Saving Rain: The First Novel in The Rain Trilogy (5 page)

Raina is pulled from her fog when she hears voices, voices that comfort her.

Chase walks into the hospital room and hands Kas a grande coffee, a real coffee, not that putrid decaffeinated dishwater in the hospital waiting room. Kas takes a sip of his favorite blend and gives a grateful nod to Chase while he stands up and stretches his back.

“Any change?” Chase asks as he checks the stats on her vital signs.

“No,” Kas answers regretfully, “but she had a nightmare last night, a pretty bad one.”

Kas
is
here!
A
nightmare?
Am
I
dreaming?
Raina hears another voice, one she doesn’t recognize.

“Agent Pierce, if you would like to follow me, I need some additional information please.”

NO!
Don’t
go.
Don’t
leave
me
here
with
them!
Raina tries to scream for Kas to stay, but her voice sounds so far away, like a faint echo, as she manages to scratch out the word, “Don’t.”

Kas immediately stops and spins around, “Raina’s awake. I just heard her say something!” He rushes back to her side and looks at her hopefully while he runs his hand over her hair.

“Don’t go,” Raina manages to form the words and push them out through the fog, even though her mouth is dry and so hard to open.

“I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart,” Kas reassures her, smiling as relief rushes through him.

Sweetheart . . . Raina feels herself blush when she realizes that’s the second time Kas has called her sweetheart. No one, other than Judge, has ever called her that, and she likes how it sounds rolling off his tongue. She likes it too much.

Raina realizes that everything is dark, and her eyelids feel heavy. She tries to open her eyes, but the light is too bright, it’s so blinding that it hurts, so she closes them again. She doesn’t feel the burning pain of her father’s belt on her back anymore from the dream or memory she had. Shivering at the realization of how it had felt so real, she feels pain everywhere else now, real pain, she hurts so much. Raina tries to move, but the wires attached to various parts of her body stop her, as well as the aches and sharp stabs with her every movement. She focuses on the IVs and the machines, mentally pushing past the pain. She is adept at pushing past the pain.

“May I have some water, please?” Raina asks, her voice small and weak, infuriating her. She doesn’t want to ever be weak again.

Kas smiles even wider at her, and she feels a tingling warmth spread through her. It’s a welcome change from the pain, but it terrifies her at how strongly her body reacts to him, how it reacts in ways that she has never felt before. It’s like there’s an awakening deep inside, stirring feelings to life that she never knew existed before she met him. Raina feels the heat spread to her cheeks and to other parts of her. She tears her gaze away from his captivating smile before he can see what he does to her.

Thankfully, Kas also turns to pour her some water, and she fights to regain her composure before he turns back.
“
Here you go,” Kas whispers to her soothingly as he hands her the glass.

“
Thank you.” Raina tries to take a sip, but a pain shoots through her arm, and she almost spills the water before Kas wraps his hand around hers, taking the glass and slowly lifting it to her lips, so she can take a sip. She is embarrassed that Kas has to help her do something that should be so simple, but the kindness in his action sends a jolt to her battered heart.

“Are you okay?” Kas asks, concern edging his words at the sight of her cringe in pain. It doesn’t go unnoticed to him how Raina quickly recovers, composing herself, so she isn’t showing what she feels.

Raina nods her head slowly, focusing again on pushing back the pain, “I’m fine.”

Kas stares at her incredulously before running his finger gently down the side of her face, “Fine is not a word I would use to describe how you are at the moment, darlin’.”

Raina looks at Kas, overwhelmed by the kindness in his voice and the endearments he keeps bestowing on her while he touches her so gently. She sees something in his eyes, something vaguely familiar but so foreign at the same time. She can’t put her finger on it, but her thoughts are interrupted before she can investigate further.

Dr. Merrick enters the room and quickly checks her vitals before moving over to her bed and placing his hand lightly on her arm. “How are you feeling?” he asks in a voice that Raina assumes sounds like what a caring grandfather would sound like.

“
I’m fine,” Raina states simply, too quickly for both Kas’ and Dr. Merrick’s liking.

Dr. Merrick pulls up her eyelids and asks her to follow the light as he checks her responses. “Are you in pain?” he asks, studying her eyes.

Raina doesn’t want to admit anymore weakness, but she’s no idiot either. “Some,” she regretfully admits.

“
We can up your morphine again to help with the pain,” Dr. Merrick begins, but Raina shakes her head.

“Can I just have some aspirin, please?” The thought of heavy medication scares her. She has seen firsthand how a mind altering drug, or in her father’s case, alcohol, can change a person.

Dr. Merrick studies Raina, not convinced that she’s being totally honest about her level of pain but decides to follow her request for the time being and asks a nurse who just entered to get her some aspirin. “You took quite a beating, Miss Kapture, and you suffered some serious injuries. Thankfully, you were brought here in time to prevent further damage. You have some cranial swelling, and you had some internal bleeding, which we stopped, but I want to check on both. We need to run a few tests if you think you are up to it.”

Raina nods, and Kas gives her hand a gentle squeeze.

“I’ll wait a few minutes, so you can take your medicine, and then I will be back to run the tests. Once we get the results, we will see where to go from there,” Dr. Merrick explains, smiling kindly at her.

Raina returns Dr. Merrick’s smile and thanks him politely. Kas’ heart melts as he watches this beautiful woman, who has just been through hell on earth, smile despite all she has just been through.

CHAPTER FOUR

The next day brings more sunshine and unnaturally warm weather for this time of year. Raina awakens as the morning sunlight slowly creeps up over her face and into her eyes. She stretches gingerly, testing her body’s reaction to the pain, and she finds that it’s a bit more bearable than yesterday. Slowly rolling over, she winces as pain slices through her ribs. She continues to roll over, refusing to let the pain hinder her in any way.

A soft groan distracts her, and she notices Kas is asleep in the chair next to her. A warm feeling spreads through her when she realizes that he stayed the night with her again. She takes in the two day’s worth of stubble on his chin, and heat rushes through her at his rugged good looks. Even with the dark circles under his eyes, from his lack of sleep, he is the most breathtaking man she has ever seen, and the simmering heat spreads to places that frighten and intimidate her.

Raina greedily seizes the chance to gaze at Kas leisurely while he is asleep. She admires his symmetry, his masculine angular features. She notices how his nose has just the slightest of a crook, like it has been broken before, but it does nothing to diminish his ruggedly handsome good looks, if anything, it enhances them, she muses. Her breath hitches as her gaze lowers to his full lips, slightly parted in his sleep. Every ounce of her wants to lean over and press her lips to his, testing to see if they could possibly feel as good as she imagines they would. Raina inwardly scolds herself for entertaining such thoughts, the last thing she needs right now is to drool over some man.

She wants to keep her feelings, her emotions, far away from men. Raina knows all too well how lethally they can be twisted and broken and how she can be severely punished for showing them. Despite being in a hospital bed from the last reminder she was cruelly given about how she can’t trust to let her guard down, she can’t seem to pull herself away from admiring the manly specimen in front of her.

Raina’s gaze drifts to Kas’ strong jaw and down his reclined neck. A nagging guilt stabs at her, if she had just listened to him he wouldn’t be here, sleeping uncomfortably in a chair, and she wouldn’t be lying on a hospital bed. She chastises herself for not taking his and the dean’s advice to stay at the dean’s home for a few days while he was away.

Looking back, Raina can see the warning signs that she couldn’t or maybe even refused to let herself see before. With a strong wave of anger, she recalls the last month that she and Chris were together and how his possessiveness grew increasingly more threatening. It’s not as if she denied the warning signs because she loved Chris, no, there was no love there.

Raina thinks of how she had liked him, admired his intelligence, and what she had originally mistook as confidence. Chris’ charm is what got her to go out with him in the first place. He made her laugh, and she hadn’t laughed in so long. He was so persistent, and she had thought that sweet, never seeing the dangerous undertones of his persistence in the beginning. She regrets that she had finally relented, agreeing to go out with him one night after they had stayed late working in the computer lab.

Raina remembers how he had told her that he would ask her out everyday, until she finally gave in to his witty ways, and he had done just that, for nearly a week. He started out with small gestures of asking her to grab a coffee with him, to finally going all out and offering to take her to Italy, knowing that is the place she wants to visit most in the world. That’s when she had broken down in laughter at his charming outrageousness and agreed to go out with him, but only for coffee.

Coffee turned into lunch, and lunch turned into dinner, and before she knew it, they were seeing each other every day. Raina liked being with him, debating with him, he is brilliant, and she loved the challenge of his intellect, but she knew something was missing. When Chris kissed her, she felt, disappointedly, nothing . . . no sparks, no fireworks, not even the faintest ember. She had told him up front that their relationship would not be a physical one. She shared her desire to wait until marriage, and at first he was so noble and acted like a gentlemen, not pressing the issue.

Raina could tell the kisses meant more to him than to her, and she refused to lead him on. She had been as kindly honest as possible when she explained that she just wanted friendship and wasn’t ready for romance. Chris had obliged her wishes, at first.

It wasn’t long before things started getting tense between them if he saw her talking with another guy, no matter the innocence or the necessity of it. Her study groups involved mostly men, there was no way around not speaking with them, and she wasn’t about to stop just to appease Chris’ growing jealously.

Raina had spoken with Chris about his jealousy after he had verbally attacked her one night when she left the study group. She remembers the harshness of his voice as he accused her of sleeping with Seth, simply because he had touched her arm when he told her and the rest of them goodnight. The anger that burned in Chris’ eyes had frightened her, but it enraged her more. She was never again going to let anyone make her feel like she had done something wrong when she knew she hadn’t. They had their first argument that night, and it had ended with Chris apologizing and looking truly repentant for his rash accusation. She had forgiven him easily, too easily. She had never been apologized to before, and it floored her, skewing her good senses.

Raina had continued her friendship with Chris, she even agreed to try dating again, at his insistence on second chances. For a couple of weeks things were good between them, she still didn’t feel any sparks, but she wasn’t sure she was supposed to yet. She had never dated before, everything was so new to her, she wasn’t sure what to expect, not until she met Kas. When she first saw Kas, and he shook her hand, it was like a sharp jolt of electricity ignited when his hand touched hers.

When the dean had suggested her help to him, all of her senses were screaming at her to tell him no, but her treacherous lips had agreed. Raina knew she was in for trouble when Kas’ chocolate eyes bored into hers, and he had said, “
I
think
we’ll
make
a
great
team.”
It only took a few days working with Kas to know that she would never feel around Chris like she does with him, just from Kas walking into the room. Her heart would pound, and butterflies would take flight in her stomach as her usually adept verbal skills eluded her.

She had tried to talk with Chris again, to tell him that it just wasn’t working out between them, but he begged her to give it some time. In the end, she had relented. She continued to work with Kas and tried to douse any sparks that began to ignite when she was around him, but it was like throwing gasoline on a fire. She had no control over how she felt, and it scared her to the bone.

Kas never indicated that he felt the same, and she never, not once, acted on her feelings. Raina had several reasons keeping her from showing how she felt, but the most pressing at the time was her not wanting to hurt Chris. She decided to focus all of her attention in trying to develop feelings for Chris, but she was as much of a prisoner to her feelings of disinterest towards romance with Chris as she was to her body’s reactions when she saw or even thought of Kas.

Three nights ago, Raina had started to talk with Chris again, to tell him that it just wasn’t going to happen with them. She had tried to explain, telling him she was truly sorry, but he had become so angry and had grabbed her arm, interrupting her. His grasp was tight, bruising, as he had yelled at her, accusing her of sleeping with Kas. When he called her a slut, her own anger rioted, and she jerked her arm away from him. The tender speech she had heartbreakingly prepared to give Chris was replaced by her seething words, telling him it was over and demanding him to leave. The sting of his slap had caused her ears to ring.

Raina will never forget the look in his eyes, the rage that burned in them. Chris’ heated look was so similar but yet so different than the cold, menacing glare of her father. She didn’t think, just reacted, when she pushed him hard enough to cause him to stumble backwards. It caught them both off guard, which gave her time to grab the phone and dial 911. She could see the struggle going on inside of Chris. The rage was still there, that she was sure of, she could feel it radiating off of him, but common sense won, and he had left. As soon as he was out the door, she locked it and sat on her bed, holding the phone with trembling hands as the dispatcher told her to wait on the line until the police arrived.

Raina pushes the memories aside and sits up straight as she juts her jaw out in defiance. In the early quietness of the hospital room, she makes a vow to herself that she will not let her guard down again, the only witnesses to her pledge are the slow beep of the machines and Kas’ groan as he stirs, as if in protest to the promise she had just made herself.

Kas stretches and lets out a long yawn as he opens his eyes to see the most beautiful jade eyes staring back at him. “Good morning, sweetheart, how are you feeling?” he asks, his voice thick and deep from his half awakened state.

The blush that seems to take over every time he speaks to her brightens Raina’s cheeks, “I’m fine.”

“There you go with that word again,” Kas softly admonishes.

Raina wishes that she had a shower, or at least a comb, and she definitely wants to get her hands on that toothbrush the nurse had brought her last night. She cringes at what she must look like right now and self-consciously runs a hand over her hair, trying to tame it as much as possible. She is extremely thankful that she gets to leave the hospital today, but nervousness hits her square in the gut as she recalls the battle she lost about staying with Kas for a while. Bristling, she realizes that she is able to be on her own now, especially now that Chris is in jail and will not be granted bail, it would be hard, but she could do it if the doctor hadn’t refused to let her leave without knowing she would be under someone’s care. Kas had demanded that position, and then he and Chase had tagged team her straight into a corner, leaving her no other option. In the end, she had relented, simply too exhausted to argue anymore.

An hour later, Raina silently, but resentfully, allows the nurse to help her in the wheelchair and wheel her to the hospital exit, feeling humiliated and defeated by the attention. She desperately needs to stand on her own two feet again, without anyone’s help. Guilt seeps into the mixture of her self-demeaning thoughts as she inwardly struggles with the kindness they are bestowing on her. She knows they mean well, but the need to stand on her own latches onto her with such intensity it takes all of her self-restraint to keep her mouth shut and grin and bear it until the nurse finally stops the wheelchair.

If it wasn’t for the nagging pain that bites into her like an angry bulldog anytime she makes a sudden movement, Raina would jump out of the chair and sprint out of the exit. Instead, she forces a stoic smile and concentrates on making her face as emotionless as possible as she stands. She knows she has to start finding her strength again so she can push through the pain and fear, allowing herself to take back her life once again.

Kas takes Raina’s elbow, trying to help her out of the wheelchair, but she pulls back as she smiles politely. Kas doesn’t miss how her lips are pressed too tightly together from the pain he knows that she is doing her best to disguise.

“I’m fine, but thank you,” Raina manages to push out, even though breathing seems to be difficult while she gets herself to a standing position.

Kas grits his teeth and forces himself to take a step back, so she can prove whatever it is she needs to prove to herself, but he isn’t the least bit happy about it. His self-restraint will only hold out so far, and if he hears so much as a tiny whimper, he will help her, no matter how hell-bent she is to stop him.

Thirty minutes later, they pull into the cobblestone driveway of Kas’ place. Raina finds that she is suddenly very curious to see his home, to see how he spends his free time and where he lays his head at night. His jeep pulls to a stop, and he bounds out to open her door. She allows him to grab her hand and help her out, and his chest swells with the small triumph.

Raina gazes at his house, admiring the dark stained wood and bold, cobalt blue tin roof. It’s a smaller home, but it has a huge tiered deck that wraps around from the front door to as far as she can see of the side of the house. The deck is stained just a shade lighter than the home, and its detailing is pure craftsmanship.

Raina loves the way the tiers open up to larger ones as they ascend and how the front of the tiers and railing are accented by beautiful mexican tiles. The deck curves at one spot where a high bench has been crafted so people can lounge around the large wooden table that sits to its front, topped with the same tiling that accents the railing. There are six high-back bar stools on the opposite side of the large, inviting table. A top-of-the-line stainless steel grill is proudly displayed conveniently next to the French doors coming from what Raina assumes is the kitchen. From her vantage point, she can see that there is at least one other curve in the deck that bestows a lower, bigger bench that would accommodate even more people. She wonders at whether or not Kas entertains large crowds that would easily fit on his deck.

The lawn isn’t as spectacular, but the grass is already a healthy green and is neatly trimmed with berry bushes edging the front and tall pine trees standing majestically from behind the house. An unfamiliar sense of belonging teases the back of Raina’s thoughts before she quickly banishes it, blaming the knock to her head for such idiotic sentiments.

Raina takes a deep breath and starts towards the deck on her own. Kas begrudgingly allows her. The short walk to the deck is manageable enough, and she wishes that Dr. Merrick would have released her without making her promise that she would have someone be with her when help is needed. She straightens her shoulders with a slight twinge of indignation at the assumption that she needs assistance. She’s perfectly capable of managing on her own, she has for so many years, so, why should it be any different now?