Chapter 16: Chapter 16

After everything that’s happened to her…

I don’t know how to react, how to deal with this. I take shelter in barking a laugh, the edges sharp and bitter as aloe.

“What could possibly be funny?” says Michael.

“She’s gone out, against every protest and effort to stop her. She’s achieved what she set out to do;

Beth is back with Richard. She’s certainly been beaten, perhaps raped. She gotten home, God alone knows how…. That’s obviously what all her interest in the City plans was about, so she anticipated that too….” Helpless with frustration, I run fingers through my hair. “She’s pulled up out of the sewers….

And now she cries…”

Jade…. How do I help you?

I’m supposed to be your protector….

Michael chews at his knuckles. “Did you ask for a female doctor?”

“Mmm, yes.” Then, at the knock on the door, “Ah, that should be her.”

But it’s not. Instead, Richard, one arm draped around Beth, stands there. Wearing bright smiles, they’re carrying champagne and a brightly wrapped parcel, gay with ribbons and foil. But as they step inside, the smiles vanish. “James? Michael? Is everything alright?”

“She’s been beaten. She’s covered in bruises. And we think she’s been raped.”

Beth blinks, her head drooping a little, then she sweeps by us. “Here, let me talk with her…”

After a few seconds, there is the quiet murmur of voices.

Richard scuffs at the carpet. “Elizabeth did mention something to me about this. I didn’t want to say anything because she wasn’t sure.”

Michael’s eyes raise, violence in his gaze. “You didn’t want to say anything?”

“Would it have helped? When there was nothing to be done?”

Michael takes a step towards Richard, but I hold up a staying hand. “Calm down. We both knew what the possible consequences were if she was captured. So did she.”

Storm clouds behind his eyes, Michael subsides and the three of us settle into a taut silence.

Beth re-emerges and places a hand on Michael’s arm, then mine. “She hasn’t been raped. But she is pretty much at the end of her resources. She’s been running for days. She was beaten while we were held, and she took some more damage while she was running, and…” She fixes a laser stare on me...

“She thinks you’re going to punish her. She really isn’t in any state for that right now.”

That’s not for you to fucking interfere with….

Richard meets my eye, cocking a brow, but then looking at Beth askance.

His sub….

The impasse is broken by Michael. “James isn’t going to punish her….”

That’s not for you to say either….

For a moment we face each other, squaring off….

“…. are you?” he finishes.

Ah… Green-Eyes…. You’ve paid your price….

Inside me, the last bubble of anger bursts, and I remember only that I love my Jade and that she’s done and achieved God-only-knows-what to return to us. “No, she’s been through enough. Perhaps it will have taught her a lesson.”

Michael snorts. “That, I doubt. Let me handle it.… when she’s ready.”

Beth taps a foot, arms folded. “Right now, I’d say that what she needs, is the pair of you, and to sleep.”

“We’ll come back later,” says Richard, nodding her to the door, a touch of ice in his eye. “Give me a buzz, James, when you think she’s ready to talk.”

And they go, leaving me and Michael to ponder our conundrum.

“’Hugs’ then?” I say to him.

He nods, but there’s…. something….

What am I missing?

But I don’t have chance to think about it. We go into the bedroom to find Charlotte, red-eyed, sitting on the bed and trying to finger-comb her damp hair into order. She looks up as we enter, and then away.

“Are you very angry with me?”

How do I express the mass of conflicting emotions washing through me? Despite everything that was said to her, by Michael, by myself and even by Richard, she did exactly what she pleased and didn’t give a damn about our opinions or our feelings.

I settle for sitting beside her and kissing her cheek. “Yes, we are, but that doesn’t mean we’re not happy to have you back.”

I expect Michael to join us, to sit by her on the other side of the bed, but he doesn’t. Instead, he simply stands, looming over her. She looks up at him, then away again. “I’m sorry.”

Lids half-lowered, he just stares down. “I’ll leave you with James, then.” And he goes.

What the fuck?

Charlotte stares after him, blinking, then leans into my chest as I stroke her hair.

There’s a knock from outside.

The doctor….

I’d forgotten all about her.

Michael has vanished, so I let her in. I have met Doctor Lisowski on a previous occasion when I had my company medical. She’s trim and attractive, and I found her to be both professional and competent.

Still, there’s always something unsettling about meeting a woman whom you last encountered while she was asking you to cough.

“How is she?”

“Not so bad as we first thought. But I’d like you to check her over, at least enough to deal with any immediate problems. Later, when she’s recovered, I’d like you to give her a full medical.”

She nods, then vanishes into the bedroom with her bag of tricks.

She re-emerges only about ten minutes later. “It’s mainly superficial and I’ve given her something to help her sleep….” She raises a hand at my expression. “Nothing too heavy. Just to relax her enough to drift into natural sleep. I think you’ll find she sleeps long and hard. She’s exhausted.”

“Anything I can do?”

“Just stay close by. If you have any problems, here’s my number. Message me. I only live five minutes away. Later, as you say, I’ll give her a full examination. There are a couple of things I would like to follow up on.”

I show her out then, after a quick check around the apartment to see if Michael has really gone….

Where the hell is he?

…. I settle myself in an armchair beside my sleeping beauty.

As the doctor said, she’s already drifted off, her breathing slow and steady. I try not to consider what Michael’s absence might imply. I expected him to be all over her. For him not to be here….

Should I message him?

No, if he wanted to be here, nothing would keep him out….

So, trying to distract myself, I fetch my laptop to do some work.

*****