Her // Joe Goldberg (COMPLETED)

22

Exactly 17 hours had passed, I had to leave Len alone with his own thoughts because he was caving so quickly. It was inevitable that his own mind would eat him alive, meanwhile you'd been running around New York trying to put together his requested sum of money. When I got back to his makeshift prison, he looked terrible, almost unrecognisable. He looked way worse than Max who'd been in captivity for much longer. He was lying on the floor in one of his shots, the top button of his crisp white shirt was now open and his tie and blazer were off. It hadn't even been a day and this man was caving.

"W-what's this about ? What do you want Joe ? Money ?" he asked as I shook my head and pulled a chair infront of the glass, I was going to be here awhile. "No that's what you want. I wasn't raised to be greedy" I said while crossing my arms to show I was serious as he sighed. "I don't know what you mean" he said, he was bluffing, he was trying to make me feel stupid so I stood up and started walking towards the stairs, he bolted upright quickly. "O-okay fine. Just wait, I don't know what she told you" he began and all I could do was laugh. "She didn't tell me anything. She didn't have to. I heard you" I said bluntly, he let out another sigh, this was deeper and carried stress. "Look, maybe I did get a little greedy but I need that money Joe. I'm up to my eyeballs in debt. I'm on the verge of loosing the penthouse. I could go homeless" he rambled as I rolled my eyes, I developed this habit from you and I couldn't help but smile. We were slowly morphing into the same person. "Bullshit" I whispered so he scooted right up to the glass. There was sheer desperation in his eyes.

"You don't get it Joe, you seriously don't. I'm one of the best young lawyers in New York". Cocky. "I blow my pay checks on drugs and give them to nobodies to double my salary. I was supposed to end up richer, they were supposed to get off scotch-free. It's a habit, a bad one. I can admit that. But do I feel bad asking her for money ? No. Not at all. Max mightn't have started working for me yet but that woman is loaded. You know she is, she's told me about the trip and the dinners and anything you wanted, she gets. She comes from a rich family and she made poor Max's life a misery for years. She's a colossal bitch, if he was as bad as she made you all think, would he not be in jail ?" he tried to persuade me, this was his job and I couldn't fall victim to any of his traps. 

I stayed silent, nodded along, let him think he was persuading me and watched as his face relaxed. It put him as ease thinking he'd caught me in his web of lies. Does he really think I'll believe you're a bad person ? If anything, he's the bad person, greed changes people Kelsey, they'll do anything to get more instead of appreciating what they already have.  Len Watts is one of those people. "Kelsey didn't tell me anything, I watched it all with my own two eyes. Don't use to jail card of me because of course he isn't, he's best friends with, these are your words, not mine, one of the best young attorneys in New York. You can sit there and pretend to be Kelsey's friend all you want but you're not and I don't think you ever were. As long as Max was friends with you, he had connections, connections to people in high places and with power. He could do anything he pleased knowing nothing would happen to him and people like Kelsey had to suffer everyday" I shouted, he was aggravating me but he just clapped slowly.

"Fantastic monologue Shakespeare. Kelsey really has you fooled. She is who she needs to be around people who want her to be a certain person. With you, she played the damsel in distress, the girl stuck in a bad relationship raising the kid who isn't hers. You lapped it up, you bought the narrative. What drew you in ? Her beauty or the need to save someone ?"he asked with his head tilted. You classed this man as a friend, he was supposed to have your back, protect you but he didn't. He, like most people in your life was a bad person. I couldn't. Not another person. It went silent after that.

"She's using you y'know" he said eventually, this made me look up then. "What ?" I asked, there was venom in my voice. "I've known her since I was 18. She'll hop from relationship to relationship craving all of the same things. Love, attention, validation. Did you ever ask yourself why she asked you to be her boyfriend not too long after Max disappeared ? She can't bear to be on her own" he explained as I shook my head. "You not notice the signs ?" he then asked. I had noticed them but I wouldn't dare give him to satisfaction of knowing that. I left him in silence for another while until he started speaking again.

"Maybe you are right, maybe I am greedy. But I've been friends with KJ since college. If I needed money, all I had to do was ask. If I needed a place to stay, all I had to do was ask. With Kelsey, all you have to do is ask and she'll give as much as her heart can. I think that's where her character is the most flawed, I really do. Max never asked for anything but she always went to the ends of the earth for him. He got angry more than your average person. We all knew that the day we met him but it wasn't as bad as she'd probably made out. Except the carnival. Fuck. The carnival" he said while shaking his head, it gave him chills just remembering it so I had to hear this. "I said to you in the gym, it's Cody we all worry about. It wasn't. It was always her. They were together a year, Winona and I would've been almost a year then too so we all went to the carnival. It was such a good day but she said something, I don't even know what it was but he just erupted, lost it. We were all standing at the boardwalk, all shit broke kids just imagining our futures and he shoved her backwards so he was holding her over the railings. If he let go, she'd fall into the river, she'd be dead. He was shouting that he'd shove her in if she didn't stop talking. I've never seen fear like it. She was terrified, it's why she won't touch cotton candy again. He knew he was making a show, he grabbed her by the arm, brought her home. Cody must've been about four then. The cops were called, he got arrested but he got out on bail and then took one of his vacations for six weeks. She swears she'll never go to a carnival again. Can you blame her ?" he was still shaking his head. Max obviously sugar-coated the story but now I was getting what I assumed to be the truth. I couldn't believe this happened to you yet you were still so trusting and nice. You still stuck by Max after all of it. It's why you still talked about him so much. I felt like a fool for being annoyed at you.

I had just one question for Len Watts that night. "I met Kelsey July 29th. She came to the store petrified in that red dress. What happened ?" I questioned as he ran his hand over his face. "Eddi's birthday. We'd all been drinking, they'd been drinking heavier then all of us. They'd been fighting since before they even got there about everything. He hated her shoes, she hated his attitude. He hated that Eddi brought us to a sushi restaurant. She hated that he complained about everywhere he was invited to. She was feeling confident and jokingly announced that she'd be adopting Cody in the future. Max didn't like that and she'd been talking about her mothers party like she always did because she wanted him there so bad and he just lost it" he said through a shrug. He said it like it was normal, like people lashing out was normal.

"Lost it how ?" I asked, I needed to know. "He was drinking wine, downed the wine, fucked the glass at her head. She ducked, he didn't like that. Got up, chased her round the table. Caught her by the neck, had her against the wall. Winona stood up, screaming, Eddi got up hollering that she'd call the police. Max let go. Kelsey ran. None of us saw her until the next day" he recalled. You were so traumatised by Bianca because he'd already done it to you. The name KJ gives you chills because he uses it to taunt you. I couldn't believe you went through all this and didn't tell anyone. I couldn't believe the people who were supposed to care about you didn't even care enough to protect you from all this. This is where I come in, this is where I'm going to fix things, I'm going to show you how a person should be treated and together we're going to discover what the genuine, eternal love you always talk about is.

There was only one thing to do. I was running through the streets like a maniac but I didn't care, I needed to get to. Honey was in the living room with a man. I presumed he was a librarian, he appeared to be a complete creep, he was older and used looking but she deserved someone like that. I hoped he'd make her life a living misery and whisks her away to Antarctica, low chance of survival, far away and she can't get to you. I was suspicious of everyone around you then, if Len could hold in things like that for years. I didn't want to know the rest felt of your friends felt or knew about you.

Honey opened the door smirking, she was proud of whatever little game she was playing. "My date Chris is in there. We're really hitting it off" she began but I didn't care, I shoved her out of the way and I ran upstairs. I needed you and only you in that moment. The bathroom door opened and you walked out. "Joe ?" you asked softly and I wrapped my arms around you. I hugged you so tight that you couldn't leave even if you wanted to. Max Johnson left you emotionally scarred and I was going to fix it all. If only you knew he was dead. He wasn't coming back, you could adopt Cody now. You were free.