AJ got to her feet quickly after kneeling down on the floor, looking on at the collected pictures and personal details of her, found under Punks bed. She wasn't sure what to think. She couldn't even imagine there being a reasonable explanation for this. How could he explain this? Having a stashe of pictures, new and old under his bed where she slept with him. Where she had been sleeping with him for the past year.
She couldn't wait around until morning. She wanted answers. And she wanted them now.
"Phil." She nudged him with two fingers, watching him stir around in bed where he looked ever so comfortable, "Phil." She nudged him harder again whilst standing over him at the edge of the bed.
"W-What?" Punk croaked, rubbing his eyes as he glanced round at the clock. He could have swore he'd only been asleep for an hour or so, "What's wrong? It's not even two." He looked up at her with tired eyes, watching her, a permanent scowl on her face as he realised she was clutching onto something in her hand.
Sitting up, he took the folder from her, opening up and mentally kicking himself for being so careless, leaving such evidence around so loosely, "Oh, AJ… no, you weren't supposed to… why were you looking through my stuff?" He stood up and paced at the bottom of his bed, looking over at her, so much questions circulating in her head that he wasn't supposed to answer.
"What is all of that?" She asked, "Have you… have you been stalking me?" She gasped, a crack in her voice at her own disbelief in that question. He had pictures of her that she never knew had been taken. He had pictures of her with Jamie. Pictures of her when she was younger. Her birth certificate, passport and other personal items. How could he possible explain this?
"No." He shook his head, "No… I can't… I can't explain it to you." He shook his head, pacing in fast outbursts of speed at the bottom of their bed, running his hand through his slicked hair.
"You have to tell me, or else I'm going to the..." She paused as he looked up, watching him slightly smirking as she folded her arms and shook her head, "Just tell me, Phil." She ordered.
"Why were you snooping around my things in the first place?" He asked. But he knew he couldn't use that against her. Not when so much had been revealed to her. So much uncertain findings that was no doubt haunting her into a land of wonder.
"Does that matter?" She asked him, "What matters is that you have endless pictures of me in a folder under your bead. Pictures I never knew were being taken. You have my passport details, and my birth certificate. You… you better explain yourself."
"It's work." He told her, "It's really nothing you have to be frightened of." He said as she shook her head.
"Phil, you can't… you can't expect me to just shake this off. This is frightening me. Why do you have all of..."
"I'm working under cover." He said as she looked across at him, the room dark besides the small light shining from the tv in the corner. He didn't want to have to tell her this. It looked bad on him. And he knew she'd take it the wrong way.
"What do you mean under cover?" She shook her head.
"You've been my job for the past three years." He looked across at her as she shook her head, "Jamie is dangerous, April. My job was to get you away from him. I worked from Chicago, different cops would send me pictures of you. I couldn't keep the distance up so I had to move. When I moved, I didn't have a plan on how I was gonna get you..."
"You're talking crazy." She paused him, "What… what are you even talking about?" She shook her head, her head physically hurting from his explanation that was absurd in her opinion.
"Jamie works for a trading organization over seas. He works for bad guys. Guys that do bad things, to good people. I was sent here under cover to somehow split you with him. When they told me, I thought they were insane. How was I meant split a wife and a husband up? But then I met you, after seeing so many pictures of you, and studying you. And I realised you were needing saved more than I thought." He said.
"I… I was just a job to you?" She hugged her arms, looking over at him, feeling just as small as she felt with Jamie, watching him scratch his neck awkwardly.
"It's hard to explain." He told her.
"I should never have trusted you." She whispered to herself, as if mad at her own self for being so stupid to trust a cop. How could he do this to her? How could he use her like this? She felt so used and pathetic.
"AJ, this doesn't mean I don't love you." He made himself clear, "If anything, you should be thanking me. I… I got you away from that psycho." He said, "You have no idea what he was doing outside your relationship." He said as she refused to look at him. They'd had a few fights with one another within the past ten months of being together, but nothing serious. She had never felt so hurt by him like this. She thought he would be someone who would never hurt her.
"When I threw myself on you, in need of someone who I thought could love me, all you were thinking, was maybe this is the way I can get this bitch away from my focus." She said, "How could you lie to me all this time?"
"Because I knew you would freak out." He said, "And it felt too late to tell you now." He sighed, "This doesn't mean I don't love you, April. I do. I love you. I didn't plan to but..."
"Oh… oh you didn't plan to you? How… how thoughtless of you." She remarked whilst scowling at him, "I need some air." She put her hands up in defence, needing out of the warm, oxidising room. She felt like she was suffocating in all his lies he had been feeding her, that she was so stupid to see.
Not only was she being told that the man she thought loved her through his own fault, through this romantic love affair, but she was being told that her ex husband was dangerous and on the cops most wanted list. She felt like she was going to pass out.
"AJ… please let me talk." He asked her, but she pushed by him and headed downstairs quickly. He really didn't know how to put it without it seeming like falling in love with her was a mistake. It was true. The night she came to him, throwing herself on him, he assumed it was the easiest way to guide her to safety, because in the end, that was his job, to get her to safety, and to then get the heads up on where Jamie was at.
He felt awful. She was no doubt feeling used and hurt. And he hated that. He really did love her, although it didn't see like it just now.
He stuck on some sweats and a t-shirt and headed on downstairs shortly behind her, finding her sitting at the back door, staring on into the quiet night, looking up at the bright stars.
"April..." He whispered as she refused to turn around.
He sat down beside her on the step as she shuffled away from him a little. She was needing time out, to just take a breather, and take everything in that she had just heard about. She was horrified by what Punk had told her. She felt like he had just used her to fulfil his duties and job.
"You're right. When you came round that night, I thought that it was the easy way to getting you away from him, but something happened with us that night. I enjoyed it way more than I figured I would. Something about holding you in my arms made me want to protect you, not just because it was my job at the time, but because I cared about you. I'd watched you for three years. From what I could always see, you looked happy with Jamie, so I thought it would be a real challenge getting you to leave him, but through that, we found something between us." He said as she turned around to face him, her tears staining her cheeks. She looked so hurt. And he hated that he was the source of the problem.
"Couldn't someone just have told me that Jamie was dangerous." She whispered, "Would have been less painful than this." She admitted.
"No… and I'm glad they didn't, because then I wouldn't have gotten to meet the woman that I love. That I want to spend my life with." He said, "The more time I spent with you, the less it felt like I was under cover. I felt like I could just be myself with you. I didn't have to pretend to be anything I wasn't. I could talk to you about anything, and I knew you weren't happy." He said, "I fell in love with you, April. Despite the way I did, I still fell in love with you." He told her as she sighed.
"Were you ever going to tell me?" She asked him.
"I didn't plan to." He spoke truthfully, "I didn't want to hurt you." He told her as she rolled her eyes.
"No one ever does." She looked up at him, "If Jamie was such a danger, why wouldn't someone just come take him away? I would have dealt with it."
"Because he works for a huge organization, April. If Jamie ever failed or lost his way, you'd be in danger. So as professionals, we had to get you to safety first. Jamie isn't so much the danger. It's who he's involved with. He should be arrested, but we're still figuring out the team he's working for abroad." He said, "It's a lot of information that you don't need to pay attention to. All you need to know, is that I do love you. I came here, thinking I had some damsel in distress that I had to deal with, when really I met my soulmate." He smiled, "I'm sorry for not telling you sooner."
"Am I still in danger?" She asked him.
"Not that you're with me now." He told her, "I got you." He cupped her cheek as she turned away for his touch to be neglected. She still wasn't sure what to think. She was still hurt and upset that he had lied to her about all of this, and it just felt surreal that he had been watching her for so long. But in a way, she felt like he had always been protecting her.
"Is this what our relationship is gonna be like? You doing everything in secrecy? Not telling me anything?" She asked, "Because if it is, I don't think I can do it."
"Hey, I only didn't tell you this because I thought you'd be upset, which I was clearly right. I knew you'd think I didn't love you and all of that nonsense, when I do April. My job, from day one, was to get you to safety, and now that I have, I don't want to stop protecting you. I've fallen in love with you. Big time. I love living you, and sharing a home and a life with you." He told her, "This was just a job, but it turned into something way more." He said, "Please, don't be mad at me."
"I'm not mad." She said, "I'm just upset that you kept it from me. And I'm still a little shocked and freaked out that you've been watching me." She admitted.
"I'm sorry." He apologised, "I really am. I was terrified that you would doubt our love from finding out." He said, "I love you. You changed everything for me. I knew I was coming here to get a girl to safety, but I never knew she'd be the woman of my dreams. Because you are." He told her as she turned around to face him, a small smile spreading across her face.
"If you want me to understand this, you're gonna have to go from the beginning. To the day you got handed this… case." She told him.
She hated to say it. But she was at one point just part of a case to him. She believed him when he said he loved her. It didn't take a fool to know that he loved her. He did open up to her, and he did trust her, and they did have a connection. But for her to understand why he had to keep it from her, and what was really going on with Jamie, she needed him to explain everything.
10 REVIEWS = New Chapter.