The Kingpin

•20•

Rafael

  Her arms were wrapped around his neck when he rushed over to catch her. He took her up into his arms easily, and it felt kind of like she was supposed to be there anyway.

  Daveed lay on the ground below him, hands over the wound and trying in vain to keep the blood from spilling out any more.

  "I'm sorry, baby. I'm so sor-"

  Rafael kicked him.

  He gave Emmanuel a look that told him to make it all go away as he carried Amelia out of the warehouse. As he walked, he forced himself to look down at her.

  Her face was swollen where they had hit her, her lips busted and chapped.

  She glances up at him as if in a daze and whispers, "Did you kill him too?"

Rafael feels his heart clench in his chest as he realizes that nothing is gonna be the same. Amelia knew him now, and not just as "The Black Ace," or whatever the fuck that meant. She knew he was bad.

  He shook his head slowly and he could feel her exhale a sigh of relief.

  "Let's get you some help." He said after getting her into his car. She didn't hear him though, she was already fast asleep with her head pressed against the window.

                                      ••••

Amelia

Amelia opens her eyes to the same dark room she had been in when meeting him for the first time. The man standing over her is working quietly but she can't feel any of it.

She hears the laugh slip from her lips and begins to lazily look around for Rafael. His hand slips into hers almost immediately and he speaks, breaking the silence that surrounded the room.

"It's gonna be over soon. You're okay."

Her head moves in a nod as a response and he pauses for only a moment before saying something else.

"You won't be alone to deal with this."

At this, it seems as if all of her real thoughts pushed through the haze of the more than sketchy anesthetic. No, no I wanna go back to my own bed.

She shakes her head from side to side and he starts to protest but figures it best to discuss once she's off the medicine.

••••

The world is moving underneath her. Is she leaving? Wake. Up.

Her eyes open slowly, squinting after taking in the lights of his car. She knows he wants to take her back with him but she can't have that.

"Take me home," Amelia manages to get out with her throat feeling like sandpaper.

  "Baby, that's where we're goin'. What do you mean?"

  "Nuh uh. My place. I wanna be alone."

"Who is gonna help you with the bandages?"

"Believe it or not, I was a person with an entire life before we met." She couldn't exactly explain why, but she hated that he was trying to take care of her after all of this shit. "I can handle it."

  He knew not to press her anymore, even though it's all he wanted to do. The guilt was burning a hole in his stomach.

  "Fine," Rafael conceded after a pause before turning onto her block.