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“Son of a bitch!”
Rafe stood up so suddenly that his chair bolted out from behind him, hitting the people walking by. The man grumbled something, but they just continued walking. It was smart of the man, because Rafe was seeing red as he watched the man start to drag Ari away from the dance floor.
“What’s going on?” Shane asked as he placed his hand on Rafe’s shoulder, which nearly got him knocked out.
“She’s obviously drunk, passing out as they move and the bastard is taking advantage of her!”
With Shane right behind him, Rafe quickly made his way across the club and followed Ari and the stranger, coming up to them just in time to hear the man speaking to his pals.
“Hey, Chandler. Looks like you got another one. ”
“Damn! She’s smokin’. ”
“Yeah, if you liked the drugged out look. ”
The four men started laughing as Chandler sent them a knowing glance, then headed for the back door. Rafe was right behind him. He followed them to the parking lot and saw as the Chandler guy began leading Ari to some run-down house behind the club.
Over his dead body.
“I dialed the police. I don’t think this is the first time this creep has tried something like this. ” Rafe turned to see Shane right next to him as they approached Chandler and Ari.
“What in the hell do you think you’re doing?” Rafe thundered as he grabbed the guy’s arm.
“None of your damn business,” the man snapped as he tried to pick up his pace.
“From what I overheard your friends saying, it sounds to me like you drugged this woman and now plan on taking her to your drug house to rape her. ”
“Who in the hell are you? You don’t know what you’re talking about. This is my girlfriend. She just had too much to drink tonight and I’m taking her home to sleep it off. ”
“Listen, jackass, if I were you, I’d hightail it inside without the girl and hide because my friend is about to kick your ass all over this parking lot. I’m mighty inclined to give him a helping hand,” Shane said with a smile of anticipation.
The guy’s eyes were darting around as if afraid of getting caught. Rafe could see he was trying to decide whether to fight for his victim, or drop her and run like hell. Fear won out when he saw the fury in Rafe’s eyes, and the determination in Shane’s. He suddenly pushed Ari toward the two of them, then took off running to the shack.
Rafe caught Ari just before she hit the hard pavement, thinking for one moment of setting her down and going after the punk. When she groaned in his arms, he knew he wasn’t leaving her.
“I’ll keep an eye on the place, make sure he doesn’t run for it. You take care of her. Just give me a call later and let me know if she’s okay,” Shane said before he walked to the rickety steps of the house and leaned against the rail, intently watching the door.
“Ari? Ari, are you okay?” Rafe asked as he scooped her up into his arms and slightly shook her. Slowly, her eyes came open, and it was obvious her vision was blurred as she squinted up at him. It took several moments for her to focus on his face.
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“Rafe? When did you get here?”
Her hand came up and patted his cheek, her fingernails trailing down the side of his face before she smiled at him.
“Mmm, you smell good,” she slurred.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded. Her brows puckered as if she didn’t have any idea and it was a very difficult question for her to answer.
“I… I can’t remember. ”
“I’m taking you home!”
Rafe was furious. What was she doing at a club on a Friday? And how had she allowed herself to get into the position she was in? If it wasn’t for him being there, she’d be getting violated at that very moment. This was why she should just accept his generous offer. It seemed she wasn’t able to protect herself on her own.
He strode to his car and set her on the front seat where she quickly passed out again. With an angry turn of his wrist he pulled out his phone and sent Shane a message, to let him know the minute the guy was arrested. He wanted to make sure the scumbag was locked up for a while, and hopefully never able to do this to another woman.
Rafe started driving toward his home, then changed his mind. He’d never taken a woman there and he wasn’t going to start now. With a jerk of the wheel he turned down a side road and reversed the car, heading in the direction of her apartment.
When he pulled up to her address, his eyes narrowed in disgust. Why would someone choose to live in such a crappy location? She was being paid well at her job. She should’ve moved out by now. He knew she had expenses, but a safe place to live should’ve been at the top of her priority list.
Luckily, she was wearing a strappy purse which was still hanging around her neck. He searched it and found her key, then lifted her into his arms and carried her up the unstable staircase to the second landing, where he found her doorknob on the dark front porch. It took him a few tries before he managed to get the door open.
His disgust grew at her shabby, small living area which was sparsely furnished. He laid her down on the couch as there wasn’t a bed in sight, then picked up his cell phone and dialed his private physician. The respected doctor said he would be right over, though the man paused when Rafe listed the address.
Rafe would’ve paused too. While he waited for Dr. Malroy to arrive, he searched her tiny space, only taking a few minutes. Her fridge was pretty much empty, her cupboards bare, and her toiletries scarce. No wonder the woman was too skinny. She obviously didn’t know how to take care of herself. If anyone could benefit from being his mistress, it was her. She’d get a whole lot more out of their arrangement than he would. He couldn’t understand her repulsion to it.
At the very instant she agreed, he would move her into a beautiful condo, where she’d have plenty to eat and not have to worry about money – not even after he was done with her. He paid his mistresses a nice settlement when their services were no longer needed, making sure they were still taken care of long after he tired of them.
His second call was to his assistant who assured him he’d have her fridge and cupboards stalked within a couple of hours. Rafe wanted her to come to him – he just wasn’t going to leave her in her current conditions while he waited for the inevitable acceptance.
Rafe sighed in relief at the knock on her door. He opened it and let the doctor in, who raised his brows at Rafe in question. Rafe didn’t bother explaining, just led the man to the couch so he could examine Ari. It didn’t take Dr. Malroy long to diagnose the problem.
“I won’t know for sure until the tests are confirmed, but it looks to me like she received a dose of some kind of date rape drug. The person most likely slipped it in her drink, causing her exhaustion and hypnotic state. More often than not it causes an almost amnesiac effect, causing the victim to not remember anything from the night before. ”
Rafe’s rage rose to dangerous levels. That man who’d had her in his arms had drugged her and planned on doing who knew what with her, before dumping her somewhere where she wouldn’t remember a thing.
Once Rafe was done assuring himself Ari would be okay, he planned on making a visit to the would-be attacker. He had many friends at the police station who wouldn’t have any problem turning their backs while Rafe got one good punch in – maybe two or three.
“Does she need to be admitted at the hospital?”
“It doesn’t look like she got a dangerously high level, but you need to keep an eye on her for the rest of the night. If she looks to have any trouble breathing then you need to rush her to the E. R. , but they can’t really do any more than give her the same medications that I have with me. Some victims have been known to die from a bad reaction to the drugs, but she should be showing signs at this point. ”
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“I’ll take her there now.
”
“I don’t see any allergic reactions. Honestly, I think she’ll be fine. I’ve been your doctor for a long time, and I’ve never steered you wrong. If I felt there was a need for her to go in, I’d tell you. She just needs fluids and rest right now. ”
“If you think that’s what’s best, but if I get the slightest whim that she isn’t okay, I’ll rush her in. ” With reluctance, Rafe took the doctor’s advice and saw him out. Afterward, he settled in for a very long night.
Chapter Twelve
Ari woke up to a pounding drum percussion in her head. She tried peeking through narrow slits in her eyelids, but the pain wouldn’t allow even that much movement. Her body twitched on the bed and she felt aches move from her head all the way to the ends of her toes.
“Take this, Ari. It will help. ”
Ari froze at the sound of Rafe’s voice. What was he doing here? What was she doing in the same room as him? Where was she? For a moment, her mind was a complete blank, making the pain and panic escalate.
Searching her mind for the last thing she could remember was painful, but Ari tried to summon up her previous night’s memories. Slowly, through a thick veil of fog, memories started trickling back in.
She’d been at the bar with her friends. She knew she was drinking too much, but they were having a great time – laughing, flirting with the waiter, acting like any other twenty-three year old on a Friday night with no worries.
She wasn’t just a normal person, though. She had her mother to take care of, bills to pay, and stress beyond anything a single woman should be enduring. She’d just wanted one single night to not think about any of it. It seemed she wasn’t allowed even that.
No matter how much she searched her memory, she didn’t recall seeing Rafe anywhere at the bar. The very last thing she could remember was her friends encouraging her to dance with the waiter. She couldn’t even think of his name. Everything had started to go fuzzy.
“Come on, Ari. I’m going to sit you up now. I know you hurt at the moment, but if you take these pills you’ll start to feel better. I turned down the lights so you can open your eyes. ”
The next minute was filled with excruciating pain as she felt Rafe’s hands beneath her body as he helped her sit up. Nausea rose in her throat as sharp arrows of discomfort tore into her.
She felt the edge of a glass against her bottom lip and she automatically opened her mouth, feeling a small token of relief as the icy cold liquid slid down her throat. She felt Rafe’s callused finger against her bottom lip, and she once again opened as she felt him place a pill on her tongue. She swallowed it down when he pressed the glass against her lip again.
She wasn’t brave enough to open her eyes just yet. She’d wait until the pounding in her head settled down first.
Over the next several minutes, she concentrated on taking deep breaths in and out as she started to feel the effects from the magic pill. Her pounding head and excruciating body aches didn’t cease, but began to ease to a bearable level.
Eventually, Ari braved cracking her eyes open. The room was dim, but it didn’t take her long to spot Rafe sitting next to the bed in one of her rickety kitchen chairs.
She was stunned to find the sophisticated man in her apartment. She never would’ve thought that day would come. He was far too polished to hang out in the slums of San Francisco.
She struggled to focus her eyes on his face, becoming more surprised by what she saw. Rafe had at least a full day’s growth of stubble coating his normally smooth skin, and the circles under his eyes attested to the fact that it didn’t look like he’d been sleeping much. Her curiosity spiked to find out what had happened.
“I’m glad to see you finally awake. You’ve been semi-conscious the last few hours, but only enough to allow me to get some liquids in you and take you to the bathroom. I was beginning to think the doctor was wrong. You slept all night and day, and were going for night number two before you finally woke up. ”
“What happened? Doctor? What doctor? Why are you here with me?” Ari was again surprised by the hoarseness to her voice. She sounded like she hadn’t spoken in years.
“You were drugged at the club last night. I happened to be there and stopped the man before he carted you off to do unimaginable things with you. ”
Ari waited for him to continue. When he said nothing further, she turned her eyes back on him and looked into his anger filled eyes. Why was he so upset if she was the one who’d almost been raped? It wasn’t like she’d done it on purpose. It wasn’t like she’d asked him to step in and save her and then play doctor.
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As the two of them had a stare down, the reality of the situation set in. She’d come close to being raped. It seemed unreal – like it couldn’t be happening to her, as if she was looking through a window and watching the story happen to someone else.
Being sheltered had its positives, and one of those was thinking horrible things could never happen to you. Death, rape, suicide – all happened, but were so distant, the thought never occurred to her that she could ever be a victim. With her head still pounding, she pushed down the panic wanting to surface. The reality of the situation would most likely hit her soon, but for now it was much easier to not think about it.
“Wow. I guess you don’t mince words. ”
“I don’t see any point in beating around the bush. ”
“How long have I been unconscious?”
“It’s late Saturday night, so it’s been about twenty hours. You’re probably hungry. ”
“No. The thought of food is horrible. I’m fine now. I appreciate you looking out for me, but I can take care of myself. ”
“You’re far from fine, Ari. You were drugged and nearly raped. I’m not going anywhere right now. I’ll have food brought over. ”
Before Ari could say anything else, he stood and pulled out his phone and gracefully left the room as he dialed a phone number. She was still struggling to manage the pain invading her body as well as feeling too weak to argue with him. It wasn’t like he could cram the food down her throat. At least she didn’t think he’d take it that far.
With a groan, she shifted her legs over the side of the bed until she felt her toes touch the floor. Slowly standing on wobbly legs, Ari held on to the side of the bed until she was sure she wasn’t going to fall flat on her face. When the dizziness passed, she took a deep breath and cautiously made her way to the bathroom, firmly shutting the door behind her.
At Ari’s first look in the mirror – even in the crummy bathroom lighting – she nearly groaned again. Her hair looked as if rats had burrowed several nests inside – her face was as pale as a ghost, and she had reddish brown smudges beneath her eyes, really helping to accent her prominent cheekbones.
If she happened to walk by someone with the same appearance, she’d assume the person was dead. Hollywood couldn’t do a better make-up job. Using the last of her energy, she washed her face, rinsed her mouth out and ran a brush through her tangles. She wasn’t trying to impress Rafe, she just hoped that taking a bit of time with her appearance would make her feel slightly better.
By the time she opened the door, she was drained of what little energy she’d awoken with, but she did feel slightly more human.
Rafe had a low light burning in the corner where he’d set up his computer on a small desk that wasn’t hers. Then she noticed the new bedding covering her mattress. Come to think of it, her back wasn’t hurting like it should’ve been with her lying in bed for twenty hours.
There’s no way she could’ve slept on the lumpy second hand furniture for so long and not be feeling it in every vertebrae of her back. She slowly moved back to the bed and lifted the sheet, seeing a new mattress.
She didn’t know whether to be grateful or feel invaded. Shopping for a bed was a little too intimate for a stranger to do. She really didn’t want to be any more in Rafe’s debt than she already
felt after having him rescue her. She couldn’t afford to pay him back for whatever he’d spent, but she’d have to. She refused to have that hanging over her head.
She’d hold off for now because it seemed petty of her to snap at the man for providing her with a comfortable bed when she was ill. Paying him back wouldn’t be easy – he’d take it as a personal hit on his pride. She’d have to slip an anonymous envelope beneath his door or something like that. She didn’t need him to know she’d paid it back, she just needed to know, herself.
As Ari climbed back into bed and pulled the covers over her legs, there was a knock on the apartment door. The sound echoed inside her head, feeling like a set of bass drums playing an upbeat tempo. So much for her headache easing.
Being extremely gentle with movements, she lay back down and covered her head with one of the soft down pillows, hoping to block out the sound of the next attack on her thin wood door. Luckily, there wasn’t any more pounding. Soon though, delicious aromas drifted beneath the pillows, filling her nostrils.
After she heard muted sounds in her small kitchen, the smell of warm food became stronger as Rafe sat down next to her bed.
“Sit up for me, Ari. It’s time to eat something. I have soup and fresh bread. ”
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“I’m not hungry,” she said, not wanting to accept anything else from him. It was starting to get a bit ridiculous. She needed him to just go home.
Her stomach took that opportunity to growl loudly as if to make sure Rafe knew she was a liar – that she most certainly was hungry. She hadn’t realized how famished she was until the aromas from whatever had been delivered assaulted her.
“Come on, Ari. Sit up and eat your soup and bread,” Rafe said, an obvious smile in his tone.
She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of doing what he wanted, but her stomach decided to growl again, and she was too starved to play further games. With frustration and great effort, she tossed off the pillow and slowly propped herself up to a sitting position.
Rafe placed a tray across her lap and she practically drooled when she looked down at the bowl of soup and warm bread. Without further hesitation, Ari ripped off a piece of the soft bread and dipped it in the soup before lifting it to her lips and taking a bite.
