The Race For A New Life

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Rae was walking in the courtyard of the hotel that they were staying at. Humming to herself, she suddenly felt like she wasn’t alone anymore. Looking around to find who was with her, Rae got grabbed from behind and pulled into the shadows. A hand went over her mouth to prevent her from screaming. As she struggled with whoever had her, Rae saw Graham was inside the hotel. She knew that she needed to get his attention somehow. But before she was able to do anything else, she was spun around and was met with lustful lips. Pushing away from her assailant, a look of shock went across her face seeing who it was. “M-Matt!”, she whimpered. His grip tightened around her, “Hey baby girl, you ready to go?” Rae started to shake her head, “Please! Please Matt, I don’t want this! Any of this!” Matt cupped her cheek with his hand, “I know that you don’t want it. But in time you will see that I do love you and that you love me. Now, we are going to start walking towards my car. Okay? Nice, easy and quiet.” Rae reluctantly nodded as he put his arm around her. As they left the hotel courtyard, Rae looked back to see if Graham was still there. He was nowhere in sight. She silently prayed that he saw her leave with Matt.

As they walked a couple blocks from the hotel, Matt kept whispering little praises and reassurances in her ear. When she saw his car coming up, Rae tried to pull away from him. But Matt tugged her back to him with a force that made her lose her breath. “Now, now baby girl. Don’t start fighting just yet. You need to save that for later”, he said as he winked at her. Struggling against his strong frame, Rae gasped for air as he kissed the crown of her head. Giving him a look of disgust in return, she luckily heard something behind them. “No, I don’t think so”, she then murmured. He arched an eyebrow at her, “Oh really? What makes you think that?” Rae quickly looked over her shoulder and then looked back at him with a smirk. “Because we are not alone”, she said calmly. Giving her a questioning look, Matt turned to where she had just looked at.

Immediately Rae got out of Matt’s embrace just as Graham punched him across his face. She moved a few feet away as to not be in the fray of the fight. Meanwhile, Graham and Matt were exchanging blows to each other. Rae then heard a jiggling noise from somewhere as Graham tackled Matt to the ground. Matt then put out a knife from his boot. But as he was about to stab at Graham, his wrist was grabbed by John. Confused by what had happened, Matt was suddenly flipped onto his stomach. John then proceeds to handcuff Matt and lift him up. “It’s all over, Matt. It’s all over”, he said as he took Matt away to be processed.

Graham then walked Rae back towards the hotel as he held her hand in his. “Are you okay, beautiful? Did he hurt you at all?”, he asked. She tightened her hold on his arm, “Yeah, I’m okay. Actually, I’m really good now, baby.” He bent his head to kiss the crown of her head. “That’s good”, he murmured. After a few more feet she asked, “How did you know that I was gone?” He let go of her hand and moved his arm around her waist and pulled her close to him. “Well first of all, I saw you and him leave the courtyard. So, I went and got my dad before following you. Second, I actually put a tracker on your phone”, he said as he tapped the back pocket of her jeans where the phone was. Rae looked at him wide-eyed, “But I thought that you didn’t see me. I didn’t see you when Matt took me.” Graham stopped walking and turned Rae to face him. “Of course, I did, baby! And honestly, I was scared to death of losing you. Especially seeing you walk off with him. My heart just couldn’t take it”, he said. Rae then cupped his face with both of her hands and kissed him whole heartedly. “You won’t lose me! You’ll never lose me! I’m here, Graham! Thanks to you and your parents, it’s over! It’s all over!”, she said. Graham wrapped his arms around and held her there for as long as he could.

The next morning before the race could continue, Rae and Graham were in a conference room with his parents and police officials. They gave the information and input about what had happened the night before. After signing several documents, they finally made their way to the vehicles. Both of them were very happy about the whole Matt thing being behind them. Especially Graham, because now nothing could stop his relationship with Rae.

The rest of race was a success. There were no problems with weather or traffic that day. All the drivers were able to make across the finish line before dark thankfully. Grace and Lacy came in second place. Darren and Rae took third place. While Graham and William came in fifth.

Back at the Holmes residence after the race, Graham found Rae lounging around the pool. He saw that she was deep in thought about something. After picking up a bottle of champagne and two glasses, he made his way towards her. Hearing his footsteps get closer, Rae turned to look at him. “Hey baby”, she said with a small smile. “Hey, beautiful! Are you okay? You seem to being thinking about something”, he said before kissing the top of her head and sitting down next to her. She waved a hand at him, “I’m fine. Just thinking about what’s going to happen now. You know, after the stuff with Matt and the race.” Popping the champagne bottle and filling the glasses, he gazed thoughtfully at her. “Well, I have some ideas of what might happen. But those are for another time. Besides, we just got done with a stressful race this year. So how about we just relax for a bit before we do any serious stuff, okay?”, he said as he handed her a glass. Rae took the glass and slowly took a sip, “Okay, sounds good.”

Rae couldn’t help but think what Graham had said. She knew that he wanted to wait to talk about stuff and relax, but she needed to know something. “So, … your ideas for another time. Do they require me changing anything of importance? You know, job wise or location wise?”, she asked as she lifted up an eyebrow in an inquiring way. Graham sighed and dropped his head before looking at Rae. “You really don’t have any patience, do you?”, he asked, not really surprised. Rae shrugged at him, “I can’t help it. I like to plan things ahead of time. Come on! Just one hint, please!” Graham leaned in and kissed her forehead. “Nope. You’re just going to have to wait and find out, beautiful. But I can promise that it will be worth it”, he replied. Rae frowned at his answer, but decided not to press any further.

A few weeks after the race, Graham took Rae on that small trip that he had planned. “Babe, where are we going?”, Rae asked. Graham looked over at her from the driver’s seat, “It’s a surprise, beautiful.” All that she could do was arch an eyebrow at him. “Do you trust me?”, he asked. She slowly and reluctantly nodded, “Unfortunately.” He smiled as he grabbed her hand, bringing it to his lips to kiss it. She gave him a smirk in response to the kiss before looking back out the passenger window.