Not A Couple

27. Wax statue

"What do you want Ethan?? It is Jane that you want, right? I will help you get her, just leave Irene", I said.
"How do I know you are not lying?"
Good question.
"Because I know you are dangerous and you can get hold of me whenever you wish. So basically, what I am trying to say is that I would be a fool to lie to you"
He loosened his hold on my girlfriend's wrist and removed his hand from her mouth. She fell down on her knees gasping for air. I went to the place where she was and wiped her tears. Her cheeks were red with the impression of his fingers. That fucking bastard.
"Shhh, we are fine now. Don't cry", I said making circles on her cheeks with my thumb.
"I will be leaving you lovers to reunite now. And we will be in contact from now on Mr Robin Warner", Ethan said and left.
I followed him out with my eyes and returned my gaze to Irene as soon as he shut the door behind him.
"Did he hurt you?"
She shook her head.
"I know it was traumatic for you to be alone with that monster here but you need to speak, you know"
And then she did the simplest and the most complex thing in the world. She leaned in and kissed me. That kiss felt as good as tears running down my face. All the pain, all the tension in my shoulders, everything that could minutely be connected to the reality of this world faded into the background.
"So this is what you called me for? To see the beginning of a porn", Jane said.
Irene and I separated our lips to find Jane standing directly above us. She was only a centimetre away from where we were sitting and if I were standing, my head would be where hers was.
"Not exactly", I said.
"There is something we need to tell you but we have to leave", Irene said quietly. It almost seemed like she was trying to hide what she was saying.
"Come on. My car is downstairs", said Matt who was standing at the door.
All of us left the dirty, dark apartment to drown in its loneliness. As soon as we settled ourselves in Matt's car, Jane asked what I was dreading to tell her.
"What happened up there?"
"Ethan"
It was the only word that left my mouth and a cold silence replaced the air in our car.
"What did he do? Oh my god, Irene are you fine? I knew you were crying when I saw you two but then, we did not see Ethan on our way to the apartment and I thought that something might have happened between the two of you and that was why your face looked so___"
"Swollen", Irene said interjecting. "He came to your apartment to find any one of its residents but instead he found me. So he sort of took me hostage, if you can call it that and after a few painful and year-long minutes, Robin arrived."
"How did you manage to get him out of the apartment?"
"That is something you should ask Robin"
Both of them turned to look at me and I had to tell Jane about my deal with Ethan.
Matt stopped the car abruptly in the middle of the road to give me a death glare and as for Jane, well let's say a wax statue moves more than she did after hearing the story of the entire series of events that took place in our apartment.
"You said you will him help him get me back"
"Do you really think I will do that? I am only going to pretend that I am helping him and you will have to play along till we find a permanent solution to this problem"
"You would also like to move from your place. I think he has cameras and some recorders hidden there", Irene added.
"In this whole thing, if you want my help, I would want to know who the hell is this guy and why is he threatening you people", Matt said, well actually demanded.
After everything he has done for us, I believe he deserves to know.
"I will tell you but not now and definitely not here. We need to get to a place where we can think properly and we need to settle some issues. Once we are done with that, I will tell you myself", Jane said resting her head on his shoulder.

The revelation of what Ethan did in the next chapter. Excited? Well, I am. Vote. Comment. Follow.