Page 81 of Raine
Raine
The days go by in a blur, my body wrapped around Gabe’s at any given chance. It’s like we’re teenagers and can’t get enough of each other, not to mention, I feel like a little girl on fucking Christmas, I’m that happy. The drugs are fading from my system, and I’m starting to feel… normal — well as normal as I could ever feel.
Yet I know we can’t stay like this forever, life needs to go on, but I want to be selfish a little longer before I shatter the glass bubble we’re both parading around in.
Gabe wraps his arm around me on the swing chair outside that we’re sitting on, and I nestle in, curling my hand around his waist while we watch the waves crash onto the shore.
He takes a sip of wine and places the glass back down. “I know we haven’t spoken about it since I’ve been here, and I know it’s a little late, but I have been tested, and all my results were negative.”
I hum, realizing I hadn’t even thought about it, which is so unlike me because I always used protection except with Arrow. The thought of him has my chest caving and pain stabbing at my heart like a piece of bloodied meat. I haven’t seen him in what feels like forever, and he hasn’t responded to the message I sent him either.
Fuck I miss him.
Attempting to shake him from my mind, and failing, I reply, “Me too, and I’m on birth control.”
We sit there in silence, and I come to realize that I, in fact, don’t know much about the man sitting beside me. Turning in his arms, I face him and he looks at me.
“Tell me about you.”
“What do you want to know?”
“I don’t know. We haven’t really spoken much and I don’t really know what you do or who you are…” I trail off, and he smirks at me.
“Bit late to be backtracking, little girl, wouldn’t you say?”
I roll my eyes. “Come on, stop being an asshole.”
He chuckles loudly and throws his head back and I watch his Adam’s apple bob with the laughter. When he tips his head back up, he twirls a piece of hair behind my ears, and I lean into his touch.
“There isn’t much to tell. I’m forty-one, a successful businessman and I enjoy all types of kink.”
I swat his hand away playfully, causing him to chuckle again. “What?”
“What do you do for work?”
“I’m not a good man, Raine. I’m dangerous to most, but not to you.”
“That doesn’t answer my question, and ditto.”
“Oh, I know who you are, Raine, and I have no doubt you would fuck me up if need be, but you won’t ever have to.”
A memory resurfaces, and I remember how Acheron reacted when he saw Gabe at Clandestine Moments and then with me after.
“How do you know Acheron?”
“Ah, perceptive. I’m in the gun trade, Raine, but I also run a successful shipping container business too.”
The pieces start slotting together, and I draw my own conclusion. “You’ve done business with Acheron, with the Tartarus Mafia.”
“I have.”
“Why does Acheron hate you?”
“Acheron hates everyone,” he counters, and I smile at that.
“He’s just misunderstood.”
He takes another sip of wine and offers me my glass. “If you say so, girly.”
