I Promise You (17 page)

By now he was hard as hell and the only way he could stop himself from
self pleasuring was to take a shower, which he did, and to refocus on his work.

I met up with
Rebecca and told her that Frank had said he loved me.

“What did you
say back?”

“I told him
that I loved him too and I meant it. I never thought I would say that so soon
but it’s different with Frank, it’s hard to put it into words”

“I can see it
when you’re together” she said. I thanked her and we ordered our food.

By now it was
another late one and I dreaded the thought of a more dreams but I focused on
Frank’s words and drifted off to a peaceful sleep.

It was Friday
and I was buzzing from a good night’s rest. Maybe Rebecca was right, I must
have been triggering these thoughts by focusing on something that they had done
or said to me. I would think on that for future nights to come.

We sailed
through the meeting and left at two, forty five to catch our three, sixteen
train from Leeds.

The train, as
always, was on time, and we sailed back home in no time.  Once there, we caught
the taxi to Rebecca’s apartment then to mine.

Rosetta
greeted me at the door and I smelt her lovely cooking again. She had cooked
lamb shank, mashed potatoes and asparagus, with a side salad. What a welcome.

Being
held against one’s will is no laughing matter?

Frank was
finally home and I missed him like crazy. He was hardly through the doors
before we went to our room to have some sexy time together.

I also had
some other good news to tell him, my apartment had been sold for the full
asking price. Frank was over the moon and asked me what I was going to do with
the money, but I had no plans yet. I was thinking of booking a surprise trip to
the Bahamas so that he could visit his parents but this was still just an idea.

The charity
ball was now only a week away but I was happy that I had my gown. It was an
Aqua Blue satin dress which swept the floor. It swung across one shoulder and
was fitted at the waist. The shoes and bag were also of the same material and I
accompanied these with a simple chocker and matching bracelet.

Frank had his
usual Black Tie attire which he would not show me until the event. How hard
would it be to picture this outfit? But I still humoured him.

We popped into
the solicitors to sign all the paperwork after work, and I felt that this was
the only thing left in my old life that tied me to Jack and bad memories, but
no more.

I thought that
whoever had bought my apartment would love it as I used to and be happy there.
Once all that was done we decided to go for a drive and stopped off at some
village pub for a meal, a quick call was made to tell Rosetta not to cook
tonight and then we were off.

Frank talked
about the contacts he had made when he was abroad and how useful they had
become, he mentioned that the business was really booming and that he may need
to expand some areas of his workforce to meet demand, this was good news and I
was really pleased for him, he had worked hard and it was now paying off.

As the evening
drew to a close, I looked back on my life over the past few months and realised
I had been on a roller coaster ride, but had survived it.

Rebecca had
been praised by her manager for the report she had produced after our last
business trip and was now in line for a bonus. I congratulated her as she more
than deserved it.

We had planned
to celebrate on the town again but this would be after my up and coming event
with Frank, as we planned to make it a double celebration with the sale of my
apartment.

On Thursday I
went out for lunch with Rebecca to our favourite sandwich shop. I’d not been
back there since meeting whore bitch and missed my favourite food.  We left
work at a different time for lunch, so I was confident that I would not meet
her today, but I was never that lucky.

She was
already inside being all loved up with Jack and when I thought I would get that
pang or that sick feeling, I felt nothing when I saw them both together; in
fact I totally bypassed them without a second glance and headed straight to the
counter.

“You ok?” said
Rebecca.

“Never felt
better” I replied, and it was true.

As I was
heading out of the shop I heard her say quite loud to Jack “I cannot believe
you bought her flat”

I stopped and
turned around as he replied “well, it held fond memories and is in a great
location. If she was foolish enough to include fixtures and fittings, I’d be a
fool not to go for it. The estate agent said he had loads of enquiries but I
was a first time buyer with no chain, but the best part of it was when I told
him that I caught my fiancé in bed with another woman I knew it was mine”. They
both started to laugh and I ran out of the shop.

“How could he
do this to me? Why would he want to live there with that bitch?”

“Don’t think
about it now, they’re just trying to wind you up”

I left the
sandwich shop with food the furthest thing from my mind and headed back to
work. I rang Frank to tell him who my new buyer was. The thought of having his
money made this bitter sweet.

“You should
squander some of his money, buy yourself a new car, remember two can play that
game”, and he was right, Jack was trying to get to me and all I wanted to do
was to move on, but he always seemed to be there, always one step ahead.

Before I knew
it, the charity dinner was here. Frank slipped into his Black Tie attire and
looked sexier than the pictures in his office.  On slipping into my dress, I
felt a million dollars and hoped Frank would think the same.

The dress was
better than I had remembered when I tried it on. It hugged me in places I
didn’t realise I had. 

Frank helped
put on my choker, and then placed kisses down my neck.

“Frank, don’t
we need to get a move on?”

“We have
plenty of time before we have to leave, we could…”

“Do you know
how long it took me to get into this dress?”

“No, but I can
tell you how quick I can get you out of it”. He placed his hand on my bum and
softly moved his hands up and down. “Frank” He pulled me in front of him. I
could feel him getting aroused and said “down boy” before I smacked his arm and
moved away.

I stood in
front of the mirror to look at myself and even I gasped at my transformation. I
decided to have my hair done at the hairdressers, wanting to look the perfect
partner for Frank and looking at myself now, I couldn’t argue.

“Ready?” he
said as I grabbed my bag and headed downstairs to the limo he had hired for the
event.

The hotel
where the event took place boasted a grand glass entrance. There was a piano
player to our right amongst the hoards of people in attendance and the waitress
service was impeccable. 

Not long after
we arrived I met his friends from the golf range, David and Peter with their
partners. We exchanged greetings and headed towards the main hall.

Our table was
near the front of the stage but the room held around one, thousand people;
Frank looked comfortable and spent most of the time nodding to people that he
knew.  This was a five course dinner so I needed to pace myself with the food
and especially the drink which came in abundance.

Frank had
prepared a small speech about the charity and the good causes the money
generated from this evening’s event would bring. He talked about a visit to a
homeless shelter and how he had felt sleeping in a small room that housed eight
in total, no private space with literally just the clothes on your back. How he
went and spent the day out on the streets with a man called Steve and how he
watched him rummaging through bins outside of food shops on the off chance that
someone had thrown away their half eaten food, or left some of their drink and
how Steve asked him to then go through the bins to see what he could find,
Frank talks about how he had felt actually sleeping rough for one night and how
his back ached the next day, the crowd laugh as Frank holds his back.

‘Frank’s talk
lasted around forty, five minutes and it was heart wrenching. We know that
there are people out there far worse than ourselves; sometimes it takes a speech
like this to bring the message home, but will it make us change, and appreciate
the things we have? I think we all know the answer to that.

Frank headed
back to our table with pats on the back and “well said” together with standing
ovations. I stood to give him a kiss as he sat down.

“That was
lovely” I said as we continued with the arrival of tea and coffee.

The auction
followed soon after, with mad biddings for weekend trips, spa breaks,
experience days, luxury hampers, the list went on and on and so did the bids.

I needed some
fresh air as all this body heat was getting too much. I excused myself from the
table and told Frank I wouldn’t be long. “Do you need some company?” No thank
you, I won’t be long, take this time out to mingle”

The air was fresh
and the stars were shining bright. I took a deep breath and looked at the other
people around me, some outside to smoke, others just to chat.

My phone
started to ring and the caller ID was Rebecca. “Hi Rebecca what’s up?”

“You need to
come here now, he’s here and he’s asking for you”

“Who’s there Rebecca?
You’re not making any sense”

“He said you
must come here alone otherwise he’s going to hurt me”. She was sobbing.

I heard a
scream as he took the phone.

“Your wasting
time Autum, tick tock, tick tock”. The phone line went dead.

Jack! My heart
raced as I debated what to do. Rebecca had done so much for me and she needed
me.

This was
Frank’s event and I could not ruin it for him either. I looked at my phone and
looked back at the hotel as I left in a taxi, remembering that I told Frank I
wouldn’t be long.

I sent Frank a
text message as I pulled up outside her building. I didn’t want him to know
that it had something to do with Jack as he would have left and I would have
felt guilty.

Hi Frank, Rebecca’s in trouble, will tell you more
once I get there, and try not to worry, enjoy your evening, you deserve it.

Autum x

I pressed
Rebecca’s apartment number and she buzzed me in.  I knocked on the door and my
heart started pounding. She opened the door and I could see Jack behind her
pulling at her hair, his right hand bending her arm behind her back, she must
have been crying quite a lot as her mascara had run all the way down her face.

“Get in” he
shouted before slamming the door behind me and locking it.

What the
hell is he going to do now?

He stared at
me for ages, looking me up and down before he said “sorry to interrupt your
party but we have unfinished business you and I”.

“Let her go
Jack, we have no unfinished business we’re over, you saw to that when you slept
with that whore, now let us go before you get yourself into trouble”

“I’m the one
talking bitch so shut the fuck up and listen”

I did as he
said as he dragged Rebecca into her living room by the hair, still crying.

“Isn’t this
cosy”

“What do you
want Jack, this needs to end now”

“Oh it will
baby, just you wait and see”

The last
statement threw me and I was scared that he was planning to do something stupid
like kill us both, double suicide. My mind was racing and I couldn’t focus.

I remained
standing when he pushed Rebecca towards me, screaming as she hugged me.

“Sshhh it will
be ok, sorry you got dragged into this, this is my mess.”

“I’m sorry
Autum; he cornered me as I was entering my apartment.”

“You have
nothing to be sorry about, just need to figure out what he’s up to”

Jack leaves
the room and comes back a minute later with drinks.

“Drink” I
looked at Rebecca who then looked at me,
what had he put in it?

“Do you want
me to shove it down your throat? Drink” he shouted.

I took the
glass first. This was about me and I wanted to protect Rebecca as best as I
could.

“If anything
happens to me, tell Frank I love him.”

With that Jack
charges at me and slaps me across my face sending me flying half way across the
room in my tight dress, my hair had partly fallen down with the force of that
hit, but he had also split my lip as I taste the blood in the corner of my
mouth, and saw the contents of my drink on my dress where it had spilled.

Rebecca
started to scream, but I had to compose myself for both of us when he left the
room, only coming back to top up my drink. I knocked back the contents of the
glass without hesitation. 
It’s whiskey
.

I felt nothing
beside the warmness of the drink going down my throat. I tried to see if I
could taste anything else but couldn’t

Rebecca was
still sobbing, as she held the glass to her mouth and swallowed.

“Now that
wasn’t hard was it ladies” he said as he started to laugh.

We both sat on
the sofa as Jack paced up and down looking at his watch.
Is he expecting
someone, Frank, or Isabelle maybe? Did he know that I would tell Frank where I
was?

I had been at
the apartment for ten minutes now when Rebecca collapsed on my lap. I jumped,
not knowing when it was going to be my turn. “Rebecca” I shouted, “She’ll be
ok, she should wake up in around, say three hours, now get up”

He grabbed me
by the hand leaving Rebecca to slide off my lap and collapse on the sofa. He’d
drugged her.