Loneliness Trilogy Bundle Boxset (28 page)

I begin crying after I hear the depths of Cara’s insanity.

“Oh, my God, that was…” I say.

“What? What was intense?” Marcus asks me.

“I was just imagining the sentencing hearings. Horrible! They were sentenced to life and they both blew up at me!” I tell Marcus.

“Lord. I hope they’ll have guards in there.”

Watching Marcus, I see a far-away look on his face.

Johanna and I are at the sentencing hearings for Cara and Melanie. I’m scared for me…but more so for her and my baby girl. They intend harm to Johanna and tried to use my Lizzie to get to me. They are truly…insane. They have no remorse for their actions. I hope they get life.

I pay close attention as the guards bring Melanie Stabb in. Lord, she has gotten skinny! Is she anorexic? The magistrate walks in and sits behind his bench.

“Miss Stabb, please stand. I have looked at all the evidence presented during your trial. I looked at your mental health diagnosis as well. For this reason, I am sentencing you to time served, but you will be required to enter an inpatient mental health facility so you can learn about your condition, how it manifests and how it causes you to mistreat others. I am requiring you to enter inpatient treatment and face-to-face therapy with a mental health professional who specializes in treating borderline personality disorder. When this professional indicates that you are able to control your disorder and that you consistently respect the rights of others, you will be discharged back into society. Next!”

No! She…she’ll kill my family!

I’m still swallowing nausea and tears when the guards bring Cara in. How could she have ever thought that I could be attracted to her? I remembered her only after browsing through the school year book. She was that…unmemorable. I shudder as she looks at me and simpers at me.

“Miss Wells, please stand. I have gone over the details of your actions against the Hadley family, including the attempted kidnapping of baby Lizzie Hadley. I have read the transcript of your testimony from the stand. You expressed no remorse. Therefore, I am sentencing you to inpatient treatment in a lockdown psychiatric facility. You will learn about your various mental health conditions and how they manifest themselves. You will learn how these conditions lead you to disregard the rights of others. You will be required to participate in face-to-face therapy and take medication for your schizophrenic disorder. Once you have learned to appreciate the seriousness of your diagnoses and begun treating others with the respect they deserve, you will be sentenced to serve fifteen years behind bars. You will serve the full fifteen years, with no possibility for early release.”

“NO! How can you do that to someone for loving someone else? You BITCH! I’m getting out and when I find you, I’m killing you! Marcus is mine…we will be…”

“My God, no!” Marcus shouts.

I look at him - he’s ashen-pale and a thin film of sweat covers his face.

“Marcus, what? What is it!”

“Oh, my God, I can’t believe it! I was thinking of what could happen next week…the magistrate only required Melanie to spend time in a psychiatric hospital, coming to grips with her disorder. Once she’s ‘able to respect the rights of others with consistency,’ she’s scot-free. And Cara! God! She gets the same, plus fifteen years behind bars. She won’t get any parole. She threatened you, Johanna! She said that she and I…belong together.” As he says the last two words, he shudders violently and almost gags.

“My Lord, Marcus! This could really happen…you know, we need to make preparations to leave if they get off. We’ll have to leave England fast. I want to talk to Tim.”

“Jo. Jo! Johanna! Hold up! Come here and sit down again,” Marcus orders.

I sit down on his lap and wrap my arms around his neck.

“What? We need to get busy,” I remind him.

“Yes, we do. But we need to think about where we’d go. Make travel arrangements. Make sure our passports are current. Now! I think, if we have to, we can temporarily relocate to New York. The boys would have to join us, if not at the same time, then immediately after. I’m calling Tim and setting up a meeting for here later on today…”

Marcus calls Tim, Laslow and Linny. Within an hour, they are all here at the house and we’re talking about the nightmare scenario that Marcus had.

“God! I hate to say this Jo, but it’s a good thing he had that daydream,” Laslow says.

“It’s pretty short notice, but if need be, we can leave the country and go…you said New York, Marcus? We can go there with the bare basics and have everything else shipped. We all have families, so we’d need to take the kids out of school and enroll them in school over there…let’s make some contingency plans, for just in case. I hope we won’t need them, but, we’ll have them, in the event the worst happens,” Tim points out.

“Yes, New York. The city is full of the facilities the band need. We can be pretty damned anonymous in such a large place. We can find houses or an apartment complex with flats to let. I’m also thinking that we’d need to have fake names so that, if Cara and Melanie try to find us, it’d be even harder. Now, Jo and I would need to get an emergency passport for Lizzie pretty damned fast. I’ll ring up the Home Office and find out about getting a passport for her. You lot should have passports for your kids as well,” Marcus points out.

Twenty minutes later, we learn that everything is set, save Lizzie’s passport. We gather all the required documentation and plan to visit the Home Office’ Passport processing centre the next day. From there, everyone goes home and they begin packing and getting all of their paperwork together - we will literally be able to leave minutes after the sentencing hearings, if Melanie and Cara do not get prison time.

I force myself to focus on my vocal exercises - this is the only way I can keep from going crazy while we wait for the hearings on Wednesday next. That weekend, Marcus and I decide to go visit our families and let them know what we are planning. We start with his family, since his mother tends to be a very nervous, emotional person.

“Mum, dad, the sentencing hearings are on Wednesday next. Johanna and I are going, but we would appreciate it if you would stay away, because it could get…intense. Also, we came to the realization that they could get off nearly scot-free, except for any requirements for mental health treatment.

“Dad, we…I am afraid that, if they get off, both women could prove to be a threat to the safety and well-being of all three of us. Therefore, we are making plans to leave the U.K., just in case. It may not happen, mum…it may not happen, but we have to be ready just in case it does. We would fly to the U.S. and settle in a large city where Johanna and the band can find and use music facilities for their practices. We’re thinking a large U.S. city, like New York City, so we can be more anonymous, and speaking of that - we’re going to use false names over there - if we have to leave here.”

Marcus’s mum begins to sob and moan.

“Mum, this is for the safety of all of us. A crazy woman is fixated on me, and is threatening Lizzie and Johanna. I can’t just sit by and watch it happen,” says Marcus firmly.

This message apparently soaks in. My mum-in-law appears to get a grip on her emotions. Swabbing at the tears sliding down her cheeks, she inhales and slowly exhales.

“I know, Marc. It’s just that I’ll miss the three of you.”

“Mum, we’re only a flight away. If we even have to go. We don’t know what the magistrate will decide. He may decide to throw them in prison and throw away the key. We just don’t know. That’s why we decided to make these plans. If we have to go, we’ll go on the European tour, leaving from and returning to the U.S. Mum. You and dad raised me to be a strong man who takes care of his family. That’s what I’m doing. Okay?” He tenderly embraces his mother, who returns the embrace.

“I know. I’ll be okay. I’ll just need to cry behind the door and I’ll be adjusted to it. Just you see.”

From there, we drive to my parents’ house. As at my in-laws house, Lizzie settles down to play while the grown-ups talk.

“Dad, mum, the sentencing hearing is next week. We don’t know what the magistrate is going to decide. What we do know is that both Cara and Melanie are dangerous to all three of us,” Marcus begins. “That said, Jo, the band and I sat and talked earlier today. Should the magistrate decide that he’s going to let them off scot-free, the danger level goes right back up. And that’s why we’ve decided…”

“That it’s time for you to put several thousand miles in between you and those crazy…nuts,” my dad interjects.

I look at him in surprise.

“I’ve been having the same fears, Johanna-girl. You and Marcus are right. If you must, pack up and fly where you’re safer. Where would that be, by the way?” my dad asks us.

“The U.S., in a large city. Somewhere like New York city. We can become anonymous, use fake names and essentially vanish,” Marcus says. “The band will join us as well. We can practice, work, record and plan tours from there just as easily as we can here.”

“What about your managers?” my mum asks. As she speaks, she swoops Lizzie up into her arms and on her lap for a grannie-cuddle.

“When we get home, I’ll call them,” I say. “We just wanted to talk to you and Marcus’ parents first. We’re going to pack and hope that we can come home, feeling right foolish and unpack everything again.”

We all laugh at what I say - the ironic thing is, we would love to feel stupid. But that all depends on the magistrate’s decision.

“When would you leave?” dad asks.

“That day, ideally. Depending on flight availability, we’d probably hole up in a hotel somewhere and then go to the airport,” Marcus says.

At home, I make a meal from some of our favorite comfort foods. Because our immediate future is so uncertain, I am feeling the need for something familiar and comforting. Marcus gives Lizzie her bath and we both put her to bed. Downstairs, I am cuddling with Marcus on the couch, just staring into the flames in the fireplace. Soon, we are making out and our hands are roaming over each other.

“Got to have you now, Johanna! I want it hard and fast. I want to forget all that’s happened,” Marcus says in a low, grating voice.

“Take me, luv! I want you just as much. Against the wall - now!” my voice is oddly low and breathless.

Mere seconds later, we are leaning against the living room wall, yanking all our clothing off. This will be no tender coupling. Our wanting for each other is so sharp and intense that we want it to happen now. As we bare more and more of our skin, our hands rove and tweak at sensitive areas. I am so wet and ready. We work feverishly to ratchet the desire even higher.

Marcus lifts me as I wrap my legs around his trim waist. His fingers play with my pussy and clit bringing me to a climax quickly.

I moan softly and allow my fingers to rove over his sensitive nipples and that special spot just behind one ear. As I lick the area under his ear, I feel his fingers moving jerkily against my pussy. Hot liquid slides out of my pussy as I come hard, once again.

“Oh, now, Marcus! I’m coming!”

With that, Marcus lowers me and impales me on his stiff, upright shaft. His torso holds me against the wall and we move urgently against each other, reaching for our orgasms. He begins breathing hard, the air hissing out from between his clenched teeth. His cock throbs and jerks inside me as he comes.

I begin to spurt against his pelvis as my pussy clenches hard around his cock. I throw my head back and moan low in my head. The intensity of my orgasm makes me want to wail, but I don’t want to wake Lizzie.

When our frantic lovemaking is over, we lay back down. My legs are trembling with weakness - I suspect that Marcus’s legs are trembling just as badly. I feel waves of sleepiness overtake me.

“So…sleepy,” I tell him.

We gather our discarded clothing and walk upstairs, our arms wrapped around each other. In bed, I relax under the covers and seek Marcus’s warmth…

Chapter 18

O
n Monday, we finally have a practice. However, before practice begins, we sit down to talk about the pending sentencing hearing and how this could affect our band.

“How many of you are ready to leave if the news is bad?” Tim asks.

Everyone’s hands go up - even Lizzie’s plump hand goes up.

“Good show. Okay, this is what we’ll do. Have the equipment and instruments packed and ready to go on Tuesday night, just in case. We should all have our plane tickets by now, so, just in case, we can get to the airport and be ready to go through security screening and customs. I spoke to Nigel and told him what’s happening and, while he’s not happy that we may need to flee England, he supports our decisions. Initially, we would work with him from the U. S., but eventually, he and our business manager would join us over there.

“Now, how is everyone feeling after battling the flu?”

“Good, just coughing,” says Laslow.

“I’m coughing less, but still feel the need for the nebulizer,” I say.

“Progress on all sides. We have water on the side table for anyone who needs it. Drink away and don’t hold back. It’s better for our vocal cords.”