Destroyed
SUMMARY: Sparks, literally, flew between Mark and Julia… but now Collins must face his past and his mistakes when he confronts his heartbroken ex lover, Angel, and the friends he abandoned three months earlier. A fight breaks out.
In response to a review – everything in my stories is done for a reason. I know it seems like Mark and Julia would make an unlikely couple, but remember I haven't finished the story yet. Their attraction doesn't necessarily spell romance. They are intrigued by each other so far. This story takes place almost two years after the play, and all of them have gone under changes beyond their control… trust me, there is a point and purpose for everything that will be revealed in due time. Julia seems perfect. Seems. Like I said, all will be revealed in due time. Thanks for reviewing!
Note: This is also my first real attempt to place Mark at the centre of any storylines, so I'm still learning. But thanks for the tips, I appreciate it!
Julia and Mark sat at the bar, and after about ten minute, she started peering over his shoulder towards the restrooms. It had been fifteen minutes and Collins still hadn't emerged from the bathroom, and she was getting worried – she didn't want him to back out of it now… not that he was so close. Mark sipped his beer and followed her gaze, turning his head to see what she was staring back. He smiled, slyly. From the past fifteen or so minutes of talking to her, she definitely grabbed his attention… she was funny, charming, intelligent, but unfortunately she hadn't really been exposed to the ways of the East Village/bohemian lifestyle, so as much as he was already attracted to her, he feared that she wouldn't want any part in such a downtrodden, rough lifestyle. Either way, she was fun to talk to.
"Your friend still hasn't emerged?"
She shook her head, licking her lips which had dried from constant anxiety over where her professor had disappeared.
"There's not a window he can escape out if is there?"
Mark frowned, though amused at the question. "No… why? Is it that bad?"
Julia shrugged, dejectedly. "I don't know… well, I suppose so… he was scared to come in here, you know?"
"Why?"
She pressed her lips together, and then said, "I can't say… it's personal… I doubt he'd want me spilling his secrets to a complete stranger."
"I totally understand, believe me…" Mark smiled and looked around. In about five minutes Mimi would be back on stage for the next set, so he'd have to head back to his friends… but he didn't want to leave this girl here by herself.
"I've got so many secrets too; I don't even spill to my best friends."
"So what's a guy like you doing in a place like this?"
He was slightly taken aback by the question. "What do you mean?"
"I mean… you seem like an intelligent, sophisticated, sweet guy… why you hanging out in a strip club?"
He chuckled, amused at the naivety of the girl and her thoughts that he was sophisticated. If only she knew… his mind taunted him.
"I live around here…" he said. "In a loft on Avenue B, with my best friend, Roger, and his girl Mimi. Mimi's a dancer here. Our entire group is made up of artist-types, you know? Not exactly the picture of success."
Julia eyed his camera. "You're a filmmaker?"
He glanced at the camera and then back at her. "Oh this? Yeah, well… it's a hobby, you know? I enjoy filming my friends; our lives… make small films. I even sell footage of events to T.V. stations…"
"Really?" she sounded surprise. "That's amazing…"
"Yeah, it's okay."
The conversation trailed off after that; neither really knowing what to talk about next… Julia found herself being oddly attracted to this guy for some reason – and it worried her, considering that he was an 'artsy' type, someone who lived in a loft, a carefree spirit… an outsider. The kind of guy she usually avoided, and certainly didn't usually find attractive. But this Mark guy was intriguing. Julia had never been in the East Village before, so maybe the media depictions had clouded her judgment, but this was… different. She wasn't sure what it was, but this guy seemed comforting. Almost… safe. And for the past fifteen minutes, they talked about themselves; their lives, and were really enjoying themselves. She placed her beer down on the bar and looked over at the restrooms again… still nothing.
"Damn it," she cried, frustrated, and looked to Mark for help.
"Uhh…" he stammered. "Look, my friend's just about to go on and do her thing, and I got friends waiting…"
Julia was slightly disappointed, but she smiled anyway. "That's cool, I totally understand." She stood up and opened her handbag to get out money, but Mark cut her off.
"Whoa, hey no. I got this."
"Are you—"
"Yeah, yeah."
Ever the gentleman, Mark paid for the drinks and they both stood, ready to part. "Thanks so much," Julia gushed. "It's been quite a while since I met someone who cared before."
"Really?"
"No fuckin' kidding."
Mark still didn't want to leave the girl alone, but as shy as he was, he was a little nervous to ask her over to the group. So he took a deep breath, and…
"Hey, while you're waiting for your friend, do you wanna come sit with us?" he spoke quickly, and prepared himself for rejection. That was about as close as he could get to really just asking her to join him for a few more drinks, but he was relieved and definitely surprised to see her smile as a response.
"Sure. I'd love to, thanks… if your friends wouldn't mind."
He gestured for her to follow him, which she did. Looking around at all the half-drunk idiots around her, and wondering why anyone would want to come in here, let alone work here, was beyond her comprehension. She just ignored the whistles and the hollers in her direction, and followed Mark over to two corner tables, and her eyes widened when she realized where he was leading her to.
"Oh man…" she whispered. There, sitting in the corner, was the guy she recognized as Angel, who Collins had been stunned to see earlier that day.
"Shit…"
It led her to wonder if Mark was the same person her professor had told her about, one of his friends, earlier that day. Everything seemed to fit – and she was terrified of what to do. Fuck. She couldn't let Tom stay in the bathroom forever, and yet she couldn't just run off without an explanation. There were four of them sitting at the tables. It then hit her that Mark was probably the guy who Angel was holding onto just outside the club earlier that day. Fuck. This wasn't gonna be easy.
"Hey guys," Mark greeted his friends, giving Roger a high-five.
"Mark, what took you so long?" Maureen asked who Julia only recognized as a dark-haired artist type, just like Mark.
"Markie was off getting lucky," Angel grinned, glancing quickly at the pretty girl who was following Mark to the tables. Julia made sure not to make eye contact with the guy who her professor was currently scared to death of facing… things were about to get awkward.
"Fuck you, Ang," Mark mockingly punched Angel's jaw, and the drag queen just blew a kiss in his direction.
"Ha, ha."
"Who's this?" A black woman, who had her arm around the dark-haired woman. Lesbians? Filmmakers? Artists? Drag queens? AIDS? Damn… she thought, her confusion growing by the second. If this was life in the East Village, she wasn't sure she'd be able to look at Tom in the same way again… but then again, he had warned her – hell, he even prepared her for it. But still…
"Oh, shit," Mark stepped aside, almost forgetting the petite young woman standing behind him. Gently he placed his hand on her back, coaxing her forward so the four of them could see her properly. Roger eyed her carefully. Pretty, he thought. But so not from around here. Almost instantly, they all knew that she was an outsider… and that Mark already had a thing for her… and that he probably wouldn't have a chance.
"Guys, this is Julia Sampson. Julia, these are my friends. This is Roger," he gestured to a rough looking guy who looked friendly enough. He raised one hand and gave a simple wave.
"Hi."
"This is Maureen," he moved his hand to the dark-haired woman.
"Hey honey," she winked in an over friendly way, and Julia felt a little uncomfortable. She saw the African-American woman harshly nudge Maureen, causing her to yelp. Mark ignored them both.
"That's Joanne. And next to her," he moved to Angel.
"This is the lovely Angel."
I know, Julia thought, but didn't dare say aloud, as tempting as it was. All she did was smile, friendly, at the group.
"Hey," she spoke, nervously. She was always quite nervous about meeting new people, but this was just fucking awkward. What was she to do now? Julia had to fight every temptation in her body to run into the men's bathroom and drag Tom out of there. I mean, how damn coincidental is this?
Roger pulled out a seat for her and smiled, charmingly.
"Take a seat," he told her, and she did. Everything was so different about them all, as if they saw her as the outsider… well, she probably was. After all, they were a small group – probably very misunderstood by society… so it wasn't surprising that they gave her the 'Oh great, another outsider' type of look. Julia remained silent and just looked around the place, a little scared to actually speak. Her eyes lowered to her hands and didn't know what to do as Mark took a seat next to her.
"Mimi is backstage?" he asked Maureen. She nodded.
"Oh yeah. Angel wanted to go back with her!"
"Hey!" Angel spoke up, defensively. "I just thought I could give some of these girls a few pointers…"
"Oh I bet you could," Roger chuckled, drawing a dark look from Angel. "Let's face it, not too many of the customers would be too pleased to see you take to the stage."
"Yeah well," Angel shrugged. "Fuck them. I know what I got, and I'll flaunt it!"
"Oh you work it!" Maureen snapped her fingers and her and Angel high fived.
Joanne looked at Julia. "Don't mind these two, they're just insane. So where are you from?"
"New Jersey," she replied. "But I live in Boston."
"A college girl," Mark chimed in. "MIT."
Everyone fell silent when he said that word, as if it were banned to all of them. Because, naturally, there was only one name the associated with that place… but if they only knew what was in store for them.
"Uh, college?" Joanne tried to get things back on track. "What are you studying?"
She wanted to say philosophy, but was smart enough to realize the significant impact it could have on them, so she just said…
"Arts, and also computer science classes."
"Nice," Roger commented. "So what you doing in a place like this? I mean, no offence but we don't usually get college types in here…"
"Except one." Julia heard Angel mutter. Great, things are getting bad already…
"I'm, uh… just waiting for a friend, that's all. He's in the bathroom. He actually has some business to take care of here, you know? But he won't leave the damn restroom…" Julia stopped and knew she had just put her foot in her mouth, because the next thing she knew, Mark was standing up and he looked at her.
"I'll go find him… what's his name?"
It was a few moments before Julia realized that she had a lump in her throat the size of a tennis ball and that she couldn't breathe. This wasn't going according to plan… damn it! Why did it have to be Mark that saved her from that creepy bastard? WHY?
"Umm… you know what," she also stood up and looked around, pretending to check her watch although she knew what time it was.
"It doesn't matter, I'm sure he won't be long. Will you excuse me?"
Without waiting for him or the others to respond, she turned around and quickly heightened her pace as she maneuvered her way between people and tables, leaving all five of them absolutely dumbfounded at what just happened. Mark just stood there wondering what he had done…
"Wow…" Maureen commented. "That was different. Mark got ditched by a girl he's only known for thirty minutes…. OWWW!" her careless comment, according to Joanne, warranted another slap on the arm.
"Shut the hell up! Grow up, Maureen!"
But Mark didn't respond and simply watched the strange young woman disappear out of the front doors. He was tempted to go after her, but Roger grabbed his arm…
"Is everything okay?"
"Yeah… I guess…" Mark replied, frowning in confusion. Okay, he thought. This is getting too damn weird.
MEANWHILE
Julia wasn't even down the front steps when she had already whipped out her cell phone and hit the number for Professor Collins. She had to tell him what was happening, and who she had met, before the shit really hit the fan. Her hands were shaking and sweating, and the warm air wasn't helping to calm her nerves. Damn, it's hot. She undid the top button on her blouse and pressed the phone to her ears (A/N: Yes, I know it's the early nineties, but they did have cell phones then… they were bulky kind of things, but they existed). After a couple of rings, Collins answered.
"Yes?" he spoke, wearily.
"Tom, what the fuck are you doing in there?" Julia hissed.
"What!"
"You heard me! You've left me in there for the past thirty minutes! What are you doing!"
"Where are you?"
"I'm outside. Answer my fucking question!"
"I…" she could hear his voice getting choked up, and she instantly felt guilt for coming down so hard on him. This couldn't be easy. But she was also aware of the very real possibility that Mark could, and probably would, walk in the bathroom at any second… she had to warn him.
"I just needed time to think is all, I—"
"Listen, Tom, I need to tell you something…"
"What?"
"I met someone in there tonight. There was this creepy bastard and he was coming onto me, and so this guy saved me from him—"
"Oh fuck…" Collins suddenly realized what he had done, leaving his student alone in a strange place, a strip club no less. Fuck.
"Shit, Julia I'm so sorry, I—"
"Forget that!" she interrupted, furiously pacing up and down the sidewalk in front of the club, and the bouncers were watching her carefully.
"Listen, there's something I need to tell you, but I—" she stopped when she heard, in the background, a door opening. Oh shit…
BACK WITH MARK AND THE GROUP
"Where are you going?" Roger demanded, following Mark's hastened pace towards the bathroom. Maureen, Joanne, and Angel just watched the two men hurry away, leaving them to ponder what the hell was happening and who exactly was that girl Mark had brought back with him.
"To find out who this fucker is who's messing with Julia," Mark replied.
"Man, you barely know the girl and it isn't your business anyway!" Roger tried to reason, but Mark was determined to find out what was going on.
"Dude, the girl almost got attacked while she was waiting for this guy, I just wanna—" he stopped when he opened the door to the men's room and his jaw dropped when he saw who was standing in the corner, talking on what looking like one of those cell phones.
"Holy shit…" he muttered. Roger came to a stop just behind Mark and he gasped at what – or should I say who – he saw. Collins was standing in the corner, with his back facing them, and talking on the phone to someone.
"What the hell are you talking about, Julia?" he was saying.
"Julia?" Mark whispered, frowning. No way… oh God… no way! Julia… the professor… MIT… the fact that she was actually here in this club… it all made sense!
"No fucking way," Roger growled. "No! Mark, what have you done!"
"Me?" Mark hissed. "I had no idea!"
Roger pushed passed him and into the room, ready to beat the shit out of Collins, and boy was it taking all his power to resist attacking him. After everything that's happened, the fact that he was standing so near to all of them – to Angel. In the past few months the group had become so protective of Angel's welfare, that now they were at the point of not trusting even Collins.
Mark walked in and stood next to him – the entire restroom was empty except for those three, and Collins still hadn't notice that they were there.
"Julia, what the hell are you going on about? Slow down! Who did you meet! What! CALM DOWN!"
"She met me!" came a harsh voice from behind him, and Collins froze. Oh shit. Slowly he turned around and his breath caught in his throat and it was like he was about to choke on his own air. He began to tremble, and he dropped the cell phone, staggering back against the wall… that's how much of a shock seeing both Mark and Roger standing there was to him.
"Mark! R… Roger?" he stuttered, looking back and forth between them. "W… what are you doing here?"
"We should be asking you that." Mark snapped.
Meanwhile, Julia was outside, and she heard him drop his cell phone… she turned hers off and ran inside, knowing instantly that something was wrong.
Roger and Mark glared menacingly at Collins, knowing the full consequences of what could happen should Angel find out.
"Wait…" Collins stepped forward and frowned, staring at Mark. "You met Julia?"
"Oh yes," he replied, sarcastically. "We had a nice conversation. Of course, she told me all about where she was from, studying at MIT and being here with her professor… and conveniently she left out the part that her professor is you! What the hell kind of stunt are you trying to pull, Tom?"
Collins was still in shock from begin discovered by them… and the fact that Mark and Julia had met on completely their own terms, under a different circumstance. It just blew his mind, really. It was at that moment when he finally burst into tears and sank against the wall, slipping to the floor in, crying into his hands… he had finally broken down, and it wasn't pretty. Roger and Mark looked at each other, at a loss of what to do. They wanted to hate Collins, but they couldn't… and almost simultaneously, they went over to him and knelt down beside him. Mark was the first to reach out and put his arm around Collins, pulling him into a hug, and immediately Collins hugged him back, sobbing openly.
"I'm sorry," he cried, resting his head on Mark's shoulder.
"What happened, Tom?" Roger asked, patting the professor's back. "Who's this Julia? What are you doing here… what happened?"
Collins looked up and wiped his eyes. "I'll tell you everything…"
Then, the door opened and Julia stood there, not caring that she was about to enter the men's room… All three men looked over and saw her standing there, and she suddenly knew what had happened. This was gonna be a long night.
30 MINUTES LATER – WITH MAUREEN, JOANNE, ANGEL, AND MIMI (Who had joined them)
"Seriously, where the hell are they?"
"Who is Julia?"
"What's going on?"
"SHUT UP!" Mimi yelled, trying to hush the other three who was chattering away non-stop, trying to understand what was going on. It would be another half an hour before Mimi was back on stage, so she decided to kick back and hang with the girls for a bit. But understandable, she had no idea who Julia was or what was going on with Mark and Roger.
"Mark met her tonight," Joanne explained. "A college girl from Jersey… he seemed taken with her. But then she just ran out for some strange reason, and half an hour ago Mark and Roger disappeared!"
"Great," Mimi rolled her eyes and picked up a cigarette. "Let's face it - Mark hasn't got laid in so long, he'd try fuck anything with heartbeat if given a chance."
"Mimi!" Joanne scolded. "Damn, you're getting as bad as Maureen!"
"Bite your tongue!" Mimi retorted.
"Oh she doesn't have to. I'll do it for her!" Maureen smirked and leaned over to Joanne, planting a quite kiss on her lover's lips. Angel remained quite, lost in his own thoughts… and yes, he was still thinking about Collins. But actually, for the first time, he was actually having a good time with his friends, and that's what mattered.
"Angel?" Mimi plopped down in the seat next to her best friend. "You okay?"
"Hmm?" Angel looked at her. "Oh yeah. Just dandy!" he smiled and winked.
It was then that he noticed Roger storming towards them at what seemed like a hundred miles an hour, his feet thundering on the carpet, with a very concerned look on his face – not angry, but something was troubling him. He was quickly followed by Mark, and Angel nudged Mimi, who looked in the same direction, and she did the same with Maureen and Joanne. Mimi got to her feet and rushed to Roger.
"Babe, what's wrong?" she asked.
"I…" he started, but Mark cut him off. He walked around and stood next to Angel, kneeling down next to him.
"Angel…" he whispered. "There's... someone who you need to see…"
Angel's heart started pounding harder and harder, and he saw past Mark that the Julia girl was back and looking rather pale – disturbed, even.
"What the hell is going on?" the drag queen demanded to know, standing up and adjusting his skirt.
It was then that he saw him… in the bright white stage lights that blinded any clear vision of the path, a figure stepped into view... and upon seeing who it was, their eyes meeting – Angel fainted.
15 MINUTES LATER
Angel stood out the back of the club, staring at the man who had betrayed him for a night of cheap sex in a club where Collins knew they all frequented. It was hard to look at him, but hard not to all the same… God, he's sexy, he thought, unable to shake the image of his ex's tall, muscular frame from his mind. Of course, it was more than lust that had attracted them to each other, but still – Collins still looked as gorgeous as ever, and Collins was thinking the same about Angel. Roger, Mimi, Maureen, and Joanne were also there, standing to one side and just preparing themselves for the impending explosion. Angel and Collins just stared at each other, not saying anything nor moving – not even twitching a muscle or batting an eyelid. A creepy stare-down to see who would crack first, and each man was certain that it wasn't going to be him.
Meanwhile, Mark and Julia were sitting on a bench across the street, talking. But Angel and Collins, like always, just saw nothing and no one but each other. Finally, Angel moved to brush strands of his black wig from his face, and eyed him up and down.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" his voice was monotone and eerily calm, spooking Collins.
"I… I…" he stuttered. "I'm…" he looked to his friends for help, but they just shook their heads. He was gonna have to handle this on his own.
"Angel, there's so much I wanna say…"
"Ha!" Angel scoffed, studying his perfectly manicure hands, pretending like it didn't matter.
"Oh honey, I think we've said all that's needed to be said. I hear Samuel's got a new hangout down on Broadway. Is that where you were headed?"
Ouch. That stung. Never before had Collins heard such vindictiveness from someone who always believed in love and friendship… and Angel's heart had now replaced such qualities with cynicism and bitterness that echoed through Collins' ears and just lingered on the air.
Angel turned and started to walk away, but Collins reached out and grabbed his arm, gently pulling him back.
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Angel screamed, turning back around. He pulled his arm back and then brought it forward, his fist clenched. It connected with Collins' jaw with so much force that it sent the bigger man staggering backwards, and falling to the ground, gasping in pain and rubbing his jaw-line. But before anyone could take in what just happened, Angel snapped and started swinging wildly at Collins, punching him and kicking at the already fallen man, crying hysterically.
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Angel screamed, feeling his fist slam into Collins' stomach. Collins screamed in pain and tried to push the usually weaker Angel off him, but found that his ex's adrenaline was pumping and full force.
Mark and Julia were brought out of their conversation by the sounds of screaming and crying.
"Oh shit," he muttered. Julia had just finished explaining to him what had happened, when they looked up to see Angel on top of Collins – and not in a good way. Angel was attacking Collins will full force, and if it hadn't been for Roger's quick reaction, along with Joanne's to pull him off of the bleeding college professor, with Roger restraining the drag queen, who continued to punch and kick the air, trying to find some way of physically hurting the man as badly as he had been emotionally destroyed.
"YOU MOTHERFUCKING SONOFABITCH!" he screamed, tears were streaming down his face, ruining his make-up. Mimi, Maureen, and Julia all rushed to Collins' side and tended to his wounds.
"Man, he fucked you up good," Maureen commented, and Collins staggered to his feet. Maureen held onto one of his arms and Julia held onto the others. Angel felt like nothing more than slamming Tom Collins' head into the sidewalk until he felt nothing.
"I told you to go to hell, Tom!" Angel growled, shaking from all the anger he was feeling – his veins were pulsing and his face was flushed – the wild look in his eyes resembled that of a wild animal hungry for it's prey, ready to tear into it.
"I told you never to come back! I HATE YOU!" he screamed – each word pained Collins' heart, stabbing him multiple times. Angel had opened his heart to the world once, and now the wound was so big that it couldn't be fixed – and he was bleeding to death because of it.
Collins just stood back, silently, as the younger man hurled abusive words at him, but didn't respond because he felt he deserved it all. Every word he knew Angel meant, he repeated it silently to himself, causing double the amount of pain.
Roger and Mark held Angel and tried to calm him down as best they could, and finally, a few moment's later, the drag queen ran out of energy and collapsed into Roger's arms, sobbing hysterically. Collins managed to composure himself enough to stand on his own, and he shook his head… he glanced at Julia, who just nodded for him to take the next step. Taking a deep breath, he took a step closer to Angel; even though he was bleeding from his forehead… he wasn't scared.
"Angel…" he whispered. "I… I'm not here to ask you to forgive me, I never could… I can't even forgive myself… and I have no excuses to offer you… I was scared. I was ashamed." He wiped his eyes with the back of his shaking hand, pausing only to keep himself from breaking down.
"I never stopped loving you, Ang… and I never will…" he opened his eyes and worked up the courage to look into those chocolate eyes he had fallen in love with over a year ago.
"And you were my whole world, and you still are… every night for the past few months have been agonizing. I have to live with myself knowing that I destroyed the one person I've ever loved, and every day I feel myself growing weaker."
Angel could only listen to the heart felt words of someone who had so cruelly broken him – wondering if these words were sincere, or more lies. Being more cynical than ever, he wanted so badly to walk up to Collins within inches of him and banish him from his life forever… to never see him; hear him; think about him; remember him… to wipe all memories of him and to erase his existence from his Angel's life. But he couldn't. No matter what, he just couldn't do it… all he could do was listen.
"And," Collins sniffed, and the continued. Julia linked her arm with his to let him know that she was there and supporting him… Roger, Mark, Mimi, Maureen, and Joanne… they were all silent and shocked to hear these words. After everything that happened, neither believed that Angel would be willing to hear anything from Collins – but seeing the two of them facing each other and no one was being killed…
"And there's nothing I wouldn't do for you, Angel. Nothing. I would die for you…"
"And you would destroy me." Angel softly said his voice hoarse and dry from the screaming and crying. He needed a drink. No, fuck that. He needed to get laid – and not by Collins.
"I… Angel it wasn't like that—"
"Then what was it like?" Angel wanted to know. He never really got the answers he had wanted for so long now, so he calmed down and asked the questions. Collins was here and obviously laying everything on the line now. Maybe he could lay down the truth while he was at it. Angel looked at Julia and then back at Collins.
"Who is she?"
"Julia… one of my students… we've become friends… she convinced me to come here and talk to you."
"So you just came here because she told you to?" Angel accused.
"No!" Collins quickly said, knowing that he had worded his sentence wrong. "I was scared, Angel! So scared… that you wouldn't wanna see me that you wouldn't even hear me out."
Angel's cold, steely eyes drilled into the depths of Collins' soul, penetrating into it so deeply that he could see his ex lover for who he really was… Thomas Collins stripped away of all the influences and people who impacted his life, right down to the bare, real Tom Collins. And he saw – that he was the same man he fell in love with. As he expected. That's why it hurt so bad. A solitary tear escaped his eye and he didn't bother to wipe it away.
"I never stopped loving you, Collins. I still love you. But…" he sighed. "You couldn't trust me enough to tell me the truth to begin with – so I can't trust you anymore. I just can't."
With that said, Angel yanked himself free of Roger and Mark, and turned, walking away down the street. No one followed him – no one would dare try. But little did any of them know… things were about to get a hell of a lot more worse.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Warning for next chapter – the rating will be upgraded for sexual scenes. Nothing very graphic at all. Violence and death are also issues to be explored further in this story. In the next chapter, Angel disappears. A brutal crime takes place, and Julia is forced to leave New York to return to MIT…