by Hattie Jude
Raf helps my mom out of the car and leads her to the door. I shuffle out after them and he doesn’t give me a backwards glance. It stings a little, the way he can go so hot and cold.
Maybe this won’t be an issue at all…if he’s a jerk, it should be no problem.
Chapter Nineteen
Raf disappears once my mom is settled in the living room. He was completely attentive, getting her a drink, asking her if she needed anything, and making sure she was comfortable…barely glancing at me to see if I’m okay. Which is fine. I need him to treat me the shitty way he’s capable of—anything to help me forget the way he worshipped me last night.
My skin flushes again and my mom frowns. “Gabi, I’m worried about you. You don’t look so good. Why don’t you lie down, sweetheart? Stefen will be back and I need to talk to him about all of this.”
“What are you going to tell him?”
“I’m not sure yet.”
“Well, let me know when you decide because I don’t know which lies I’m supposed to hold onto and which secrets I’m supposed to reveal.” My words come out much angrier than I intended and her eyes widen before getting watery. “Mom, don’t cry. Okay?” I groan. “I want to go home.”
“You can’t. We can’t. Not yet. Not until it’s safe.”
“But this is so uncomfortable,” I whisper. “I don’t even know where to be right now. I’m supposed to be out of the way when you talk to Stefen. You’ve put me in a house with my bully and expect me to make myself at home.”
“Raf was being so sweet earlier,” she says under her breath, not quite speaking as low as I think she should. “I think he’s sorry for how he’s treated you.” She smiles hopefully. “Aren’t you getting along better now?”
“You know nothing about Raf,” I mutter, my eyes getting watery too with the anger I feel. “You know what? I didn’t get any sleep last night, so I’m going to find a place to hide and take a nap.”
She starts to say something and I hold up my hand, cutting her off.
I go into the kitchen and past that is a sunroom with a cozy chair and a wicker loveseat. It doesn’t scream nap to me, more of a place to catch up on a book, but I curl up in the chair, and the next thing I know, I feel something in my hair. I jump and Raf leaps back.
“I didn’t mean to scare you. Your mom wants to talk to you and I told her I’d find you. Sorry to wake you.” He stares at my mouth while he’s talking and the things he did to this mouth play in slow motion in my brain. I shake my head, trying to rattle myself awake.
“Ow.” I hold my head. “Okay.” I sound groggy and wonder how long I’ve been asleep.
“You need to take something for your head.”
I ignore him. When we walk through the kitchen, Stefen and my mom are sitting at the table with pizzas, clinking their glasses of wine.
“Isn’t this cozy,” I say under my breath.
“Tell me about it,” Raf mutters.
He drags a chair out across the hardwood, letting it scrape longer than necessary. His dad narrows his eyes at him and Raf sends daggers back, as if daring him to say anything about it. So Raf isn’t happy about our parents any more than I am. That’s reassuring.
“We would like to talk to you both,” Stefen says. “Have some pizza, Gabriela. I hope you’re feeling better after your incident this morning.”
Raf slides over a bottle of the prescription I was supposed to fill but didn’t because we rushed home with my mother. “I filled this for you while you were asleep. Your mom said it was okay.”
“Thanks. I’m feeling fine,” I tell Stefen.
“Your mom and I have been talking, and I’ve extended an invitation for you both to stay here with us as long as necessary. She’s filled me in on…some of the things I was missing…but we’re looking into all the possibilities for your mom’s accident, as well as yours.”
“I haven’t talked to the police—have you, Mom?”
She shakes her head.
“Well, that’s weird. Why are we supposed to just trust Stefen to take care of us?” I stare at my mother, but she won’t look at me. She’s looking at Stefen like he holds her entire world in his hands. I turn to him. “Is it true you’re working with Luke?”
My mom turns to me so fast, I think it makes her dizzy. She holds her temples. “It’s not what you think, sweetheart.”
“It seems someone has been speaking out of turn.” Stefen directs that to Raf and the tension is so thick I’m afraid one of them is about to turn the table or something else equally as destructive. “Let me worry about the details, okay, Gabi?”
“It’s Gabriela to you,” I snap. I stand up from the table and put a piece of pizza on a plate. “Where can I go so I don’t have to have this conversation right now?” I take a bite and I’m not hungry so I regret even eating that much. I force myself to take three more bites so it’s not wasted and set the plate down.
“Sit down, Gabi,” my mom says.
I ignore her. She exchanges a look with Stefen and shakes her head slightly. I can’t believe my mom is trusting this guy when we hardly know him. I’d go to Ashton’s just to get out of the same house as Raf, but I can’t leave my mom here alone with them.
“We’re going to keep you safe,” Stefen says. “Both of you have nothing to worry about. My best guards are watching the place, as well as yours, and I can walk through the security system with you after dinner, if you’d like.”
“I don’t understand why you’re keeping this from the police.” I lean against the table, still not willing to sit down and pretend like this is normal.
“It’s best if you don’t know all the details of what I do.” Stefen steeples his hands together and looks so much like Raf in this moment, it’s hard to think straight.
“Well, this has been enlightening.” I roll my eyes. “I’ll just go wherever I’m supposed to be sleeping since I’m not getting any answers here. At some point, I’ll need to pick up a few things from home.”
“If you tell me what you need, I can go get it, or Raf can take you to the store.”
Raf puts a couple of slices on his plate and stands up. “Same room as last night. I’ll come up with you.” Neither of us act like Stefen has spoken.
When we get upstairs, I go to the bedroom and sit on the bed. It’s hard to even look at Raf when we’re in this room. It’s all so fresh and yet in some ways that feels like another lifetime ago.
“I don’t want your dad picking out my underwear and clothes.”
“I can go get your things.”
“Not much better.” I shrug.
He sits next to me on the bed. “You’d prefer my dad over me?”
I roll my eyes. “Don’t make it weirder than it already is. I…how are we going to do this?” Every part of me feels how close he is right now. I could lean over an inch to the left and my shoulder and thigh would touch his.
“Last night shouldn’t have happened,” he says.
I know he’s right and I even knew he felt that way about it, but it still hurts like hell to hear him say it out loud.
“Obviously.”
He takes a sharp intake of breath and I sneak a look at him. His face is unreadable and I wish he’d give me a hint of how he’s feeling.
“Why did that happen last night? All night long,” I whisper the last words.
“We gave ourselves permission to feel the attraction, but that’s all this is, and it was just one night.” He snaps once. “Done in the morning.”
I nod, pressing my lips together. “Right. One and done…or in this case, three and done.”
He looks at me then and his eyes are as emotionless as a snake. “It would’ve been nice to get one more time in before we returned to reality, but…” He shrugs. “That would’ve been greedy.”
“And three times wasn’t?”
“Three times is nothing for me in a night. Not for you either, I’d expect. If anything Luke has told my father about you is true.”
I f
eel a lump forming in my throat. I stand up and stare down at him, slapping him across the face. He holds onto my wrist and stands up, leering over me.
“My past is none of your business. And if you and your father expect us to stay here and figure out whatever this is that’s going on, which is craziness, then you’ll stay out of my way and stay out of my life. You know nothing about me.”
“I know plenty. I know how you like it when I fuck you hard and fast and the way you love what this tongue can do. I know that you like sex and I’m not the only one you’ve liked it with.” He shrugs again and I hate him more than ever before. “I know you say Luke’s name in your sleep after you’ve fucked me all night.” His eyes are bitter when he says that, and I think perhaps he’s not as unaffected as he’s appearing to be. “Let my dad do his job and we’ll stay out of each other’s way. Deal?”
“Get out of this room and don’t come back.”
“Gladly.” He stalks to the door and turns around, smirking. “I have a date with Heidi tonight. I don’t think I’ll bring her back here. That’d be too insensitive of me, wouldn’t it?” His eyes are pure evil as he laughs and opens the door and doesn’t bother shutting it as he walks out.
I slam the door and hear his laugh all the way down the hall.
I won’t last a week in this house if it’s going to be this kind of hell.
Chapter Twenty
My mom comes in later, after I’ve showered and cried and raged. I don’t feel much better, and when she comes to sit next to me on the bed, she doesn’t look all that great either.
“What’s going on, Mom? Why are we here?”
I thought my tears were gone, but I feel the lump rising in my throat and I try to shut down the emotion.
“It won’t be long, honey. It’s not safe at our house right now.”
“But that’s right next door. How can we be any safer here?”
“Stefen is watching out for us and he’s going to help us. As soon as things have settled, we’ll go home.”
“I don’t understand what’s happening. Is this Dad? Why is Luke working with Stefen? That’s a red flag if ever I saw one. Tell me you’re not getting involved with another man who’s as awful as Dad is.”
Her eyes snap and I regret the words coming out of my mouth because I don’t want to deal with her waterworks for another second, but…yep, here they come.
“How can you say that when I was the one who got us out of there?”
“After how long? You were married, what, eighteen years?”
She stands up and her shoulders are drooping as she walks to the door. “I know it’s too much to ask that you show a little respect for me, Josephine, but I’m trying here. I know I’ve made the worst decisions, but I’m trying to make the right ones now.”
“I wish they didn’t involve another man…one that we barely know.” My words hit their mark and she straightens, turning around to me with resolve.
“I knew Stefen before we moved here.” She focuses on the comforter instead of my face and speaks as if it’s torture for her to tell me the truth. “He’s the one who actually got us out of Vegas.”
She steps out of the room before I can process that bombshell. I should run after her and demand that she answer all my questions, now, but I’m too upset and exhausted to move.
I did respect my mom’s ability to get us away from Dad and into the beautiful house across the country. Maybe for the first time since I was a little girl, I’d respected her for this. Turns out it wasn’t her at all.
And I’m no better than her.
I fell for Raf the instant he seduced me, barely making him work for it at all. Be cruel to me and I’ll still have sex with you if you touch me just right. Now he has more to hold over my head and I’m just another notch in his belt.
I don’t go to school the next day and I don’t leave my room. My mom brings me a sandwich and a drink in the afternoon. She eyes me warily as she sets the plate by the bed.
“You feeling okay today?” she asks.
“I’m fine.” My head hurts and I didn’t sleep, but she’s the last person I want to talk to right now. “You?
“Doing okay.” She nods. She winces when she reaches out to open the drapes. She must be lying too. “If you’re fine, you’ll need to go to school tomorrow.”
“I’ll need my uniform, more clothes for around here, and underwear. And my makeup…” I clench my teeth together and take a drink.
“I’ll go to the house with Stefen in a little while. Anything else you want me to grab?”
“I need my laptop and my backpack. You’re obviously running this show, so I guess whatever you want me to have.” I shrug and take a bite of the sandwich.
She sighs. “It doesn’t have to be this way.”
“No reason to be upfront and open now, Mom.” I chew the sandwich and set it down, my appetite nonexistent. “Just leave me alone. I’m tired. I’ll go to school tomorrow, just leave me alone.”
I stayed up most of the night listening for Raf and never heard him come back. Earlier, I checked to see if his car was out in the driveway, but I didn’t see it. Maybe he spent the night with Heidi and they’re all laughing about me at school today.
Ashton and Luci have texted throughout the day to see how I’m doing and to ask if I need anything. Ashton texts again at the end of school.
Ashton: I’m heading out. Can I bring a milkshake over for you?
I’d love that, but I’m just resting another day. I’ll be back tomorrow, promise.
I never told him about my run-in with the guy outside my house, so he is still going on the assumption that I’m worried about my mom and struggling to deal with Raf in this house. I don’t want to add to his concern.
I get another text a few minutes later from Laura.
Laura: You okay? I haven’t heard from you in so long.
I don’t say anything for a while. She’s usually had a sixth sense for when I’m not doing great but has been out of the loop since everything happened with Toby…which is still bothering me.
For the first time since moving here, I long for the familiarity of Vegas. I might not have had a normal life there either, but I had favorite bookstores and coffee shops that I loved. Things weren’t good at home, and when it got nuts with Luke, I at least had my spots that felt comforting and safe. I still don’t feel like I know where much is here except for school. My mom and I don’t go anywhere. I go to Ashton’s occasionally. Luci and I have gotten closer, but our big outings have been school games and Henry’s party.
I thought I was going to have a normal life when I moved here and went to school. Nothing about this is normal and none of it is what it seems. Even our move here was under false pretenses.
It’s all too much. I don’t want to be in this house or in this city. And if I don’t get into Columbia, I don’t have a plan B.
I need to come up with one, and fast.
My mom knocks a few hours later and Stefen sets down a large suitcase, a garment bag, and my backpack just inside the door. My mom lingers after he smiles and walks back out.
“If you need anything else, let me know and we’ll go back. I tried to get the makeup I’ve seen you using lately.”
“If someone’s watching our house, don’t you think they saw you come right back over here?”
“We were very cautious,” is all she’ll say. “And this house is safe.”
“If it’s so safe and ours isn’t, why were we ever there? Don’t trust him, Mom. Just…don’t.”
She gives me that long-suffering look again with the weary sigh that says I am threatening to undo her, and puts her hand on her hip. “You’ll have to trust me this time.”
I bite back my words and when she leaves, I open the suitcase. It’s got more in it than I expected. My clothes are carefully folded and I open it wider, expecting to see my uniforms. Instead, it’s at least a week’s worth of clothes, mostly lounge clothes. Inside the garment bag are all of my uniforms, and my b
ackpack has my laptop and the books I brought home from school. I go online and work on the day’s missed assignments before I take another shower. I put on a tank and shorts and crawl into bed. I found sheets in the dresser earlier and changed the sheets, so at least I feel more removed from Raf than I did yesterday.
After I go to sleep, I wake up in the night and feel like someone is in my room. I sit up, looking around wildly. No one is there, and I reluctantly lie back, willing my heart to stop galloping in my chest. My sleep is fitful the rest of the night. When the alarm goes off the next morning, I feel like I didn’t sleep at all.
Chapter Twenty-One
I go to the kitchen hoping coffee will help and Raf is there, pouring a cup. I want to walk right back out, but I need the caffeine too much if I expect to get through the day. My mom steps in and smiles when she sees me.
“Raf agreed to take you to school today,” she says. “Can I make you some breakfast? Eggs, anyone?”
“I ate already. Thanks,” Raf says.
“Nothing for me. And I’ll take myself to school, thank you.”
“I’m not asking, I’m insisting,” Mom says.
I glare at her and she flinches but stands steady, her jaw clenching.
Raf leans back against the counter, grinning, his gaze ping-ponging back and forth.
I get a mug and fill it with coffee, pouring cream inside until it’s the perfect caramel shade.
“I’ll be ready to go in ten minutes,” Raf says.
I have to choke out the words, but I manage. “I’ll drink this, brush my teeth, and then I’ll be ready.”
“You’re not gonna do something with that?” He points to my face which is free of makeup and I fling all of that hatred toward him in my look. He doesn’t flinch at all. He laughs.
My mom lifts an eyebrow at him and he shuts up. I’d laugh if I weren’t so angry with both of them. I don’t know why my mom is trying to ruin my life, and I don’t know why Raf is either, but it’s nice to see her sort of defend me.