Raw (RAW Family 1)

My spine stiffens. “Is that a threat?”

Lifting his head, his soft brown eyes harden. “It’s a fucking promise.”

My heart pounds in my chest. I need to get out of here. This was a very bad idea.

Swallowing hard, I breathe heavily and take a step back, retreating while I still have some pride left. Halfway to the door, he asks, “Do you have any plans this weekend?”

Stopping in my tracks, I shake my head. Pulling open a desk drawer, he pulls out a golden envelope, removes the card from the inside, and scribbles something onto it. Holding the card in his outstretched hand for me to take, I resist only a moment before curiosity gets the better of me. Once at his desk, I take the card and read in silence.

A masque. Charity function. Saturday night. Costume ball.

I know two people who would love this. Feeling uncomfortable, I ask quietly, “Can I bring someone?”

Twitch’s lip curls. “No date.”

Hmmm. Interesting. We’ll think on that later.

Shaking my head, I start, “No, my two best friends would—” But I’m cut off when leans across the desk, snatches the card from my hand, and scribbles another something on the front. Turning the card over, he pens something on the back and hands the card back to me.

Lowering his head to his paperwork, he dismisses me with, “Til Saturday, Alexa.”

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 fucking 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 himsel

f.”

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.

Dave may need to rethink his diva ways.

On a brighter note, Nikki seems to have perked up at hearing the word invitation. “Where did this invite come from? It’s a little late notice, babe. Last minute costumes are hard to find.”

Avoiding the first question, I try to get away with answering the costume dilemma. “There’s an address on the card. A costume store in the city has been completely reserved for use of the masque. All we need to do is show up and take our picks.”

Nikki spots my avoidance pretty quickly. “Who invited us?”

I’m so bad at masking my emotions. I wear them right there on my sleeve for all to see. So when my eyes widen and I stutter, “I-I’m not sure a-actually, I think s-som—”

“Cut the bullshit and tell me!”

“Twitch,” I blurt out.

“Bless you.”

Bursting into laughter, I repeat, “Twitch. That’s his name. Twitch. The man who watches me. The guy who saved me.”

Leaning away from me, her face bunches. Smiling, I nod. She asks incredulously, “Stalker dude is called Twitch?”

“Yep.”

After a second, she mutters under her breath, “Fuckin’ hippies.”

Another bout of laughter bursts out of me. “That’s not his real name, babe, it’s just what he calls himself, and from what I’ve seen, it’s what everyone else calls him too. He doesn’t want people to know his real name, and for now, that’s cool with me. He’s part owner of a business – a big business – so I know it would be easy enough to find out but,” my brows furrow and my lips purse a little, “it’s important to him for some reason. So if he doesn’t want people to know, I’m not going to go looking. Not until he tells me himself.”