Silent Aftermath...

Joel held me close until he saw them disappear around the corner.  He then looked down at me “Are you ok? He didn’t hurt you did he?” He was carefully taking stock to see if there were any marks.  I shook my head no and hugged him close.  We stood like that for a while before I let go of my embrace and looked at my phone, it was close to midnight.  So much for our “date” I thought to myself.  I knew now more than ever Joel wasn’t going to leave my side, so we had to go get his stuff.

We went back upstairs and I grabbed my clutch and dumped everything into a bigger purse.  “Ok let’s go get your stuff, and then we can just grab a pizza or something on the way back.  Unless you’ve changed your mind and don’t want to stay here.”

“Hell no!  You are not staying her alone!”  He retorted rather forcefully before he followed me towards the elevator.  He grabbed my hand and held it while we waited and the entire ride down.  When we got into the street we hailed a cab and he told the driver which hotel they were staying at.  When we got there, he called up to the room to make sure his buddies weren’t sleeping, to which of course they weren’t.  I offered to wait downstairs, but he was not letting me out of his sight, he pulled me by my hand and led me up to his room.

Peter: “So here for your stuff so you can stay with your new girlfriend?”

Joel: “You have no idea what just happened, and yes I am.”

Adam: “Bro you look upset, what’s wrong?  Do we need to kick some ass??”

Joel: “No need, Bella’s ex paid us a visit drunk and he got a little handsy with her.  I am not leaving her alone at her place.  Here is my half of the hotel cost, you have my number, call me and if anything I will see you guys before we go home.”

Peter: “What do you mean he got handsy?”

Me: “I am fine! Don’t worry, Joel was there.  Nothing bad happened.  I really don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

With that last statement the room fell silent.  Joel was quickly packing his stuff up into his suitcase as I stood tried to avoid eye contact with anyone.  Joel zipped up his bag and moved towards me; using his finger he lifted my chin and kissed my nose.  He grabbed my hand, laced his fingers through mine and said good bye to his friends. 

As we walked out of the hotel he stopped on the side walk and kissed me very softly.  It was the most reassuring thing I had felt in a very long time.  We decided to walk back to my place, which was probably a good hour or so, as we walked we stopped in at a 24 hour pizza place and grabbed a couple slices and some water.  We sat on a bench and ate our pizza silently.  I really didn’t know what to say, I was mortified by what Craig had said, that Joel had heard it, and that Joel had to restrain my ex fiancée against a wall.  I picked at the other half of my slice and Joel looked at me “Baby what’s wrong? You’ve been silent since we left your place.  Do you not want me to stay?”

I looked at him and felt a tear run down my cheek.  “It’s not that, I am so embarrassed.  I didn’t want you to have to see that let alone be involved in it.  You are on vacation and should be having fun....”

He leaned in to me, we were forehead to forehead, and “I do not regret anything that had happened in the last 36 hours with you.  I never should’ve let you go, I wished I had asked you to stay....hell even driven us to Las Vegas and gotten us married by Elvis.....”  I started to giggle and sniffled.  He smiled “There she is...” then he grabbed all the garbage and threw it away, grabbed his suitcase and my hand and we made our way back home.  We got home shortly after 1:30am, we slowly made our way to bed I pulled out my cell phone and saw no new messages.  Joel had reached over and gently took it from me and put it in the charger across the room.  I showed him where some empty drawers were so he could unpack, I sat back on the bed and wished the last few hours were just a dream. 

Joel sat next to me on the bed, he gently kissed my shoulder and whispered get ready for bed baby, and I got up and grabbed a pair of booty shorts and a t-shirt and changed for bed, went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth and take my make up off.  I heard the TV go on and heard the channels being flipped through.  I walked back to the bedroom and Joel had stripped down to his boxers and turned off the light, but the room was illuminated by the TV.  I crawled into bed next to him and he slid down and held me close.  I couldn’t believe just how much we communicated without saying a word to each other.  Joel knew not to push, and I was just so used to being silent.  I leaned my head against this chest and felt content and comfortable.  So comfortable I had fallen asleep on this chest my fingertips caressing his physical scars, while Joel tried to heal my emotional scars.