Page 81 of Raine

Raine

The days go by in a blur, my body wrapped around Gabe’s at any given chance. It’s like we’re teenagers and can’t get enough of each other, not to mention, I feel like a little girl on fucking Christmas, I’m that happy. The drugs are fading from my system, and I’m starting to feel… normal — well as normal as I could ever feel.

Yet I know we can’t stay like this forever, life needs to go on, but I want to be selfish a little longer before I shatter the glass bubble we’re both parading around in.

Gabe wraps his arm around me on the swing chair outside that we’re sitting on, and I nestle in, curling my hand around his waist while we watch the waves crash onto the shore.

He takes a sip of wine and places the glass back down. “I know we haven’t spoken about it since I’ve been here, and I know it’s a little late, but I have been tested, and all my results were negative.”

I hum, realizing I hadn’t even thought about it, which is so unlike me because I always used protection except with Arrow. The thought of him has my chest caving and pain stabbing at my heart like a piece of bloodied meat. I haven’t seen him in what feels like forever, and he hasn’t responded to the message I sent him either.

Fuck I miss him.

Attempting to shake him from my mind, and failing, I reply, “Me too, and I’m on birth control.”

We sit there in silence, and I come to realize that I, in fact, don’t know much about the man sitting beside me. Turning in his arms, I face him and he looks at me.

“Tell me about you.”

“What do you want to know?”

“I don’t know. We haven’t really spoken much and I don’t really know what you do or who you are…” I trail off, and he smirks at me.

“Bit late to be backtracking, little girl, wouldn’t you say?”

I roll my eyes. “Come on, stop being an asshole.”

He chuckles loudly and throws his head back and I watch his Adam’s apple bob with the laughter. When he tips his head back up, he twirls a piece of hair behind my ears, and I lean into his touch.

“There isn’t much to tell. I’m forty-one, a successful businessman and I enjoy all types of kink.”

I swat his hand away playfully, causing him to chuckle again. “What?”

“What do you do for work?”

“I’m not a good man, Raine. I’m dangerous to most, but not to you.”

“That doesn’t answer my question, and ditto.”

“Oh, I know who you are, Raine, and I have no doubt you would fuck me up if need be, but you won’t ever have to.”

A memory resurfaces, and I remember how Acheron reacted when he saw Gabe at Clandestine Moments and then with me after.

“How do you know Acheron?”

“Ah, perceptive. I’m in the gun trade, Raine, but I also run a successful shipping container business too.”

The pieces start slotting together, and I draw my own conclusion. “You’ve done business with Acheron, with the Tartarus Mafia.”

“I have.”

“Why does Acheron hate you?”

“Acheron hates everyone,” he counters, and I smile at that.

“He’s just misunderstood.”

He takes another sip of wine and offers me my glass. “If you say so, girly.”