Saturday 'early' morning (I count 8 as early on weekends) I went for a long power walk. The only result I came to after my walk is-I'm not as fit as I think I'm. It plummeted my confidence, which was not much, to begin with. I wouldn't have felt this uncertainty if I was in form and doing fights regularly. I was thinking of a long shower as I climbed my stairs when I heard a crashing sound.
I raced towards the sound only to halt at what I saw.
' oh my God Richard, what happened? Are you ok? Can you walk? Here let me help you', I held his hand to lift him when I noticed his hand was covered in red dots. I checked his face to find some more red dots. Though they are a bit unusual. I never had chickenpox, maybe this is normal in such diseases.
' you touched me', he said in awe.
'of course, I would touch you. You are not feeling well. Are you feeling any hotness?' I put my hand on his forehead to check the temperature.
‘Yes, totally' he hitched.<
I grimaced already knowing the outcome.'Is there any way out of this?', I asked Kade, my eyes glued to my opponent. I prided myself on my Amazonian traits, but now I feel puny.'No', he replied casually.'Can I just step in and admit I give up?', my voice wistful to my ears.'No'.'You realize I'm coming out of that ring in a stretcher, right?''No'.'You are going to pay the bill for the hospital ', I said, not acknowledging his answer.'No'.'Remind me again why am I fighting?''No'.'You said you are not into illegal stuff anymore. What is this then? As far as I can see here, it not only squeaks illegal but also shouts’, I asked quoting his statement with my hands.'No comment''Are you going to answer with other than no or no comment?', I exaggerated my irritation.'No'.'Oh, come on, I'm about to get beaten here. At least try to motivate me. You know, all those prep t
'What? How is it possible? The police told''A bunch of lies', he completed for me.'Have you checked the post-mortem report? Have you seen your sister's body?''No, they said as there was no one to wait, they performed cremation', I said still in shock.'Doesn't it seem odd to you? Generally, in this type of case, a post-mortem is a must. For supposedly such a media-frenzied case to not put much attention in these details?''Why would they do that? How do you know any of this?', I asked him to try to wrap my head around this new information. There was never a point to doubt his statement because, if there was anyone I trust in the world, it would be Kade. It was Kade who helped me at my lowest, not my Sister and definitely not my mother. I never had time for friends or boys, the former because they don't like my attention(a girl with bruises and cheap dresses, I wonder what they thought I was doing, wince)and the latter's attention I don't want.
'Now, now you are going home', he said as a matter of fact.'Oh no no, we have to discuss the plan. Where to start, what to do, whom to find...'My rant was cut off by him saying, ‘which can be done tomorrow''But...'He didn’t answer in words, but his eyes shouted, 'not now'. Even though he rebukes, I'm not going to shut up that easily, 'but Kade...', I started pleading.'Not now kid. Tomorrow is soon enough', he interrupted.How could I go home quietly knowing somewhere out there a murderer is free? How to form my anguish into words, so that he would listen? I can't explain this failure that's choking me. Probably I should start digging without Kade. Yes, that's what I should do. But where to start?Who is powerful enough to hold the police department in his fist?Police department. Not a good idea to search the place which I should avoid at all costs. But that's all my brain can function after the Long day I had.
I took Kade's car while he followed on his Harley at a safe distance. We were connected through the call, checking at every signal for a possible tail.'Any prospect?', I asked while steering through another lane. My mind on the possibility of who might be following me? Right now, all I draw is a blank.'Take left. Don't speed up'.'What? You spotted one and didn’t tell me?', I shout at my phone.'Tone down. Just making sure before telling you. Lead up to Brooklyn bridge. And the kid takes as many turns as you can. We want him to be busy following you to check his mirror''Roger that captain'Let's dance, shall we?What followed next is me spinning my wheel at every turn taking time twice as long as it would normally take to reach the bridge.'Shit. He caught what's going on. Quick. Turn back. Black SUV. You are closer than me. Follow that car but kid, don't do anything. I'm serious. I'll be right behind you.''Got
I know I don't have time, but my curiosity got the better of me. I beeline to our seer, who knows it all aka Rose's office floor. Luckily, she is already at her desk, thank god for mercies.'Well, well, wonders never cease. Is it an apocalypse?', Rose asked.'Hey, I know I'm dodging you lately for drinks, what with all the work piling my desk. I will make time, soon. Now tell me what's with all the hype?''You mean you don't know? Tell me again where you work?'I gave her an eye roll and said, ' cut the dramatics. I'm squeezing the time as it is for this little chit chat'.'Wow, you sound like Raphael when you say like that'I mildly panic listening to that. Oh my god, I'm becoming his clone. Note to self-need to steer clear from him as much as possible.'Me? I'm nothing like that. He expects groveling sycophancy from employees. I'm way cooler than that'.'You know, sometimes the Raphael Sinclair you describe didn't mash with w
I was still on my rush from what transpired when I entered Raphael's office.'Are we giving interviews now?', Raphael asked with irritation.Just like that all my high is gone. 'I solved the crisis. I handled as best as I can without further damaging our sales. With the limited time that's all I could come up with', I responded sinking into the same mood he is in.'You could have just offered her the money she wants and done with it. Now the other channels are aligning for an interview. We are not running a talk show here', he gritted each word out.'But she asked half a million dollars', I gasped.He lifted his eyebrow implying, 'so?'The maddening quirk of his eyebrow. Oh, how I itched to pluck the stupid thing from his forehead. Seriously, if I saved half a million dollars of someone other than him, they would have been falling under my feet, ok at the least, grateful. But not Raphael Sinclair. He is irritated even for doing that. I wonde
Before I could say more his mouth crashed on mine. This is no sweet, gentle kiss. He kissed me hard, fast. He kissed like a man. All I could do was respond to the kiss. Our lips danced creating fireworks. As fast it started, it ended when we heard the tell-tale of the elevator sound. Anyone seeing us now could say that we are hardly composed. Our irregular breathing gives away the effect we had on each other.Still not breaking eye contact Raphael said, 'I'll drop you''There is no need for that', I weakly protested not yet recovered from the kiss.He just gave me the look; you know with the whole eyebrow thing (someday I'm going to learn it)I sighed and followed him to his car. Not so surprisingly the ride was filled with sexual tension. I was so strung with an awareness that I couldn't speak a single word even if I tried. Very soon we reached my place.Raphael stopped the car, but didn’t move to open the lock. His gaze was in my neighborho
I don't know what it feels like to be on the top of Mount Everest. I don't know the rush you feel when you do bungee jumping from the tallest point. You get the gist. I'm not a poet, not even close, but being with Rafa made me feel things that are very new to me. Euphoric. I'm not the first virgin to spout nonsense about a guy after losing virginity to him. But this is not about sex. It's the care with which he handled it. Other than Kade, Rafa is the first one to show care for me. Rafa is the one to NOTICE me. I may be good looking but no one cared enough to get past the skin deep. Before it was only Kade, and now Rafa. Both are attractive, but with Rafa, we have this weird connection full of sexual tension hanging between us, it's...explosive. It's like I can pinpoint his exact location in a crowd. THAT explosive.This was the nonsense dwelling in my mind when I opened my eyes to gaze into his eyes. We are both naked (obvious), tangled, each in their own thoughts.'I