Crossing Lines: A gripping psychological thriller (Behind Closed Doors Book 3) (35 page)

“Nothing.” I smile. “But I have to see Julia before we leave.”

* * *

“I’m coming with you!” Lisa cries as the car pulls up outside the department store on Fifth Avenue, New York.

Julia’s in there somewhere, with Sean. My brief conversation with him had ended with his reply,
kill me now.
I guess he doesn’t like shopping.

“You’re going nowhere,” Rylan shakes his head. “Too many people. Too many possibilities I haven’t run through. I don’t even like that Darryl’s taking a detour I haven’t checked out first.” He nods his head in my direction. “Now you’ve got five seconds to get out, or we leave without seeing her!"

“I’m going,” I promise, and put my hand on the door handle. I look back at Lisa. I know she wants to see Julia, but I can't take that risk. “I’m sorry, but you have a plane to catch!”

“So do you.”

“He can fly commercial,” Rylan snaps. “You can’t!”

“God! You’re so uptight.” She folds her arms across her chest and heaves out a really big sigh. “You used to be so cool!”

“I’m still cool,” he smiles. “In L.A., I know it like the back of my hand. Anywhere else, I’m the grumpiest bastard you’ll ever meet. Just ask AJ.”

“Well, I don’t like you when you’re a grumpy bastard.”

“Shut up whining, or I’ll tell Darryl about—”

“Okay, okay.” She cries and turns to me. “Will you just go already?"

Rylan laughs, a real up-from-the-gut belly laugh. “Ultimatum time, boss man! And honestly, it’s not worth missing Julia for. And don’t panic, she’s not in any kind of trouble, either.”

“You sure?” I ask, “I don't like that you’re both hiding stuff from me.”

“I’m not a spy,” he says. “I'm a bodyguard, and she needs to trust me that I won’t tell you anything you don’t need to know. I thought we’d discussed this already.”

“Fine.” I open the door, discreetly sliding out and closing it behind me. The car drives away. It hasn’t even reached the intersection when I text her.
We’ll talk about this later.

She texts back.
L8r wen youre 2 luvd ^ 2b :-|| @ me 4 havN a BF.

I look up as the car gets lost among the hundreds of others on Fifth Avenue. “Where have you been, man?” Sean slaps his hand on my shoulder and I turn around. “Please tell me we’re going for celebratory beers. You can't turn forty and not have a beer.
Please!
After three hours of baby shopping, I
so
need alcohol! This is all for Julia. I am never telling them when Ashleigh gets pregnant. Never. I’ll end up shooting myself. Jeez, every time I try to sneak off to the jewelry department they drag me back into it.”

“What does this mean?” I show Sean the text. It slowly dawns on me what he just said. “Wait … What jewelry department?”

“Oh boy!” He chuckles and hands back my cell. “You think babies give you sleepless nights. They’re nothing compared to boyfriends. Believe me. Stephi’s first boyfriend had me flying down here to meet the guy the day I found out about him.”

“Boyfriends?” I repeat. “Lisa’s got a boyfriend?”

“Sean?”

The deep baritone voice comes from behind him, and the expression he pulls is one of sheer horror, as the silent curse confirms it. “I’m sorry to do this to you, man.” He spins around. “Dad!” he cries, "Meet Darryl.”

Dad?
I look at this guy, who looks a lot like his son: same height, same build, same hair color, just a little more weathered with age, though he looks like he could take me out if he needed to. In fact, the confused frown morphs into a furious glare and I suddenly know why Sean apologized: I’m in deep shit!

“Finally, Mr. Hawthorne, we meet!” I reach for his hand and he grips mine, almost crushing it, in return. “Do not think I am going to let another asshole take her back L.A., to treat her like garbage. She stays here with me. You can move to New York and prove to me that you’re worthy of her; that I have no problem with. But she doesn’t come to L.A. with you. It's as simple as that.”

“Sir.” I lift up my hands, hoping to make this a discussion rather than a trial I know I’ll lose. “I love Julia, and I want to be with her, and listening to her voice and not talking back is seven kinds of hell for me.”

“Then why not just call?”

“I need for you to understand that this isn’t as simple as two people meeting and falling in love. A new relationship could be just as bad for Julia as it is good." I look at Sean, see the encouragement in his eyes and allow my attention to go back to his father. “Mr. Anderson. I’ve lived through this. I watched my sister and her second husband fight these demons for the entirety of the few short years they had together. I have counseled women, and their new partners who have faced the same problems for years. I know what I’m walking into. Julia doesn’t.”

“Then why are you here?”

I don’t reply. I don’t think I need to.

“I’m still not letting her move to L.A.”

“Dad, you’ve always known she’s going back to L.A. eventually, to be with Darryl. She told you that the moment she got off the plane.”

“And I meant it, Dad.” Both Sean and his father part and twist back. Between them I see Julia, with someone I guess is her mother. But all I really see is Julia. She’s bundled up in a hat, scarf, and gloves, buried under a big woolen poncho that’s too ugly to be fashionable, but somehow she makes it look like the latest expectant-mother’s trend. It sits on the round of her belly. She’s wearing jeans and sheepskin calf-high boots. She still takes my breath away.

“Excuse me!” Sean and Julia’s father turn to look at me, but I push straight through the gap they’ve created, forcing them to step out of my way. It’s just a few steps, but it feels like a lifetime until I reach her. I don’t stop. I take her waist in one hand, and allow the other to slip over her cheek and into her hair, coaxing her face upward as I bring her lips up to meet mine.

Kissing her feels so good, even better now that it’s not wrong for me to do so. “I love you!” I whisper as our lips part.

“Oh, Darryl—”

“Shush! I still want you to stay here. I still want you to take as long as you need. But I couldn’t leave New York without telling you how much I miss you, and I want to reassure you that I’ll be waiting when you’re ready to come home.”

Her pupils widen, and her lips form a thin, tight line. “I heard what you said, D, and I know you can’t slay my demons for me.” My heart plummets. “You can’t hold me through the darkest of nightmares, and there will still be times I won’t be able to bear your touch. There will be times when you scare the hell out of me, and others when I just won’t listen to a word you say."

“I know, Julia.”

“I know you do.” She smiles at me. “I just wanted to make sure you know that I know it too.” I swallow, hard. “Caleb is very good at what he does. If I’d had listened to him when Ashleigh first introduced us, I would've never gone back to Wayne.”

“You’d never have met me then. Ashleigh wouldn’t have kept me around.”

“You wouldn’t have gotten rid of her that easily.” Julia laughs.

I lower my voice to little above a whisper, because I only want Julia to hear this. “Can you ever forgive me for being a dumbass and sending you away?”

“That depends,” she whispers back. “Do you still feel like you’re breaking the rules?”

I shake my head. No. I feel stupid for ever thinking like that.

“Do you still feel like you’re stealing another man’s wife?” If he'd been a nice guy, maybe. But because the asshole didn’t deserve her in the first place, it’s his loss and my privilege. “And what about being in love with me? Does that still feel wrong to you?”

Wrong or right, it doesn’t change the fact I love her, and I’m only punishing her and myself by denying us the chance to be happy together. “No, Julia,” I shake my head again. “Everything about you feels so right, and it hurts being apart from you.”

“Then, it’s time to take me home.”

Caution blows through my bloodstream. It makes my hands tremble, and I wonder what is really holding me back from being with the woman I’m hopelessly in love with. Nothing. No one. Just me. And Julia’s dad.

I take a deep breath, tighten my hand around hers and pull her toward the curb. I lift my hand into the air and attempt to flag down a passing cab. I turn back to Julia’s father. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, Sir,” I say, as a taxi cab’s light goes off and the driver indicates he’s seen me. “I would have liked more time for you to get to know me before I whisked Julia away. But I promise you, whatever she wants, be it a hundred babies, a cottage by the sea, or”—I turn to her now—“a fashion label of her own, she will have it. I will spend my entire life making your dreams come true.”

Julia lets my hand go and steps toward her parents. She throws her arms around her mom’s neck and kisses her cheek. “Love you!” She does the same to her dad, “Don’t look so worried. Darryl is the most amazing friend in the world, just ask Ashleigh. She trusts him.” Then, she turns to hug Sean before coming back toward the waiting cab. “I’ll see you all next week!”

“You’re just going to leave?” Madeline shrieks. “What about your things? The baby’s things? You can’t just tailspin into a whirlwind romance, Julia. This is ridiculous! You’re six months pregnant. Sean, talk some sense into your sister!”

“Actually, Mom,” Sean winces, as Julia halts her climb into the cab ahead of me. “I won’t.”

“What do you mean you
won’t
? Why not?” Madeline shrieks again. "What has gotten into you lately, Sean? Why are you acting so… so… unreasonable all of a sudden?”

“Because…” He looks at me and takes a deep breath and says, “I’m about to ask the woman of
my
dreams to marry me!” Julia gasps beside me. “And I could really do with your help telling Stephi the news, because she hates Ashleigh and she isn't going to like it.”

“Really?” Julia squeals. “You’re marrying Ashleigh?" She pushes me out of the way and throws herself at Sean, “I knew she was lying to me about you!” she cries. “I'm so happy for both of you!” When she steps back, I see tears in her eyes.

“Ashleigh?” Madeline asks. I think she looks more relieved at that. “As in, Julia’s friend Ashleigh? The girl you should have married back in college, that Ashleigh?”

“I’m asking her for real this time, with a ring and everything, when she comes back next week.”

“Well, it’s about time, Son! You went to L.A. after her, five years ago.” His father rubs a supportive hand along Sean's shoulder. “Stephi will be fine about it. Won’t she, Maddie?”

She nods vehemently, then stretches upwards and wraps her arms around her son. “Of course! She was Ashleigh’s biggest fan when she was little.”

Sean waves a hand and mouths the word ‘go’ at us. I understand their parents are suitably distracted, but won’t they be pissed that we've just snuck away behind their backs?

Julia tugs my hand and pulls me into the waiting cab. “Which airport?”

“Teterboro,” I reply, closing the rear door. I turn to her. “Are you sure about this?”

“Absolutely.” Her smile reaches her eyes and causes the breath to freeze in my throat. My heart stutters. For the first time in my life, I don’t know how I got to be this lucky. I’m not cocky about what I have, or ungrateful for it. But the woman sitting beside me has been through so much, and she understands the possibility that the worst is still to come, yet still wants to jump right into more promises of forever, with me.

Finally, I understand those words my sister wrote in her last letter. More than anything else, she wanted me to have someone who loves me and supports me, who is there for me, and will help me through the losses and celebrate the wins. Someone who’ll make the difficult days a little easier, and eventually turn them into the best years of my life. Someone who'll love me how I deserve to be loved. That’s what Faith wanted, and what she thought I’d found with Izzy. She was wrong. The woman Faith wanted me to find is sitting right where she's supposed to be. Next to me.

I, Darryl Hawthorne, am the luckiest man on earth.

THE END

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And now for a sneak peek at
Careless Whispers
(Behind Closed Doors, Book Four)

Prologue

25
th
January 2013

HIS LONG, THIN FINGERS
curl around my shoulders. A chill runs length of my spine, a chill I fight with my entire being not to show on my face. I’m supposed to be all starry-eyed and in love with him. I have to kiss him. The thought of kissing this man makes me want to vomit. Violently. Preferably all over him.

Everything was going so well. For the past three months I’ve had everyone convinced, including myself, that maybe, just maybe, and after many years of fierce rivalry,
Krystal Valentina
might actually like Justin Ramirez. Not romantically! Good grief, the thought of my sister’s former fiancé touching me that way … Eeew!

But I’ve made a valiant effort to be nice to the guy, because I promised I would do this. I promised I’d put my personal feelings aside, and give the guy a career boost. After all, his last few theatre releases have tanked, and since then all of his movies have gone straight to Netflix. I promised I’d use my influence to help someone closer to home. I promised my sister, Mimi, I’d work with the lying piece of crap who’d stood her up at the altar eight years ago. Why? Because she asked me to. Does there need to be another reason?