Raine's POV
I felt a hand clamp onto my shoulder in my half conscious state, and I tried to move away from it, but the grip grew firmer, shaking me awake. I groaned inwardly as Jay's face came into view, he wasn't an early riser but he had work today and oddly he absolutely despised having breakfast alone.

I had to endure all of Jay's annoying quirks since my apartment had been raided. It was terrifying I hadn't been gone from my home for very long, perhaps even a slight change in schedule and they would have been met with me upon entering my apartment. Every time I thought of the raid shivers raked down my spine, all my belongings were trashed, my furniture broken, only a few articles of clothing and other belongings were intact. Jay had packed those when I had called him in my panicked state. Jay stayed up with me all night as I cried for all the lost pictures, pictures were all I had of my parents while at school, they meant the world to me. 

It had been a whole week since the attack, and Jay and Sophie had refused to leave me alone. Sophie had a theory that the attack was done by Xavier Night because I had rejected him. She was afraid he would come back for me, I highly doubted her theory. His final goodbye that day during our last meeting had seemed like an ending, an ending to the small story that him and I had shared. My life was back to normal, besides the raid of course. Despite how much I didn't wish to admit it, my life was back to being quite simple, and even a little boring.

Jay shook me again, and I look at him startled raising my eyebrows.
"I'm awake stop shaking me." I exclaimed annoyed.

"I see you're awake but like usual you're daydreaming so I thought I'd shake you out of that. I'm hungry and your waffles are legendary." Jay said with a boyish grin making my irritation disappear, and I flicked him in the forehead to get him to move away from me so that I could scoot out of the bed. He moved away, rubbing his forehead a he walked out of the room mumbling about me being a violent little thing. 

I pulled on a sweater over my shirt, walking out of the room so that I could go feed the overgrown child that awaited me in the kitchen.

I started making the waffles, at anyone else's house I would never be so comfortable but Jay had always pestered me to move in.  He claimed his condo was too large and that he got lonely living here alone. He practically lived at my apartment, living with Jay was something I was used to.

All I really did was mix the waffle mix with some milk, and pour it into his waffle maker. But  according to Jay when I made them, they tasted much better. My waffles were less than mediocre, but Jay would even tolerate below average cooking if it meant company over a meal. He was unfortunately one of the people who had experienced being lonely but not by personal choice, so now he really hated being alone. 

His waffle maker made a little ringing sound as they finished, carefully pulling them out with tongs, I set them on two plates. I doused mine in syrup, while Jay got out the ice cream. I tried to persuade him not to do it, but he ended up covering his waffles in scoops of ice-cream and putting a few scoops on my waffles too. Not that I was really complaining.

Finishing our extremely unhealthy breakfast, which Jay justified with the few raspberries he'd placed on our waffles, we both cleaned up. Jay hated washing dishes, so I quickly did those while he swept and wiped the table.

Finally finishing with clean up, I showered quickly. Trying to rush, but the hot water was much too tempting. I dried my hair as I walked out. Scrounging around my meager wardrobe, finding a beige sweater with dark jeans and pulling them on quickly.

I walked to work, enjoying the stormy weather as I walked. The cafe was almost empty as was to be expected in the late afternoon. The bad weather and late weekday night meant most people were likely to stay at home and drink nasty instant coffee rather than to come to the cafe. I smiled at Maggie calling out a hello to her and she smiled back at me continuing to help the customer she was with, but there was something off about her.

I organized books waiting for the customer to leave so that I could confront Maggie. After purchasing a few books and a coffee the man finally left, and I set down the books I was holding making my way towards Maggie who sat at one of the tables facing away from me, her shoulders hunched.

"What's wrong?" I asked getting straight to the point.

"Nothing." Maggie said turning towards me and I almost gasped at her state. Her eyes were puffy and lined with red it was obvious she had been crying, she tried to offer me a small smile but it looked more like a frown than a smile.

"Maggie" I softly trailed off crouching so that I was at her height as she sat, and her resolve broke, her lips wobbling as tears filled in her sad eyes. She pressed her lips together tightly, clearly trying her best to keep from breaking down altogether. 

"Cyrus, he-he's getting worse and I don't know what to do. He was having trouble breathing today, and I don't know if the nurse is taking care of him properly, God I don't know anything, Raine what if he leaves me?" Maggie said, looking more vulnerable than I had ever seen her. Maggie was one of the strongest people I knew seeing her in this state broke my heart.

"Maggie, he's not going to leave you, he's gonna get better." I reassured her and she nodded, but her fearful eyes told me she didn't believe my words.

"Why don't you go home, stay with him he needs you, I'll take care of the cafe for today." I said to Maggie and she looked up at me, her eyes filling with hope, before she twisted her mouth looking a bit anxious.

"But it'll be too much for you honey, you can't handle the whole shop alone." She worried.

"I'll be fine Maggie if it gets too much I'll call Sophie or Jay to help I promise, just go home to Cyrus he needs you, and you need him too. Take care of him, and tell him I'm demanding for him to get well soon. It's about time he starts coming back to work." I said, and my attempt at getting rid of the tense atmosphere worked. A small smile grew on Maggie's face, and she pressed a kiss to my head before getting up, pulling me up with her.

"Thank you so much Raine." She said, and I waved her off, motioning for her to hurry, and she laughed lightly, before complying.

Maggie rushed out the door thanking me once more, as she left. I was all alone in the cafe now, the few customers there had grown uncomfortable witnessing our personal moment and had left.

I walked around the cafe with a bar towel, wiping off the tables as I had intended to do a sweep and mop of the place before closing time. I had my fingers crossed a huge family wouldn't show up now. As much as I loved kids they weren't very cute when they looked you in the eye and purposely dropped their drink. Then you just kind of wanted to grab them by the ear and dangle them off the roof but of course you could not. Not only was it morally wrong, but the parents that were sitting so idly while the child behaved as though Satan himself had raised the kid, would definitely be outraged if I were to do so. We really didn't need a bad yelp rating, or a law suit.

I slowly cleaned up the cafe, having to stop every once in a while to assist a customer that had strolled in to grab a warm beverage or pastry. After the last customer had left, bidding me a good night as she went,I watched the clock on the wall, waiting until it read 11pm before I hurried to the back to finish the records for the day. As I filled in the paperwork the bell on the door rang signalling someone had come in, and I realized I had forgotten to change the open sign to closed. Also to lock the door. Those were things Maggie and Cyrus usually did, so I was used to no customers coming in after closing time without me making any effort to keep them out.

I walked out of the room fully intending to tell the customer we were closed, but when my eyes fell upon who it was, my voice died in my throat.

Xavier Night stood near the counter, dressed in dark dress pants and a white dress shirt. A thin black tie knotted a bit below the hollow of his throat. I had to bite the corner of my lip to suppress my blush, I had always found skinny ties on dress shirts to look impeccably handsome on a man. The white shirt highlighted how naturally tan his skin was despite the fact that we hadn't seen a sunny day in weeks. His hair was slightly disheveled and glistened with the small drops of rain in it but still he managed to look put together. When my hair was wet I looked like a drowned cat. 

I slowly looked up into his eyes to see them staring intently at me, like they always seemed to do when we met. It made my stomach clench nervously, the way he looked at me. In a world of technology most of us had forgotten proper conversational etiquette and since we didn't hold eye contact much anymore, looking into his eyes always seemed so intimate an act it made me feel skittish.

"H-hi." I mumbled out pathetically, not knowing what to say, and a small crease formed between his brows at my stutter before he made his way towards me, every bit as imposing and intimidating as I remembered him to be. I stumbled back subconsciously, trying to maintain the distance between us. 

"Your apartment was raided, and you never told me." He said softly his jaw clenched tightly, making a slight tick appear at the corner of his jawline. He came to a stop right before me, so close that we almost touched.

"I didn't think it was something you would like to know, you did say I would never see you again." I said idiotically, immediately regretting the way I had phrased my words. They made it sound as though I was complaining.

"Didn't think it was something I would like to know." He repeated incredulously, his eyes turning darker. His gaze grew harder as he stared down at me making me want to shrink away, but his eyes kept me rooted to my spot.

"Raine, if you are in danger I would like to know." He stated in his deep voice, and I shivered slightly at his demanding tone.

"I only said you wouldn't see me, because I didn't think you'd want to see me, but your safety comes before anything else, so here I am." He explained his voice softer than before, a despair in his eyes that tugged at my heartstrings, before it turned into a steely resolve.

"You're not safe Raine, and it's all because of me, but I promise love, I will do everything in my power to keep you safe." He promised, the determination clear in his silver eyes. I raised a brow at him in confusion, tilting my head to the side slightly as I looked up at him.

"You have to come with me." He demanded, only causing me to become even more confused.

"Where?" I asked.

"To my house." He stated simply. Either I was going deaf, or I was hallucinating. Surely he had not just said that I had to go to his house, that would be absolutely bizarre.

"Why?" I ask bewildered at the sudden command, having replayed his words in my head a few times I was now sure that was what he had uttered. But what good could me going to his house possibly do?

"To live with me, until I can ensure you're safe ." He said in his deep velvety voice stepping even closer to me, his very presence completely invading all my senses. He stared down at me trying to assess my reaction to words, his deep silver eyes probing as I stared back at him wide eyed. For the first time since I had met him, I was now questioning his sanity.