Chapter 1
Rayne
I watch as the plane slowly descends, the clouds parting and the city skyline coming into view. When the plane makes contact with the runway, my entire body tenses and the knot that has taken up permanent residence in my stomach for the last four weeks tightens at the thought of what, or rather who, is waiting for me in the passenger pick up area.
It takes me almost forty minutes to make my way to the baggage claim and grab my two suitcases before heading toward the doors, but after scanning the crowd of people waiting for their designated passengers, I don’t see the familiar face of my brother. James was supposed to be here to pick me up, yet even after the majority of the people clear out, he’s nowhere to be seen. I decide to find a bench, but something catches my eye, a cardboard sign with a single word written on it…RAIN. The spelling may not be the same, but it seems to be too much of a coincidence. I take in the man holding the sign, scanning him from head to toe.
Dark brown tousled hair that's long on top, shaved on the sides, tall, broad shoulders, a muscular body that's covered in dark blue jeans, a black muscle shirt and black combat style boots. Even with the gorgeous view, the most alluring part of this man are the deep blue eyes…eyes that have spotted me and clearly didn't missed the fact that I'm technically checking him out which is made very evident by the smirk that now rests on his handsome face. I take a deep breath and walk toward him, deciding to end my ogling and lay my curiosity to rest.
“Hey, you know James?” He nods his head and flashes a panty dropping smile.
“Yeah, he got called into work so he asked me to get you. Name's Liam.” He extends his hand and I set down my suitcase to shake it.
“Rayne. You live with James? He mentioned something about a roommate, but I’d be lying if I said I listened to everything he said since he was kind of rambling.” He chuckles and grabs the suitcase I had set own then takes the other from me as well.
“He does that a lot when he’s excited or nervous. Come on, let’s get outta here.” He turns and I follow him out of the airport to a black Jeep Wrangler that, admittedly, is damn gorgeous. Once my suitcases are secured in the back, we both climb in and begin the drive to the house that James and Liam call home. The drive is just over an hour, but thankfully Liam doesn’t talk the entire time, maybe he senses how much I don’t want to talk, or maybe he’s not much of a talker either.
We arrive at the small, single floor home that's actually much nicer than I had expected and Liam grabs my things before leading me inside. When he shows me to the room I’ll be staying in, I’m surprised to see they gave me the master bedroom.
“James thought it would be better for you to have the attached bathroom. If there’s anything you need, we can pick it up in town later.” I turn to see Liam leaning against the door frame with his hands stuffed in his pockets, but that damn smile is still firmly present on his handsome face.
“I should be good, but thanks. Do you know what time he’ll be home?” He shakes his head then lowers his gaze until he's staring down at his shoes.
“Could be a few hours, could be late tonight. I’ll order something for dinner. Do you have any preferences?” I sigh loudly as I plop down on the king size bed, trying to mentally adjust to my new normal.
“No, I’m not picky. As long as it doesn’t involve raw fish or seaweed I’ll eat it.” He chuckles and nods his head before turning and walking down the hall. I pull my phone out of my pocket and call the only person I regret leaving behind in my sudden and desperate move across the country.
“Rayne?”
“Hi, papa. I’m here.”
“How was the flight?”
“Long. How did your day go?”
“Well, the bitch of a nurse wouldn’t let me go check the mail, but other than that it was alright.”
“Papa, she’s not a bitch. You do realize you had a stroke only three weeks ago, right?”
“How can I forget? My left side doesn’t work for shit, but I can still get my own damn mail!”
“Papa, please promise you’ll be nice to her. She's only doing her job and her job is to take care of you since I’m not there to do it.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll try. How are you feeling?”
“I don’t know, kind of numb I guess.”
“Did you tell James why you decided to finally take him up on his offer?”
“No. He got called into work so his roommate picked me up. I don’t know if I can tell him, papa. I don’t know if I can handle having him treat me differently and you know he will.”
“You don’t know that and he has a right to know. You haven’t even taken time to process it yet, but eventually it’s all going to hit you and he needs to understand why.”
“I’ll try, papa, but for now I just want to spend some time with him without it weighing us both down.”
“Okay, Rayne, I get it, but you’ll have to tell him eventually and it’s better to do it sooner rather than later. You should get some rest. I love you.”
“I love you too, papa.”
I end the call and slip the phone back into my pocket then begin the process of unpacking my suitcases which only takes about ten minutes. I make my way to the kitchen that I caught a glimpse of when I first arrived to find something to drink, but as I close the fridge, I’m startled by Liam who’s leaning against the counter with his phone in his hand and his eyes glued to the screen.
“I ordered pizza. Should be here in about twenty minutes.” I open the can of Dr. Pepper and take a large gulp before acknowledging him.
“Okay, thanks.” An awkward silence settles over us that's only interrupted when my phone starts ringing. I slide it out of my pocket and take one look at the screen before sending the call to voice mail, but within less than a minute it rings again which draws Liam’s attention as he watches me send it to voicemail once again. When it begins ringing for a third time, I close my eyes and groan as I swipe to answer it, place it to my ear and cut off the person on the other end.
“Ray…”
“Listen, I don’t want to hear what the fuck you have to say. Nothing you say will change a damn thing anyway. Stop fucking calling, don’t text me, don’t email me. I mean it!”
I end the call and toss my phone on the counter before walking out to the living room and sitting down on the couch. I try to ignore the sound of heavy footsteps walking toward me and I try to ignore the man who sits down beside me, but it's hard to do when his presence is so...large.
“Wanna talk about it?” I shake my head and bury my face in my hands.
“How about a movie?” I slide my hands down my face and look at him, nodding slowly while trying to figure out the man beside me. This has got to be the worst first impression ever!
“What kind of movies do you like?” I think for a minute before responding with an honest answer.
“Anything but romance.” He smirks and turns his attention back to the tv. He ends up turning on Thirteen Ghosts, one of my all-time favorite movies. We end up watching the whole movie while enjoying our pizza then he hands me the remote to pick something while he makes a phone call. By the time he comes out ten minutes later, I’ve turned on Ghost Ship, another of my favorites.
“James won’t be home until around one. He said he’ll see you tomorrow though because he took the day off.” I nod and hit play, not minding that I have that much more time before I have to explain things to my brother. I hadn’t realized how exhausted I was from traveling until halfway through the movie when I felt my eye lids becoming heavy and the last thing I saw before sleep pulled me under was The little girls corpse hanging in the closet on the ship.
