frowning, and knowing that texts wouldn't work, he knocked on the door. Smirking slightly as she answered he exclaimed loudly "Hey, baby, I'm home early." He pushed her into view of Zach, kissing her passionately and pressing her against the wall. He suddenly stopped, turning his head, faking a surprised look, before frowning. "Babe? Who's this?" He glared at Zach, turning and picking him up by the collar and pressing him against the wall roughly. When Abbie didn't reply, Zach finally stammered his name and Jim dropped him. "GET. OUT!" He practically roared, several particles of spit coating Zach's terrified face. The horrified boy stood, shaking and eyes widened before stumbling out of the door.
Abbie turned to Jim, furious. "What the fuck was that for!" She growled, walking towards him. "You could have spoken to me upstairs or something! He didn't have to leave, and certainly not in that manner!" She raised a hand to slap him but he was quicker, grabbing her wrist and holding it firmly in place. "Abbie…" He looked up at her, his face confused, and she instantly softened, dropping her hand. "What?" Again, he said nothing, pushing her back against the wall, with slightly less force than before. He pushed her hair back behind her ears softly before leaning in to kiss her deeply. This time he didn't pull away and Abbie closed her eyes, reaching her hand up to his cheek gently, kissing him back.
Jim broke the kiss after a while, pulling back. "Abbie…Abbie, I…" He was mumbling, avoiding her eye contact. She softly ran a hand through his hair, whispering. "You can tell me, Jim." Silently slipping his knife from his jacket, he sighed. "I love you, Abbie. And I'm sorry. So sorry." Abbie barely had time to ask what for as he quickly slashed the knife across her throat. He knew what he was doing. It would be a quick death, barely felt. He made sure of that. He couldn't have her, and he certainly didn't want anyone else to have her; this was the only viable option. As her body slid down the wall he looked away, a single tear running down his cheek. He lifted his finger up to wipe it away. He hadn't cried since his mum died all those years ago. Taking one last look back at her lifeless body, he composed himself, dialling an employee. "Jones? Yeah. Standard clean up." He gave the address before adding as an afterthought. "Just…be gentle with the body, yeah?" Sliding the phone back into his pocket and straightening his tie again, he looked once more around the room before leaving, disappearing into the darkness.
"No one ever gets to me, and no one ever will."