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Five days went by, insecurity was slowly eating me alive but I was able to keep it pushed down. You sat across from me comfortably at my dining table, your computer was opened and there was paper all over my table. Cody was at kindergarten and Eddi was set to collect him and bring him back here, the day was ours. We had multiple discussions over the past few days and you decided that you were going to adopt him. You knew the right people, you'd get the parental rights severed and the pair of you would be together, as a family forever.

"I have such a good feeling about this" you said through the biggest smile I'd ever seen, you were trying not to get your hopes up, you told me that it might not even work. I knew what you were doing, you were a positive person preparing for the negative but silently expecting the positive. At this moment in time I believe I found out what genuine love was. You signed us up for a charity run, you were getting us involved with the community, we had plans to adopt a dog, get a space to live. Our bucket list was endless and that's what I loved.

"I do too" I whispered before taking your hand and for a second you just stared at me, deep into my soul it was as if you could see all of my thoughts, all of my memories and all of the skeletons in my closet but you kept smiling. "I love you" you whispered, it was so quiet but I heard it and you knew I heard it. You couldn't take it back and honestly I didn't want you to. Anytime your phone went off, I thought of the text message, "trust your gut", what did you even reply to it ? The urge to check your phone at any given time was unbearable but I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt. We were still smiling at each-other, still holding hands then you got up claiming you had to get another form from the bedroom. I caved, I had your phone in my hand. You'd only answered him a few days ago.

"Y'know, for once Bianca's right. This feeling Reece, it's not normal"

"Did you have this feeling with Max ? I mean, look what he turned out to be"

"I didn't, that's what's scaring me"

Your phone felt super-glued to my hand as I stared at it in utter disbelief, then I looked up, you were standing in front of me, staring at me but not reacting about the phone. "Y-you were Guinevere Beck's boyfriend, weren't you ? The girl from the book" you asked, you caught me off guard and my mouth was now hanging open. "Where is this coming from ?" I asked defensively as you took a deep breath. "You have a broken tile in your bathroom ceiling or so I thought. I moved it, I found her phone" you began but you were cut off by my chair scraping and me standing up. You were afraid, I could sense it my darling, you backed away from me. "You shouldn't have been snooping" I said blankly as you bit your cheek. "That statement told me everything I needed to know. Now, I really, really don't want to ask this. Trust me Joe, I don't but I need to for my own peace of mind. Max is dead, isn't he ?" you asked, I felt vomit in my throat, you knew everything. It was over. "Max disappeared my love. He left you, he left all of his mess and he left his son" I said maintaining a blank expression as you shook your head.

"As much as I'd like to believe that, I can't. B-because the girls phone, i-it was in a shoebox and then I found another phone so I turned it on and then I was looking at picture of myself. It was Max's phone. And I thought w-why would he have Max's phone, there has to be a reasonable explanation for all of this, then I realised, Max lived next door to you didn't he. Again, I tried not to spiral Joe I did, I really did. But then I was watching T.V and I felt a draft so I took down the picture, the picture of the boat, you know, the one of the boat. The boat we'd sail to Hawaii on. And I found a hole, a hole that showed me right into Max's apartment, you'd been watching us. But again, I tried not to think of the worst until I looked at Max's phone, you'd been texting Len just a few days beforehand. Then I called Len and Len had a real weird story to tell me. So, I'll ask you once, y-you killed Max, didn't you ?"

Her // Joe Goldberg (COMPLETED)Where stories live. Discover now