“What happened? Doctor? What doctor? Why are you here with me?” Ari was again surprised by the hoarseness to her voice. She sounded like she hadn’t spoken in years.
“You were drugged at the club last night. I happened to be there and stopped the man before he carted you off to do unimaginable things with you.”
Ari waited for him to continue. When he said nothing further, she turned her eyes back on him and looked into his anger filled eyes. Why was he so upset if she was the one who’d almost been raped? It wasn’t like she’d done it on purpose. It wasn’t like she’d asked him to step in and save her and then play doctor.
As the two of them had a stare down, the reality of the situation set in. She’d come close to being raped. It seemed unreal – like it couldn’t be happening to her, as if she was looking through a window and watching the story happen to someone else.
Being sheltered had its positives, and one of those was thinking horrible things could never happen to you. Death, rape, suicide – all happened, but were so distant, the thought never occurred to her that she could ever be a victim. With her head still pounding, she pushed down the panic wanting to surface. The reality of the situation would most likely hit her soon, but for now it was much easier to not think about it.
“Wow. I guess you don’t mince words.”
“I don’t see any point in beating around the bush.”
“How long have I been unconscious?”
“It’s late Saturday night, so it’s been about twenty hours. You’re probably hungry.”
“No. The thought of food is horrible. I’m fine now. I appreciate you looking out for me, but I can take care of myself.”
“You’re far from fine, Ari. You were drugged and nearly raped. I’m not going anywhere right now. I’ll have food brought over.”
Before Ari could say anything else, he stood and pulled out his phone and gracefully left the room as he dialed a phone number. She was still struggling to manage the pain invading her body as well as feeling too weak to argue with him. It wasn’t like he could cram the food down her throat. At least she didn’t think he’d take it that far.
With a groan, she shifted her legs over the side of the bed until she felt her toes touch the floor. Slowly standing on wobbly legs, Ari held on to the side of the bed until she was sure she wasn’t going to fall flat on her face. When the dizziness passed, she took a deep breath and cautiously made her way to the bathroom, firmly shutting the door behind her.
At Ari’s first look in the mirror – even in the crummy bathroom lighting – she nearly groaned again. Her hair looked as if rats had burrowed several nests inside – her face was as pale as a ghost, and she had reddish brown smudges beneath her eyes, really helping to accent her prominent cheekbones.
If she happened to walk by someone with the same appearance, she’d assume the person was dead. Hollywood couldn’t do a better make-up job. Using the last of her energy, she washed her face, rinsed her mouth out and ran a brush through her tangles. She wasn’t trying to impress Rafe, she just hoped that taking a bit of time with her appearance would make her feel slightly better.
By the time she opened the door, she was drained of what little energy she’d awoken with, but she did feel slightly more human.
Rafe had a low light burning in the corner where he’d set up his computer on a small desk that wasn’t hers. Then she noticed the new bedding covering her mattress. Come to think of it, her back wasn’t hurting like it should’ve been with her lying in bed for twenty hours.
There’s no way she could’ve slept on the lumpy second hand furniture for so long and not be feeling it in every vertebrae of her back. She slowly moved back to the bed and lifted the sheet, seeing a new mattress.
She didn’t know whether to be grateful or feel invaded. Shopping for a bed was a little too intimate for a stranger to do. She really didn’t want to be any more in Rafe’s debt than she already felt after having him rescue her. She couldn’t afford to pay him back for whatever he’d spent, but she’d have to. She refused to have that hanging over her head.
She’d hold off for now because it seemed petty of her to snap at the man for providing her with a comfortable bed when she was ill. Paying him back wouldn’t be easy – he’d take it as a personal hit on his pride. She’d have to slip an anonymous envelope beneath his door or something like that. She didn’t need him to know she’d paid it back, she just needed to know, herself.
As Ari climbed back into bed and pulled the covers over her legs, there was a knock on the apartment door. The sound echoed inside her head, feeling like a set of bass drums playing an upbeat tempo. So much for her headache easing.
Being extremely gentle with movements, she lay back down and covered her head with one of the soft down pillows, hoping to block out the sound of the next attack on her thin wood door. Luckily, there wasn’t any more pounding. Soon though, delicious aromas drifted beneath the pillows, filling her nostrils.
After she heard muted sounds in her small kitchen, the smell of warm food became stronger as Rafe sat down next to her bed.
“Sit up for me, Ari. It’s time to eat something. I have soup and fresh bread.”
“I’m not hungry,” she said, not wanting to accept anything else from him. It was starting to get a bit ridiculous. She needed him to just go home.
Her stomach took that opportunity to growl loudly as if to make sure Rafe knew she was a liar – that she most certainly was hungry. She hadn’t realized how famished she was until the aromas from whatever had been delivered assaulted her.
“Come on, Ari. Sit up and eat your soup and bread,” Rafe said, an obvious smile in his tone.
She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of doing what he wanted, but her stomach decided to growl again, and she was too starved to play further games. With frustration and great effort, she tossed off the pillow and slowly propped herself up to a sitting position.
Rafe placed a tray across her lap and she practically drooled when she looked down at the bowl of soup and warm bread. Without further hesitation, Ari ripped off a piece of the soft bread and dipped it in the soup before lifting it to her lips and taking a bite.
Her taste buds exploded as she carefully swallowed and then dove further into her meal, appeasing her hunger. When she cleared everything from the tray, she realized her head wasn’t pounding at all anymore, though exhaustion was quickly consuming her. She didn’t care. She could sleep a while longer, and when she woke, it would be a new day with hopefully no pain, and definitely no Rafe.