On Her Own

Chapter 9

Richard paced his room. He had called Rachel over a dozen times and she still wasn't picking up her phone.

No one seemed to know where she was.

She had been acting weird before they went to their classes earlier that morning and that was what had him worried. It wasn't like her to just disappear either.

He had already combed the woods, the campus was too big to search alone on foot.

Minutes turned into hours with no change except for his increasing worry. All he could think about was that it was his fault this had happened to her. If he had just spent the night in her room with her, or had her stay in his room that night…

Roy wouldn't have had the chance to hurt her…

Someone knocked on the door, interrupting his thoughts.

Opening the door, he found a sheepish looking Rachel on the other side.

Her hair was wet and she looked freshly showered, wearing a pair of sweat pants and a hoodie. She must have gone by her room.

"Hi," She looked up at him shyly. "Can I come in?"

Richard just stared at her before realizing that he was still standing in front of the door. "You had me worried." Nodding, he stepped to the side and let her in.

Shutting the door, he opened his mouth again, but she spoke first.

"I'm sorry that I worried you. I-I was walking around the campus…just enjoying the quiet." She fumbled for a believable excuse.

He moved closer to her as she let her backpack drop to the floor. "I really am sorry." She whispered, taking a step back.

Realizing he was scaring her, he took a step back and held his hands out to the side. "It's all right Rach. You're here now, and you're safe. That's all that really matters."

"I talked to Roy earlier," Richard said, talking a slow step forward. When she didn't move away, he smiled and wrapped his arms around her.

"I told him that we're going to tell someone about all this if he ever tries anything like it again. When you didn't pick up your phone I thought he might have gone looking for you." He placed a kiss on the top of her head, thinking about the punches that had been thrown between the two of them.

"I haven't seen him since class this morning." She pressed her forehead against his chest.

"Good." Richard picked her up, she immediately tensed against him. A whimper escaped from her lips.

He whispered in her ear, "Easy baby, I got you tonight." He brushed a kiss against her temple. He could feel her heart pounding erratically.

"Rachel, breathe." He made sure to keep his voice calm. "Take deep breaths. You're fine."

She pulled at his shirt as he laid on the bed with her in his arms. "Deep breaths." He said slowly.

He wouldn't ask her where she really went. Not tonight. She was here, safe. That's all that really mattered.

He watched her take a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Thats my girl."

"Wh-what? Y-yo-your girl?" Those words, Roy had said the same thing right before he did it.

Richard nodded confusedly as she pushed against his chest.

She needed to get away. It couldn't happen again. She wouldn't let it.

Moving out of his arms she backed herself against the wall. Not again.

"Hey, Rachel. It's all right." He sat up and looked at her before getting off the bed, giving her space.

She physically relaxed seeing the distance between them. "I'm not going to hurt you Rachel."

"I'm not going to hurt you. I'd never hurt you." He repeated. Richard hated that Roy had done this to her. "I promise."

"Do you trust me?" He waited for her response.

She nodded slowly, but wouldn't look at him.

"Can I lay down with you?" He asked after a few minutes of silence. She nodded again, still wary. But he had said that he wouldn't hurt her. He had promised. He wasn't Roy. Somewhere in her heart she knew he loved her.

He laid down on his back, on his half of the small bed and she watched his every move. She kept trying to wrap her head around the fact that he wouldn't hurt her.

Inching closer, she sat down next to him. Reaching for one of his hands, she pulled it into her lap. She loved to play with his hands, they were so much smoother than hers. Hers were all rough and calloused from her days of gymnastics. He watched her amused, as she ran a finger across the palm of his hand.

"I'm your girl?" She glanced up from their hands. He nodded, moving his gaze from their hands to her face.

"I'm only your girl. Only your girl." She sounded like she was trying to convince herself, letting her gaze fall back to their hands.

He squeezed her hand, gaining her attention again. "You're mine, Rach. And I'm selfish, I'm not going to share you with anyone else."

She bit her lip. "I'm your girl." And with that, she laid down next to him.

They were laying on their sides facing each other, when Richard took her hand and brought it up to his lips. Kissing her knuckles. She let her eyes close slowly, inching closer to him. One of her hands slowly made its way under his shirt, up his hard stomach.

He smirked, "Now that's something you haven't asked for lately." Sitting up he pulled his shirt over his head.

Rachel didn't look at him as she curled up against him. She missed this. His fingers trailed up her arm and down her back. She put a hand against his chest, loving the ripple of muscles under her hand. "Richard," His name was nothing but a ghost on her lips.

He pressed a soft, lingering kiss to her forehead and pulled the blankets around her shoulders. "Goodnight Rachel."

She felt his arm wrap around her waist. She let him tug her closer to him.

Relaxing in his arms she slipped into her dreams where Roy wasn't a threat.

She could feel Richard moving next to her, she was barely awake. The bed shifted as he stood up. She felt him pull the blankets up around her. It was colder without Richard in bed next to her. Hushed voices whispered back and forth, the light flicked on and back off again. She rolled over, blinking sleep from her eyes.

"Richard?" It came out as a whisper.

He looked over his shoulder at her before walking back over to the bed. "Shhhh, go back to sleep Rach." He ran his fingers through her hair before rubbing her back soothingly.

She patted the spot next to her lightly, just on this side of sleep. "Come back to bed,"

Someone stood behind Richard but it was too dark and she was too tired to tell who it was. The stranger whispered something to him and clapped him on the shoulder before moving out of sight.

Her eyelids were heavy, fighting to stay awake. Richard climbed in bed and wrapped her in his strong arms. Only then did she give in and allow herself to fall back asleep.

When Richards alarm went off the next morning, he reached over to shut it off and climbed out of bed. Rachel rolled onto her back and rubber her eyes. "Do we have to go to class?"

Richard raised an eyebrow at her, smirking. "And this coming from the one that doesn't have any classes tomorrow? Uh, yeah. We do have to go to class, at least you don't have english today." When she frowned at the mention of her class with Roy, he leaned over and tapped her lightly on the nose.

She smiled, sitting up as he moved over to his closet to start getting ready for classes. Glancing over at her backpack, she grinned mentally. Her last class ended two hours before his, and she had a fresh leotard in her bag.

Getting up she started getting ready for the day, humming as she pulled on a pair of skinny jeans.

Richard glanced over his shoulder at her, eyebrows raised in amusement. "Someone's in a good mood. It's really nice to see you happy Rachel, I thought it would be months before you really smiled again."

Her smile shrunk a bit. "I don't know if I'm there yet, but I'm trying. I want to be happy. I want to forget and be able to move past it."

It was cold outside, with a brutally chilling wind. Rachel hurried back into her dorm just as the sun was beginning to set. Going up, she made her way to Richards room, hoping she had beat him back.

She had managed to get in just over an hour and a half in the gym, flipping across the spring floor. She wanted to beat him back to his room tonight so he wouldn't worry about her.

Walking up to his door, she knocked. There was music coming from the other side, she figured he had gotten here before her. Knocking on the door again, she was shocked to see it wasn't Richard on the other side.

"So you must be the infamous Rachel." A big black man had opened the door. He was tall with a shaved head and a sturdy looking build. Wearing a blue muscle shirt and dark jeans, he stepped back so she could enter the room.

"Is Richard here?" She'd never met his roommate before, and with ghosts of Roy, her friend, hurting her, she wasn't too sure about spending time with guys she didn't know.

"Nah, but he'd be mad if he found you waiting in the hall. Would you be willing to save me from his fury and come in?" He gave her a small smile so she would know he was joking.

"I don't want to bother you, I think I'll just go back to my room."

"Nonsense," He moved to grabbed her hand to keep her from leaving. "It's fine, really."

She tensed and tried to pull her hand back. She wasn't going to give him power over her. When he let go of her she took another step back and took a deep breath. This was Richards roommate, and he would be back any minute.

Offering a small smile as an apology for her little freak out, she walked into the room and put her backpack on Richards bed. Glancing around she found his laptop and powered it on. While it was booting up, she looked over at his roommate who was sitting at his desk staring at his laptop screen.

"How did you know who I was?" He looked up at her before closing the laptop and leaning back in his chair with his hands behind his head, chuckling.

"He talked about you constantly when you two first started dating, and he had a picture of you as his wallpaper on his laptop."

Rachel smiled, it had been his favorite picture of her. "I remember that, I was the one who finally changed it." They both laughed.

"And from what I've seen, you practically live here." He noted, nodding towards her clothes hanging in the closet. She blushed slightly, looking down at the computer in her lap.

"I'm Victor Stone by the way." He commented, opening the laptop again. "But my friends call me Vic."

A few minutes later, the door opened and Victor spoke without taking his eyes off the computer. "Hey Dickie Boy, I found something of yours,"

Rachel jumped off his bed and wrapped her arms around him before he had even put his backpack down.

"I found your girlfriend." Richard could faintly see the reflection of Victors grin in the screen. Rolling his eyes at his roommate, he leaned down and placed a kiss on the top of her head. Wrapping one arm around her, his other held the strap of his backpack.

"Hey Rach,"

She smiled to herself. "I missed you."

Richard chuckled softly, tossing his backpack aside. Reaching over he hit Victor in the back of the head before scooping Rachel up in his arms. She tensed momentary, before relaxing against him.

Richard moved his computer to the side, and took a seat on his bed with his back against the wall. Relaxing his hold on her, she sat in his lap and leaned against him, fingering his silver chain. With her cheek pressed to his chest, Rachel looked up and Richard claimed her lips with his.

"Get a Room!" Victor called jokingly after a few minutes.

Rachel pulled away, putting a hand on her cheek to try and hide her blush. Richard looked over at his friend and threw a pillow at him. "We're in a room," He commented before taking the hand off her cheek and placing a kiss to her palm.