“How many times did she tell you to stop? She never said when I asked. Had to be more than once.”
Porter grabbed Rafferty’s wrist. “Fuck you.”
“No, Porter. You got a lesson to learn. Any woman says ‘stop’—” Rafferty pulled him forward, then shoved him back against the wall, hard. “Youstop,the first fuckin’ time.”
Porter seethed at Rafferty. “Why the fuck do you care? Or are you gagging to be her first?”
Oh my God!
Mortification consumed me. I forced it aside, set the rolling pin on the counter, and sidled up to Rafferty. “Let him go. He isn’t worth it.”
Rafferty’s mahogany brown eyes glared at me. “No - but you’re worth everything to me, and making sure this fuck-up doesn’t treat another woman the same way is doing the right thing.”
I felt a sweeping sensation in my belly at those words.
Porter let go of Rafferty’s wrist and threw an uppercut at Rafferty’s jaw.
Rafferty dodged that one, too. Obviously, he’d learned some new techniques.
“Step back, Lex,” Rafferty said.
I took a step back and Rafferty let go of Porter with his right hand. Then he landed a vicious blow to Porter’s ribs.
Porter let out a gush of air.
Rafferty moved closer and put his forearm to Porter’s throat. “Hard to breathe yet, Porter?”
I bit my lip as I noticed my ex-boyfriend’s complexion turning more and more pink. Porter narrowed his eyes at Rafferty.
“You gonna touch another woman after she tells you to stop? Just nod if we’re clear?”
With his eyes still narrowed, Porter nodded.
“Good. Get the fuck out of here. Lex told you twice - that I heard - probably more. I won’t hesitate to kick your ass if you stick around.”
Rafferty dropped his arm and moved back so Porter couldn’t see me.
After the door closed, Rafferty crossed the room and locked the door. He turned around, giving me a hard stare. “He ever shows up again, don’t open the door to him.”
I crossed my arms on my chest. “I didn’t open the door to him, Raff. He didn’t even knock. From the doorbell camera footage, Ines got a box delivered and I went to grab it. Then he appeared in the doorway, so he must have been lying in wait for that.”
Raff narrowed his eyes at me. “He was just hanging out waiting for you to get a delivery?”
Then it hit me.
“No, he works part-time delivering packages. He routinely ran a route that included this complex. I’m speculating about this, but he probably had the ability to find out if me or Ines were getting an order. Hell, I’d have let the box sit on the doorstep until dinner if Ines hadn’t made such a big deal on Friday morning about ordering perfume. You probably don’t know this, but leaving a bottle of that stuff out in the heat ruins the fragrance.”
Raff’s lips set into a thin line, which brought my attention to his beard. He hadn’t shaved at my parents’ house, so his facial hair was much fuller. I wasn’t sure if it was because he looked older with the beard or if it was the way his face set in anger, but it gave him a ‘don’t-fuck-with-me’ vibe that I found irresistible.
“You have a final tomorrow, is that the only one?” he asked.
I shook my head. “I have one tomorrow, and two on Thursday.”
He turned up his hand, swinging it out between us in question. “What about Wednesday?”
I shrugged. “I’ll be studying, unless I need to assist one of the professors with something.”
His brows drew together. “You’re assisting professors?”
