I stood there next to my front door, with the color drained from my face as I tried to believe that Rafael was actually here in front of me. I had met him in high school, when we were both sixteen years old. Rafael and I loved money, and we had big dreams of being rich one day, so we were always trying to find things that we thought would get us rich quick. The money never lasted long, though, since our appetite for spending was equally as large as our love of having money. I guess we were much too addicted to the thrill of expensive things. When my mom found out what I was doing, she tried to get me to stop seeing Rafael because he was a bad influence on me, but I refused to listen to her. Eventually I just started staying with Rafael more and more since his parents didn't really care about what he did with his life. His mother was a drug addict who mostly slept all day, and his dad worked a minimum wage job just to keep shelter over their heads. Rafael and I quickly got involved in petty theft that started with food since there wasn't much of it at his house.
"Hello, Natalia. It's been a long time."
"Umm, yeah, two years. I thought you were..."
"Dead? Nah, it takes a lot more than a little explosion to kill this guy."
"Are you... here to fill a contract?"
"Why? Did you get in some sort of trouble that you need to be taken out?"
"I kind of botched a job tonight. I had to run a long way before finding a bus stop. I haven't even reported to Boss yet. He probably thinks I got myself killed."
"Yikes."
I maneuvered myself towards the counter, keeping myself somewhat far away from Rafael. It wasn't that I was scared of him, but I did continue to be very much in shock at the fact that he was still alive. The day I lost him had been terrifying. I was eighteen. Rafael and I were on a job together, and we got separated when the client staged an ambush. We had been on our way out of the building when an explosion happened, but once my vision cleared and my hearing halfway came back, I realized Rafael was nowhere near me. I had just assumed he never made it out of the building. A few days later, Boss got a tape of Rafael tied to a chair and this ambiguous message saying that he was being held for ransom. Boss wasn't going to be intimidated however, and he planned out a rescue, but Rafael's body was never found. We just all resigned ourselves to the fact that Rafael had been burned or something, so that there'd be no evidence he ever existed.
"Rafael, how is it that you're here? The last we'd heard of you, you were tied to a chair being tortured, and we never gave your ransom."
"Oh yeah... that. Well, they did, try to kill me, that is. I think it was pure luck that I got away, to be honest. Another rival group just happened to attack the people who were holding me, and they wanted to use me for their own purposes. They assumed I was an innocent civilian, and I didn't correct them."
"Why didn't you come back? Or tell us you were alive at least? Working for a rival group? Rafael, what the fuck."
"No, it's not like that, this group wasn't a rival to ours. They're not even in the same town. When those assholes made that video they sent to you and Boss, they purposely taped it in a different location to throw you off. That's why when you went to rescue me, you couldn't find me."
"How did they expect us to give your ransom then... if they transported you and didn't tell us where you were?"
"They never intended to fulfill their end of the bargain. The plan all along was to kill me. They wanted to give you guys false hope."
What Rafael said did make sense, even though I didn't know if I could trust him completely. He had always been manipulative, but then again, so was I. You really need that as a quality to work well in this business. Rafael didn't seem to be lying to me or hiding anything, and he had answered all my questions point blank. I decided to accept the information, but at the same time, I wanted to keep my guard up. I had loved him, or so I thought, I had been sixteen, so I'm not sure if it was just infatuation at the time, or if it was really love. After the initial fear that he might have been here to off me for my fuck up had passed, I did look at him and realize I still found him attractive. I really liked his long hair and the way his brown eyes sparkled against his tanned skin.
"So why did it take you till now to show up?"
"I was under contract, Natalia, I had to work for the people who rescued me... for two years. If I didn't agree, they'd kill me. They had no reason to rescue me, and I was of no use to them if I refused to work for them, you know?"
"That does make sense..."
"Look, I know you're reluctant, and that's okay. When I got back into town, I had nowhere to go. You were the only person I remembered in this town whom I guessed would still gave a shit about me. I don't even know what Boss will say if he knows I'm not dead."
"How did you know I lived here?"
Rafael looked embarrassed for a few seconds as he squinted his eyes and rubbed his neck.
"Uhh, I have been back for a few days, and I followed you home from work one day. I also wanted to see if you'd been seeing anyone."
"You have been stalking me? Rafael, that's creepy."
"Well, yeah, but I didn't want to show myself to you if you had already moved on with your life. I know I pulled you into this lifestyle, and if you had cleaned up, I didn't want to intrude on that. I want you to be happy, Natalia."
Hearing Rafael explain his creepy behavior in such a sweet way made me remember how I had felt when I first fell for his charms. I went over to him and gave him a hug. He was warm, which felt good against my cold dampened skin, and he hugged me back gently.
"I'm glad you're back, Rafael, I was devastated when I lost you."
"So you missed me too?"
"Yeah. It's not your fault shit went down the way it did. That's just the life of a criminal. I'm glad you're alive, and thank you for coming to see me."
As much as I enjoyed being in Rafael's arms again, I knew that he couldn't stay in my apartment. I believed that he really was here because he still had feelings for me, but two years was a long time to be away from someone. I felt like I needed to get to know him all over again, not to mention Boss didn't like secrets being kept from him. If he even suspected that I knew where Rafael was, but didn't tell him? There'd be hell to pay. Rafael and I had been two of the most daring ones in Boss' crime ring, and he liked how we worked together. We got shit done most of the time, and we got it done well. Most of the other people in our group have been arrested a few times, but Rafael and I have never been caught by the authorities. Boss considers us great assets because of that. I pulled away from Rafael as much as I didn't want to, so that I could tell him he needed to go.
"I think you should stay somewhere else tonight."
"Oh, all right. I'll get a motel room."
"Are you mad at me that I don't want you to stay?"
"No, I understand. It's been two years, and I just dropped into your life. I can't expect things to be just as they were before. I am giving you my phone number, however."
"Thank you, Rafael. See you later."
Rafael took my phone and plugged his number into it, then smiled as he gave it back to me and walked out the door. I leaned against the door, locking it behind me. Then, I went around my apartment to check for bugs, in case Rafael had planted any. Call me paranoid, but I didn't really want to fuck up any more than I already had. Finding nothing, I smiled to myself that all the evidence pointed to Rafael really coming to pay me a visit out of the goodness of his heart. It was now time for that long overdue shower.
