Stockholm Syndrome

18. Back Stabber

I woke up the next morning against J's bare chest. We exchange good mornings and do our usual morning routine... getting up, eating breakfast, and talking about things that don't even really matter. I laugh at something J says and finish eating my food. "Sh," he hushes me, "do you hear that?" He whispers. I furrow my eyebrows and shake my head. He keeps quiet and gets up. "J, sit down," I grab his hand. He pulls away and keeps an eye on the living room to make sure nobody is there. I watch his body tense up after a minute or so signaling that he's seen someone. "Hey!" He yells stomping into the living room. Crap. I want him to stop, he's always getting himself into trouble with other people. I get up and rush to the living room only to see a tall man with a black mask so I couldn't see his face, all I could see was his dark eyes. "What are you doing in my house!?" He walks towards the strange man with a bag of something full that he obviously took. "What the hell does it look like I'm doing?" The man fast walks towards the door to leave until J grabs his shoulder, "I'm not done talking to you!" He tries to rip off the mask of the intruder but the stranger is stronger. "Don't touch me!" He yells and pulls out a gun, "I'll shoot!" J stops and stares at the gun that's pointing at his head. "J, let him leave," I talk soft and slowly walk towards them. "He has something of mine in that damn bag!" The stranger points the gun at me, "I'll shoot her too!" I squeal when he points the gun. For a second I thought I was going to die. "Leave her the hell alone," J clenches his teeth. The stranger slowly backs up out of the door. J runs and pushes him to the ground causing the man's gun to fly out of his hand and shoot in the opposite direction they're fighting from thankfully. "Don't you ever come in my damn house! Don't you ever try and take my shit!" He punches the stranger a couple times but his reactions to the punches are blank, he feels no pain. J seems to run out of breath quickly and the man takes his chance to punch back, but a lot harder than J. "Stop!" I yell, there's really not much I can do, I'm definitely not strong enough to fight him. I run to J's side to help but the burglar gets away as soon as I get there. He rushes to his car and drives away yelling some strong curse words. "J, are you okay?" I stroke his cheek. "I'm fine," he gets up and walks inside. He's completely humiliated that someone could beat him up within one or two punches.I follow him up the stairs to find him pacing around the room angrily. "J?" I ask worriedly. "He took my stuff," he says plainly. "What stuff? I'm sure we can get it back, we can call the cops or-"he cuts me off. "We're not calling the damn cops because they'll find me, the only reason I haven't been caught yet is because there is always a different cop showing up to my house! He took my parents' expensive jewelry! That stuff was damn expensive, Emily! Do you know that!?" He freaks out. "J, calm down, I'm sure we'll find him and the jewelry, I promise we will."

"J, go to bed, it's midnight," I can hear him still awake even though neither of us were making a sound. "Go to bed, I'll fall asleep soon," he tells me. "I can't fall asleep when I know that you're not going to sleep. You need to sleep on this, we'll go search tomorrow," I explain to him. "Go to bed, Emily, I told you I'll fall asleep," he speaks sternly. "I can't sleep either," I admit, "this stuff scares me." He pulls me closer than usual and kisses my cheek. "Please get some sleep, you'll be fine, I'll be up to watch you," he assures me. I find myself not answering and my eyes feel like they have anchors them, I'm so damn tired.

I woke up from a nightmare the next morning without J beside me. I hate having nightmares, and now it seems as if I have them every night, I think it's because I'm starting to miss home a lot more now. "Emily, get dressed, there's someone downstairs I want you to meet," J walks into the room as soon as I wake up. "Okay," I mumble, obviously still tired. He leaves the room and goes downstairs while I get dressed, honestly, I wanted to stay in bed all day.

"This is Isaiah, he just moved in across the street," J introduces me to a man a few inches taller than he is. "Nice to meet you, I'm Caroline," I give him my fake name just in case and shake his hand. "Nice to meet you as well," he smiles and then lets go of my hand. "Do you enjoy living here?" I ask politely. "Yeah, it's quiet, I like the country," he tells us. "You should come over for dinner tonight," Isaiah suggest. Both J and I agree because he is now a new neighbor. J is also getting better with trusting people and actually giving him a chance.

"Isaiah is nice," I announce after he leaves. "Yeah," he's only nice because we're the only people that live around here. I don't know why that beat up house is still there anyways, it should have been torn down a long time ago and I sure as hell was gonna do it." I role my eyes at his stupid comment, he always has something to say. "At least we get food later," I say happily with a cheeky smile. J laughs at me and goes to the kitchen while I follow. He opens the refrigerator and grabs a bottle of water. "Stop watching me, it's weird," he looks at me. I put up my hands in surrender as if to say sorry. I use my arms to lift myself up onto the counter top so I can sit on it, I hope he doesn't mind, I used to do this all the time at home. J walks over to me and puts his bottle of water off to the side after taking a drink, he then puts his hands on my upper thighs and rubs them up in down. "You know what?" He asks. "You are so damn sexy," he smirks and kisses my neck, I'm just slightly taller than him now because I'm sitting on the counter but he's taller than me so this is a nice change. I can't help but blush when his soft lips reach my neck. I gasp once I feel his teeth lightly nibbling on my skin, I even feel him suck a little. This can only mean one thing... he's giving me a hickey. After he's finished he pulls away and admires my new bruise added to my body. He smiles at himself, proud of his masterpiece. "Stop," I moan softly as he kisses it better. I run my fingers through his hair and tug on it. Our lips meet each other's quickly and our tongues... y'know... not exactly where they're supposed to be. J picks me up off of the counter and into the living room while holding my under my bum. I wrap my legs around his waist so I don't fall but he has a pretty good grip. I find myself pressed against the wall and my feet meeting with the floor. Our kissing quickly speeds up that now we're in the moment and not stopping anytime soon. We waste no time and take off the bottom half of our clothing having no reason to take off the top half. J grabs my left leg and holds it up high enough to give him room to do his thing. This hurts way more than laying down but at the same time it feels so good. I can't believe we're doing this just before going to someone's house for dinner, I'm always left sore.

"Hey guys, come in, come in!" Isaiah greets us into his house. He's made the destroyed house look very well inside, it's nice. "You've got a nice house," I speak my thoughts. "Thank you, the food is almost done. I made chicken, broccoli, mashed potatoes, and corn," he explains while walking to the kitchen. "Sounds good," J comments. He only said this because I told him to be nice before we left. J and I sit at the kitchen table as Isaiah serves us. "This is delicious, Isaiah," I say after taking my first bite. "It is. Hey, I have a question," J says. I'm scared of what he's about to ask, he's unpredictable. Isaiah puts his eyes on J to see what he wants. "Where did you get that necklace? I had one just like it," he explains. "I don't remember," Isaiah seems to hesitate with his answer. J stares at him for a while, I notice his eyes shift from his face to what is behind him. "That is mine," J mumbles. "That's my stuff! You're the one who broke into my house aren't you!? How in the hell did you manage to do that!?" J is furious. "Same way I got this," he pulls out a picture of me against the wall with J against me. "You're a stalker!" I get up quickly. I see why J can never trust people, you can never trust anyone. "I don't prefer the name stalker," he smirks. "Don't look at her like that," J gets up and grabs Isaiah by the neck and against the wall. All he does is laugh, "you're both so stupid for actually not even knowing that was me!" He laughs. "You backstabber!" J yells and punches him. Isaiah pushes him off onto the ground and opens a drawer revealing a gun. "Do you know how hard the cops have looked for you J!? I have to kill you do you know that!? You're going to die right here!" He holds to gun to his head. "Get the hell off of me!" J grabs the gun, but as he grabs it, he triggers it as well. "Holy shit," J and I say at the same time. "You killed him," I whisper with my hand over my mouth. "I killed him," he repeats.