Raw (RAW Family #1)(26)

Too stunned to even tell him goodbye, I walk out of his office, close the door behind me, and look down at the card in my hand.

Alexa Ballentine and guests.

A small smile graces my lips.

I have phone calls to make.





The front door of my unit bursts open, and there stands Nikki, looking haggard and worn. Smiling, I open my mouth to greet her, but she cuts me off with a wave of her hand. “No! You said you’d tell me. Now we’re both free and you can tell me. What the hell happened to you the other day? No more avoiding me!”

Why do people always cut me off?

Signing, I stand from my place on the sofa. “Coffee?”

Sitting in my now-empty space with a groan, she replies tiredly, “Do bears shit in the woods?”

Chuckling, I go about making coffee and thinking hard about just how much I should tell her. Nikki and I don’t have secrets, but in this case, I may need to make an exception. My gut churns in apprehension. Shit’s about to go down.

Placing our coffees on my coffee table, I sit away from her in the armchair so I can have some space while I relay what happened.

“So you know I said a while ago that I thought someone was watching me?” Immediately, her eyes turn worrisome. She nods and I add cautiously, “Well, it turns out I do…” pause, “…have someone…” pause, “…watching me.”

Eyes wide, mouth gaping, she doesn’t even blink. Shocked is the word I’d use. Definitely shocked. Unsure what to do here, I weakly yell, “Surprise.”

Lowering her wide eyes, she shakes her head as if to clear it. “He hurt you?”

Define hurt.

Sipping my coffee, I suddenly feel the need to defend Twitch. After all, he did save me. “No. If he wasn’t there when I was attacked…” Nikki gasps and covers her mouth with her hand. “…I would have been raped. Maybe even killed.” Looking Nikki in the eye, I tell her honestly, “I don’t know what I would’ve done if he wasn’t there, Nik. He saved me.”

She says, “Oh my God.”

Leaning back in the armchair, I agree. “Yeah. Kind of freaky.”

Still in shock, she repeats distantly, “Oh my God.”

Nodding, I tell her. “Could’ve been much worse.”

And I know the exact moment what I just told her hits her, because jumping up, she covers her mouth with both hands and yells out from behind them, “Oh my f*cking God!”

Throwing herself at me, I awkwardly wrap one arm around her while balancing my coffee with the other. Squeezing me tight, she says, “You got attacked and a weird stalker guy had to save you! And you got hurt! You were hurt, Lex! Oh my God. I can’t believe this. Stuff like this doesn’t happen to people I know, dammit!”

Sweet, sweet Nikki. Rubbing her back, I state quietly, “I’m okay. Like I said, it could’ve been worse, right?”

Nodding into my shoulder, she mumbles, “You’re so lucky he was watching.”

I know it.

Pulling away from me, she demands angrily, “You have a stalker? Best friends tell each other shit like that, Lexi! If this guy did something to you, how do you think I would’ve felt that you’d kept this a secret? How long have you known some guy was following you, Lex? That’s a really dumb thing to keep to yourself. He could’ve been the one to attack you! He could’ve killed you!”

Feeling like a child being chastised, I tell her weakly, “But he wasn’t. And he didn’t. He saved me, Nikki.” Her anger doesn’t cease, so I explain, “He never approached me. Not ever. He was always just…there. I figured he was harmless enough, but you’re right. Totally right. Because when he stepped in and I saw what he did to the man that attacked me, there was a split second there that I thought he was only stepping in to take over.” Staring her in the eye, I tell her firmly, “But he didn’t. He helped me up here and looked after me. He’s a little strange, but I…” Looking down at my hands, I say softly, “I feel safe around him.”

Breathing deeply, she blows out a long breath before nodding to my coffee. “I think I’m going to need something stronger than that.”

Bunching my face in a please don’t be mad at me kind of way, I offer, “Cocoa à la Lexi?”

Her eyes narrow, and I know she wants to be mad at me some more, but her anger fizzles slightly when her lip twitches. “Yeah. Make it a double.”

Smiling so hard that my cheeks hurt, I whizz off to the kitchen to whip up a strong batch of cocoa. Coming back with two mugs full, I hand her one, and when she takes the first sip with her eyes closed in bliss, I throw in there, “By the way, we’ve been invited to a masque this weekend. A charity function. And I know you think costume balls are lame, but I thought maybe if we got Dave out and about, he wouldn’t feel so sorry for himself.”

Dave and Phil still haven’t patched things up. And not for Dave’s lack of trying either. I spoke to Phil online for a while today and he explained that he just needs some time to think about what he wants in life and if Dave is something he could make a part of that.

Never a good sign.

Dave cut him deep. And he’s paying the price.

You can only push someone so far before that push sends them walking away in the opposite direction. Everyone has their limits.