AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Nicholas
This was not going at all to plan. I had this idea of how it was all going to go in my head, but that was not what happened. I tried my best to play it off, but I was very disappointed. I wanted Jean Luc to leave this world. I didn’t care to have him in a cell somewhere, wherever it was. Nowhere that they could put him would be far enough underground for it to be bad enough. This guy had hurt Lara, and I was going to hate him for the rest of my life. This much I knew for sure.
We called the police and a detective met with us. Lara was very emotional, and I knew why, of course, but I still hated to see her that way. I wanted her to be okay and for her to realize that it was all going to be fine. She didn’t think that way, and it was impossible for me to think otherwise. I comforted her when she had to give her part of it, what she remembered that Jean Luc had done to her.
Part of it I hadn’t heard before and it was making me feel like all of what we were doing was a mistake. I wasn’t ready to give him up. We had called the police, I knew that it was something we couldn’t go back on, but knowing it, hearing it, all I could think about was how he had to die. It was all consuming, and the detective asked me if I was okay at some point during the interview.
Lara took my hand and said that I was having trouble hearing it. She was smiling at me and knew me so well. How could I be okay when I was hearing this all for the first time? I knew how I found her and what was going on, but it was sad that I hadn’t been able to stop what happened. I wanted there to be a reason that it had all happened and then went tits up. I still didn’t know what that reason was.
“It’s okay, Nicholas. We’re almost done, right, detective?”
The dark-haired man had eyes that saw everything, and those eyes were trained on my girlfriend. I wanted to say that she was my wife, even less available, but the truth was that she wasn’t. How much I hated that very detail. I wanted to change that. As soon as this was over, I was going to put a ring on her finger and give her my last name. Then maybe the detective that was eying her right this second, would stop. I could feel anger rising and the longer the interview went on, the worse it was. When it was finally all over, I could finally breathe again. Why was it so hard to breathe? I wanted to get Lara out of here as fast as I could, but Detective Jones wanted us to stick around a day or two if we could. He might need additional information from Lara, and he gave her his card before he took off. I knew that it was a professional transaction, but damn if I didn’t want to snatch that card up and rip it up in front of him.
I was glad that I didn’t do that. I obviously would have looked like a complete moron, more so than I already did. I wasn’t feeling very secure at all and even though Lara squeezed my hand and was right by my side, she was still not able to understand what was going on. I had to keep this part to myself. It wasn’t for me to feel and overcrowd the situation, but I felt like I had been wronged as well. Lara had been hurt and there had to be justice.
We went back to the hotel. I was supposed to stay. I knew that I was supposed to be the one that was comforting her, but who was supposed to comfort me? My head was all messed up with what was going on. I couldn't believe that this was all going to be over, and we weren't even going to get the satisfaction of ending the monster. That's all I could think about. Why was Lara able to walk away so easily and the very idea of it made me sick to my stomach?
I figured that the reason she was able to walk away was likely because she didn't know how bad he really was. Sure, horrible things had happened to her I have no doubt of now, but I had met many people like Jean Luc in my life, and I knew what they were capable of. I knew the devastation and pain that they likely caused hundreds and thousands of people. The idea that this guy got to walk away was just really grinding into me. I couldn't let it go and even when Lara was right next to me, holding my hand, my whole body was tense.
She tried to sidetrack me as we were leaving with a few kisses, and I told her that I wasn't in the mood.
“You're not in the mood?”
“No, I'm not.”
Lara scoffed and told me that I had never refused her before. It was not the right time. I was not thinking about having sex. I was thinking about how this guy was going to get picked up and then put in jail. Before I left, I did tell the detective that if Jean Luc got free and somehow bailed out that he would not be found again. The detective hadn't even said anything about the threat, like he knew where I was coming from and would have done the same thing. He had assured me man to man that they were going to lock him up and never let him go. If I couldn't kill him, that was the only thing that would save it from happening. If Jean Luc was ever able to step foot out of a cell for freedom, I would end his life, happily. This time I would know better than to tell Lara about it as well.
Lara did finally sidetrack me, and she did it by taking me out to show me the places that she loved. I could tell ever since we got here that Lara missed this place. I could see her eyes light up when she stopped at a certain place. Unfortunately, I had another problem that I had to deal with. I had eyes on Jean Luc, and they had all been arrested. People were being saved and I didn't know why, but I didn't want to tell Lara about it just yet. I wanted him behind metal doors and wires and all the other things to make her feel safe. To me, the only safety was if the man was dead.
I was on the phone and when I stepped away for a moment, I came back to Lara almost in tears looking through the glass of a department store. There was a dress on a mannequin and a few other accessories, but it was quite clear that she was entranced by the dress. I sat there and watched her for a moment, not sure what to do or what to say. She was obviously very distressed, and I should be there to help her, but I didn't know what was going on. I tried to ask her, and she jumped when she heard my voice.
“I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to scare you.”
Lara wiped her eyes like she had been crying. “No, it's fine. I just wasn't paying attention and then there you were. Are you ready to go?”
“What's the matter?” I had to know. I hated how upset she was. It felt like every time I turned around, Lara was being hurt and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I felt so helpless. Was she thinking of something? Had she had a flashback that the doctors warned us about?
“It's nothing, Nicholas, really. Let's just go back to the hotel.”
I told her that I wasn't going anywhere until she told me the truth. There was so much in between us, so many things that were unsaid, and it just felt wrong. I had to know what was crushing her spirits. I wanted to help if I could, but I had to know what was wrong first.
Lara huffed and then gave me a dirty look. “Why are you making it more complicated than it has to be? This has been a long day, don't you think? Can I just be in my head a little bit?”
It was not hard to understand at all. Lara just wanted a little bit of feelings to herself, and I should have let it go. I wanted to let it go, really, I did, but I just had to know what was going on. I felt like enough had been kept from me. I had to know what was really going on.
I pushed until she sighed. “That is one of the dresses that I made before I left Paris. It was in one of my sketchpads and it just means that my boss Crystal found it and even though she had told me it was a shit design when I showed her, she has now turned it into her design. Do you see that name, Crystal Timbers? Well, that's her. She is the boss that used to steal all of my ideas and now even after all this time, she is still doing so. It just bothers me. I always wanted to see my name in one of these shop windows, not hers. To know that I was able to give her the dream that she wanted and not my own dream is hard to wrap my head around.”
Honestly, I didn't really get what she was all worked up about, not really. Fashion wasn't something I was interested in, but I did know how it felt when somebody took credit that wasn't theirs. I could see the longing in her face, and I knew then that I was going to somehow make this happen. I didn't know how yet, but Lara was going to get her wish, and I was going to make sure that she saw her name and her design in the storefront window. Then everybody would know how great she was. I just couldn't promise that it was going to be in Paris. I had developed a real dislike for this country and city. The sooner I could get us back home, the better.
We walked back to the hotel, and she was feeling crummy. I think that I was going to try and get her sidetracked, and I knew exactly how I was going to do it. The problem was, we didn't even get back to the hotel before we got a call. Well, Lara got a call. It was the detective from earlier, and he wanted to talk to her about a few things. I didn't like not being able to hear what was being said but knew that she didn't want it to go on speaker or something. I was just going to have to wait and see what was said.
When she was off the phone, there was still a bunch of stress on her face, and I had a feeling that it had nothing to do with Crystal her old boss and the dress that she had seen on display. This was something about Jean Luc and when I asked her what was going on, she was speechless. “They say that we need to go to the police station. They have something that they need to show me. Us.”
Considering how the detective had looked at Lara, I doubted that he wanted me to tag along at all. I was going to, obviously, but I could tell exactly what he wanted, and it had very little to do with the case. We never even got back to the hotel before we were turning around and going out once again. Lara was in a strange mood, quiet, and it was really hard not to ask her fifteen times what was going on. I didn't know, it was obvious to me that whatever was on Lara's mind, she wanted to keep to herself, at least for the time being. I just had to relax and know that she would tell me about it eventually, when she was ready.
She was not ready by the time we got to the police station and that was a pity, of course. I was hoping that I would at least know what we were walking into, but maybe she didn't know either. I took her hand softly, reminding her that I was here for her, and she had the sweetest response of pressing back with her hand. It gave me the reassurance that apparently, I needed too. Here I was thinking that I was going to be reassuring her, but that's not how it played out at all. We were leaning on each other when we got to the police station. I was walking in blind, and I didn't think she knew much more than me. What was this all about?
20
