Julia fought the intimidating effects of his gaze. Finally unable to
continue looking at him and keep from back up at the same time, she looked
away. She found the rich gold and reds of the library fitting for Alex.
Sumptuous, elegant, the colors of fire, yet colors that were at odds with
the cold flame blue of those eyes. She could feel those eyes on her as she
looked about. She jumped as Alex sighed and she snapped her gaze to him to
find him shaking his head.
"I try to keep you from this life, I try to make sure you lived a life of ease, and still you fight me." Alex said. He knew his look was still angry and tried to soften it.
"I didn't want a life of ease, and I didn't want your great sacrifice, Alex." Julia replied, trying to keep her voice level. "You didn't ask what I wanted."
"We couldn't have given you what you wanted." Alex told her. "We had no legal claim on you, we could not refuse your father."
"You didn't even try to stop him." Julia hissed. "You said you would die rather than let him take me."
"Would me dying make it better Julia? Would that make you happy?" Alex asked, his temper was boiling.
"Is it that or did you just want me out of the way?" Julia snapped. Alex looked at her in shock.
"What in the hell are you talking about?" Alex growled.
"You know what I'm talking about." Julia hissed. "You wanted me out of the way so you wouldn't feel guilty about the women."
"You have no idea what actually went on, Julia." Alex ground out. "You weren't there any more to see. What ever your little birdies told you, they didn't get their facts straight. I would have pegged you for being more careful with your information. Stories about me have been exaggerated since I became the leader of Brooklyn."
"I have more of an idea than you think." Julia replied, her smile telling him that she had yet another secret that he knew she wouldn't be too keen on sharing; she was enjoying his discomfort too much. There had been many parts of his past he would have redone if given the chance, and part of it was his involvement with women. Not necessarily his lovers so much as the reputation he had received from some of his more obvious displays. His boys had been just as proud as he at his way with the ladies, and his ability to do anything anywhere with anyone. Still, Julia was rather sheltered, and he doubted she could even begin to fathom some of his exploits.
"What do you mean by that?" He asked, his smile telling her that she didn't know half of what she thought she did.
"You think I don't know Alex, but I do," Alex looked at the infuriated girl before him. Her almond shaped eyes were narrowed and shooting sparks with the anger in them. Yet hidden in that anger was pain. "Are you actually refusing to admit to the reputation you so vigorously worked for? If I remember correctly your most famous exploit was the sweet young daughter of a cobbler that you managed to kiss into enough oblivion that she gave you her virginity on a table top in the Lodging House with all your boys around to watch. Tell me Alex, did you leave her there for your boys to rape or did you keep her for yourself for a little while longer?"
Alex cringed. The story was true, just one of those many things he would have changed. It had upped his reputation for being heartless, making him all the more invulnerable, but at the same time it was not one he had wanted to haunt him later.
"I have no idea what you are talking about." He lied.
"Really, did you forget those innocent brown eyes that watched you so adoringly? Or that creamy white flesh that you bared slowly, so that your boys got a good teaser?" Julia continued. "How about the rouge from her lips that smeared your mouth red, or the way her hands pounded on your shoulders when you took her. Or the way she looked sick and disgusted and disillusioned when you finished and left her there to try to cover herself with the shirt you ripped in your passion. I guess you wouldn't have seen the fact that she had to face the hungry looks of a bunch of Brooklyn boys? Just as eager to have a taste as you were. Is that what you have planned for me Alex, to kiss me into oblivion like you did today in the stables then leave me for someone else?"
"What a description. " Alex chuckled, trying desperately to keep up the charade that it had never happened. He had told his second to make sure she got home safely, but he had never seen to it himself. "Your spies had quite the imagination."
"I didn't need a spy for that description." Julia said sweetly, her smile still telling him she knew something he didn't. "You care for nothing but yourself, Alex. I know that like she didn't know. You are not the boy I loved, nor can you ever become that boy again."
"Then where did you hear of that, who told you those details?" Alex asked, grabbing her arm.
"I didn't need anyone tell me." Julia cried, her anger finally snapping as she tried to wiggle from his iron grasp on her wrist. "I kept the Wolves at bay and took her home, making sure that no one else accosted her. A job you should have seen to, but then, women are whores for your whim Alex, aren't they?" "What were you doing in the Lodging House, Julia?"
"Making sure that my beloved Alex had not forgotten me." Julia's voice dripped with contempt.
"What I did with other women was to forget you, Julia." Alex hissed. "Every women I took was an attempt to wipe you from my memory. I couldn't have you. How could I care for those women when my very soul was tied to you? How could I even have an ounce of pity or remorse when the one person I wanted to touch and love I could never have. That I was never good enough for you Julia."
"You were good enough for me, Alex." Julia whispered, tears at his speech sparkling on her lashes. "That still does not excuse your heartlessness, nor does it assure me you would not do the same to me."
"I have loved you from the moment I laid eyes on you, Julia. You claimed my heart at the tender age of three, I have no choice in my love." Alex said hoarsely. "I never have."
The word love grated past his lips, a word so unused by him for so long he was not sure he even knew how to say it. Yet love was the only emotion that had ever crossed his mind when he pictured Julia.
"I wanted to bring you down, for all the pain you caused me and others." Julia told him softly. "I wanted to hurt you."
"Do you still?" Alex asked. "I deserve pain far more than most men, I do not deny it."
"You have made your mistakes." Julia replied. "You may pay for them yet."
Her eyes told him that she knew he would; he felt a shiver of fear. He knew the things he had done had shattered lives; he prayed whatever happened it did not include Julia.
"Julia, believe me when I tell you that what ever I did was not to harm you, but to forget you." Alex said reaching a hand out. "I would die to protect you."
Looking at him for a moment, she weighed his words. The sight had given her another ability, one that served her well; she knew a lie upon hearing it, and looking at him now he did not lie.
"I couldn't have you Julia." Alex coaxed. "Do you understand that? I had to deal with the fact that I let you go."
"I had to let you go as well, Alex." Julia whispered. He could see the confusion and fear in her eyes. He had backed her into the desk as they had argued and now he stood only inches from her. Still, if she came to him it would be on her terms and of her own free will. He waited as she took a deep breath and put her hand in his. Smiling, he bent his head, his kiss sweet and gentle. A kiss he pulled away from as it got too heated; she would not be another woman on his list of conquests. Julia Barranoff had never been meant for that. He had known that the moment she had lisped those words that had forever tied him to her.
"Julia." He whispered against her lips as he pulled away.
"What?" she whispered back, only seconds before a crash from the other room brought them both to their senses and looking toward the door. "Deirdre."
She pulled away from Alex as another crash followed the first. She darted for the door and flung it open, running down the hall with Alex hot on her heels. As she flung open the door, she saw Deirdre at one end of the room with a heavy vase in her hands, the remains of two glass objects littering the floor in sparkling diamonds.
"You ever touch me again Kelly and I'll rip your heart out." Deirdre cried.
"De, drop it." Julia snapped. Deirdre looked at Julia for a moment considering her options, giving Alex enough time to grab it from her and set it on the tabletop to his left.
"What happened, Jacky-boy?" Alex asked calmly.
"Nothing, Alex, nothing at all." Jack replied, "the little minx tried to climb out the window and I stopped her."
"Not before ya tried to kiss me." Deirdre retorted.
"I didn't try girl." Jack growled, "I most certainly succeeded."
"Stop it both of you." Alex said looking out the window. Julia glanced at it and gasped. The first rays of light were turning the sky in the east a fiery orange. "You two are leaving now."
"If you think I'm leaving without the painting or the statue, then you are just plain crazy." Deirdre snapped, her attention swinging to Alex.
"I will take them to the client today."
"Like hell you will." Julia snapped, her temper so recently on the surface it quickly began to rise again. "I will take it as a show of faith on your part of the merger." Alex replied calmly. "You have two choices here, I can take it and tell them we took care of the competition or I can tell them that we merged."
"Merged?" Julia looked at him, her narrowed eyes telling him she was weighing her options. She knew and he knew that there was only one option. She looked to Deirdre, who shook her head. "What's better De, that we join or that we die. If the client finds that we didn't follow through and we are still alive, then we are dead."
Deirdre pondered that for a moment then gave Julia a resigned look.
"As long as Casanova over there keeps his hands off, and we get an equal share of the work and the take, I don't care." Deirdre said, her voice saying that she really did care, but she knew when she had been backed into a corner and given only one good option.
"As an act of good faith, I will go with you to the clients." Julia said. "Or there is no deal and I go straight to the client and tell him of our foul up."
Alex looked at her, wondering if he should call her bluff or not. To go to the client meant instant death and the little twit knew that.
"As an act of good faith on your part, of course." Julia repeated. "To ensure we will be treated equally in the Wolves."
Alex nodded slowly, stalling Jacks protests with a raised hand. She knew he wouldn't risk her life and in a way she had been testing him. She smiled as he gave her the correct answer. He offered her his hand and she took it. Jack and Deirdre watched as they left the room, both a little too stunned at the conclusion of this night to do much else.
"It appears we will be working together." Jack sighed shaking his head, his expression telling Deirdre he was not looking forward to it.
"It appears so." She replied. "I mean it though Kelly, you touch me again and you'll be singing in a choir with the gelded Italian boys."
"I don't believe they geld them any more." Jack responded in kind.
"Well then you'll be singing by yourself." She retorted.
"Hmm, interesting proposition." Jack said as though he were actually pondering it. Deirdre cocked her head in a way that told him perhaps now was not the time to be teasing her. "Are you worth one moment of pleasure for a life time of pain?"
"Don't even think it, Kelly." She snapped. He watched as she turned on her heel and headed for the door. "I mean what I say."
"I have no doubts."
"For the second time tonight, what the hell did you get me into Dubois?" Deirdre asked as Alex opened the car door for them.
"I wish I knew what I had gotten myself into, let alone you." Julia replied softly.
"You better figure it out quick." Deirdre sighed. "I'm not sure how much more of the blind leading the blind I can take."
Julia gave her a smile and looked out the window. The trick at the moment would be to sneak back into her room before her parents woke. An interesting challenge, as her father woke precisely at dawn. She prayed he had not tried to check on her that night. She waved at her friend as they dropped Deirdre off. She was glad Jack had opted to stay at the town home; she doubted she would have been able to handle the two of them bickering. To her surprise, she realized her headache was gone. She smiled, thinking that at least something good had come from the night. As she stepped from the car and turned to say goodbye, her heart caught at the man who sat behind the wheel. Now matter what he did, he still was in her heart.
"Will you give me a chance, Jul?" He asked softly.
"You'll have to gain my trust again Alex, but yes." She sighed, giving him a quick kiss before climbing the wall. He watched as she paused for a moment at the top of the stonewall, her silhouette against a back drop of brilliant red, almost the color of blood. He shivered as she disappeared from sight. He would keep her safe. No matter the cost, he would keep her safe.
Rae Kelly: You demanded, you got more!
Dreamer: So how did you like the little scene between Jack and De? I thought you might like it best of all!
JP: Here's more, hmmmm I think I want green! Ummm green sounds good!
Angel: I promise I'm going over your story, I just wanted to be sure to get everything and let you know exactly what I liked and what I think should be changed. Hang in there honey, I'll get it done I promise!
Raider: I have considered publishing, this particular story is a changed version of one I've wanted to publish, but writer's block has stopped that dream. Hopefully this will loosen it up and give me some fresh ideas for the other story. Thank you for the compliment, and the encouragement!
Zee: It's okay he can't kill her now, if he does then there won't be any more story and the muses can't have that, they want another Epic. (Does famous new reviewer dance. Ha, you guys thought I had forgotten to do that.)
Chelci: Thanks, I really enjoyed that compliment. I like to think my writing is passable, I'm glad you enjoy it that much. Thank you again
Ali: Did you catch your Cameo in this story yet? Yes you are my favorite romantic. Thank you and well, would he be Spot if he wasn't an ass? More on your story darn it!
Rumor: Yay long review, long review! Sorry for the cliffhanger, the muses, I blame it on the muses. He is cruel and vindictive, he's supposed to be darker than previous Spots, he's a criminal. Thank you honey!
Pricilla: (does new reviewer dance) Thank you! *bows* Thank you very much!
"I try to keep you from this life, I try to make sure you lived a life of ease, and still you fight me." Alex said. He knew his look was still angry and tried to soften it.
"I didn't want a life of ease, and I didn't want your great sacrifice, Alex." Julia replied, trying to keep her voice level. "You didn't ask what I wanted."
"We couldn't have given you what you wanted." Alex told her. "We had no legal claim on you, we could not refuse your father."
"You didn't even try to stop him." Julia hissed. "You said you would die rather than let him take me."
"Would me dying make it better Julia? Would that make you happy?" Alex asked, his temper was boiling.
"Is it that or did you just want me out of the way?" Julia snapped. Alex looked at her in shock.
"What in the hell are you talking about?" Alex growled.
"You know what I'm talking about." Julia hissed. "You wanted me out of the way so you wouldn't feel guilty about the women."
"You have no idea what actually went on, Julia." Alex ground out. "You weren't there any more to see. What ever your little birdies told you, they didn't get their facts straight. I would have pegged you for being more careful with your information. Stories about me have been exaggerated since I became the leader of Brooklyn."
"I have more of an idea than you think." Julia replied, her smile telling him that she had yet another secret that he knew she wouldn't be too keen on sharing; she was enjoying his discomfort too much. There had been many parts of his past he would have redone if given the chance, and part of it was his involvement with women. Not necessarily his lovers so much as the reputation he had received from some of his more obvious displays. His boys had been just as proud as he at his way with the ladies, and his ability to do anything anywhere with anyone. Still, Julia was rather sheltered, and he doubted she could even begin to fathom some of his exploits.
"What do you mean by that?" He asked, his smile telling her that she didn't know half of what she thought she did.
"You think I don't know Alex, but I do," Alex looked at the infuriated girl before him. Her almond shaped eyes were narrowed and shooting sparks with the anger in them. Yet hidden in that anger was pain. "Are you actually refusing to admit to the reputation you so vigorously worked for? If I remember correctly your most famous exploit was the sweet young daughter of a cobbler that you managed to kiss into enough oblivion that she gave you her virginity on a table top in the Lodging House with all your boys around to watch. Tell me Alex, did you leave her there for your boys to rape or did you keep her for yourself for a little while longer?"
Alex cringed. The story was true, just one of those many things he would have changed. It had upped his reputation for being heartless, making him all the more invulnerable, but at the same time it was not one he had wanted to haunt him later.
"I have no idea what you are talking about." He lied.
"Really, did you forget those innocent brown eyes that watched you so adoringly? Or that creamy white flesh that you bared slowly, so that your boys got a good teaser?" Julia continued. "How about the rouge from her lips that smeared your mouth red, or the way her hands pounded on your shoulders when you took her. Or the way she looked sick and disgusted and disillusioned when you finished and left her there to try to cover herself with the shirt you ripped in your passion. I guess you wouldn't have seen the fact that she had to face the hungry looks of a bunch of Brooklyn boys? Just as eager to have a taste as you were. Is that what you have planned for me Alex, to kiss me into oblivion like you did today in the stables then leave me for someone else?"
"What a description. " Alex chuckled, trying desperately to keep up the charade that it had never happened. He had told his second to make sure she got home safely, but he had never seen to it himself. "Your spies had quite the imagination."
"I didn't need a spy for that description." Julia said sweetly, her smile still telling him she knew something he didn't. "You care for nothing but yourself, Alex. I know that like she didn't know. You are not the boy I loved, nor can you ever become that boy again."
"Then where did you hear of that, who told you those details?" Alex asked, grabbing her arm.
"I didn't need anyone tell me." Julia cried, her anger finally snapping as she tried to wiggle from his iron grasp on her wrist. "I kept the Wolves at bay and took her home, making sure that no one else accosted her. A job you should have seen to, but then, women are whores for your whim Alex, aren't they?" "What were you doing in the Lodging House, Julia?"
"Making sure that my beloved Alex had not forgotten me." Julia's voice dripped with contempt.
"What I did with other women was to forget you, Julia." Alex hissed. "Every women I took was an attempt to wipe you from my memory. I couldn't have you. How could I care for those women when my very soul was tied to you? How could I even have an ounce of pity or remorse when the one person I wanted to touch and love I could never have. That I was never good enough for you Julia."
"You were good enough for me, Alex." Julia whispered, tears at his speech sparkling on her lashes. "That still does not excuse your heartlessness, nor does it assure me you would not do the same to me."
"I have loved you from the moment I laid eyes on you, Julia. You claimed my heart at the tender age of three, I have no choice in my love." Alex said hoarsely. "I never have."
The word love grated past his lips, a word so unused by him for so long he was not sure he even knew how to say it. Yet love was the only emotion that had ever crossed his mind when he pictured Julia.
"I wanted to bring you down, for all the pain you caused me and others." Julia told him softly. "I wanted to hurt you."
"Do you still?" Alex asked. "I deserve pain far more than most men, I do not deny it."
"You have made your mistakes." Julia replied. "You may pay for them yet."
Her eyes told him that she knew he would; he felt a shiver of fear. He knew the things he had done had shattered lives; he prayed whatever happened it did not include Julia.
"Julia, believe me when I tell you that what ever I did was not to harm you, but to forget you." Alex said reaching a hand out. "I would die to protect you."
Looking at him for a moment, she weighed his words. The sight had given her another ability, one that served her well; she knew a lie upon hearing it, and looking at him now he did not lie.
"I couldn't have you Julia." Alex coaxed. "Do you understand that? I had to deal with the fact that I let you go."
"I had to let you go as well, Alex." Julia whispered. He could see the confusion and fear in her eyes. He had backed her into the desk as they had argued and now he stood only inches from her. Still, if she came to him it would be on her terms and of her own free will. He waited as she took a deep breath and put her hand in his. Smiling, he bent his head, his kiss sweet and gentle. A kiss he pulled away from as it got too heated; she would not be another woman on his list of conquests. Julia Barranoff had never been meant for that. He had known that the moment she had lisped those words that had forever tied him to her.
"Julia." He whispered against her lips as he pulled away.
"What?" she whispered back, only seconds before a crash from the other room brought them both to their senses and looking toward the door. "Deirdre."
She pulled away from Alex as another crash followed the first. She darted for the door and flung it open, running down the hall with Alex hot on her heels. As she flung open the door, she saw Deirdre at one end of the room with a heavy vase in her hands, the remains of two glass objects littering the floor in sparkling diamonds.
"You ever touch me again Kelly and I'll rip your heart out." Deirdre cried.
"De, drop it." Julia snapped. Deirdre looked at Julia for a moment considering her options, giving Alex enough time to grab it from her and set it on the tabletop to his left.
"What happened, Jacky-boy?" Alex asked calmly.
"Nothing, Alex, nothing at all." Jack replied, "the little minx tried to climb out the window and I stopped her."
"Not before ya tried to kiss me." Deirdre retorted.
"I didn't try girl." Jack growled, "I most certainly succeeded."
"Stop it both of you." Alex said looking out the window. Julia glanced at it and gasped. The first rays of light were turning the sky in the east a fiery orange. "You two are leaving now."
"If you think I'm leaving without the painting or the statue, then you are just plain crazy." Deirdre snapped, her attention swinging to Alex.
"I will take them to the client today."
"Like hell you will." Julia snapped, her temper so recently on the surface it quickly began to rise again. "I will take it as a show of faith on your part of the merger." Alex replied calmly. "You have two choices here, I can take it and tell them we took care of the competition or I can tell them that we merged."
"Merged?" Julia looked at him, her narrowed eyes telling him she was weighing her options. She knew and he knew that there was only one option. She looked to Deirdre, who shook her head. "What's better De, that we join or that we die. If the client finds that we didn't follow through and we are still alive, then we are dead."
Deirdre pondered that for a moment then gave Julia a resigned look.
"As long as Casanova over there keeps his hands off, and we get an equal share of the work and the take, I don't care." Deirdre said, her voice saying that she really did care, but she knew when she had been backed into a corner and given only one good option.
"As an act of good faith, I will go with you to the clients." Julia said. "Or there is no deal and I go straight to the client and tell him of our foul up."
Alex looked at her, wondering if he should call her bluff or not. To go to the client meant instant death and the little twit knew that.
"As an act of good faith on your part, of course." Julia repeated. "To ensure we will be treated equally in the Wolves."
Alex nodded slowly, stalling Jacks protests with a raised hand. She knew he wouldn't risk her life and in a way she had been testing him. She smiled as he gave her the correct answer. He offered her his hand and she took it. Jack and Deirdre watched as they left the room, both a little too stunned at the conclusion of this night to do much else.
"It appears we will be working together." Jack sighed shaking his head, his expression telling Deirdre he was not looking forward to it.
"It appears so." She replied. "I mean it though Kelly, you touch me again and you'll be singing in a choir with the gelded Italian boys."
"I don't believe they geld them any more." Jack responded in kind.
"Well then you'll be singing by yourself." She retorted.
"Hmm, interesting proposition." Jack said as though he were actually pondering it. Deirdre cocked her head in a way that told him perhaps now was not the time to be teasing her. "Are you worth one moment of pleasure for a life time of pain?"
"Don't even think it, Kelly." She snapped. He watched as she turned on her heel and headed for the door. "I mean what I say."
"I have no doubts."
"For the second time tonight, what the hell did you get me into Dubois?" Deirdre asked as Alex opened the car door for them.
"I wish I knew what I had gotten myself into, let alone you." Julia replied softly.
"You better figure it out quick." Deirdre sighed. "I'm not sure how much more of the blind leading the blind I can take."
Julia gave her a smile and looked out the window. The trick at the moment would be to sneak back into her room before her parents woke. An interesting challenge, as her father woke precisely at dawn. She prayed he had not tried to check on her that night. She waved at her friend as they dropped Deirdre off. She was glad Jack had opted to stay at the town home; she doubted she would have been able to handle the two of them bickering. To her surprise, she realized her headache was gone. She smiled, thinking that at least something good had come from the night. As she stepped from the car and turned to say goodbye, her heart caught at the man who sat behind the wheel. Now matter what he did, he still was in her heart.
"Will you give me a chance, Jul?" He asked softly.
"You'll have to gain my trust again Alex, but yes." She sighed, giving him a quick kiss before climbing the wall. He watched as she paused for a moment at the top of the stonewall, her silhouette against a back drop of brilliant red, almost the color of blood. He shivered as she disappeared from sight. He would keep her safe. No matter the cost, he would keep her safe.
Rae Kelly: You demanded, you got more!
Dreamer: So how did you like the little scene between Jack and De? I thought you might like it best of all!
JP: Here's more, hmmmm I think I want green! Ummm green sounds good!
Angel: I promise I'm going over your story, I just wanted to be sure to get everything and let you know exactly what I liked and what I think should be changed. Hang in there honey, I'll get it done I promise!
Raider: I have considered publishing, this particular story is a changed version of one I've wanted to publish, but writer's block has stopped that dream. Hopefully this will loosen it up and give me some fresh ideas for the other story. Thank you for the compliment, and the encouragement!
Zee: It's okay he can't kill her now, if he does then there won't be any more story and the muses can't have that, they want another Epic. (Does famous new reviewer dance. Ha, you guys thought I had forgotten to do that.)
Chelci: Thanks, I really enjoyed that compliment. I like to think my writing is passable, I'm glad you enjoy it that much. Thank you again
Ali: Did you catch your Cameo in this story yet? Yes you are my favorite romantic. Thank you and well, would he be Spot if he wasn't an ass? More on your story darn it!
Rumor: Yay long review, long review! Sorry for the cliffhanger, the muses, I blame it on the muses. He is cruel and vindictive, he's supposed to be darker than previous Spots, he's a criminal. Thank you honey!
Pricilla: (does new reviewer dance) Thank you! *bows* Thank you very much!
