Saving Rain

by Karen-Anne Stewart

  She plasters a fake smile on her face, “I’m fine, I’m just not feeling very well.”

  Sara grabs the bag that falls off of Raina’s shoulder as Raina bites back a cry of pain. Sara gingerly hands her the bag, looking at her worriedly, “I hope you feel better.”

  Raina forces herself to smile.

  “Hey, did your father find you?”

  Raina forcefully swallows back nausea and smiles as she nods in affirmation.

  “You sure you’re alright?” Seth looks at her again, concern causing frown lines as he studies her strange behavior.

  “Yeah, I’m just going to head home, I told Kas I’d be home in a few,” Raina tries to assure them as she waves and heads out the door. The rain starts to come down in heavy sheets, and she groans. She carefully scans the parking lot, thankful the university keeps it so well-lit as she fumbles for her keys with shaky hands. The pain bites into her as she eases into her seat. The pain radiating through her abdomen and side makes it difficult for her to regain her composure on the drive home, but she fights for her control, knowing she can’t ever let Kas know what happened tonight. Her father’s threat of ruining Kas’ career sends a shiver through her. She is fully aware that he is a very powerful man and has enough clout to cause Kas significant damage.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Kas hears Raina pull up, and his mouth suddenly goes dry as he turns into a nervous, sweating wreck. He lights the candles and turns off the lights before quickly pouring the sparkling cider into the champagne glasses.

  “Kas?” Raina calls as she sees all the lights out, “you home?”

  He holds the bubbling glass out to her as she rounds the corner. The unpleasant visit with her father is momentarily forgotten as she covers her mouth in surprise when she sees all of the flowers and candles. She turns to the table, romantically covered in a white tablecloth, when she gets a whiff of the tempting aroma wafting towards her, “Everything is so beautiful and smells wonderful.”

  Kas laughs nervously, “I have to admit that the food is from your favorite restaurant on Main, but I wanted to be sure you got something you really like.”

  “What are we celebrating?” Raina’s smile widens as she picks up a rose, inhaling its sweet scent. She turns back to him when he doesn’t respond, and her eyes widen in shock as he lowers in front of her, going down on one knee, holding a sleek black velvet box in his hand.

  “Us,” Kas whispers, “Raina Kapture, will you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?”

  Her whole world starts spinning again, and she feels like she might faint as his words sink in. A rush of pure, unadulterated happiness overcomes her before her father’s earlier words slap her viciously in the face.

  Kas sees her hesitation, her eyes full of conflicting emotions, and he jumps to his feet as he stammers, “I know you’re young, we can be engaged for as long as you want before we marry. We don’t have to rush anything.” His heart races with panic when he thinks of how she might say no, the realization nearly knocking him to his knees. “I just want to know that you’ll be mine, Rain.”

  Years of her father’s cruel words rip through her thoughts, causing her head to ache from the intensity of the accompanying torrent of emotions. The taunting words, ‘You will do nothing but ruin his life’, slam into her mind, and she grabs her head, desperate to ease the immense throbbing. “I can’t,” Raina painfully blurts out. “I’m so, so sorry, but I just can’t.” She wraps her arms tightly around herself as her chest physically aches from her despair.

  Kas reaches out to her, worry emanating from her current condition. He grabs her arm to steady her, but she wrenches away from him and the pain that his grasp unintentionally causes from the after-effect of her father’s punishing grip. He mistakes her action and the wild look in her eyes as residual fear of him, and he is left breathless.

  Hurt blazes in his eyes. “Do you think that I’m going to let you down, that I’m going to disappoint you like every other man in your life has so far?” Kas’ words are singed with anger as he yells, “I am not your father, and I am not Chris!” He turns away from her and runs his hands exasperatedly through his hair before turning back, needing to know what is going on inside of her head.

  Raina turns away from him, but he grabs her arm and steps in front of her, his stare demanding an answer. She can’t look at him, she can barely breathe. She can’t handle this right now and pulls her arm to free it.

  Kas loosens his grip when he feels Raina tug, and she knows it’s because he doesn’t want to hurt her. The knowledge of how different he truly is from her father and Chris overwhelms her, making her feel scared. She hates the feeling of fear, she doesn’t want to ever feel scared again, and the type of fear she feels regarding Kas, and the possibility of him regretting having ever met her, threatens to paralyze her.

  “Look at me,” he urges, but she doesn’t comply, so he tilts her chin so she is facing him. “Look at me!” he demands more forcefully.

  Raina pulls her chin away, feeling so angry, ashamed, scared, mad as hell, and she doesn’t know why she doesn’t have the strength to end this, to just make a clean break and run. But she doesn’t want to run anymore, she doesn’t want to hide. She wants so desperately to be what Kas needs, she wants to be what she needs, but she doesn’t know how, and that leaves her infuriated and feeling as useless as her father always said she was.

  “What do I have to do to prove that I will not hurt you, that I will never hurt you?” Kas pleads, the hurt so apparent in his beseeching eyes.

  She continues to say nothing, not because he doesn’t deserve an answer, he deserves so much more than she is capable of giving. She feels utterly clueless about what to say to make him understand something that she doesn’t fully understand herself. Rationally, she knows that she is being insane to keep pushing him away, but nothing in her is rational at the moment. Self-preservation isn’t always rational, and her heart will never survive if Kas decides one day that he doesn’t love her anymore. She can’t face that rejection, not from him.

  “Rain, talk to me...please,” he begs. He looks so defenseless, heartbreakingly vulnerable, so unlike his usual infrangible identity.

  Raina starts to crack, not able to cause him any kind of pain. “Kas, I know you would never hurt me. It’s me, I can’t—I can’t,” words continue to fail her as the long-repressed urge to cry threatens to become uncontrollable.

  “Don’t! Don’t you dare use the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ excuse with me, Raina!” Kas half-pleads, half-demands, his voice raw from unshed tears.

  “Just let me go,” she begs him.

  Kas does just the opposite and pulls her closer to him, and she feels her world spinning, unraveling at a devastating momentum.

  She has no strength left, no will power, all dignity has been bled from her. “I can’t be who you want, who you need. I’m not good for you,” Raina chokes.

  Her body betrays her, her knees go weak, and her hands tremble. The overflowing dam breaks as hot tears stream down her cheeks, and she collapses against him. Her body shakes violently from her heartbreaking sobs, and Kas wraps her into his arms as his own tears roll down his face.

  “I’ve got you, baby, I’ve got you,” he soothes her, which causes more searing pain to tear through her heart.

  She knows she won’t have the strength to go if she doesn’t leave right now. With the last piece of her heart shattering, she tears herself away from him and bolts out the door. The pouring rain joins the tears running down her face. Her tears blind her as she jumps into her car and drives away from Kas. She leaves him standing outside with the rain soaking through his clothing, his worst nightmare horrifyingly coming to life as he watches her leave, leaving him desolated and broken.

  Kas remains standing motionlessly outside, allowing the rain to continue to pour down over him for several minutes as his devastation crushes him. With a heavy, bleeding heart, he finally turns and walks back inside. The ring he was so excited to put o
n Raina’s finger is still in his hand. Collapsing onto the couch, he stares at the ring that is burning into his trembling palm. Time seems to stop as he tries to figure out of what happened, what went wrong.

  The doorbell rings, and, even though he knows she has a key, hope sparks as he prays that it’s Raina. He throws open the door, but disappointment crashes into him as he sees that it is Seth who is standing outside.

  “Is Raina here, she left her iPod?” Seth asks him while scrunching up his shoulders from the cold, pelting rain.

  Kas robotically pushes the door open so Seth can step inside. “She’s not here,” his words sound raw and pained.

  Seth’s gaze sweeps over Kas, “Is she feeling better? She didn’t look so good when she left.” His earlier concern is renewed at the sight of Kas’ current condition.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “She seemed fine before her father came, but—”

  “She saw her father?” Kas yells.

  The anger dripping from his words startles Seth. He takes a hesitant step back, wary of the unadulterated wrath in Kas’ expression. “Yeah, I ran into him and told him where she was,” his confusion is evident in his voice.

  A hefty curse word spills from Kas’ lips as he pushes Seth out of the way, grabbing his keys.

  “What’s going on?” Seth calls after him, his confusion turning to panic.

  Kas spins around, “What exactly happened when you saw her last?”

  “I-I don’t know, she just looked terrible, and she said she was sick, then she left, forgetting this,” he finishes as he drops the iPod into Kas’ hand.

  Kas shoves it into his pocket and turns towards his jeep again.

  “Is Raina okay?” he pleads for Kas to answer him.

  Kas turns and grabs Seth’s collar, shaking him roughly. “She hasn’t seen her father since she was sixteen, after the last time he beat the hell out of her,” he yells at him angrily.

  A wave of guilt and fear soars through Seth as he realizes that he just handed Raina right over to her father, “What can I do?”

  Kas releases Seth, taking a step back, afraid he might hurt him for what he has done. He knows Seth’s actions were innocent, but he doesn’t care about that now. “Call me if you see her or her father again,” he calls as he jumps into his jeep, his tires squealing on the wet asphalt. Kas fumbles for his cell and frantically dials Chase, impatiently cutting him off when he answers, “I need you to trace Raina’s cell, and tell me where she is, right now!”

  Raina withdraws the maximum amount of cash the airport ATM will allow. She refuses to allow herself to think as she heads straight to the ticket counter before she can change her mind. Her throat feels so raw, and her heart tears inside of her like a million pieces of the sharpest broken glass. She drops her credit card into the outstretched hand held in front of her, not daring to look at the faceless person, knowing that with the slightest inclination, she will break down and succumb to the emotional tsunami raging inside of her. She angrily wipes away a tear with her trembling hand and somehow manages to force the words out of her mouth, her voice hoarse and foreign to her own ears, “One ticket to Pisa...one way.”

  I hope you have enjoyed Saving Rain, the First Novel in the Rain Trilogy. The continuation of Kas and Raina’s story is now available for your reading enjoyment on Amazon in Healing Rain and After the Rain. For information about my other novels, Ash to Steel and Feel, and upcoming works, you can visit my website www.karen-annestewart.com.

  To report Human Trafficking or receive information call 1-888-3737888 or text HELP or INFO to BeFree (233733). Contact information was received from the Polaris Project for the National Human Trafficking Resource Center.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  New Adult author who doesn’t shy away from hot heroes or sensitive issues.

  Karen-Anne Stewart has always adored reading and has now fallen in love with writing. Her written works are The Rain Trilogy: Saving Rain, Healing Rain, and After the Rain, Ash to Steele, and her newly released paranormal romance novel, Feel. Her debut novel, Saving Rain: The First Novel in The Rain Trilogy, was a nominee for the Book Junkie’s Choice Awards, and Saving Rain and After the Rain were nominees for the 2014 RONE Awards.

  When Karen-Anne isn’t writing, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends, hiking, and visiting new places. She fuels her addiction of creating new stories by her only other addiction, caffeine, and listening to a myriad of musical genres. Tucked away near the Blue Ridge Mountains, Karen-Anne lives with her husband, daughter, three dogs, and their cat. She plans on writing new adult romance as long as her fingers maintain dexterity.