Page 42 of Protected from Malice
The LED lights from the security lights flickering as I cross underneath them, reflecting off the droplets of rain collecting on my coat.
My thoughts were distracted that night. I’d just had a breakthrough in my research, and my mind was brimming with the implications. Of the lives that could be saved if it actually worked.
“I wasn’t paying as much attention as I should have,” I admit as I lower my gaze to my lap. “I had my flashlight, and the parking lot had lights… I’d made the trip plenty of times before without any problem.”
In a low, strained tone, Rafe asks, “But?”
“You remember my old apartment complex. With those big parking lots.” Rafe had visited with Indy a few times; they’d walked across that very lotwithme, in fact.
He nods. “I do.”
Pressure builds behind my eyes. My nose stings. The air feels like it’s being sucked out of the room, leaving me light-headed.
“I’d had a really good day at work. So I was thinking about that. But I should have waited until I got home. I should have been more alert.”
I steal a side glance at Rafe. His features are hard. Dark. Like they could be carved from stone.
“I was halfway across the parking lot when I heard the footsteps,” I whisper. My throat is too tight to speak louder. “At first, I told myself it was nothing. Just another person who lived there. Until…”
My heartbeat thunders so loudly I can barely hear myself say the rest. “Until the footsteps started to move faster. Like they were running.”
Rafe grits out a low,“Fuck.”
“I started to jog. Not running, because there was still this part of me that insisted it was nothing. Even as I considered it, I thought—how embarrassing if it’s just a neighbor. Just someone coming back from the gym, wanting to get one last burst of exercise in. Or it was someone trying to get out of the rain.” I stop. “It was raining. No. Misting. It was cold and damp. And the asphalt was getting slick…”
An unintelligible growl rumbles beside me.
I don’t dare look at him again. Not now.
After what feels like an eternity of silence, I force myself to continue. “By the time I decided to run, it was too late. He was right there. Behind me. And—” My voice catches. “He tackled me. Knocked me to the ground.”
“Fuck.”It’s rough. Pained.
“I didn’t have my taser back then. And the pepper spray was still in my purse. So stupid, I know. I should have?—”
“No.” Rafe’s hand squeezes mine. “No. You shouldn’t have—fuck.Fuck.”
The heat of his anger thaws some of the ice slinking through me. Makes it easier to get through the rest of it. “I tried to get away. Tried to call for help. But… I couldn’t. He… He was just too strong.”
“Eden.”
Rafe turns to me. His expression is sheer agony. In a low tone, he asks—no, pleads, “Tell me it’s not true.Please.”
“He—” Tears leak down my cheeks. My throat feels raw. Like every word is a shard of glass torn from it. “He raped me. I couldn’t stop him.”
After I say it, it feels like the world comes to a stop.
Time loses all meaning.
Everything inside me feels like it’s been carved out.
But.
It also feels like I’ve lanced a long-infected wound. A wound that two years of counseling still hasn’t completely healed.
Rafe lets out an agonized sound.
He gets up from the bed. Crosses the distance to the window in several long steps.
