Marcus's pov
What the actual hell is going on? One moment I am kissing her, another moment she's shaking like a scared little child.
"Hey, Juliana what's wrong? babydoll you are scaring me." I say shaking her.
Tears are coming out of her eyes and she is now sobbing. I can't help but ask myself if maybe I did something wrong. A couple of teenagers pass and give me a weird look. Who can blame them? It's not every day you see a man holding a sobbing twenty-something woman.
"what's going on?" Eric asks getting out of the car.
"I don't know man one moment I am kissing her and suddenly she starts shaking," I say trying to come down now crying Juliana.
Eric comes where I am standing with Juliana in my arms trying to soothe her. A strange look passes his face.
"Spit it out, man I have seen that look on your face countless times, so just tell me what you think," I tell him, already frustrated.
Eric comes closer and puts his hand on Juliana's shoulder, but the moment he does it she starts shaking and saying things that are not making sense.
"No no no let me go, please I don't want to do this, you are hurting me, please stop, I am begging you please stop," she says trying to get out of my arms.
"What the hell?" I ask no one in particular, looking at Eric with a questioning look and trying to stop Juliana from getting out of my arms.
"Just what I suspected, I think your girl was sexually assaulted and you kissing her triggered something from the assault."
My heart drops as Eric's words sink in. I had no idea that Juliana had gone through something so traumatic. I hold her close, trying to calm her down and reassure her that she is safe with me.
"I am sorry, babydoll. I had no idea. Please, let me know how I can help you," I say softly, feeling a mixture of sadness and anger at what she must have gone through.
Juliana continues to shake and cry, but eventually, she starts to calm down as I hold her tight. I make a mental note to talk to her about what happened when she is ready. Some ass hole hurt my babydoll, they forced themselves on my baby girl.
As I look at her I feel like punching something. I will find the monster who hurt my girl and I will make them regret ever touching her.
But for now, I have to take care of her. I will have to make sure she is safe. Now that I think about it, I remember how she flinched when her date kissed her cheek the day I met her. I thought she was uncomfortable because she did not like him, but that was not the reason.
"I think we should take her home, people have started to give us weird looks. we have to go Marcus." Eric is right, I need to take her where she will feel safe.
"You are right, let's go," I say, getting in the car with Juliana in my arms.
"What are you going to do?" Eric asks, gripping the steering wheel so hard that I am scared we are going to crash if he does not control his temper.
"I will think of something but for now I need to take care of her."
Assault is a sore subject to Eric after what happened to his sister. Eric's sister committed suicide when she couldn't cope with the pain and the bastards who assaulted her just got fifteen years imprisonment.
"I just hope whoever is responsible for abusing her was punished accordingly, " Eric says, still gripping the wheel.
"I hope so too and if they were not punished I will make sure they do," I say looking at Juliana who is calm now but has her eyes closed.
I wonder how long it has been since the incident. How could I have missed the signs? I have been too occupied with what to do with her body instead of finding out more about her.
She is in pain and I just added to the pain by wanting to be physical. I should have asked her if she was ready to be physical with me instead of just assuming that she wanted to do it.
We reach Julian's place in just a couple of minutes.
"What the hell happened to her?" asks a very furious Maggie.
I don't answer her question. I just pass her getting into their apartment with Juliana in my arms holding my shirt like her life depended on it. I am glad that she is not trying to get away from me anymore.
"Don't ignore me I asked a question, what the fuck did you do to her?" she yells again coming to stand in front of me.
"Where is her bedroom?" I ask her.
" Down the hall to the right."
I take Juliana to her bedroom and put her on the bed. I remove her shoes and massage her feet.
"You need to leave right now," Maggie says, getting in bed with Juliana.
"I am not leaving until I am sure she is fine," I say standing up.
There is no way I am leaving her in this condition. I don't care if I have to sleep on the floor as long as she's not okay, I am not going anywhere.
"I don't think that's a good idea, just your touch has made her like this, and your presence is not helping either. '' Maggie says a little harshly.
As much as I would like to continue arguing with Maggie, I think she is a bit right about my presence affecting my baby girl.
"Okay, I will wait in the living room,"
I am about to open the door when I hear Juliana speak.
"Please don't go, I want you to stay with me," she says with a shaky voice. I turn around and find her eyes open. I can see pain and vulnerability in them.
"Are you sure you want me to stay?" I ask her just to be sure, I don't want to push her and make her uncomfortable again.
"Yes, I am sure," she says looking at me.
"Julie, I don't think he should stay in your room tonight. If you want him to be here maybe he should be in the living room until you are okay." Maggie says, glaring at me.
"I know how I feel, Maggie, but I also know that I want him to be here with me. I know you are worried about me but you don't have to worry because I know Marcus would never hurt me." Julie says In a low voice.
"Stop being stubborn Julie, he is the reason your trauma got triggered and now you want him here." I can tell that Maggie is getting more angry by the second.
"Please Maggie, have faith in me." Juliana pleads with her friend.
"If that's what you want then I will let him stay here, but you have to let me know immediately you start feeling uncomfortable and I will make him leave," Maggie says, giving me a stern look on her way out.
"Are you okay?" I ask her, taking slow steps toward her, scared that she might start crying again.
"Not really," she answers, playing with the duvet cover. I don't know what else to say, so I just sit on the bed beside her.
"I haven't had the attack for a long time, I thought they had stopped. I guess I was wrong," she says after a few minutes.
I hate to see her like this, I am angry beyond measure and I am sure if I were to know who did this to her, I would kill them with my bare hands.
"When was the last time you had this kind of attack?"
"A year ago, when one of the supervisors improperly touched me," she answers, still playing with the duvet cover.
I feel my blood boil, I will find out who that asshole is and give him a beating.
"Did he get punished?" I ask her hoping that he did.
"He was fired," she says.
What the hell? Someone wanted to hurt her and all they did was fire him. The bastard could come for revenge.
"Did you report to the police?"
"No, the company told me not to report him, that it could damage the reputation of the company," she says crying.
I move to her and hold her. What kind of people would want to cover up sexual harassment? If that bastard was one of my workers I would make sure he does not get a job anywhere else.
If there is something I don't tolerate is a man or woman who forces someone to sleep with them just because of their position in a company or organization. I hold Juliana for what seems like hours until she stops sobbing.
"Do you want me to stay the night?" I ask her just to be sure that she has not changed her mind.
"I would love for you to stay," she says looking at me.
I send Eric a text letting him know that I am not going home tonight. I just hope my presence won't affect her negatively.