Secret Lovers (A Jordan Knight Fanfiction)

15

Jordan looks at Harper, wrapped up in a blanket, sitting on her couch, drinking her water. He tries to figure out how to say what he has to say to her. He might as well just say it.

"Did you look up my charge when I left?" Harper nods her head. "Well, it didn't happen quite the way the offense report says it did. Yes I did beat a man almost to death. But the reason I did it was left out." Jordan stops speaking and takes a drink of water. He turns to face Harper.

"I used to date this girl named Juliet. We dated all through high school. We moved in together right after graduation, I asked her to marry me shortly after that. I loved her with all my heart. She was the only girl I'd ever loved, the only girl I'd ever been with. We'd been living together almost a year, when one night I came home from work. I had gotten off work a little early because I'd been working late for about a month. I wanted to take Juliet out for a night of dinner and dancing. I walk into our little brownstone and I immediately could feel something was wrong. The tv was off, the coffee table was turned over and there was a man's jacket thrown across the back of my chair. I grabbed my baseball bat from high school and went to find Juliet. I walked into our bedroom and there was a man I didn't know buttoning up his shirt. I was kind of stunned I guess, he walked past me when I got distracted by Juliet coming out of the bathroom. I dropped my bat and crossed the room to check on her. She broke down in my arms. She started crying, telling me how this man came to the door for something and pushed his way into the house and raped her. Well I sat her on the bed, grabbed my bat and went after him. I halfway expected him to be gone, but he was walking down the sidewalk just a couple of houses down from ours. I chased after him and when I caught up with him I swung my bat and hit him in the knee, taking his leg out from under him. When he fell on the ground, I dropped the bat and started beating the shit out of him. Once I got on him, I couldn't stop. All I could think was how he'd raped my sweet Juliet. My future wife  the future mother of my children.  I couldn't stop hitting him. Someone must have called the cops, it took five of them to get me off him. The man was taken away in an ambulance and I was taken to jail. I kept telling the cops that he'd raped my fiance, but they said they couldn't find Juliet to get a statement. After I'd been in jail about two weeks, Juliet came to visit me. She said she couldn't tell the cops what happened, because she couldn't handle testifying in court, it would be her word against his, she'd be humiliated. She cried and cried. It broke my heart and I knew I'd keep her secret, to protect her from further hurt. I went to court, tried to plead my case as best as I could while leaving out the part that could get me out of an Agg Assault case. But the jury saw me as a person who would just beat a man half to death for no reason. I was found guilty and was given fifteen years since it was my first offense and I had no other criminal history. I wasn't even nineteen yet. I turned nineteen the first week I was in prison. It was the worst birthday I've ever had. The next ten birthdays I spent in prison, it got easier, but it was never good. My last birthday was the best one I've ever had.  Because I was finally home, and I was with you." He looks at Harper to see how she's reacting to his story. She has her knees pulled up to her chest and her chin rests on her knees. She nods her head, lost in her thoughts.

"Did y'all break up while you were away? After everything you did for her, did she not wait for you?" Harper's eyes find his, they're filled with sadness.

"No. We broke up. I guess the guilt started getting to her, she confided in my best friend Donnie that she hadn't been raped, she'd been seeing that guy behind my back for about six months. She just told me that she'd been raped so I wouldn't leave her. She'd been visiting me in prison every week for three years. Telling me how much she loved me and that she couldn't wait for me to get out and come home so we could get married and start our lives together. Then one day it wasn't Juliet in the visiting room, it was Donnie. He told me everything Juliet had told him. It almost killed me. And it almost got me more time. I went into self destructive mode. I ended up in solitary. But my counselor took pity on me and let that be my only punishment.  I kept my head down the rest of the time I was in there. I haven't spoken to Juliet, I refused her visits and I sent back every letter she wrote me. She tried to talk to my family like nothing happened. My sister tried to kick her ass, but Jon stopped her. Jon told her we all knew the truth, and that she needed to stop writing me and stop trying to visit me. He told her she had to get out of my house and she better hope my sister never saw her again because next time he'd let her kick her lying, cheating ass. No ones seen or heard from her again. Jon said within a week she was out of my house and her folks said she moved to her real dad's in New Jersey."

Jordan sits back on the couch and runs his fingers through his hair. He takes a deep breath and looks at Harper. "So there's the real story."

Harper raises her head and looks at Jordan. She shakes her head, tears filling her eyes. "Jordan, that's terrible that she did that to you. I'm so sorry. Can't you do anything to get your charge changed? You were protecting your fiance, as far as you knew. Can't you talk to someone, maybe the DA?"

Jordan looks at her hopeful, "I guess I could try. But I'm pretty sure they don't care about all that. Its been a long time." Jordan suddenly remembers what he saw at the bar. "So what the fuck is going on with you and Joey McIntyre? Why were you kissing him?"

Harper lowers her head again. "Nothing is going on between me and Joey. I was drunk and confused and hurt and angry. A bad combination all the way around. I was trying to forget you. Because we can't see each other anymore Jordan. I'll lose my job. This is the worst thing a parole officer can do. Dating a parolee is the number one thing that will get me fired. Surely you understand. I spent four years in college for a job like this. I moved halfway across the country for this job. I can't just throw it away. I can't not work. I'd have to move back to Texas if I lost this job."

"At least we'd still have each other."