Rain
IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW. The panic constantly in her eyes, her desperate run through the woods, the old bruises. But most of all, the way her body gave out and she instinctively protected her vital organs when she thought I was going to beat her for breaking a plate. A fucking plate. What cocksucker beats a woman, much less for a plate?
“Who? Who did this?”
The brown eyes staring back into mine remain locked, but her eyelids flinch as if they want to cry, but she won’t let them.
“You said it was your dad’s car. Does your dad hit you?” I never believed her story about the car being her dad’s. But I’m covering all the bases. Her only response is her head barely shaking side to side. “A husband? Are you married?” Again, the same response, and a strange sense of relief hits me. “A boyfriend?” This time her head changes movement and the truth comes.
Suddenly, all I can picture is some asshole hitting her and the rage builds inside of me. I try to reign in the need to smash a bunch of shit so I don’t scare her even more. The sudden realization of what I have done to her crashes into me. She was running away, running for her life, and I stuck a gun in her face. I back away from her and turn away to calm myself.
“I’m sorry I broke your plate. I’ll replace it. Here, let me clean it up,” she says. Before I can spin around to stop her, she’s already jumped down from the counter and onto the broken pieces below. She reaches for the broom that is propped up in the corner, but I quickly snatch it from her hand. Again, I pick up her little body, carry her out of the kitchen, and place her on the couch in the living room. Luther comes running to her and lies by her feet.
“Don’t get up. You’re bleeding.” I run to the kitchen and grab a paper towel. Returning to her, I kneel at her feet. She stares at me dumbfounded as I raise her foot to pat the blood that is slowly seeping from the bottom of her perfect big toe.
“I didn’t even notice I cut myself. Damn it. I’m sorry.” Her words run quickly from her mouth. I’m sure she had to apologize for every little thing.
“Developed a high pain tolerance, I see.”
She fake smiles while shrugging her shoulders.
“That’s not a good thing. Not for you anyways.”
After I feel confident that there isn’t a piece of the dish in her foot, I pass her the towel and head back into the kitchen to sweep it all up before Luther gets any in his paw. Although, I’m sure that jerk isn’t going to leave her side anyways.
While I’m sweeping the floor, my phone rings. It only rings for one person. I glance around the wall to see that Charlie has gone into the bathroom.
“Hey, Nic.”
“You want to tell me why you pushed me away from your house?” she immediately begins. “You’re the one who scheduled these dates. And just so you are aware, I even made your favorite rum bread pudding. Now you don’t get any. What in the hell is wrong with you?”
“Stop giving me shit. I told you there’s a situation. I’m keeping you safe and you know it.”
“Why wouldn’t you let me come in?”
“I have a bit of a . . . visitor.” I roll my eyes and smack myself in the head for telling my nosey-ass sister that someone is here. She’s never going to let this go. One of these days, I’m going to learn my lesson and stop telling her everything. Apparently, that wasn’t today.
“A visitor!” she squeals. “Is it a girl?” Her excitement is excruciating.
“It’s not what you think. She wrecked her car. I’m trying to fix it. Then she’ll be gone again.”
“Uh huh. If that was all it was, you would have let me in.”
“I’m paranoid as fuck, Nic. What if she’s working for Jansen? Or even Klipp? It’s one thing if I get caught up for my own stupidity. I can’t let you be seen. It’s too risky.”
I’ve only put a bullet into one person. That person was Klipp’s rival, Greg Jansen. Still wasn’t my fault though. If my life is in jeopardy, I react. He pulled a gun on me, so as soon as I got the chance, I pulled mine. The intention was to just shoot the gun out of his hand. It wasn’t my fault that he moved a centimeter and his hand went with it. Losing his hand isn’t the only reason Jansen has revenge running thick through his veins. When he went to the hospital, he was arrested. Turns out he had a warrant.
“Jansen is in prison and you settled with Klipp long ago. You can’t live the rest of your life this way. You’re going to die a lonely old man.”
“Don’t tease me with a good time, Nic.”
Her chuckle on the other end makes me smile. Through everything, I could always count on my sister, Nicole. She’s my half-sister, so she doesn’t have the same last name, and that has kept her under the radar. I shouldn’t worry about her. She’s been taught self-defense and carries her gun. Given the right opportunity, she could probably take me out.
“C’mon, Rain. I’m sick of this. It’s been eight years. Those guys are dying of old age by now. Why don’t you come out to dinner with me? Please? Please, Brother?”
Damn it, she knows I have a hard time saying no to her when she asks like that. I blow out an annoyed breath. “I’ll think about going to dinner. Call me next week.”
The laugh that comes from the other end of the line is one that has been created by the devil himself. “Next week? Yeah, right. You’ve got a visitor.”
“Nic,” I say, warning. “Don’t you even think about it.”
She doesn’t respond.
“Nicole? . . . Nicole?” I shout into the phone, but she’s already hung up. She’s lucky I love her so damn much or I would have lost her a long time ago. Such a pain in my ass. Turning, I slam the phone down on the counter and see Charlie standing there.
“I . . . I’m sorry if I’m causing a problem. I can go—”
Is that jealousy I spot in those eyes of hers? Her brows angle, and it takes me a minute to realize that I’m smiling at her like a jackass. She hobbles in my direction, and I’m severely reminded of the event that just took place. My smile fades and I want answers.
“Sit down,” I say, motioning to the living room. She nods and follows me. Of course she does. She’s used to be ordered around and told what to do. I’m guessing she’s been too scared not to. That is obviously changing or she wouldn’t be in my house right now.
Charlie looks uncomfortable and begins to pick at her fingernails. Her hair is loose and covers one side of her face as her vision is angled down and I’m unable to see her eyes. She changed when she went into the bathroom and put on a pair of pajama shorts and a loose-fitting t-shirt.
“Do you want to leave?” I ask her.
“I don’t know what I want.”
“If we’re going to be friends, you’ve got to stop lying to me.” Her head shoots up at the word “friends”. I don’t have friends and I’ve never intended to make any new ones. But I want to know everything about her, so I’ll say whatever I have to in order to get her to talk. “You know what you want, otherwise you wouldn’t have been running and hit my trees.”
“What do you want to know?” she asks. Her hands rub the top of her knees, then she sits back into the couch and crosses her arms against her chest.
“How long has this been going on?”
“Years.”
“How determined do you think he is to track you down?”
“Very.”
“How serious are you to never let him touch you again?”
“Dead serious,” she whispers, and I know that means more than just the words that came out of her mouth.
“Tomorrow, we begin.”
“Begin?”
“I’m going to teach you how to defend yourself. We’ll start out easy since you’re still healing. I’ll show you what I know. It’s enough.”
The expectation of seeing fear in her eyes is crushed when excitement blazes through them instead.
“Thank you,” she says.
“One more thing. As long as you aren’t planning my death, I’ll never hurt you.”
Her closed-mouth sarcastic smile is painful to see. In order to get her attention, I sit forward and look her in the eyes.
“I will never hurt you.”
After a long pause, she murmurs, “I believe you.”
She leans down and my eyes follow her to my damn dog that is now sitting watch at her feet. She scratches Luther’s head, which causes his paw to hit the floor and it makes her giggle. My head jolts back up to her face at the sound. I like it. Motherfucker. What is she doing to me?
Both of us stand at the same time, and she follows me into the kitchen. Her hands dip back down into the water in the sink as she pulls up another dish and scrubs it clean. She rinses it, then holds it up in the air toward me with a small amount of trepidation.
“Here,” she says. “I’m not drying anymore.”
There she is. I knew life was in there the first time I sank my eyes into hers and saw that inferno. She’s not dead. He hasn’t destroyed her. I didn’t lie. If it comes down to it, I will get rid of anyone who tries to take me down. I have learned to protect and live for myself. But if my gut is right, not only will I never hurt her, I’ll make sure no one else will either.