Rapture (3 page)

~*~*~

By the time my father was out the door, I had long finished my steak dinner, but sat while Jamie picked around with the Crème Brule she had ordered—that she knew she was too full to eat.

“You and dad didn’t play so nice, did you, Hunter?”

“J, come on. He’s gone—”

“I felt it, Rush. I felt the tension when I got back. You know he loves you, right? He’s just not the best at showing it.”

“What I
know
is that he’s left the table, and my preference would be to not continue talking about his ass. I don’t really give a fuck if he loves me or not. He’s never shown it, so it doesn’t mean jack shit to me,” I shot.

“Come on, Rush. That’s not fair.”

“Jamie, keep it up and I’m out the door,” I warned.

“Okay, brother. I’ll stop,” she said, realizing that she was in over her head with both me and the dessert she was trying to force down. “Let’s head out. I need to get home to my man,” she smiled. “And you need to get home to whatever I’m sure is waiting for you.” She shook her head at me and rolled her eyes. “I’ll be so glad when you find somebody that I don’t have the urge to call a whore.”

After valet had given my sister her car and keys, and I’d locked her in, I then requested my own vehicle. Once inside, I allowed the CD changer to pick up where it left off on OneRepublic’s
Feel Again.
A little before nine, I turned down my street. I drove through the gates and up the sloped hill towards my house. I entered the garage, and sat for just a few seconds to release a few deep breaths before cutting the engine. The night was still semi-young, and although I had told my sister that I was taking a break from women, I was seriously considering making a call to a “friend” to release some of the tension in my neck that was caused by the run-in with my father. I wondered how it was that with every interaction I had with that man, I walked away completely depleted. Nobody’s supposed to feel like that about a parent, but I did. And now he was dropping cryptic messages about
fixing shit
, at Chaos, and having a
tighter rein
on people. I was confused. And who knows? Maybe that’s how he wanted it since he didn’t deem it important enough to say specifically what the fuck he was talking about.

I pulled out my phone and scrolled through the contact list for a few seconds, eventually stopping on Aubrey’s number. Just as I was about to press the call button, I changed my mind. I didn’t really feel like having an overnighter, and Aubrey always wanted to stick around long after. “Shit, fuck it.” I figured if the urge got to be too much, I could just beat my shit and settle for some temporary satisfaction. Maybe if I hadn’t been so distracted, I could’ve thought to just stop over her house
before
making it home.
Oh well
.

I finally exited my vehicle to avoid the internal ping pong debate I was engaged in, and quickly accessed my car alarm. Several yards away from my vehicle, as I was about to head inside, I remembered that my leather jacket was on the backseat and went back to grab it. I approached the passenger side, deactivated the alarm and opened the back door.

“
What…! The…! Fuck
?”

~
2
~

Alika

Oh shit
…!
Oh shit
…!
Oh shit!

The entire time I was in the backseat on the floor, I was panicking about what would happen if he found me. Then at the sight of the stranger’s face, my body rebelled and I started to tremble uncontrollably. I couldn’t believe that I had allowed myself to fall asleep! Once I heard the valet get in and start the car up, I knew that I was fucked, so I stayed put and hoped with everything in me that nobody would access the backseat. I had managed to encounter yet another situation, only this time I was feeling as though I might not make it out. There was no way I would get lucky twice in one night. My time was up. The guy was staring at me, and his gaze was one of confusion, coupled with anger, while mine rested solely in fear.

I felt a lump in my throat that made it increasingly difficult for me to swallow. All I could do was match the intent look that he was giving me. And as much as I didn’t want to, I couldn’t help but notice that he had sex appeal. Under the garage’s light, his hair was the color of dark java, with thick lashes and brows to match. He owned an athletic build, a finely trimmed goatee with a full beard, which surrounded a nice set of lips, and a head of hair so thick and wavy. If he allowed it to grow out, it would for sure have a deep wave pattern similar to that of Brody Jenner’s. Not that it was the time for me to be thinking about anything even closely related to how nice looking he was. That very thing was what had gotten me into this very place—in a stranger’s car with no way out.

“What the fuck is going on?” he asked angrily, his dark eyes bearing down on me. “Why the fuck are you doing in my car?
Did somebody send you here
?”

The tears started to flood my eye sockets once again. The shaking was so intense that my lips trembled, sending my teeth clacking rapidly against each other. I tried to keep the frenzy at bay by hugging myself with both of my hands, squeezing as tight as I could, but it provided minimal consolation.

“Please let me explain,” I begged, my voice trembling. I had no idea if he was up for explanations, or if he had already decided that he would have me arrested for breaking into his car, but giving him the details was all I had.

“Start explaining.
And quick
,” he demanded.

I slowly held my hands before me, palms outward, to show him that I didn’t pose any sort of threat, and asked, “Can I get out of the car, please? I know I have no right to ask for favors, but my legs are aching really badly. Once I’m out, I’ll explain
everything
.”

The truth of the matter was that I needed this man’s help. I had nobody, and I had nothing. He looked from my face to my hands, and then scanned me up and down before lowering his guard.

“Go ahead and get out of the car,” he ordered, slightly tossing his head to the side.

In an effort to straighten my legs, I felt a pain shoot up my calf, and then my thigh. “
Arrgghh
!” I squealed, as tears streamed down my cheeks. I rubbed my hand up and down, against the pained area. It took me a few seconds to regroup, and to gather my composure in a way that didn’t make me look like a struggling handicapped person. I rose from the space on the floor, and lifted myself on top of the seat, then reached down to where my heels were and slid them back on my feet. I then reached up to lift his seat, so that I could exit. When I stepped out, I made sure to close the door, but I reluctantly remained on my side of the vehicle. The look in his eyes wasn’t exactly a green light to proceed anywhere near where he stood. It was more,
Say what the fuck you have to say and be on your damn way before you meet a fate you didn’t count on
. I struggled through the numbness in my legs, then lifted my left leg and ran my palm downwards to ensure that they were actually still a part of my person, since I could barely feel them. I had to have been crouched for close to two hours.

“My name is Alika—Alika Collins. And I promise you I wasn’t sent by anyone,” I confessed, lowering my eyes from his surprisingly, patient gaze. “The truth is I ended up in your car…” I paused. I didn’t know how to present the rest of the story. For all I knew, I could have very well placed this man in accidental danger.

“You ended up in my car…what’s the rest?” he prodded.

“I-I-I…was running away from someone.” I looked at him in time to see his eyes widen.

“
Running from someone
, you said?”

“Yes,” I slowly responded, through light sniffles.

His eyes narrowed as though in his silence, he was examining me. “Wait…is that a bruise on your face…? Near your eye?” he asked, separating from his spot and walking towards me. “It is!” he said, once he was close enough to see my face. “Somebody hit you?”

At the same time that he made it to where I stood, I was able to see all of him—all six plus feet of him.
Wow
. I found myself wondering why he didn’t have anyone in his passenger seat. But then it dawned on me that his woman was probably already inside of his house, and I became even more uncomfortable than I was before.

“Yes, I mean, no. Not really.”

“What do you mean, not really? Either you were hit or you weren’t.”

I thought back to being slapped across the face when I first began to cry, and I choked up.

“I…uhh…was.”

“By who? Your man?” he asked, closing more space between us, as he examined other areas on my face.

My body tensed as he placed his finger below my chin, and carefully moved my face from left to right. He was the doctor and I was in his examining room in that moment. Suddenly, just like that, my defenses dropped. I felt no threat whatsoever, so I didn’t rebel in any kind of way. I allowed him to assess my damages—damages that I hadn’t yet seen myself.

“It wasn’t my man,” I answered, once again lowering my eyes in shame. “Uhhh…he was someone…” I paused for a few long moments. “…that I just met.”

“
Someone you just met
?” he sneered.

“Well…yes…something like that,” I responded, nervously. “I’ve known him for almost a year, but I met him in person, for the first time earlier this afternoon.”

“Okay…” he said, swiping his hand across his mustache, and then dragging down his beard. “I’m confused.”

“I know,” I responded, knowing full well why it was confusing. I was holding back. Although I knew that it wasn’t the time to be withholding information, I couldn’t help myself. I wasn’t proud of the actions that led me to my current predicament. In fact, if I had to admit it to myself, I was dumb as hell for chasing behind dick that I knew virtually nothing about. And pretty soon, because I needed this man to assist me, I would have to reveal my stupidity in its entirety.

“Alika, is it?” he asked, looking into my eyes as he stepped back a bit.

“Yes.”

“Okay. Well, my name is Rush, Alika. Come with me,” he signaled. “Let’s go inside for a bit so I can figure out how I can help you.”

I breathed a sigh of relief at the words, ‘
help you
.’ But I still remained in my spot, even after he began walking toward the entrance of his home from inside the large garage.

“You’re safe,” he assured me, when he realized that I hadn’t budged. “I’m not him, but I would like to know more about who he is, and who you are as well.” Then he halted in his spot, and threw his jacket over his shoulder, before reaching around to the back of his waist. “Here…” he said, brandishing a big black gun, cocking it, and then turning the butt towards me. “Take this. It’s ready to fire if you feel you’re in danger.”

It was weird because I went back and forth with my emotions about whether I was in danger or not. He seemed nice enough, but so had Curtis. As old as I was, it seemed I still had to figure out that people aren’t always who they appear to be. The fact that Rush was even carrying told me that he was a person who didn’t play. Every day people didn’t walk around with pistols on their person. But shit, every day people didn’t walk around meeting men on the internet and travelling across cities to meet them on some blind shit either.

“Take it…” he repeated in a soft tone.

I reluctantly took the gun from his hand and followed him into his home, where I was met with even more than I bargained for. Walking inside that door and down the Spanish-tiled corridor into a massive living room, I was more convinced than ever that he
had
to have a woman somewhere behind one of the many doors I saw. I was in awe as I looked around his spread of luxury, and trying my best not to gawk. I had only ever seen places like his on television. Since I had been on the floor in his backseat I didn’t get to see the type of neighborhood we’d driven up to, but if the interior of his home was any indication, I could only imagine! My eyes fell upon an area directly off the side of the living room, where I saw a huge illumination that looked lavender almost. Maybe even purple. “
Shit
”, I whispered beneath my breath. It was probably the prettiest thing I’d ever seen. It gave the appearance that it was inside of his living room, but I knew it wasn’t. It was just that he had obviously had a master glass cleaner to give the illusion that his swimming pool was sitting in that enormous living room.

He has to be some kind of celebrity or something
!
This is rich people shit
!

“Would you like something to drink?” he asked. “…Or something to eat?”

“I’m good,” I lied, as I took a seat on the plush, oversized midnight blue sofa. I was starving my ass off! I had never made it to get anything to eat, and so the last time I had any food in my stomach was earlier that morning before I boarded that flight-gone-wrong.

He tilted his head towards me. It was as if he knew I was lying. He shrugged his shoulders, and then took a seat across from me. “Are you gonna put that gun down now? Especially since you know that I don’t intend you any harm?”

“The fact that you have it on standby makes me doubt that,” I acknowledged, with a light chuckle. “But here you go,” I said, surrendering the weapon to him.

“I’m
licensed
to carry. The world’s a crazy place. If you didn’t know before, I’m sure you do now. But enough of the small talk. You started telling me something outside and now that you’re comfortably inside, I’m ready to hear the rest.”

I rubbed my hands together nervously and placed them across my lap, feeling as though I was standing in the corner observing myself. That’s how weird it all felt. I had never been on an adventure in my life, and what I was currently living in was certainly just that. I played everything out in my head trying to strategize how I would lay out the details, but then instinct prodded me to just get it out. I had already invaded enough of this man’s time and space. I cleared my throat and prepared to speak. But before I could: “Alika, you’re stalling. I’d do Q&A to make this easier for you, but I’m not interested in beating around any bushes.”

“I apologize. It’s just all so surreal to me, so having to explain it to a stranger, while hearing myself say the words aloud, is a bit embarrassing.”

“It’s cool. Just start talking. Fuck what it sounds like.”

He’s blunt, that’s for sure
. “Well, okay, so for starters, I’m not from out here. Honestly, I don’t know a soul.” I lowered my head. “I met him online, and I’ve been in contact with him for the past several months. A few months ago, he broached the subject of me coming to visit. The plan, according to him, was to see if I liked it, whether there was chemistry between us, and then possibly make the move for good.”

Rush leaned back and brushed his hand across his hair. He probably thought that he was inside of a movie on Lifetime Movie Network. Hell, it even felt like that to me.

“Wow. I don’t mean to sound fucked up, but what do you guys see to all that internet bullshit? What’s so bad about meeting someone the old-fashioned way and making shit happen that way? What’s with all this meeting online stuff? I just don’t get it.” He rose from his place on the sofa and made his way to a bar area that sat clear across the living room, and closer to that beautifully lit swimming pool. “Can I offer you something to drink?” he asked again. “Might help to take the edge off,” he suggested.

As tempted as it sounded, I had to tell him, “No thank you.” The last thing I needed was to be tipsy not knowing what my fate was gonna be. I needed to be fully alert.

I watched him grab a large bottle of Jack Daniels, then he commenced to pouring himself what looked like a double shot, and downing it before he returned to his seat. “Internet love, huh?” he remarked, sarcastically.

“Yeah, well, trust me…I won’t be doing it again. I just thought that it might work out. Meeting people can be so hard now. You don’t want anyone to just want you for the physical, the exterior; you want them to want you for the person. I was gullible; I’ll admit that.”

“Yeah, that was gullible, and stupid.”

I shot him a semi-daggered look in response to his stinging words, but then quickly reeled my attitude back in. Attitude wasn’t something I could afford to be in possession of. And especially not towards this person who had been so gracious as to invite me into his home.