Time...

Chapter 4

Dom was relieved when Raven opened the door.  He laughed at himself for being so nervous.  This was just Raven, he didn't care why she had left all that mattered to him right now was that she had come back to him.  They would deal with what had made her leave, together. 
There was no way he was going to let her leave again, at least not without him.  Dominic didn't know what came over him when Raven opened the door.  She looked him right in the eyes and he let his emotions take control.  He had completely lost track of what he had prepared to say to her.
Dominic had hardly touched her while they were standing there in the desert surrounded by so many people.  But now, alone with her, her couldn't help himself.  He didn't wait for Raven to invite him inside; he stepped through the door, wrapped his arms around her and kicked the door closed with his foot.  He pulled her close to him, leaned down burying his face in her hair and inhaled deeply.  Dominic felt her arms go around his waist and she pulled him close to her, resting her face against his chest.
For a long moment they just stood there, enjoying the feel and the smell of each other.  Dominic was the first to move. 

He stood up-right causing Raven to look up at him.  He took her face in his hands and looked into her eyes, seeing the un-spilled tears glistening there.  He was touched more that he would ever be able to put into words seeing the emotion threatening to spill over.
"Don't cry baby.  Not now."  Dom bent down and kissed her forehead.  Raven smiled at him pulling away and moving toward the couch holding his hand. 
"Come sit with me, Dominic, we have a lot to talk about."  Raven said, as she sat down and pulled him down next to her; "Well, rather I have a lot of explaining to do." 
Dom sat down facing her, arm draped across the back of the couch.  He was ready for whatever it was that she was going to tell him, he thought. 
Raven took a deep breath and began, "I'm going to start at the beginning.  I need you to know what happened before us so that, hopefully, you'll understand what happened after."  Raven waited for Dom to nod his understanding before beginning again. 

"When I lived in South California, my life was very different.  I was working in a club most nights and weekends.  My childhood friend Rodney owned a metal fabrication shop, sometimes when he would get busy he would give me a call and I would go and help him out for some extra cash.  He taught me everything I know about working with metal.  I would pester him until he showed me."  She laughed and looked at Dom, who was nodding his head.
"You definitely have a stubborn streak when you set your mind to something."
"My grandmother had just died, bills were starting to pile up around me and that's when Marcus entered my life.  He was always trying to take care of me; he paid off my grandmother's funeral and hospital expenses.  Marcus seemed so perfect, I thought that he was the best thing that ever happened to me.  When Rodney heard about Marcus and I, he warned me that Marcus was not someone I needed to get mixed up with.  Of course we both know how hard headed I am, I couldn't just take Rodney's warning.  I found out the hard way." 

Raven paused again.  It was hard talking about this other man to Dom.  Even if he didn't mean anything to her anymore.  Again, Dom nodded, encouraging her to continue. 
"Marcus and his boss, Juan, were heavy into smuggling.  And not just drugs; anything where they could turn a profit.  I tried to leave a couple of times in the two years that we were together."  Raven looked down at her hands again and then at Dom. 
"You asked me once about the scar on my shoulder..."
Dominic nodded remembering the jagged mark. 
"I told you that I had gotten cut with a piece of metal at the shop.  That was the truth, just not all of it.  The other part of it is that I had left Marcus for the last time.  The times before he would drag me back and slap me around.  This time he followed me to Rodney's shop.  I was telling Rodney goodbye, that I was leaving Marcus and that stupid town.  As I was leaving the shop, I got hit in the back.  So hard that it dropped me to my knees.  Before I knew what happened, Marcus was on top of me in a blind rage.  Rodney said that I put up a good fight before Marcus knocked me out.  He said that I was able to get Marcus off of me and do a fair amount of damage to Marcus' face.  Rodney was the one that pulled Marcus off of me while some guys in the shop called 911.  They kept Marcus there until the police and the ambulance showed up."  Raven chanced a look up at Dom's face.  His look was murderous. 
"Dom, are you ok?  Do you want to hear the rest of this?"
Dom knew that he wouldn't be able to speak without sounding too gruff, so he just nodded.  "I was in the hospital for five days.  Rodney came to see me every day I was there.  He kept me updated on what was going on with Marcus.  He even brought his girlfriend, Claire, with him."