Page 7 of The Final Say

“I might have underestimated your influence on me. I still remember what you did to me in high school, but it pales in comparison to what you are doing to me right now. You said that you were going to make it up to me and this is a step in the right direction. I can feel this one is going to hit me harder than the first one,” Julie called out with her thighs pressing against my ears.

She was making it difficult to hear what she was saying.

Her legs suddenly stiffened, and she graduated from low moans to louder ones.

Her sudden scream wasn’t for the reason I thought it was. She scrambled away from me with a shaking finger pointed at the window.

Bryan was peering into the chalet with both hands on either side of the glass, his face illuminated by the flames.

That was a madman looking to hurt someone.

Chapter Five

Julie a.k.a. Constance

Making up for past misdeeds was never an easy concept. Both of them had their issues, and I was going to have to realize what was right in front of me.

There was the maniacal look of a deranged serial killer staring into the window at us.

The shocking revelation that he could track me down again was getting on my last nerve. Bryan had resources, and those willing to bend over backward to lend him a helping hand. His ability was impressive, but his tenacious attitude could be vexing.

He was off the leash, no longer haunted by the image of us being together again. The fight had proven there was no love lost between him and Cameron. The injuries sustained made it necessary to use kid gloves while I was getting overly amorous.

Bryan was tapping his gun against the window showing that he was willing to do practically anything. This is no longer a quest to get me back. It was easy to recognize his delusions coming back to make him this way. He must’ve figured if he couldn’t have me then nobody could.

That was dangerous thinking and could result in Cameron finding his comeuppance at the end of his gun.

I was half expecting him to say, “He-e-ere’s Johnny,” imitating a character from a Stephen King movie that was adapted from a novel. The Shining was a perfect example of his state of mind without blinking through the window trying to intimidate us.

“I don’t know about you, but I have had just about enough of him. I thought what happened back at the house would’ve sent him a clear message to leave and never come back. I guess he still needs a lesson in manners, and I am just the person to give it to him. You have nothing to fear when I’m standing here with you,” Cameron assured, frantically putting on his clothes until he was hiding his delectable body under layers.

I was still feeling the afterglow of the moment with my skin tingling. Being with Cameron was everything I wanted and more. The actual act was simply irresistible with no clear way to describe how he made my body into his own personal wonderland of pleasure.

My hand snatched the blanket from the back of the couch and wrapped it around me in a makeshift dress. It was one thing for Bryan to come after me; it was another to have this look that would’ve killed. He had lost his mind and was no longer playing the game of seduction. This was clearly a man who had lost his way, no longer content in using his words to get his point across.

I could smell the fear in the air making us the prey and him the predator.

“I’m not sure it’s a good idea to talk to him. We don’t have to agree on many things but that look tells me there is no room for negotiation. We might consider a strategic exit to get some distance and some perspective. That way, he will have the chance to cool down,” I suggested with my hand holding onto his while hiding behind his bulky frame.

Bryan could be seen through the crook of Cameron’s arm, but I really didn’t want to know what was going on in his head. This time he had snapped, with designs on killing us, if the gun tapping against the window was any indication. He did it to instill panic at the idea of fighting for our lives.

This was a man with police training.

“I’m not going to run from a problem. I’ve done that in the past and it never ends well. This time he’s going to understand you don’t want anything to do with him. We’ve tried to be nice, and even pummeling him to knock some sense into his head didn’t work. I’m not going to let him make us cower in a corner wondering what he’s going to do next,” Cameron insisted with this look of intensity that I had never seen before outside of the bedroom.

I tugged on his arm, feeling the fabric of his shirt against my fingertips. “We should err on the side of caution when dealing with him. He thinks everybody should bow down to him, including women.”

Cameron had no idea what I had gone through with Bryan, and I couldn’t begin to describe the way he made me feel when we were together. It was a wonder I got out of the relationship in one piece physically, but, emotionally, he shattered me into a million pieces. I mistakenly thought all men were the same, but Cameron had reminded me to look beyond the cover. I didn’t want to do this. The very idea of confronting Bryan with those festering feelings of hatred was going to make me puke. He was harboring a grudge, as well as the wounds he had sustained at Cameron’s hand, in order to keep those feelings of hatred burning in his veins.

Cameron took a couple of steps and stopped with me behind him, sheltered by his physical dominance. He grabbed the poker by the fire, holding it in two hands with his fingers curled around the black metal.

It most likely gave him a false sense of security. The gun was the perfect companion for Bryan’s attitude and madness. I could see it in his eyes from where I stood behind Cameron.

A flash of lightning made him materialize into this ghostly image, there one second and gone the next. It was more than a little terrifying to think that he was out there manipulating our actions until we fell into his trap.

He was good at keeping people at bay, never getting too close at the risk of them seeing past his fake smile.

Cameron walked gingerly with his eyes darting back and forth trying to find him after Bryan performed his magic trick of disappearing before our eyes. I found it alarming Bryan was willing to take these extreme actions to be heard. Alarming, but not surprising. Why did I ever think he could change?