The Protector 2

Chapter One-11

To say that I slept better last night, is not exactly right, but at least I didn’t wake up in the morning with the urge to smash something to pieces. I conquer the jealous prick that is inside me, and offer Raven to solve her internet problem. The house has a safe, coded, irretraceable network that we use to communicate with the outside world. The system blocks every other server, which is why she hasn’t been able to use her mobile. It suited me just fine, but things have changed since yesterday. I mean, the thought that Raven uses her device connected to the network to get in touch with that Johnny guy, still makes me sick, to say the least, but I want to trust her. I can’t change what she did before, I can only hope that she didn’t reveal our location with her little action.

“Mac will put your mobile on the coded network and then you can go onto the internet. The availability only works in the house. While you only use that, there’s no danger,” I explain, and she nods obediently.

I try to strike a friendly, relaxed tone with her, but it’s really hard. This situation is unnatural between us, because I’ve never considered her as just a friend. I do have some female friends, but I’ve always wanted more from Raven, and it never changed in me. I’m unable to concentrate; no matter what I do, I keep seeing her in front of me. If it goes on like this, I will go completely insane. Even now, I’m standing right behind her, while Mac fiddles with her phone, although I don’t really have a reason to act so irrationally. Worry and jealousy are clawing at me – with that damn jealousy that once already caused our destruction.

Since we stopped nagging each other, the mood is better in the house. Raven is in better spirits than before, she carries on with the boys, cooks with Rita, and is much friendlier with me as well. I swear I don’t know what’s worse. When she kept giving me a hard time or the present state of things, when she dishes out the food for me at lunch. I wanted to bang my head against the wall when we were washing up the dishes together in the kithen, after dinner. Our arms touched, Raven stirred, and looked at me like long ago, when she was mine, when she still loved me. And that ruined me on the spot.

Plus, she’s started doing those damn sexy yoga positions with Rita, but I’m sure it’s just to finish me. I’m past my horny teenage days, but to hell with it, I feel exactly the same near her. At times like this, I choose to escape from the house and see to the posts, triple-checking on everything, and wait in the cool air until the situation gets normal in my boxers.

Mac is asleep upstairs, Gunner is doing his push-ups on the living room floor. Raven and Rita are discussing dinner plans in the pantry. I, with a book in my hand, read on the sofa. Or rather, I’m trying to read, because, instead of concentrating on the book, my eyes constantly wander over to the kitchen. Tilting my head, I stare at Raven trying to reach a higher shelf to take something down. As her body makes a vault and she pushes her butt out a little, with her head held up at an angle, I can almost picture my hand pulling her head back, gripping her hair, as she holds her back against my belly and her lovely butt is teasing my front.

I’m brooding over how much the Bertone boys will enjoy castrating me, when the alarm that is connected to the outer sensors, makes a sound on the laptop. The alarm takes me back from my musings in a second. I jump with a start, my brain clears up the moment Gunner and I look at one another. We’ve tested the system several times, and it’s for damn sure that the alarm will only switch on if the sensor gets movement. Somebody or something is approaching the house. The women also turn their head in the direction of the noise. Raven stares at the laptop with puzzlement, then blinks at me questioningly. I have already explained to her how the alarm system works, and we’ve also discussed what she has to do in a critical situation. Yet, she’s standing there as if in shock. At light speed, I jump over to her, and pull her down to the floor by her wrist. I hold her face between my palms, and leaning close to her, I talk to her clearly and with articulation. My voice is firm but calm.

“Now you will go up into your room. You will take the bulletproof vest from under the bed and put it on. I’ve shown you how. You know how it works, right?” I look straight into her eyes. She numbly nods. “I want to hear it, Rae!” I repeat with emphasis.

“Yes,” she squeezes out the word. “I know how to do it.”

“Great. Then you will take your backpack, and you’ll sit on the floor, waiting for Rita or I to come get you. You won’t leave the room alone. Got it?”

She nods again, then gulps, and quickly adds, out loud: “I got it.”

I reach behind and take the 9mm from the belt of my jeans. Turning back, I signal to Gunner, who is standing flat against the wall, with a TEC-9 semi automatic in his hand.

“All clear upstairs,” comes Mac’s voice from the stairs.

Raven’s eyes dart between the three of us with amazement. I can read the question from her face, but she also voices it.

“How the hell…?”

I know she’s referring to the weapon arsenal that changed the peace and quiet of the afternoon to a battlefield in the course of a few seconds. She hasn’t seen us in action yet, and it’s a fact that in the recent days we were both preoccupied by our own issue, the clarifying of misunderstandings and fighting with our own selves. We’ve almost forgotten why we are actually at this faraway place. Somebody, or some people are seeking to take Raven’s life, and this fact yanks me back to reality with cruel brutality.

I press my finger over her mouth. This is no time for questions.

“You can go now. Do exactly as we said,” I order her, and point my chin in the stairs’ direction. As she’s not making an immediate move, but blinks at me with uncertainty, I reassuringly squeeze her hand. “Now, Bella.”

Raven

I’m sitting on the floor in a bulletproof vest, leaning my back against the bed. Folding my arms around my pulled-up knees, I clutch the backpack, and listen silently. I’ve done exactly as Rafe told me to. I don’t think I’ve ever been such an obedient little girl in my life, but I’m so freaked, I don’t even think about questioning his orders. I know that Rita is waiting in front of the bedroom, because she did call in just before, but I have no idea what’s going on inside the living room downstairs, or around the house. I don’t hear any noises of shooting or struggling up here. I could take it as a good sign, but every moment the thought stresses me that the others might be getting hurt.

I saw how Rafe was staring earlier, from behind his book, drooling over me, without even making an effort to pretend not to undress me with his eyes. I swear I felt almost naked as the pervasive blue eyes were on me. That’s why I was so surprised when in the twinkling of an eye, he practically turned into a professional bodyguard. He was like a highly concentrated war machine. He was radiating determination, awareness, and acted in my place when I was paralyzed by fear. No matter how big our conflict was in the past, I’m sure I wouldn’t be safer with anybody else than with him. If there’s a chance at all that I will survive this horror, it will only be thanks to Rafe Harlan. I can already see why my uncle selected him.

I hate to sit here in such a helpless state. In my head, I’ve already run through all the fatal scenarios about what might be going on downstairs, but I can’t get myself to leave the room. After what seems like an eternity – which actually wasn’t much longer than a few minutes – the door finally opens and Rafe’s broad shoulders fill the frame. For a few seconds we just stare at one another quietly, then he reaches out a hand and pulls me up from the floor. I stand in front of him with shaky knees, ready for the worst, but Rafe speaks with a soft voice.

“Everything is okay, Rae. You don’t need to be afraid.”

“What happened?” I ask, cautiously peeking past his shoulder.

“Mac has seen the video footage. It was a fox walking past the sensor. That’s what triggered the alarm.”

“A fox?”

“Yes,” he nods, pulling a face. “At least we know that the system is working. Gunner will still take a walk around, to check on the posts around the house, but there’s nothing to worry about.”

I drop the backpack beside me, and look up at him, in despair.

“Hell. I almost crapped myself.”

“You behaved fantastically. Seriously. I’m proud of you,” he mumbles.

I couldn’t say which one of us moves first, the one thing I know is that in the next moment I find myself tight against his chest. His arms hold me possessively, and I grab the shirt on his back with ten fingers. The tension slowly eases inside me as he gently strokes my back and soothingly whispers into my hair. The former determined soldier is gone; it has been replaced by a passionate man who provides comfort and safety. Dangerously similar to the boy I fell head over heels in love with at university.

Mac has downloaded a low-budget horror movie onto the laptop, so it’s a movie night tonight. We all settle onto the sofa with our feet on the coffee table, and we’re eating popcorn. I look at us, and think that if the reason which has brought us together wasn’t so absurd, we could be just a normal group of friends, spending a nice evening together. Regardless of the 9mm guns in the men’s belts, of course, and the semi-automatic, lying under the coffee table.

At first, Mac and I sit next to each other, but as soon as Rafe shows up, he immediately squeezes himself between us. I try to oppress a smile, while Rita and Gunner don’t even make an effort to conceal their reaction; they look at one another and roll their eyes at Rafe’s move. I like Mac, but I’m sure he will have realized by now that I am Rafe’s soft spot, so he only treats me like a friend. Yet, Rafe never leaves me alone with him for a moment, and keeps breathing down our necks when we speak to each other. As my shoulder touches Rafe’s, I already know that he has made a bad decision sitting next to me. I have no idea how I will survive the two-hour film with a sane mind so close to him. Heat radiates from his body, and I can clearly sense the tension in it. Our feet sometimes rub against one another on the table, our thighs stick together, sending exciting, lustful waves through me. I try to conceal the excitement that his closeness triggers in me, and I don’t even want to guess why Rafe is clutching the little cushion against his lap the whole time through. And the film doesn’t really help, either. It’s just about a few teenagers wandering the forest at night with only a torch, as a result of a daring game; but I swear, I’m near enough to peeing myself. Rita is far from being a coward, yet, even she screams out a few times, especially when the guys kid her on a little. I don’t know what it is, it could be that my nerves are pretty tense anyway, but at the scene where a little girl disappears inside a dilapidated house and a pale child’s face materializes right in front of her, I shout and bury my face in my palm. The boys laugh loudly, and Rita throws a few popcorns at me, reminding me that I shouldn’t freak out, it’s just a stupid movie. And this comes from a woman whose shrill scream almost tore my eardrum a minute ago. When I finally dare look between my fingers, I feel Rafe’s eyes on me. He stares at me, and his mouth forms a sexy smile. When I smile back and drop my arm down by my side, Rafe’s hand slides over to mine, and he gently locks our fingers together. I close my eyes and a quiet sigh breaks from me, this time with pleasure. His touch does miracles to me, it sooths me and fills me with heat at the same time. My stomach is shaking as if no man has ever lain a hand on me before. From this moment, I’m not getting any of the movie – which is probably not a problem – I only feel him, he’s the one controlling my senses.