"I'm sorry to wake you, but you should have something to eat before you get back to class."
I'm confused at first, then stunned, then mortified. I can't believe I dozed off in the middle of making love (or is it more accurate to say I fell asleep shortly after?), not to mention the fact that I also forgot I still had an afternoon's worth of classes to attend.
I quickly reach for my laptop, and I'm about to open it when Raaf suddenly snaps, "Wait!"
He walks back to me, and I feel myself turn red from head to toe when he gently cups my breast...before popping it back inside my dress. He pulls away, and I can only smile weakly. "Thank you?"
He actually smiles back, and just as I start to think that he's in his dreamy mood, he then says quite pleasantly, "No need to thank me, my dove. It's not like I won't punish you for it."
I stand corrected. He's still a nightmare, but because I have slightly bigger problems on my plate...
I turn my attention back to my laptop and open it while Raaf walks back to take his discarded shirt from the couch. Is he actually going to be nice enough to put it on so he'd be less of a distraction and—-oh?
Raaf has plunged his shirt into the dipping pool, but then the alarm I've set on my laptop goes off at that moment, and my gaze darts back to my laptop screen. I should still have five minutes left before classes start, and...oh...my...god.
Melanie: OMG
Rachel: I don't think she knows we can still hear them!
Boyd: What a slut.
Ann: Uh news flash, dude. Did you see the guy she's with? Any girl would be a slut for a guy like that.
Melanie: And he has a yacht!
Rachel: I don't think it's real. I think it's just another fake background. But like something she paid a lot for. Because it looks super real.
KC: Who cares if it's real or not? Don't you guys hear her? If I had the money, I'd give him a yacht to do me like that!
Nolan: I can fuck you like that.
KC: Let's be real. You can't.
Ann: I can't believe they're still going at it hard.
Rachel: Viagra.
Melanie: OMG she's coming
Nolan: She sounds fucking hot
KC: Did you hear that? HE'S GOING TO PUNISH HER. SOMEONE GIVE ME A MILLION DOLLARS SO I CAN PAY HIM TO PUNISH ME, TOO.
My first instinct is to shut the laptop when I reach the last of their messages, but a shadow falls over me before I can make up my mind, and I look up just in time to see Raaf crouching down—-
A squeak escapes me, and then I squeak again when I realize the sound I made has betrayed my presence. Everyone in class knows I'm back online now, and—-
Oh. My. God.
Raaf starts cleaning me down there using his discarded shirt, and though his every stroke makes my flesh tingle anew, all I can do is grip the edges of the table and keep my face blank while everyone's eyes are still on me.
The rest of the day is thankfully uneventful, but once in a while I'd catch my Raaf staring at me, and it's the same bleakness that's haunting his gaze.
You almost scare me, I remember him saying once, and I suddenly can't get the words out of my mind. Isn't that the silliest thing? Doesn't he know that it's captives like me who have reason to fear our captors, and not the other way around?
The Cold Storage
Monsters were not normal.
And Raaf was okay with that.
But what he was absolutely not okay about was the way his Sara made him feel normal in spite of being one.
It had been a piece of cake to forge her signature on the necessary paperwork, and by mailing it with a gift to the tune of thousands of dollars, Ivy Creek High's principal had been more than happy to accommodate what should have been an impossible transfer request.
Although his actions had been partly motivated by his own desire to see her graduate high school with the rest of her class, which he knew she rightly deserved, a more compelling reason behind his decision was to see if his Sara would finally be tempted to ask for help.
One of the earliest lessons he had learned in life was how dangerous it was to lie to one's self. He had seen what such lies had done to the woman he once believed was his mother and the blind fools that had followed her. He had sworn to himself never to follow in their footsteps, and that was probably why he was having such difficulty believing that his Sara was not too good to be true, and especially for one like him.
Today was her first day going back to class, and it meant hours of ample opportunity to alert someone about her situation. Since he had not restricted her access to the Internet in any way, she would have been able to send an SOS to anyone or even text 911.