Chapter 83

“Well, if it isn’t one of them rapists from down south.”
Daniel Redd’s voice grated on Rain’s ears like the screech of a long, pointed fingernail on a glass window. She stopped walking just a few feet away from him, her plan to simply walk by whomever was standing in the shadows on the far side of the alley given up now that she knew for sure it was him. She still couldn’t see his face, the dark patches of night obscuring his features, but that voice had been ingrained in her mind the first time she heard it, and she felt confident, should they both live another hundred years, she would recognize it then, too.
“Leave me alone,” she said, turning her head in his direction as he slowly began to emerge from the darkness. “You don’t want to mess with me.”
He scoffed, stepping into a thin beam of light cast from a lamp so far down the alleyway, it barely reached him. It was enough, though. Enough to illuminate a face she’d seen inside of the armory, amongst Seth’s friends.
The would-be attacker wasn’t nearly as big as Rain had expected, based on the anger in his voice. He was shorter than Seth by at least four inches, and his shoulders were barely wider than hers. Rain felt slightly more confident when she looked into his eyes. One of his, the left, began to twitch erratically, which was slightly frightening. Still, she hadn’t come all this way to be harassed by this meager excuse of a man.
Daniel took another step forward. “What do you mean I don’t want to mess with you? What are you planning to do? Rape me, like you did that poor miserable bastard I met at Seth’s house?” He took another step toward her. “Maybe this time the tables will be turned on you, little lady. Maybe someone will teach you what it’s like to have someone on top of you when you don’t want them there.”
The sour taste of strawberry punch she’d swallowed before the dance with Seth coated the back of her mouth as images of Daniel trying to force himself upon her filled her mind. Rain shook her head, trying to clear the pictures from her thoughts. He was too close to her now. She took a step back but changed her stance around, crouching slightly, one foot forward, her hands up. “Stay back! I know martial arts.”
Again, he snickered at her. “Who’s Marshall? The other guy you left at the house?”
Realizing the imbecile thought she’d said a name, she shook her head. “No, idiot. Martial arts. Karate. Taekwondo. I can snap the bones in your puny arm before you even lay a snot crusted fingernail on me.”
He’d closed the space between them while she spoke. Rain was just about to get a chance to test her hand-to-hand combat skills, something she wouldn’t have expected to be using against anyone but the Mothers since this journey began, something she never would’ve expected to use at all before she left home.
As Daniel reached for her with both arms, an attempt to shove her backward into the brick wall behind her, she moved with the fluidity many years of practice had engrained in her brain. Her hands shot out, grabbing hold of his arm, twisting as she spun her body and jabbed her elbow into his gut. It all happened so quickly, she almost didn’t hear the crunch of the bones in his arm as they snapped, punctuated by the wheezing sound of him attempting to inhale when she’d clearly knocked all of the air out of him.
Daniel grunted, and Rain released him, turning to face him again and backing up. His face was scrunched up in pain, turning the crimson shade of his last name as profanities flew from his mouth. Rain readied her hands again as he came at her once more, but this time, she didn’t rely on her training from martial arts to inflict pain. Instead, she lifted her knee at precisely the right moment, hitting him squarely in the groin.
With the second blow, he doubled over, attempting to grab his manhood with both hands before he remembered his arm was broken and screeched again. “You bitch!” was all she understood of what he snarled as he stood there, tears of agony streaming down his face.
Just then, Rain heard her name shouted in a frantic, familiar voice. “Rain!” She turned to see Seth running in her direction from the way she’d come. At the same time, the shuffle of Daniel, heading the other direction as quickly as he could in his current state, brought her head back around for an instant. She let him go. He’d be beyond idiotic to mess with her again.
Seth’s arms were around her, pulling her close, as soon as he reached her. “Thank God you’re okay,” he said, breathless. He pressed her back to arm’s length and glanced down her body. “You are okay, aren’t you?”
“I’m fine,” she assured him, turning to look in the direction where Daniel had disappeared. “Your friend might not be.”
“He’s not my friend.” The conviction in Seth’s voice was clear. “I wish you would’ve waited for me .I was afraid he might try something like that. I looked around for him in the dance hall and didn’t see him, so I came after you.”
“Well, he’s probably wishing he’d stayed put.” She wondered if he’d run to Mary’s house to set his arm. Would he tell her the truth? Would she know the girl wearing her daughter’s dress had been the one to mess him up so badly?
“Look at you,” Seth said, his hands cupping her face as her eyes met his again. The smile on his face was one of pride and relief. “I can’t believe you just did that. You’re… amazing Rain.”
Her eyes widened as the adrenaline rush she’d felt before began to dissipate, and she realized exactly what she had done. Looking into his eyes, feeling his touch on her skin, Rain caught her breath, her hands flying up to his shoulders of their own accord. “Thank you, Seth. I’m pretty sure I’m okay.”
“Good.” His voice was just a whisper now. “I’m so glad….”
“Me, too.” She stared into his eyes a moment, felt his warm breath near her mouth, and realized he wasn’t thinking clearly. His emotions had overcome him, and he was still riding that wave of fear and relief.
But that didn’t negate the fact that his lips, his perfect, soft, pink lips were only inches from hers, reaching for hers in a way she had never experienced before. He wanted to kiss her. Seth wanted to share that kiss with her, the way she’d meant to kiss Adam earlier. And she wanted to kiss him, too. Whether it was because of the turmoil they’d just been through or the fact that she was attracted to Seth for so many reasons she couldn’t rightly name at the moment, she wanted to experience what it would be like to have his skin on hers, to taste him, to close her eyes and lose herself in his scent.
“Seth! What are you doing!”
Hannah’s voice reached her ear like the squawk of a bird, crying out in protection of its nest. Rain and Seth both turned to look at the petite girl at the end of the alley at the same time. She had her hands on her hips, her head tipped down, her forehead scrunched in wrinkles so deep, they were even visible at this distance.
“Shit,” Seth murmured. “I told her I’d walk her home.”
Rain took a step back, Hannah’s hurt falling between them like a door dropping to cut her off from an escape route. Or perhaps the girl had actually provided Rain with the exit she needed. “Go ahead,” she said, slipping an easy smile into place. “I’ll be fine.”
“Are you kidding?” he asked, a hand raising to his hair. “Rain, Daniel just tried to attack you.”
“And… now he’s limping away. Seth, I’ll be fine. Walk your girl home. I’ll see you at the house.”
He looked over his shoulder at Hannah but then turned back to Rain. “She’s not my girl. I just explained that to her.”
Rain nodded, not sure how she felt about that. Had he reminded Hannah that they were not an item because he wanted to be with her? Or was that just the way of it? “Okay,” she said. Then, giving him a light shove, she said, “I’ll see you in a bit.”
Seth let out a deep sigh before he acquiesced. “Fine. But lock the doors when you get inside. Both of them.”
She raised an eyebrow. “All right.” She thought that seemed unnecessary, but she’d do as he asked. If Daniel was able to walk at all right now, he’d have to be looking for medical attention, not trying to hunt her down. “How will you get in?”
He smirked at her. “I have a key.”
“Oh.” She hadn’t seen any codes on the doors; the ideas of keys were foreign to her. “All right. Take your time, Seth. She likes you. A lot.”
His handsome face shifted, from the top of his forehead down to his chin, as a wave of sadness paled him. “I know.”
It seemed like she should say something more, or maybe she should wave at Hannah, say something like, “It was nice to meet you,” but she hadn’t, and it wouldn’t have been. The girl clearly hated her, and Rain couldn’t blame her. Even if she hadn’t kissed Seth, she’d wanted to. She would have. If Hannah hadn’t appeared at that very second. What that would mean for her and Seth--for her and Adam--she wasn’t sure, but Hannah had made it so that it no longer mattered.
As Seth headed back to Hannah’s side, Rain spun on her borrowed heel and surveyed the darkness around her. There was no sign of Daniel or any other threat, so she headed on her way, secretly hoping Seth did not take his time.