Page 82 of Blood Revealed

Shakily, Nicola and Carmen begin pedaling. I mean, it’s not too shaky for Nicola, but she doesn’t have someone riding on her handlebars.

The sun feels delicious shining down on us. I never had this, this carefree young fun, wind blowing through my hair, just hanging with the girls. I miss my friends and miss my family. I need to go home. But I will miss this too.

It doesn’t take us too long to make it to Halfway. Instead of going directly into the bar, we lean our bikes against the outdoor brick of the grocery store and walk inside to wait.

I look at the time on the clock on the wall behind the cashier. Where is Raif? I hate it that I’m conditioned now to always expect the worst. I hope that with time, I’ll lose that unattractive trait.

When I see a van pull up, and not a Harley, my stomach clenches. Vans are what women get shoved into when they’re being kidnapped. Well, unless your kidnapper is Escalante, and you get shoved into the back of a high-class black Escalade.

I only have to see the back of his head poking out of the driver side of the van, before I ever see the rest of his body, to know that’s my Raif. My Blood. My husband. And my heart swells. Before he even has the door shut fully, I run from inside the store and across the street. Raif turns around just in time to catch me as I leap into his arms, wrapping my arms and my legs around his shoulders and waist, peppering his face with kisses, not giving him any time to respond. He holds on to my bottom so I don’t slip down and falls back against the van.

“Baby,” he whispers. “Fuck, Han, it’s over baby. It’s over. I got you now and that motherfucker’s never going to bother you again, I promise you. Promise.”

I lower my legs to stand on the ground, pressing my cheek to his chest in order to hear and feel his heart beating and just know that he’s alive and he’s well and he’s here and he’s come to take me home.

Blue rounds the van. “Hey, Han,” he says. “Boy, are you a sight for sore eyes.”

“Blue.” I cry his name in my raspy voice. “Blue,” I say again, tearing myself momentarily from Raif’s arms to give Blue his hug. That, however, doesn’t go down well with my husband, and Blue hardly has a chance to return the hug before I’m tugged back into Raif’s arms.

“Uh-uh,” Raif says. “Mine.”

I laugh.

“Where’re these women I’m supposed to meet?” Blue asks.

I step back from Raif to point over to the store. “Over there.”

That’s when Raif grabs ahold of my face, gently turning it to take in the full picture. “What the fuck happened to you?” He, with soft touches, traces all the bruising. “This why you don’t sound like you?”

I nod, tears filling my eyes.

“He hurt you.” It’s a statement, not a question.

“Not in that way, but yes, he hurt me. Although, this”—I circle my face and my neck with my hand—“isn’t from Escalante. There was another man. I don’t want to talk about it now. I’ll tell you because you need to know and you deserve to know, but please don’t make me relive it right now.”

Raif’s response is to kiss me. Soft and sweet. Full of passion and love. So much love. As his lips move over mine, despite the thousands of kisses he’s given me over the years, I know I’ll never forget this one. It goes on until Blue clears his throat.

“Hate to break this up, but the women? I need to help them and you all got a plane to catch.”

“Yes,” I say. I lead the men across the street to the grocery store. Nicola and Carmen step out from the protection of the building. “Ladies, this is my husband, Raif.” I hold up his hand in mine so they know which man I’m referring to. “And this is Blue.” I point to him, but they can figure it out, as there’re only two men standing with me.

When Carmen’s and Blue’s eyes meet, I swear I see fireworks. But, like Crass with Brighton, if he chooses to go there, if she lets him go there, he’s going to have a lot of work on his hands.

“What would you like to ask to get to know me, to trust that I’m only here to help these women get home?” Blue asks.

While Carmen can’t tear her eyes away from Blue, and there’s a look of awe and confusion—like she can’t believe what she’s thinking or feeling or seeing—she says nothing. Nicola, on the other hand, must see what the rest of us are seeing because she smiles and says, “I think I trust you already. But if you hurt one of these women, I will kill you.”

“We gotta get going, baby,” Raif says. I blink, waking myself up from the trance of seeing these two wonderful people meet for the first time.

“Nicola, if I thought it would do me any good, I’d beg you to come with me back to Thornbriar. It’ll hurt to say goodbye, even though I know you have to stay, why you have to stay. But what about you, Carmen?” I stop to wipe the tears from my face. “We could set you up back home, give you a good life from here on out.”

“Thank you,” she says, reaching over to take my hand. She squeezes it. “But I still have work to do here first.”

I lean in to hug my friend goodbye, hugging her tightly, fiercely, so she believes that I love her and will welcome her if she ever shows her face in Thornbriar. Then I move to Nicola. We hold each other in an even stronger embrace. The bond formed between us, that can never be broken.

As I start to pull back, she whispers in my ear, “I think you’ll be seeing Carmen sooner than you expect.”

20.

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