I have the craziest urge to throw my arms around him, but because I know my Raaf will only misunderstand it as pity, I take a deep breath instead and ask in a fairly casual voice, "How about we just start over?"
The words do nothing to soften the taut lines of his beautiful face, but I tell myself to just keep going and smile determinedly at him. "Hi there." I put my hand out, and keep it out, too...until he finally takes my hand, and a teary smile wobbles to my lips. "I'm Sara," I tell him shakily. "I'm told I speak like I'm Martha Stewart's grandmother, and I have incurable fantasies about being kidnapped and forced against my will." I look at him expectantly. "And you are?"
His lip curls. "Fuck no."
"Please?"
"Goddammit, Sara."
I feel my lip start to tremble, and I quickly bite down so that he doesn't think I'm planning to sway him with my tears.
"Fuck."
I stare at him in dismay. What did I do?
"You win," he says grimly.
Seriously now - what did I do, really?
"Hello."
He says the word so harshly it might as well be an F-bomb, and I have to quickly swallow back a laugh.
"I'm Raaf."
And now he's saying it like he feels like throwing up, and I can no longer help it.
"I was once part of a cult—-"
I'm laughing so hard I can barely breathe. How can I not when someone as perfect as my Raaf is suddenly speaking in a voice that resembles a sick, old frog?
"And it fucked me up good, to the point that just hearing his woman laugh makes him want to punish her."
I laugh again, thinking he's joking, but when he only smiles at me, I no longer feel like laughing at all.
"It makes me want to force her to do the unthinkable—-"
It's that voice.
His...his bogeyman voice, and I can feel myself pale.
"Like making her take care of another man's needs."
I whimper in fear, and then I whimper again when I see his lips slowly curve into a smirk.
He has to be lying...right?
I open my mouth to ask him this, but he takes this as a cue I want to be kissed, and the moment his tongue enters mine, I realize that yes, I do want to be kissed. Which of course leads to other parts of my body being kissed, and other parts of his body kissing my body in other ways.
We make love again, and I lose count of how many times he makes me cum as the skies outside the lounge turn a deep shade of orange before darkening into the colors of a starless night. The only time we stop touching each other is when Raaf remembers to feed us dinner, but then after that he carries me to my room, and it starts all over again.
I don't want this night to end, but my eyes keep drooping, and I can feel Raaf smiling against my hair as he pulls me close and tucks my head under his chin.
"Sleep, my dove," I think I heard him whisper. "You have a long day tomorrow."
The Start of Classes
The shrill scream of an alarm clock wakes me up the next day, and I abruptly sit up, more startled than uneasy. A time check reveals that it's still five in the morning, and I can't think of any reason why my kidnapper-turned-lover would want me up so awfully early. I've never been a morning person...oh.
My fingers encounter something as I turn the alarm clock off, and my heart drops to my stomach when I flip the clock around. There's a sticky note taped to its back, and I'm almost tempted to just not read it.
But because I also know I'd just be delaying the inevitable—-
Phone in the drawer. Make your one call count.
It's not exactly what I feared, but it's just as bad, and my chest feels tight all at once, my hands cold and clammy. I now remember sleepily telling Raaf last night that I'm worried about Father, and though he didn't say anything at that time, I'm presuming this is his answer.
An old Nokia phone slides out when I pull the drawer open, and I have to drag oxygen into my lungs just to keep breathing. I tell myself that it will be all okay, but by the time Father's phone starts ringing on the other end, the speed in which my heart is racing would put bullet trains to shame.
I am nervous and petrified of how this call will turn out, but the moment Father answers the phone with a frantic-sounding 'Sara', a strange sense of calmness settles over me, and I think...I think it's my heart recognizing that if I say just one wrong thing—-
One wrong thing is all it takes.
It would completely destroy the first man I've loved.