White Raven

Chapter Seven: Friends

Ary had calmed down by the time she reached the outskirts of Chicago, but she still continued on her way to Rave's. She wasn't about to go back to Haven after the fight she just had with her mother. The bruise on her cheek was starting to turn a sickly shade of purple and it hurt every time she opened her mouth. It stood out against the darkness of the bruise.

It wasn't the worst injury she'd ever gotten, but it felt worse than anything she'd ever experienced. She felt a faint sense of betrayal at the thought of her mother striking her. They usually had outstanding screaming matches, but not once had her mother been even close to laying a hand on her. It made her heart tighten painfully in her chest.

She always thought she didn't care what her mom thought, but Juliana's accusations had really bothered her and now she couldn't help but to think about all the other awful things that people thought about her.

The consensus on why she disappeared for a year and a half was that she left with some guy and after he drained her of all her money, stole her truck, and successfully beat the crap out of her, she had to go crawling back home to her parents. The story had amused her at the time, but now it hurt to know that all of her friends and family thought that she was the type of person who would let a man control her life and beat her up.

That's why Rave bothered her so much. He was the exact type of guy everyone thought she ran away with and she refused to let everyone think of her as some gang-banger's punching bag. She would have loved nothing more than to put Rave Colt out of her life, but he was the only one who could get close enough to the Bloodbaths to keep Luke safe. He was also the only person she could turn to when she needed help.

Ary didn't have many friends. Zero to be exact. Her lack of friends wasn't all because of her disappearing act last year, although that did play an important role. No, she made herself a social outcast long before then, not that she had been a social butterfly to begin with.

As the little sister to Scarlett, the Prom Queen, and Maddie, the class President, everyone knew who Ary was. People greeted her in the hallways at school and invited her to parties every weekend, but there was only one person that Ary called her friend and that was Sophie Mitchell.

She and Sophie had been best friends since preschool when one of the boys had stolen Sophie's cookie and Ary took the cookie back and then proceeded to push the little boy into a mud puddle. After that the two of them were inseparable, and they stayed that way until the night they graduated high school.

Sophie was popular, especially with the guys, and she made it no secret that she liked to play around with them, regardless of if they were already in a relationship or not. Ary, on the other hand, only had her eyes set on one guy, and that was Nathan Ross. He wasn't the most popular guy in school, but he was sweet and charming, and Ary got flustered every time she was around him, which was not something that happened often.

Sophie knew since day one that Ary was into Nathan. She even helped Ary come up with a plan to finally tell Nathan that she liked him. The plan was set for the big party after their graduation. Ary was so excited that she actually put on a dress and makeup, and even let Sophie do her hair.

When the time finally came for her to make her move, Nathan was nowhere to be seen. After spending twenty minutes searching the house for him, she decided to look for Sophie instead, but she was gone too. Knowing Sophie, Ary began to search through the bedrooms upstairs.

After walking in on two very upset couples, Ary finally found Sophie, and she wasn't alone. Nathan was with her. They were sitting in the middle of the bed, making out when Ary walked in. They quickly pulled away from one another when they heard the door open, and that's when Ary saw that both of them were completely topless.

Ary glanced at Sophie, who just gave her a desperate look, before turning on her heels and running downstairs and out of the house. Sophie followed her, after putting her clothes back on, and tried to stop her. Ary was too upset to listen to anything Sophie had to say, so she just continued walking, and when Sophie caught up with her, she started to run. Sophie wasn't the most athletic person in the world and she had been wearing heels that night so she wasn't able to catch up with Ary.

For weeks after that, Sophie kept trying to apologize, but Ary ignored her. She was fed up with Sophie and her attitude. There were too many times that Sophie let her down. She couldn't even begin to count the number of times that Sophie made fun of her fashion sense, or the times that she had been left alone at a party because Sophie had hooked up with some guy. It was all too much to handle. After the summer was over, Ary went to school in Chicago and Sophie moved out to Colorado. They haven't spoken since then.

It was because of Sophie that Ary didn't bother to make friends in college. She and Sophie had been best friends for fourteen years and Sophie easily threw that away so she could f**k the only guy Ary ever showed any interest in. Ary didn't care to find out what a person she just met would do to betray her. It seemed like too much work to try and trust someone again, so she didn't.

It was nearly dark by the time Ary got to Rave's place. He wasn't home and she didn't know whether she was happy or upset about that. She should be happy. At least she'd get a few moments to calm down and relax before Rave kicked her out and she was forced to get a hotel room for the night. She could always go over to Maddie's, but then she'd have to explain about the bruise and she doubted that her sister would believe that their passive-aggressive mother would do something like that.

Ary parked the Jeep inside the warehouse. Although she was pretty sure the stench coming from it would make car thieves think twice about taking it, she didn't want to take any chances. It would be hard to explain to her uncle how she lost it after having it for less than twenty-four hours.

The first thing Ary did when she got upstairs was take a shower. Her hair was starting to look ratty and she was pretty sure that the dead raccoon smell was lingering on her body. She might not care that much about her appearance, but she didn't want people to be able to smell her from fifty feet away.

She showered quickly, fearing that Rave would come back any second. She didn't need him to catch her naked in his shower. She just washed off her body real fast and only soaked her honey brown hair with shampoo for about twenty seconds before she rinsed it out. The whole shower took less than two minutes. Then she quickly hopped out and wrapped an oversized towel around her body. She bent down and picked up her clothes. She couldn't put them back on. The scent of rotting raccoon flesh was too strong.

Ary poked her head out of the bathroom to make sure that Rave wasn't home yet. When she was safely satisfied that she was still alone, she ran into the bedroom and bolted into the closet. She didn't waste any time and quickly grabbed a pair of blue plaid boxer shorts and a gray t-shirt. Then she proceeded to sprint back to the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her and promptly locking it.

Even with the door locked, Ary didn't feel safe. She quickly dried off her body and pulled on Rave's clothes, but not before spraying her bra with Rave's body spray and putting it on. She didn't need to make it any easier for him to ogle her.

Once she was all dressed and had dried out her hair a bit, she grabbed her clothes and dirty towel and took them downstairs to throw them in the washer. It and the dryer were placed off to the side of the kitchen. From there, Ary proceeded to make herself some supper. Rave didn't have much of anything in the fridge or the cupboards, so she settled for a PB&J sandwich. It tasted delicious, but that was probably do to the fact that she hadn't had anything to eat since lunch and it was now after ten.

Even though she was pretty tired, Ary didn't want to go to sleep until Rave was home. She wasn't entirely sure that he would be willing to let her stay and she didn't need him making a move on her while she slept. All she needed to end her perfect day was to be sexually assaulted in her sleep.

It was nearing midnight by the time Ary heard the warehouse doors being opened and then the sound of a roaring engine reverberating through the open space. Her heart started to beat faster and she wished that her clothes were finished drying. She felt exposed wearing Rave's clothes, even though they were big enough to hide most of her curves. It still felt weird.

Ary was sitting at the kitchen table, with her back towards the elevator, when Rave stepped off. She glanced over her shoulder and the first thing she saw was the gun in his hands, pointed right at her. She started to panic. She didn't even think to grab something to defend herself.

The moment their eyes met, Rave relaxed and lowered the gun. "Damn it, Ary," he sighed, walking into the kitchen. He set the gun on one of the counters as he made his way to the fridge. "New ride?" he asked as he searched through the contents of his fridge.

"Yeah," was all Ary said. Rave had pulled a gun on her because he didn't recognized the vehicle downstairs. That should have made her feel relieved, but it didn't.

This was a bad idea. She should have just gone to a motel. Why would she ever think that she could stay at Rave's. It's not like they were friends or anything. Hell, they couldn't even have an entire conversation without attacking each other. She didn't need to fight with anyone right now.

"So, what's up? You finally decide you couldn't go another day without knowing what it felt like to have me inside you?" he laughed as he pulled out leftover pizza from the fridge.

"You wish," Ary chuckled, relaxing a bit. Rave seemed to be in a decent mood, for him at least. "Actually, I need a place to crash, at least for tonight," she told him. "And no, I will not be sleeping in your bed," she added.

"Your loss," Rave shrugged as he popped three pieces of pizza into the microwave. "So, why do you need to stay here? Did you and your boyfriend have a fight or something?"

"Something like that," Ary mumbled, thinking about her mother. Juliana hadn't even called her once to check on her. No one had called her. She didn't even know why she had a cell phone.

"Oh, so you and your boyfriend get into a fight and you come crawling to me? Well, sorry sweetheart, but-" His voice trailed off after he turned around to face her and finally caught sight of the hideous bruise on her left cheek. "What the hell happened!?"

"It's nothing," Ary sighed, lowering her head. She felt oddly embarrassed about letting Rave see her injury.

"Who did this to you?" Rave demanded.

"Why does it matter?" Ary asked, looking back up at him. His blue eyes were dark and he looked thoroughly pissed off.

"Was it that Lawson kid?" Rave asked. His hands were clenched into fists at his side.

"What?" Ary gave him an incredulous look.

"Answer me!" Rave growled. His body was shaking with anger and his expression was downright murderous.

"Why do you even care!" Ary shouted, jumping to her feet.

Here comes another fight that she didn't want.

"I don't care," he snapped. He glanced away from her for a moment before looking back at her. "I just don't understand why the f**k you would go through all this trouble for a little prick that knocks you around!"

"Luke didn't f*****g hit me!" Ary screamed at him. "And the reason I'm doing all this is because that little prick is my cousin and if I don't do something, he's going to wind up dead!" Ary had had enough. She swiped her keys and cell phone from the kitchen table and headed for the elevator.

"Ary!" Rave grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him.

"Don't touch me!" she snapped, wrenching her arm from his grip.

"I can't let you leave," Rave told her. The look he gave her was something she'd never seen from him before. It was almost caring.

"Why not?" she challenged, raising her chin.

"It'd be fiscally irresponsible of me to let my employer wander around this neighborhood so late at night, where she would surely get killed," He didn't smile, but she could tell from his tone that he was teasing her.

"How sweet," she replied, sarcastically.

"I'm even sweeter between the sheets," he grinned at her, flashing his pearly whites.

"I think I'd rather risk death than hear another cheesy line from you," Ary scowled at him. She didn't like that he was acting nice. It made her feel like he had something more devious planned.

"You'll give into me eventually. They always do." His smile turned seductive as he leaned down towards her.

"Seriously, not tonight," Ary sighed, putting a hand against his chest to hold him at bay. His nostrils flared and lust filled his eyes, but Ary didn't notice it because she had her eyes closed from the monster headache she had.

"Are you okay?" Rave asked, stepping back.

Ary dropped her arm to her side and glanced up at Rave. He seemed honestly concerned. That made her heart beat faster, but she quickly calmed herself down. Just because Rave was acting like a decent human being now didn't mean that it would last. She knew who he really was.

"I'm fine," she told him, her voice a little harsher than it needed to be.

"Okay," Rave nodded, understanding that she didn't want to talk about it. They stood there awkwardly for a few moments before Rave spoke again, "Uh, you can crash on the couch. I'm headed up to bed. Okay?"

"Yeah, sure" Ary responded, still feeling awkward.

"Good. Do you need some blankets or anything?" he asked as he backed away towards the spiral staircase that was at the far end of the living room.

"No. I brought some down earlier," she said, nodding towards the couch.

"Okay. I'll see ya later, then," Rave said, turning away from her as he neared the stairs.

"Rave?" Ary called out his name. He stopped and glanced back at her, eyebrow raised in question. "Thank you." She gave him a small smile before heading over to the couch.

Ary settled herself in and despite the millions of thoughts racing though her mind, she fell asleep almost as soon as she closed her eyes.

++++++++++++++++++

Rave took an icy shower as soon as he got upstairs. His heart was pounding in his chest and he knew it wasn't from the freezing water that sprayed his skin. It was from those two meaningless words that Ary had said to him and the way she said them.

He had to be losing his mind if he was getting so worked up about someone thanking him. He should have sent her on her way the moment he saw her sitting at his kitchen table, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. She looked sad and vulnerable, and sexy as hell in his clothes. He groaned, trying not to think about that.

It had relieved him to hear that Lucas was her cousin, but it also made him feel guilty about what he had done earlier. He knew that Lucas would never come right out and tell anyone what happened, but Ary was smart and it wouldn't take long for her to put two and two together.

After his shower, Rave pulled on a pair of black boxers and crawled into his King sized bed. He was exhausted, but he knew that sleep wouldn't come easily to him tonight. Not with Ary sleeping downstairs, wearing his clothes. He sighed and rubbed a hand across his face.

Why was she here in the first place? What happened to force Ary away from home? And who the hell put that ugly mark on her beautiful face? Anger boiled within Rave. He was going to kill the bastard that did that to her.