He did something to my body. He shut my senses down. And he erased Alex.
When he pulled back, he shook his head at me. “Keep the fuck up.”
He turned, moving fast, and I was blinking, not sure what the hell had just happened. Rafe was going to be the death of me.
If Alex didn’t get there first.
Eventually, when we must have been miles from the main part of the school, Rafe opened a door. It was partially hidden, completely nondescript, and I wouldn’t have noticed it at all before Rafe opened it and stepped through. I followed him to a single set of rickety stairs made of wood, ancient-looking wood that I was afraid would cave in under his mammoth weight. But they didn’t, apparently sturdier than they looked.
My gaze was all but glued to his ass as he ascended ahead of me, and I had to swallow a few times to keep the moisture in my mouth. I mean, I’d always been attracted to the prickly fuck, but now it was an almost tangible thing I could taste in the air.
And feel in my vag. That bitch knew him intimately now and she wanted more.
“You taking me up here to throw me off?” I half-joked when the stairs went on and on. I hadn’t been to a second floor anywhere here yet, so this was clearly one of the towers I’d seen when I’d first been driven up to the school.
“Don’t tempt me,” he muttered.
I shut up after that, enjoying the burn of my thighs as we continued to climb. I’d been neglecting my training way too much since coming here, and my fitness was suffering. I needed to get back into it—at least start jogging again.
The stairs leveled out and we stepped into a room. Though a single room, it was large and sparse. There were two couches, a small fridge, a stylish, eggshell colored rug, an unlit fireplace, and the most incredible view I had ever seen. In my life.
Windows spanned one entire side, and it faced out onto what looked like a picturesque Swiss postcard with snow-capped mountains, trees, and nature as far as I could see.
“This is my spot. If you come here without me, I’ll kick your ass,” Rafe said, crossing his arms. “But you looked like you needed a minute.”
I hated that he’d seen that vulnerable moment with Alex.
“Yeah, something like that,” I murmured, pressing my hands to the glass.
Rafe remained silent at my back, and for some reason, I didn’t mind him being there. The pain in my shoulders had died down, the blood no longer spilling, and for a second I forgot what had caused my injury in the first place.
It wasn’t often that Rafe and I were alone with no distractions and an almost calming quiet around us. In the time I’d known him over the past months, we’d fought a lot, but I’d also noticed the way he could just exist with his own thoughts. No need to fill the silence.
That’s where we were at this moment. Existing. Who would have fucking thought this would ever happen?
“Tell me your story,” he said, and I felt almost offended that he’d broken our silence.
I wasn’t surprised by the question though. I felt the same way about him. Fallen Angel fascinated me, and no one could fight like that without a lot of training. I wanted to know his story too, but as always, Rafe wanted me to be the one to give first.
This time I would—he’d caught me in a vulnerable position.
“It was my third foster home,” I said softly, not staring at him because I wouldn’t get through the story if I did. “I was eight, I think… or maybe a little older. It wasn’t like any of my birthdays were celebrated. I have more or less guessed my age for most of my life.” Derisive laughter left me, but it really didn’t hurt any more. I’d been given a new birthdate the day I was taken into care, one which placed me over eighteen now. That was good enough.
“When I first saw them, I thought they were the prettiest people in the world. All-American, my social worker called them. A true couple of God.” Another forced laugh. “You know the type, both blond, tanned, with smiling blue eyes and lips. In hindsight, if I’d met them after this weekend, I’d have known they were evil incarnate from the first glance... Fuckers looked just like Alex.”
A rumble sounded from the huge mountain of a dude beside me, and I finally turned to see him. Rafe was studying his hands, long tanned fingers clenched slightly. Most people wouldn’t have even known he was upset, but I’d studied him enough to notice when he was working through some emotion.
“What happened?” he pushed his voice into a husky drawl. That caught my attention more than anything because he was never relaxed in his words. He snapped them out, one by one, and sometimes they physically hurt as they landed.
This was the calm before the storm.
“The mother, her name was Gayle, she wanted a perfect blonde doll to dress up and parade about the town. She called me sweetheart and hugged one arm around me when people approached, and then we’d stand there for what felt like hours while everyone gushed over how amazing they were. They talked about me like I wasn’t even there, but I didn’t care. No one had ever called me sweetheart, and I loved it.”
I had no idea why I was giving him the slow buildup, but I desperately needed one person to know everything that had happened, everything that almost broke me. To understand why I was back in that fucking room again, even now.
“The first month passed in a blur of happiness, and I was so stupidly naïve that I missed the darkness brewing in the wings.” I took a moment and forced the next words out. “I broke her lamp.”
The silence felt both tense and confused, but Rafe didn’t push again. He let me find the words myself.
