CHAPTER 44 SUSPICION
Before the sun came up Joey crawled out of bed, careful not to wake Charlie. She slipped into her gym gear and headed out the door. She needed a run. She hadn't slept much that night because all she could do right now was think. Why couldn't everything just be perfect like it had been before her mum rocked up? Why did she have to even arrive? Why now?
Joey worked herself hard. She pushed herself along the beach, grains of sand kicking up behind her as she increased her speed. There wasn't a moment in time that she wanted to stop. She wished she could just keep on running and never stop. Like Forrest Gump. He had the idea.
Eventually running out of breath, Joey stopped and doubled over, clutching her side and sucking in air. She'd pushed herself way too hard. She wasn't used to this. She remained bent over for as long as she needed before she stood up straight, stretched backwards and pulled her hands above her head, stretching out the stitch she'd given herself.
Two figures up the shore a bit caught her eye. One was a beefy, solid man and the other a slightly smaller figure. Joey watched from a distance, not thinking anyone else would be out so early. She brushed it off without a worry though but before she could turn and leave, she saw the man swing a punch at the woman. Joey didn't hesitate as she took off running towards them.
"Hey!" Joey came closer. "Leave her alone!"
The man took another swing and this time it sent the woman falling backwards and collapsing against the sand.
"I want my money back!" The man stood over her and growled through gritted teeth. "You want money in advance and you get it! But when you don't follow through… well, you'll be the one paying."
Joey soon reached them and knelt down beside the woman, gasping when she realised who it was.
"Cheap slut." The man spat on Julie as she covered her face with her hands, sobbing uncontrollably. He shot her a look of disgust before turning and storming away.
Joey put her arm around Julie. "What the hell was that? Mum, talk to me! What's going on with you?"
Julie couldn't speak. She gasped through heaving sobs, the shame of her daughter seeing her like this overwhelmed her.
"He bashed you, Mum! Come on! Tell me what happened!" Joey tried to catch her mum's eye but Julie wouldn't look at her. "I'm calling Charlie. This is abuse."
"No!" Julie snapped her eyes to Joey, petrified.
"Don't argue, Mum. He can't do this."
"Don't get the cops involved. It's nothing…" Julie choked out.
"If you're scared of what he'll do to you then don't worry! I'll tell Charlie you need protection."
"Just leave it, Jo!" Julie snapped.
Joey forced a silence, keeping her eyes steady on her mum. "Then come back to Leah's. Please. I won't leave you like this."
"Jo, it's fine…"
"I want no argument." Joey pulled her mum to her feet and held her up, feeling how unstable she was since the incident. Whatever was going on with her, it'd shaken her up pretty bad. Joey just wished she knew what had happened. She wanted her mum to be open.
Joey had done her best to clean up Julie's wounds, hating how terrible she looked now that she could see her properly in the light. She'd reluctantly gotten Charlie out of bed but she was worried. She needed someone else there to make things seem less intense.
"What happened?" Charlie wrapped her dressing gown around herself and took a seat at the table.
"I shouldn't be here…" Julie went to get up. "If the others get up…"
"It's four in the morning. They won't be up for a while." Joey reassured her, pulling on Julie's hand.
Julie folded her hands in front of her, keeping her eyes fixated on the table before her.
"Mum, please. What's going on?"
"It's nothing, okay? Just a… disagreement. I don't want to press charges. I just want to forget it!"
"If this guy is threatening you in any way, we can give you protection." Charlie said, leaning forward.
"Yeah, see?" Joey held Julie's hand tightly. "Can you just let me in? What was he saying about the money?"
"Money?" Charlie cut in, looking from Joey to Julie.
"Yeah, he said something about paying in advance and then mum not following through–"
"Just leave it, Jo!" Julie pushed her chair back angrily, startling both Joey and Charlie. "This isn't even any of your business so just drop it!" Without a moment's hesitation, Julie rushed out the door, leaving the other two to sit in bewilderment.
"I don't get what's going on…" Joey choked back tears, continuing to see the image of her mum get bashed. Of her lying helpless in the sand.
Charlie had a sneaking suspicion of what was going on. She kept her thoughts to herself though, seeing how upset this whole incident had made Joey. She didn't want to hurt her anymore than she was.
"Joey." Charlie put her hand on Joey's arm. "Do you remember what the guy looked like?"
Joey shook her head. "No. Well, yeah. Kind of. I don't know. I didn't take much notice…"
"Anything, Joey. Anything at all you remember about him. I just need something we can go off."
"Large. Well, solid. A solid build. He had dark hair. I think. It was short and he had a long face. I dunno…"
"Hey…" Charlie got up and moved around to Joey, pulling her tightly against her. "It'll be okay. We'll get to the bottom of this."
Charlie hoped more than anything that what she suspected was wrong. She knew how much Joey wanted a relationship with her mum and Charlie knew that if she was right, if Julie was into what she thought, then the potential for a relationship between Julie and Joey would be crushed. Joey would be devastated and Charlie didn't want to see her hurting. Joey would be back to square one. All hopefulness for a relationship with a member of her family would be gone. And Charlie didn't want Joey's hope to disappear. Not again.
