Chapter Thirty

~Rafael~

In the end, it took about another twenty minutes before they finished with McKenna and let her walk back to me. I saw they gave her a business card before they went, and she took it with a frazzled expression.

“Hey, are you alright?” I asked, taking her head in my hands. Once more she pressed her face into my palm, looking up at me with her loving, trusting eyes.

How could I have ever thought that what I had with Dom’s mother was love? The kindness and respect with which McKenna showed me when we were just dating was far greater than my own ex had ever shown me. No wonder I had been so soured to love and dating. I had thought I had the real deal, when in reality all I had was a rotting lemon.

“Yeah. I’m emotionally exhausted, I’m hungry, and I think some of my snacks were crushed.” She sighed. “Gimme a minute to pick them up.”

“I can help-”

“Oh no you don’t, Mr!” She said, waving her finger in my face. “I am going to baby the crap out of you, take you inside, and tend to all of those wounds you’ve got.”

“Wounds?” I scoffed, still trying to help her. “These ol’ things? I’ve had worse falling down the stairs.”

“And do you fall down the stairs often?” She finished picking up all of her things, torn bag included, and gave me a wry look as she stood.

“Well, no. But I’ve certainly had my slips in life.”

“Uh-huh, I’m sure.”

She pulled her keys out and walked up to her door. But before she went in, she paused, staring at the dirty glass of the entrance.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, looking over her shoulder.

“Uh, nothing,” she murmured. I knew a lie when I heard one, so I stayed quiet until she was ready to answer truthfully. “It’s just, uh, a lot has happened between when I first walked up these steps today and actually getting to the door.”

“You’re not kidding on that.”

“It’s funny how life works out sometimes, isn’t it?” She chuckled and slid her key into the lock only to stop again.

“What happened now?” I asked, smirking slightly. But what I wasn’t expecting was for her to turn back to me with a suspicious look.

“Why are you here, anyways?”

Oh. Right. She had no idea that I had been planning a surprise and I had left her gifts behind.

“That’s a good question,” I said, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Why don’t you run in and I’ll be right back.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yes, really,” I answered. “I promise I’ll be right there. Just buzz me in.”

She gave me another suspicious look but complied, sliding in the front doors of her complex. I watched her go, not moving until she was out of sight.

Once I was sure she couldn’t spot my gifts, I quickly strode back to the taxi that I had abandoned.

I had almost expected it to be gone, my gifts deposited on the side of the road, but instead I saw the gentleman was still sitting in the same spot.

“Hey, I didn’t expect to see you here.” I said, approaching the open window.

“How could I leave? If I did not have broken foot, I would have been out there. But I called the police for you, sir!”

I looked down into the cab and sure enough, there was a thick cast on his non-pedal foot. “Really? You called them? I appreciate that man.”

“Of course, of course. We must help our fellow man, no?”

“You’re right there.” He handed me the little handheld device the cab had to slide my card through it. I went through the prompts, and I didn’t need to debate before giving him a three hundred percent tips.

“Thank you, sir!” He exclaimed once he saw what I had left.

“No problem. It’s the least I could do, really. Now I just need to grab my stuff out of the back, if you don’t mind.”

“Oh yes! Of course! Let me unlock it.”

I waited until I heard the door click then reached inside. I grabbed the fifty lilies that I had brought – I remembered McKenna once said she didn’t get the hype around roses- and the bottle of wine as well as the giant heart of assorted chocolates.

Only it was quite the special one that I had ordered from online. She once mentioned she hated any sort of fruit and chocolate combination that wasn’t orange, so I had found one that was only loaded with caramels, nutty flavors and peanut butter. I don’t know if she ever realized that I was always fishing for information so I would always have an ace up my sleeve when it came to gift giving, but if she did, she never let on.

It was a bit surreal as I walked up to her door. The day had started on such a different note, and now I didn’t know if I we could reclaim the mood I had originally been hoping for.

I was going to try nonetheless. McKenna deserved the absolute best, and I wasn’t going to let some asshole take anything else away from her.

I took a deep breath and hit the buzzer for the intercom. It took a few seconds before it reverberated to life, and her voice came over the other end.

“Who is it?” I could tell that she was trying to sound funny and light hearted, but the stress was still there. She had been through so much today, maybe it would be a better idea to try this another time? I had been told before that I could be far too stubborn once I was attached to the plan, and I didn’t want to put my needs before McKenna’s. Especially since she had just had one hell of a day.

No, I was pretty sure this would help her. Remind her that sh4e was loved and that she was protected. So, before the pause grew awkward, I answered her.

“Oh, just your loving boyfriend.”

“How do I know it’s you?”

Well, at least she hadn’t lost her snarky nature

“Um, unless aliens have come down and personally stolen my body, I’m pretty sure you can tell it’s me.”

“Fair enough. But if you’re a body-snatcher, you’re not allowed to steal my body until after I finish my laundry.”

“Sure. Always good to finish your chores before hijacking the vessel of a possible host.”

She laughed at that and the door beeped, indicating she had unlocked it. With all of the movies and activities that her, Dom and I had been sharing together, I had picked up on even more of the strange stuff my son loved. In a way, she almost worked as a translator, explaining things that I didn’t understand to me and reminding Dom to re-explain certain things when I didn’t remember who was the ninth lord from a parallel dimension during a Christmas special of one of the shows he liked. Just further proof that she was practically made for us. Or perhaps we were made for her. Either way, I opened the door and let myself in.

It was a quick journey up the stairs and down her hall, where I finally reached her door. I had only been to her place once before -she much preferred to come to mine, and I couldn’t blame her.

The carpet was worn, faded and looked like it had mold staining random spots of it. The walls didn’t fare much better, with paint chipping everywhere. The lighting was dingy and yellow, with most of the bulbs out and several more flickering.

Of course, I never told her that her place was a shit-hole… but it was pretty much a shit-hole. She deserved so much better, and now that her ex had found out where she lived, I was more than a little worried about her safety.

I reached her door and knocked, holding the flowers so they couldn’t be spotted out of the peephole. I heard her approach, slide one of the locks out of it place then finally the doorknob turned and I was seeing her beautiful, stressed face again.

“Oh my god,” she cried, hands going to her cheeks. “This is for me?”

“I don’t know anybody else here who deserves them more.”

Her face was bright red as she took them, and I could see tears at the corners of her eyes. “These…these are beautiful, oh my god, I had no idea. Is this why you were here?”

“Yeah,” I answered, stepping in and shutting the door behind me. “Happy six-month kinda-versary.”

“Six months?” she murmured absently. Has it really been that long?”

“Time flies, doesn’t it?”

“It certainly does.” She turned to face me, her roses now safely nestled in an aged looking vase and gave me a gentle kiss. My hands went to her waist, kneading the soft flesh there, but she pulled away before things could get any heavier.

“The bathroom has the best light, so let’s go in there.”

“For what?” I asked curiously, wanting to hold her and kiss her again.

She grabbed a roll of paper towels and shook them menacingly. “I told you, I’m patching you up. No hero of mine is going to walk around with a messy, bruised face.”

Oh, right. I had taken a few hits. With all my thoughts about her presents and the ramifications of everything that had happened, I had forgotten the pain still lingering at the edges of my mind.

I walked to her tiny, cramped bathroom with her not far behind. I stood somewhat awkwardly between her shower and toilet while she bent over and started pulling what seemed to be an entire first aid kit from underneath her bathroom sink.

When she finally had everything all assembled, she stood and wetted down a cotton ball with some hydrogen peroxide. Turning to me, she reached up to do something with the fibrous blob, only to pause about halfway to my face.

“What?” I asked, worried that I looked much worse than I felt.

“You’re too tall,” she murmured, a sweet smile about her mouth. “I’ve never had to tell anyone that before.”

“Your friends all short then?” I asked.

She nodded. “I hit puberty early and I’ve been taller than my parents since I was eleven.”

“Really? I remember when I was bigger than my old man. He had no problem sitting me down and telling me that he could still tan my hide if I ever got too big for my britches.”

“Was he a southern fellow?”

“About as south as you can get considering that he was originally from Cuba.”

“Oh, he was an immigrant?”

I nodded, wincing only slightly when my neck protested to the movement. I must have tweaked something in the fight and it was only just now starting to bother me, but I didn’t let that distract me from the fact that we really didn’t know much about each other. For being together for six months, I didn’t even know the name of her parents, let alone if they were both alive or what their names were.

We had such a long way to go. But I was excited at the prospect of getting to know her even better.

“Well, I guess put the seat down on the toilet and sit down so I can get at this.”

“How dignified,” I retorted, still doing as she asked.

I made myself as comfortable as I could considering the situation and turned my face upwards. The cotton ball landed, and I let out a small hiss at the biting sting. The spike quickly faded, however, so I could just look up into her face and watch the emotions that spread across her beautiful features.

She carefully tended to my whole face, her concentration never wavering. She cleaned the bits of blood that the EMTs missed or didn’t have time to take care of, and butterfly bandaged the bigger splits that I had refused to let them stitch. We sat like that for nearly an hour, just quiet and in each other’s presence, and with each passing moment I was that much more certain that I absolutely loved this woman.

But the intensity of that feeling also scared me. It was so intense, so pure, that I couldn’t help but wonder if someone would come along and pop the perfect bubble that seemed to surround her.

I hoped not, because I was all in.