Freed by You (27 page)

My mouth dropped open as Natalie’s words shocked me out of my daydream. Did she seriously just use the words
eye-fucking?

“I was not!” I laughed as I tore my gaze away from him.

“You totally were,” she chuckled before her dazzling smile faded slightly. “He really loves you, you know. I’ve never seen him like this before. He seems so calm, so relaxed, so...happy. I’ve never seen him get close to a woman before; he’s never let anybody in. But he’s different with you.”

I smiled widely at her statement. My heart ached and I found myself desperately wanting to go to him.

“Thank you,” I replied, fighting the urge to leave the bar and cross the floor to where he sat.

“No problem.” She winked. “I think you and I could become good friends. I like you; you’re not with him because of who he is. That much is obvious.”

“I’m with him because I love him, Natalie. And I’d really like for us to be friends, that means a lot.”

I practically skipped over to the far end of the bar when I noticed a tall, grey haired man waiting to be served. He was impeccably dressed in a light grey fitted suit with a pristine white shirt, complete with a peachy coloured satin tie.

“Good evening, sir. What can I get for you?” I asked as he slid his empty glass across the bar towards me.

“I’ll have a scotch please, on the rocks. Thanks.” He smiled politely and I turned to prepare his drink. I handed it back to him and accepted his twenty pound note.

“Get one for yourself,” he offered before sipping at his scotch.

“Thank you for the offer, sir, but I’ll have to pass.”

“You’re new here, aren’t you? I haven’t seen you here before.”

The charming man started up a conversation. As there were no other customers to serve, I politely answered his questions and returned his friendly conversation. I laughed loudly as he replayed an event from his day that had involved an awkward slip on the tube in front of a carriage full of people. A loud cough interrupted us and I glanced across to see Julian sitting on a stool at the bar to my left.

“Excuse me, sir. Have a pleasant evening.” I bounced over to Julian, unable to erase my smile from my lips at the sight of his perfect face, glowing under the purple lighting. “Good evening, sir. Can I get you something?” I beamed.

“Just your incredible backside up those stairs, please, Miss Braxton.” His chin pointed in the direction of the staircase leading to The Attic.

“Julian,” I blushed, “I’m working.”

“Not anymore you’re not. I’ve had enough of watching every man in this building completely and indiscreetly eye-fuck you all night. Now it’s my turn.”

A burst of laughter escaped me – as did a very unfeminine snort.

“What’s so funny?” he asked as the corners of his mouth turned upwards ever-so-slightly but his eyes danced with humour.

“Nothing, I just didn’t realise grown adults used the phrase
eye-fuck
these days.”

“Well, I do.”

“As does Natalie, apparently,” I grinned.

“What?”

“Nothing.” I laughed quietly to myself as I noticed a wicked glint in Julian’s narrowed eyes. “Why do you need me up there?”

“I want to have you to myself for a while, and I’m sure you could do with a drink just as much as I could.”

I removed my till key from the waistband of my skirt and handed it to Natalie before following Julian up the spiralled staircase and into the privacy of The Attic. Julian went straight to the glassed wall and clicked a small button and I watched the crowded booths of people below disappear as a sheet of frosted ice appeared to sweep across the glass, just as it had in his own apartment.

“That’s better.”

He stared heatedly at me as his eyes took on their wicked gleam once more.

“I thought you wanted a drink?” I teased, recognising exactly what was in his mind.

“I do. That doesn’t make me want you any less, though.”

He pushed me gently into a large armchair and towered over me before bending and kissing me passionately. I returned his kiss with everything I had, pouring my heart and soul into him.

“This is where we first kissed,” I whispered as he pulled away. He smiled his dazzling, heated smile just as Ryan entered the room.

“Champagne for you,” he announced as he placed the large steel bucket on a table.

“Thank you, Ryan,” I smiled. This guy did everything for Julian yet he never seemed to show any appreciation towards him.

“My pleasure, Miss Braxton.” He smiled warmly.

“Enough with the Miss Braxton. It’s Emily.”

Ryan nodded in response before turning and exiting the room.

“What’s all this in aid of?” I asked as I eyed the champagne that stood next to a number of flickering candles that I hadn’t noticed before now.

“You’ll see.”

Julian treated me like a princess for the entirety of the night. He poured me more champagne each time was glass was emptied, he danced me around the room each time a song came on that I liked, and he simply adored me. I could see it in his eyes every time he looked me; his gaze was intense, deep and completely mesmerising.

He took my empty glass from my hand and placed it on the table beside him before taking both of my hands into his grasp. His deep eyes penetrated mine as his mouth twitched slightly. I felt my brows tighten into a frown. He seemed serious all of a sudden and I began to wonder what he was possibly about to say to me.

“Do you remember how good it sounded earlier when I called you Mrs Scott?”

My breath hitched in my throat and my stomach dropped as I guessed where he was going with this. I managed a single nod in response.

“I know it’s early days, Emily, but I also know that I have never felt this way about anyone before, and I never will again. I want to share my life with you, Emily, I love you.” He paused and I interrupted quickly.

“Where are you going with this, Julian?” My voice was weak through my halted breath that I hadn’t even realised I was holding.

He smiled lovingly and crouched down in front of where I sat before proceeding to lift a single knee. The air left my lungs rapidly as my chest tightened. Tears pooled in my eyes and I couldn’t control them, they were soon rolling down my flustered cheeks.

“Emily, I love you now and I promise to love you forever. Will you do me the extraordinary honour of agreeing to become my wife?”

My hand instinctively flew to my mouth as I fought hard against my tears, but to no avail. I cried like a baby, completely humiliating myself…and Julian.

“I’m not that bad, am I?” Julian teased. I smacked at his shoulder with the back of my hand in a playful manner and my tears quickly turned to laughter.

“Well? Emily, you’re killing me here!” His raised knee was shaking as his heel drummed nervously against the floor. But I simply stared at him, my brain struggling to order my mouth to speak. “I mean, there’s no rush, we don’t have to get married yet,” he ranted, “we can wait until you’re ready, but I’d really like you to at least accept.”

“Julian, shut up,” I grinned and placed my hands on either side of his face and pulled him into my deep kiss. “Yes,” I whispered against his lips, “I’ll marry you!”

His arms flew around my waist as he stood quickly, taking me with him. He pressed his lips against mine, then against my cheek, over and over, before turning to the opposite cheek. I giggled as he ravished me with kisses.

“Shit!” He stopped, abruptly pulling away from me. “I forgot something.” He fumbled around in his jacket pocket and retrieved a small, red box. “The ring,” he beamed. “And, before you argue, this isn’t a gift for you; it’s for us, to signify our engagement.”

He opened the box and held it out before me.

“Wow!” I choked as my hand flew to my mouth once more.

It was a thin, platinum band that rose up in the middle to support a large, single glistening diamond. The biggest diamond I had ever seen, in fact.

“You don’t like it,” he assumed, his voice laced with disappointment.

“Julian... I don’t know what to say.”

“It’s fine, we can change it, it’s not a problem.”

“No, no! It’s beautiful, Julian. I mean, it’s stunning, I love it.”

He smiled his dazzling wide smile and removed the ring from the box. Sliding it onto the appropriate finger, he kissed my knuckles. “It’s a perfect fit,” he stated. “I love you, Emily Braxton.”

“I love you, Julian.”

His strong arms pulled my body flush against his and hand twisted into the hair at my nape as he tilted my head back to grant himself full access to my mouth.

“We’re out of champagne, I’ll go and grab another bottle, Natalie will be dying to know if you said yes,” he enthused as he released my hair and readjusted himself in his trousers.

“She knew?”

“Sorry,” he winced, “I had to get someone’s opinion on the ring. I’ll be back in two minutes, don’t move.” He pressed his lips to my forehead and disappeared from the room.

As I studied my glistening finger I couldn’t lessen my wide smile. It was beautiful,
he
was beautiful, and he was soon to be my husband. Wow! I shook my head as I tried to regain some sort of composure.

I heard the door close heavily and turned to greet Julian with
that
smile. My stomach twisted in dread and my breathing stopped altogether as I stared, horrified, into a pair of familiar evil, squinted eyes.

“Hello, Emily.”

A wracking shudder ran down the entire length of my spine at the sound of his hissing voice. I took a deep, steadying breath.

“Jay.”

“What’s the matter, gorgeous? We’re you expecting someone else?”

I felt every hair on my body stand on its end as his voice filled my ears, chilling me to my core. The very same voice that had filled my nightmares night after night. I swallowed hard as I felt the familiar liquid burning at the base of my throat.

“What do you want, Jay?” I asked sternly, desperately trying to mask the quiver in my voice. I wouldn’t let him see my fear of him, I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

“Well, isn’t that obvious?”

“Not to me it isn’t.”

“I want you to pay for what you’ve done, Emily. And I want my daughter.”

Pay for what
I’ve
done? What the hell had I done other than suffer at the hands of this sadistic, fucked-up control freak? I had done exactly nothing! I had given him whatever he’d wanted, time and time again and never even dared to complain to him each time I felt bruised and over used. Each time I had burned with agony and been unable to even sit comfortably when he had taken his pleasure from me.

“You will never get near her, Jay.” My voice was barely a whisper as every muscle in my body trembled in sheer terror.

“We’ll see about that, won’t we?” he hissed through his strained jaw. His eyes glowered as his hands balled into fists at his sides.

“Leave me alone, Jay. Stay away from us. Haven’t you done enough damage already?”

I noticed his deep intake of breath as his face twisted with anger.

“Oh, not nearly enough, darling,” he snarled, his tone icy cold. “You put me behind bars for four years and kept my daughter from me, my own flesh and fucking blood, and you think I’m just going to let you get away with that?”

“You don’t have much choice, Jay. Julian will be back any second, if I were you I’d leave while you still can,” I threatened.

Although I was silently praying that Julian wouldn’t return anytime soon even though I knew he would. I couldn’t let Jay anywhere near him, I couldn’t let Julian suffer for my mistakes, and I wouldn’t!

A sickening, sadistic smile spread slowly across his disgusting face. Had he just accepted my threat as a challenge?

“That would be the same Julian that’s downstairs dealing with a certain unruly customer right now?”

My eyes scanned his as I tried to make sense of what he was saying.

“Yes, that’s right, Emily. Julian should be busy for some time, you see, a friend of mine just grabbed his barmaid’s tits. Quite protective of her, isn’t he?” He paused briefly as he inhaled deeply. “Quite the hero, isn’t he? My guess is that he’ll soon be taking this punter out the back to give him a good hiding, like a real knight in shining armour. Except, this time, it won’t be Julian who’s giving the hiding, if you know what I mean?” A triumphant, knowing smile played across his lips as he spoke and another heavy shudder wracked down the length of my spine.

“It’s a shame he couldn’t have predicted my plan. A real shame that someone else has to get hurt in this mess, don’t you think? Well, someone else besides that friend of his, I mean. And, yes, in case you were wondering, that was supposed to be for Julian.” He smiled a menacing smile at me and my mouth dropped open as my breath seemed to stick in my dry throat causing a choking cough.

My mind raced back over his entire speech as I desperately tried to figure out his riddles. And then it clicked – he had it all planned, Julian would take this guy out of the back doors, there was no doubt about that if it was Natalie who he had just groped – and Jay had someone or
something
waiting for him.

Dry heaves attacked my stomach as this realisation struck me with what felt like a forceful blow. Not Julian, please. I had to get to him; I had to stop him before he got outside. My eyes frantically searched the room for something, anything to strike him with so I could flee and get to Julian.

“Too late, darling. I’m sure he’s already outside by now, possibly no longer breathing by this point.”

“No!” My loud scream exploded from my mouth before I had even registered its approach. “Julian!”

I ran towards the door, the same door that Jay was still blocking, and hurled myself at him. “Get out of my way!”

I thrashed my clenched fists out towards his face but his hands moved much faster than mine and he clutched tightly around the tops of my arms and destroyed my pitiful attempt at an attack.

“You’re a little feisty, aren't you? That’s not you like the Emily that I once knew.” He spoke calmly, his voice empty of any emotion.

“Not Julian, Jay. Please!” I screeched. “It’s me you want, not him! Take me, Jay; just leave him out of this!”