Time...

Chapter 3

Dom could still remember the night that she left like it was yesterday. The pain of that night still burned him.

He had gotten off work early; Raven had asked him to, said she wanted to spend the night alone with him. They hadn't been able to get a night alone in a couple of weeks with the shop being so busy with new builds and upgrades.
He was excited to see her, he remembered feeling like a kid at Christmas as he showered and dressed. Dom had sped all the way to her place. He couldn't wait to hold her close to him and just relax. He had surprised himself with how comfortable he felt with her and how right she felt to him; he was already making plans to ask her to marry him after the race season slowed down.

When he pulled into her driveway that night he could feel that something was off, he just couldn't put his finger on it. There was a strange car parked in front of the house on the street and as he stepped out of the car he could hear two people yelling at each other.
It sounded like another woman, but the voice wasn't familiar. Dom opened the door and walked inside and the two women went silent. Raven had introduced the woman as Hayden, he had never even took note of the look she received from the other woman at the use of the name. "We were friends when I lived in Arizona. She was just leaving." Dom could tell that Raven didn't want this woman anywhere around him. She was hiding something from him. Dominic didn't really know what to make of the situation, Raven never hid anything from him.

Even after Hayden had left Dom could feel the nervous energy coming off of her in waves. "Maybe it would be better if we did this another night." She said, "I'm really not feeling well, I think I'll just go to bed." Dom didn't know what to do. Raven had never made excuses, especially to not see him. He had even calmly let her usher him out the door. He kissed her goodnight before he left telling her that he loved her and that he would be back in the morning to check on her.
She'd had tears in her eyes when she said goodbye to him; goodbye not goodnight he remembered with abrupt clarity. And she had kissed him so fiercely that he thought she was going to drag him back inside to make love to him.

His mind worked quickly while he drove, putting all the pieces together. He had never really sat down and thought about what happened that night, it had hurt so much that he just pushed everything about her leaving to the back of his mind and locked it up. He had even refused to talk with Mia about it even though she had made plenty of aggravating attempts.
If he had only stopped for a moment to think about everything Raven had said to him that last night and how she acted, he would have seen what she was trying to tell him.

Raven had never lived in Arizona, that's where she had run to. She really did mean goodbye and not goodnight. And then he came to the final conclusion that made him want to punch himself in the face. Raven had told him all this, given him all the clues hoping he would follow her.
Everything was falling into place now. If Raven had never lived in Arizona then she didn't have any friends from there either. That's it! Dom thought. How could he have missed something that was laid out so well in front of him? Hayden, Arizona.

Raven was excited to hear from Dom when he called but now she was getting nervous. She paced back and forth in the small living room.
When she had come back to LA she had found a small cottage type house away from the city. It was small and quiet. It was a place where no one knew her and she could be left alone to think.
And now Dom was on his way. Not that the thought of having Dominic in her little sanctuary was displeasing to her; she knew she would have to tell him. Explain her actions that night three years ago.

Raven shook her head at her thoughts. This was something she needed to do. She had honestly been surprised at herself, that she had lasted three years away from him. For her Dominic had been like breathing and leaving him had been the hardest thing she had ever been forced to do. And now, he had to know why. He had to know that she had hurt him and herself to protect not only him but Mia as well.

She had known immediately when Claire had shown up that night that she was going to have to run; that her past had finally found her. She also knew that leaving was unavoidable and the only way to protect the ones she loved most in the world.
When Raven had moved to LA, leaving her bloody past behind her she had hoped herself free. She had only kept in touch with Claire, knowing her secret would be safe and that Claire would act as an alarm when danger got too close.
Her past had taken it's sweet time to find her, almost two full years. But as soon as she heard that they were closing in on her she knew, as badly as she wanted to tell Dom everything about her troubled past and how it was about to catch up with her now; she would not only be losing precious time, she would be putting him in danger. So she left and tried not to look back, trying to leave hints for Dom the night she left hoping that if he did try and find her he would know where to start looking.
While she made her get-away to the almost vacant mining town of Hayden, Arizona she had only made one phone call, to Mia. She had told Mia of the events that had transpired that night, leaving out much of the dangerous past that she was running from.

"I have to leave Mia." Raven had told her through her tears. "Dom won't understand now or know that I've left until morning. I can't tell you where I'm going and I can't explain right now why I have to leave, but please know that I will be back. Please don't tell Dom that I called you. I don't want to fill Dom's head with hope by you telling him, he'd only be waiting for me to come back and I want him to live his life, not put it on hold waiting for me. And besides it will only hurt him more to know that you knew I was leaving and that you didn't stop me. I love him Mia. If I brought harm his way I know that he would want to fight my demons for me and he might have to pay a high price for that if I allowed it. Trust me please when I tell you that I love you and you have been more of a sister to me. I will be back Mia, I love Dom too much to stay away forever. As long as I'm alive, I'll come back."

Both Mia and Raven were sobbing into the phone. This was by far the hardest phone call Raven had ever had to make and the hardest phone call Mia had ever received.
"There's one last thing Mia. Something I need you to do for me; I realize that I'm already asking a lot. Ask Dominic to tell you everything I told him before he left for the night.  He has everything he needs to know at least where I've gone and if he does follow me at least you'll be safe." Raven told Mia that she loved her one last time, hung up the phone and turned it off.

Now as Raven paced her small living room she thought of exactly what she was going to tell Dom. Of course she was going to tell him the truth, but how much of the truth really needed to be told. Did Dominic really need to know every gory detail from her life before she had met him or just the horrible years after she left him and her struggle to return to him.

When she heard his car pull into the driveway, she was sure that her heart was going to beat out of her chest.
When she heard his heavy footsteps on the gravel walkway, she thought that she might pass out from her nerves.
When Dom knocked on the door, she was sure that she was going to fall out cold.

Raven pulled herself together. If she was going to get through this she had to regain her composure. She told herself she was just being stupid.
She strengthened her resolve and walked to the door, reached for the door knob with shaky hands and opened it with a whoosh of fresh air.
When her eyes met his and he gave her a slow easy smile she knew that she could do no less than tell him everything. All the before and after, he was already aware of what had happened in-between. She was going to love him right this time. Lay all her cards out on the table for him to see and hope he still loved her enough to keep her once she had stripped down to her bare soul and told him everything.