I'll Come Running

Chapter 55

Those words were enough for Rafe. He got up from his chair, inevitably taking Jessie with him as he grabbed the whiskey and walked out of the room with a determined stride and puffed chest.

He wasn't weak. He was sure of that. He was about to prove Jessie wrong. She tried to catch him as he marched down the hallway.

"Rafe... Rafe wait!" She finally caught up to the man and grabbed his arm. He turned and looked at her with rage, although she knew it wasn't totally geared toward her.

"Listen... I'm the brains, you're the braun. Just like old times, we don't need words, just focus on me, and I'll tell you when he's about to crack." Jessie pleaded with kind eyes. "Look, you can't swing blindly okay? This still has to be tactical."

All Rafe could muster was a head nod indicating he understood. He was still frustrated with Jessie's poor choice of words, but he was more angry at himself for not doing what needed to be done sooner. Jessie always had that ability to light a mental fire in Rafe, sometimes one of list, sometimes one of anger. In an odd sense, he felt Jessie was just doing what she had to do. And even if she somehow meant what she said, Rafe could never quite fault her completely. She was always his Achilles heal, and he was hers.

Jessie leaned up to give Rafe a quick but passionate kiss to solidify that they were in fact in this together, no matter how it seemed in the moment. More importantly, they were in this for Charley.

Rafe now took the bottle in his hand, opened it swiftly and took one big drink from it, clearly trying to numb whatever he was feeling. He walked down the rest of the hallway and opened up the door to the basement once more, marching down the cold stairs and to the dimly lit steel door. He opened it up to reveal a still shocked drug dealer sitting only slightly more comfortably in the metal chair. However, he immediately shifted to attention when he heard the crack of the door open. Jessie was convinced he would've saluted if his arms weren't chained down.

This time, Rafe didn't hesitate. Jessie said not to. He strutted into the small room over to the side and pressed a button that released the restraints from the chair itself and then jerked Barry up by the wrists to wear he was now dangling on his tiptoes. He groaned at the sudden movement, clearly indicating it hurt him.

"Bitch you gon pull my damn arms outta socket!"

"Shut up." Rafe replied immediately after, quickly followed by a reared back punch to the gut. It all happened so quickly Jessie didn't even notice Rafe had set the bottle down in the corner close to the controls he was just messing with. She had to stop herself from correcting him, but mentally she was thinking what happened to the brains and the braun?

Barry groaned even more at the sudden contact, now having the breath knocked out of him, but he had to remain focused and steady on his feet to avoid excruciating pain in his wrists.

"Careful..." Rafe said in a low tone as he got merely inches away from his ex drug dealer. "If you get side tracked, you'll snap your own wrists."

Jessie finally butted in, only putting her hand to Rafe's stomach, indicating she wanted him to back up so she could take over. She stared at Barry with not an ounce of remorse.

"Whatcha got on ya?" Jessie asked plainly. Barry just laughed with what little breath he had.

"Bitch you ain't getting shit." Barry replied almost comically. It wasn't but a second after that remark that he was met with another punch, this time to the face. That one also took Jessie by surprise.

"Call her a bitch again and I will break your wrists." Rafe seethed as he backed up once more and rubbed his cracked knuckles out of anger. Jessie just focused back in on Barry with a smirk.