Chapter Twenty

~McKenna~

My cheeks were warm, my stomach was warm, everything was warm, and I liked it. I looked over my glass of water at Rafael, the beautiful douchebag that he was, and giggled.

Wow, this night wasn’t going how I expected it. I had honestly thought I was going to have to field off his advances and lay down the law, or deal with passive aggressive bullshit.

But no. Raphael was reasonable and just wanted to know why I had bolted like a bat out of hell. I couldn’t exactly blame him. I would have been pretty concerned if my partner had suddenly disappeared too quickly to even get dressed.

It turned out that he was human, much like me, and he just wanted some clarification. Clarification was good. I could do that.

So, I did. I explained to him why I felt the way I did and why I had reacted so rashly. And he understood. It was great, and I found myself wishing that I had just talked to him first.

Oh well, typical McKenna, always making things as hard as possible.

But now that the topic had been broached and sussed out, we were free to just have fun. The surprising thing was, that we did.

For being some rich, high faulting CEO, Rafael and I had pretty similar senses of humor. We also employed sarcasm as our main line of defense. After long enough, I realized that I was definitely feeling him, and not just in the raw, sexual way I had earlier.

But I couldn’t feel him. Hadn’t that been the point of my entire speech to him? That mixing work and pleasure was only a recipe for disaster and nothing else?

Ugh. No fair.

He was the best sex that I had in ages and I really wouldn’t mind dipping my toe into that pool again. But I was pretty sure that I had closed that door as hard as possible and barricaded it with my little speech just a few minutes earlier.

Oh well. It was for the better.

Even if I could feel my thighs pressing together and my core growing wet while my heartbeat picked up, I knew that I needed to be an adult and put my foot down.

How lame.

Despite my internal grumbling, I had a great time. We laughed, we drank, we drank some more. And the best part was that I didn’t have to pay. As much as I always said that I didn’t really care about money, it certainly made for a nice night out.

But even with all the laughs and libations, I felt myself grow tired. Getting up at eleven had totally messed up my sleep schedule and now my body had no idea what time it was.

“Hey, I’m getting sleepy. I think I’m gonna head home.” I said to Rafael, draining another cup of water.

“What? It’s only three in the morning. Isn’t that like the middle of your shift?”

“It is,” I countered, slurring slightly. “But someone dragged me out of my house early and had me babysit their son all day.”

“Hey, I was there the whole time! It wasn’t babysitting. It was… supervised hang out time.”

“Uh-huh, sure it was.” I laughed and slid off of my stool, the world only swaying a little bit. Although I had drunk quite a bit, it had been over four hours and had plenty of glasses of water in between, so I felt like that was helping.

“Here, let me call you a cab,” he said. “Least I can do since you normally take public transport home.”

“How do you know what I normally take home?” I countered, poking his chest then trailing my finger up to flick his nose. “Have you been watching me, Mr. CEO-sir-man?”

“I’ve been working from home all week,” he countered, only half paying attention as he typed into his phone. “But it was an educated guess.”

“Well it was a good guess, because you’re right.” I giggled even though nothing particularly funny had happened. “I take the bus to work and the train back because the buses don’t run that late. It takes forevvver.”

“Yeah, I bet. I don’t know how you do it.” He looked to his phone then back to me. “The cab is gonna be here in like, ten minutes. Let me pee and then I’ll walk you out.”

We were both as relaxed as we had ever been around each other, but I wasn’t sure we were that relaxed yet.

Oh well, might as well roll with it. “You go pee! Imma wait to go home.”

He nodded tipsily and stumbled toward the facilities. I watched him, giggling, and decided to go outside to catch some fresh air before I had to slide into an undoubtedly stale taxi.

The wind was cool but refreshing once I stepped onto the sidewalk, with the line having long since either come in or dispersed. The sounds of the city washed over me, and I closed my eyes, absorbing the peacefulness.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

A chill like ice slid up my spine, it’s cold tendrils piercing through my heart with no mercy. My eyes flew open, and I whipped around just as someone grabbed my arm.

“Look at how you’re dressed! Like a damn common whore!”

I was yanked roughly to the side and suddenly he came into view. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t think, I could only stare up in shock at the familiar face that often haunted my dreams.

“Do you have any idea what I’ve gone through to find you?” He shook me again and tears rose to my eyes. This couldn’t be happening! It couldn’t be real! I had to be dreaming. “No, I suppose you don’t. You never think of anybody other than yourself, do you? Well, we’ll have to fix that, I guess. We’re going home now!”

“W-what?” I managed to sputter. “N-no! I have a restraining order! You can’t be here!”

But he kept pulling, kept yanking me towards a life I had sworn to leave behind. I looked around in a panic, trying to see if there was a single soul to save me, but the streets were unusually empty with only the occasional taxi or sports car speeding by. My previously tipsy buzz faded as stone-cold terror took over most of my brain.

Every nightmare I had ever had was coming true. The deepest, darkest fears that haunted my subconscious all flashed before my eyes and I heard myself start to hyperventilate.

“S-stop! I’ll call the police!”

Suddenly I was yanked to his strong, broad chest and I remembered just how terribly strong he was. “Look, I know what we both have our flaws and things got a little crazy last time, but it’s time to stop the theatrics. You belong with me, McKenna! Me and no one else!”

I let out a cry and dug my feel in, trying to pull away. But his grip was like iron, unforgiving and cold. It dragged me mercilessly and my sobs fell unchecked.

“Hey! Let her go you son of a bitch!”

Abruptly the hand on my arm let go and I stumbled backwards. A dark shape set upon my assailant, knocking him to the ground and tumbling along the sidewalk.

It took several seconds for my poor, drunk brain to realize that it was Rafael, come to save me and pummeling the absolute crap out of my ex. I stood there, shocked, as they rolled across the concrete, cussing and spitting.

My ex managed to get free and stumbled back, his lip bleeding and eye already swelling.

“Are you crazy!” He screamed. “Who the hell are you!”

“Who am I?” Rafael countered. “Who the hell are you!”

“I’m her goddamned boyfriend!”

“Boyfriend?” Rafail looked to me, confused, and I shook my head desperately.

“N-no, that’s not right,” I gasped.

“Shut up, McKenna, you don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Don’t talk to her like that!” Rafael snapped back. “Get lost!”

“You get lost!” He tried to grab for me again, but Rafael knocked his hand away. “She’s coming home with me!”

“McKenna,” Rafael said somewhat blearily. “Do you wanna go home with him?”

“N-no!” I gasped, my wits slowly coming back to me. But mot nearly fast enough. “Rafael, that’s my ex-boyfriend!”

“You’re…”

I watched as what could only be called blind range flooded Rafael’s face and he spun at my attacker once more. His punches came one right after the other, all slamming into my ex’s face until finally he was flat on his back, his visage a bloody mess.

“Rafael, stop, you’re going to kill him!”

“He deserves to die!”

As much as it felt good to see him hurt, as much as I felt a vindicated sort of justice that he was getting his fair comeuppance, I didn’t want him to be dead. That would involve police reports, and funerals, and contact with his family. I would much rather have him leave me alone of his own accord rather than have his ghost weighing over me for the rest of my life.

“I know. But I don’t deserve to have to deal with the consequences.” That was a surprisingly coherent sentence given how inebriated by brain was with both terror and alcohol.

“…fine.” He spit on my ex before standing. “Get the hell out of here. And if you ever show your face again, or if McKenna even thinks she sees your shadow, I’ll gut you like the pig you are.”

My ex sputtered something then scrambled to his feet before limping away. I had never seen him so defeated, and it filled me with a type of hope I had never had before.

“McKenna,” Rafael murmured, turning to me. “McKenna are you okay?”

Once more, I found that I couldn’t answer. But instead of being muted by my fear, I couldn’t get words around the relieved sobs constricting my throat and shaking my chest.

Rafael’s strong arms reached out for me, pulling me to his broad, strong chest that was so much more comforting than others I had been forced against. I clung to him, using his sturdiness to prop myself up.

“Hush, hush, it’s alright. I’m here now.”

And he was. In the churning maelstrom that was my life, Rafael was the constant. He was strong enough to protect me, and in fact, he had been looking out for me ever since he found out I was using a fake name. Quite a strange streak of kindness considering our relationship had started because I lied to him.

“Take me home,” I whispered between my wracking sobs. “Please take me home.”

“Don’t worry, the taxi is coming and it already has your address.”

“No! Not back to my place. He might know I’m there!” My stomach squeezed painfully at the idea, making me almost dizzy from the pain. “Take me to your place, please! I just, I need to feel safe. At least for tonight.”

“Okay, okay. Whatever you want. I won’t leave you alone until you want me to.”

I sagged against him even more and we waited those last few minutes with me crying into his chest. But even after everything I had been through, I felt so much better with Rafael holding onto me.

That whole meeting could have gone so much worse. I guessed I was incredibly lucky that I had Rafael with me. If he hadn’t… I shuddered to think about it. One thing was for certain though, I owed him the truth. The whole truth.