Lustful Hearts
Chapter 86: Bеtrауаl - P2

Panic inside ripped right through me, sending me over the edge. "Tell me, Joel, or so help me I will track your phone. I'm not spending another night without you."

I heard a soft chuckle and felt slightly annoyed he found humour in my words of desperation.

"Calm down, Izzy, you don't have to go all James Bond and spy on me. I'm at Robert's."

"But... but I went to see him, to replace out if he knew where you were, he swore blind he didn't."

Had he also lied the whole time?

He definitely had the best poker face as he had certainly fooled me. I thought I could trust him; he seemed genuine enough.

The thought alone saddened me that I'd been deceived yet again by someone I thought trustworthy.

"Iz, I only moved here a few weeks ago. I've been moving around, not tying myself down anywhere. I just needed someone familiar. I rang Robert, and he offered me a room and helped to get me a job in his local pub."

"Did he tell you I'd been to see him?" I bit my nail, wondering just how much of the conversation he had relayed back to him.

"Yes, he gave me a long lecture on treating you bad, told me I was an idiot for throwing what we had away. He understands my demons though, so he eventually eased up." His voice trailed off into a whisper like he wasn't about to elaborate any further.

"I want to understand too. Please, Joel let me in. Let me love every part of you. I'll never judge you, all you'll ever know is my love."

The line went quiet and my stomach clenched, the silence reflecting the misery he had gone through over the past few months.

He took an age to answer, in my head I began to panic thinking he'd hung up before finally he spoke.

"I want to, Iz, but..."

"No buts, Joel. I told you from the start you were my happily ever after, in my heart I still believe that to be true. We've had a blip, but nothing has changed. It's you, it will only ever been you."

"I love you too, Iz, there's never been anyone else. I stayed true to you, to us. I swore there would never be anyone else, and I kept my promise."

I let out a loud sigh of relief, my hand instinctively grabbing the ring on the chain around my neck. I spotted Mike's computer in the background and knew where I needed to be. I quickly brought up the train times, noting there would be one in an hour.

Perfect.

"Joel, I'm catching the next train in an hour's time, I'll ring you and let you know that I'm on it."

"Iz, I don't want you travelling up here, please. I'm in the middle of a shift, I'll come to see you tomorrow, I promise."

Tears pricked my eyes. I couldn't survive another moment without him. I needed to be with him now. I could be there in just a matter of hours and that was the only thing appeasing me right now.

"No, I'm packing and catching the train. I'm not spending another night without you, I can't... I won't."

My focus was immediately broken the moment the front door slammed. "Fuck," I said loudly. My heart beginning to beat faster.

"Iz, you're scaring me. What's wrong?"

My eyes immediately flashed to the door awaiting his entrance. "Mike's home. I think we can safely say the shit is about to hit the fan."

Concern grew in his voice. "Izzy, please, just leave it. I don't want you to . . ."

Mike burst through the door, his eyes immediately flashed to mine as I stood there frozen to the spot. "What the fuck are you doing in my room, Izzy? Hang on... is that my phone?" "Joel, I've got to go, I'll be with you soon. Remember I love you."

Mike surged forward, his eyes widening at the mention of Joel's name. "Joel? You're talking to Joel?"

"Izzy, please, don't say anything you'll regret," he urged, the panic in his voice was evident, but I chose to ignore it.

"I love you, Joel, and I'll see you soon." I hit the end call button, throwing the phone hard at Mike.

The phone bounced off him before dropping to the ground. He shot me a look of disgust as he bent down to retrieve it.

"Jesus, Izzy, that's expensive." He quickly inspected it to see if I had inflicted any damage to it.

"I wished I'd smashed it into pieces and then it would match my heart right now." He was the main cause of my torment, and yet all he was bothered about was his stupid phone. Sounds about right.

He frowned at my words. "I only did it for you, Iz. He's no good for you, you deserve better."

His pathetic explanation instantly made my blood boil. "Don't you dare fucking tell me what I deserve. Who are you to decide what's right for me? Joel leaving almost destroyed me, and for four long months I have lived this non existence, dead inside.

You've watched me slowly fade away in front of your eyes, and you did nothing about that, despite the fact you held the key to my happiness. You chose to watch me become consumed by my own misery. Do me a favour and never speak to me again."

I marched off back to my own room, leaving a stunned looking Mike behind as I grabbed the holdall from the top of my wardrobe.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going?" Mike yelled, quickly gaining on me, the ferocity in his voice only helped in fanning the flames of fury even more.

"To see Joel, where do you think?" God, he was fucking annoying, did he really need to ask? Wasn't it obvious?

"You're not," he snapped back. My anger surged at his audacity to try to even stop me.

My eyes flashed to his. "Try to fucking stop me. You've kept me away from him for four months, you won't do it again."

"I'm not letting you leave this house, Izzy. You'll have to get through me first."

"If that's the way you want to play it, Mike, then fine by me. Right now I welcome the opportunity to beat the shit out of you." I charged by him, shoving him aside, striding into the bathroom to grab my toiletries. Realistically I didn't know how long I would be away so I was just taking everything I could lay my hands on.

"Stop this, Izzy, I'm not letting you go."

I could feel his hot breath against my neck, and I had to admire his nerve, adding more fuel to the fire with every word that came out of his stupid mouth.

I ducked by him, running to my bedroom, quickly locking the door behind me. I was grateful for the fact my mother had relented, and allowed me to put a lock on my door after the incident at the party. It was a welcoming addition right now.

Mike pounded hard on the door. I had visions of him bursting through any moment while I frantically shoved everything into the holdall. Checking my watch I had thirty minutes to get to the train, it was do-able i I left now.

Mike was waiting by the door, that was pretty obvious, so that exit was no longer an option. I was going to have take the next available route.

Pushing open the window, I flung my holdall down, and it landed with a dull thud onto the grass. I began manoeuvring both legs out onto the ledge and was thankful for the oak tree that stood beside my window; it was my escape route to Joel.

My hands grasped onto the branches, the wood bit into my skin piercing it, making me hiss with the instant pain. I knew I had to suppress any form of sound so not to alert Mike of my leaving strategy.

I was just grateful for my lean, dancer body as I negotiated my way down, finally jumping the last few feet. My feet had barely touched the grass before I started running, making my way down the driveway. Mike's loud voice alerted me to the fact I hadn't been as lucky as to go unnoticed. I picked up the pace, quickly breaking into a run as the holdall banged heavy against my hip. The cool breeze eased the intense heat as I panted hard.

He was quickly gaining on me. I didn't have to check the fact he was practically on my heels, but I wasn't about to be captured. I would fight till my last breath to win my freedom to be with Joel. My lungs fought hard to circulate the air fast enough around my body, but I would never let him win.

My foot dropped down from the kerb. I took in a deep breath, but within seconds a pain so ferocious ripped through my entire body.

I was thrown high into the air, the bloodcurdling scream that left my lips only succeeded in growing louder the moment my head impacted with the glass on the windscreen.

All the air left my lungs once again being thrown through the air, landing within seconds on the cold, hard ground. My brain struggled to deal with the pain that filled every part of my body.

I could hear Mike's screams in the background repeatedly shouting my name, but there was only one person I wanted as a lay lifeless while the darkness began to grow.

My mouth twitched as a soft mumble left my lips.

"I'm coming, Joel," I whispered, feeling my breathing become shallower. "I'm coming."☐☐☐☐☐☐☐