One Tough Love

You Can Run But You Can't Hide

"Yeah." I simply replied. He completely read my mind and I hated that he knew me so well.

"There's another thing," He began, patting his lap for me to come sit on. "My entire family is coming to visit in a couple days and I want you to meet them. Of course you've met all my brothers but I have two other sisters and most importantly, my parents."

"You want me to meet your family?" I gasped.

"Yes," He smiled. "I think it's high time you do!"

"I can't wait!!" I exclaimed, kissing his cheek.

"It'll be fun." He said, flipping me over onto the bed. We began to make out and seeing that we still haven't had sex yet, I was ready. It's been too long and I knew he felt the same way because he immediately began taking off my clothes. We skipped all the foreplay but right before he could even get it in, there was banging on the door.

"Every. Fucking. Time." He said through gritted teeth.

"Shhhh..." I whispered. "Just keep going, maybe they'll go away."

I bought him back down to me and I began to kiss along his jawline and neck but there was another bang on the door and this time it was followed by Nigels voice.

"Kennedy if you're in there, I need you to come here right now!! It's an emergency!!" He yelled through the door.

"What is it?!" I yelled back, slightly annoyed.

"It's Raé, she's been hurt." He responded back.

I pushed Michael off me, ignoring his complaints, and threw on his white button up long sleeve shirt. I grabbed my skinny jeans off the floor and flung the door open, rushing out nearly bumping into Nigel.

"I-Im sorry to interrupt," Nigel stuttered. "But its bad.."

"How bad?" I asked, looking up at him. I was hopping on one leg trying to get my pants on. We came to a stop at my bedroom door. I buttoned up my pants and opened the door. Sitting on the edge of my bed was Raé. I wouldn't have known it was her if Nigel hadn't already told me. She was badly beaten, her face completely swollen and she had a really bad cut on the side of her head. There was grass all in her hair and her clothes were completely tattered.

"Oh my...." I gasped, rushing over to her. I kneeled down in front of her and lightly brushed back her hair with my fingertips.

"I w-was attacked by s-someone," she tried to explain but she was nearly inaudible. I looked over at Nigel who was talking to Michael in the hall. Looking at his facial expression, I knew Michael wasn't happy. I turned back to Raé motioned for her to follow me to the bathroom. I drew up a warm water bath and stripped her down, helping her into the tub.

"Everything's gonna be okay," I tried to soothe her as she had began to cry. "We'll find whoever did this. Don't worry, you're safe now."

As I bathed her, the bruises that covered her body brought back memories of my own incident. My eyes began to well with tears but I had to hold it together for her. It was extremely triggering and as bad as I started to feel, I had to make sure she was okay.

After I scrubbed away the dirt and dried blood, I washed her hair and helped her out the tub. I grabbed her some of my fresh pajamas and helped her into bed. The cut on the side of her face didn't require stitches so I cleaned it with peroxide and put a layer of Neosporin on it before covering it with gauze and a bandage. I gave her some ibuprofen and covered her eyes with a cold towel.

"Try to get some rest, okay?" I whispered to her. "I'll be in to check on you a little later." I kissed her cheek before turning out the big light and turning on the lamp in the corner so that she wasn't completely in the dark. I stepped out the room gently closing the door behind me.