Accept me, Please?

Chapter 4

Raul stared at the feline, taking in every detail. He wasn't someone Raul recognized though.

What concerned Raul was that shifters were stronger than humans, strong and sometimes brutal. If this shifter had enough of something to make him drunk—it's hard for a shifter to get drunk, then this feline was twice as dangerous as a drunk human. This being the case, Raul wanted Topaz nowhere near the man. He was so glad now that she'd agreed to go with him.

The shifter was now glaring at Raul from behind the screen door. "Who are you and what do you want?"

Raul growled back. "Don't start what you can't finish, feline."

The shifter stiffened at Raul's words, before lifting his nose slightly and sniffing. His lip curled back in a silent snarl as he grated, "Wolf."

Raul smirked but said nothing as he watched Topaz walk into the hallway.

"Let me by please Bobby, this is my ride," Topaz said softly.

Bobby turned, and bluntly asked, "Why are you going with him."

"Because I can't take the fighting anymore," Topaz grumbled. "I'll be back tomorrow after work. Try not to kill each other, blood is hard to get out of the carpet."

"You're a good kid, Topaz. Stay out of trouble."

Raul let out a relieved sigh, his body relaxing as Bobby laughed and staggered away. Maybe he really wouldn't harm Topaz, but Raul still wasn't taking any chances.

Topaz walked out the screen door, closing both doors behind her with a sigh. The door was barely closed before a woman inside began screaming again.

"This happens often I take it?" Raul asked, seeing her resigned look as he took her overnight bag from her.

She started walking toward the car. "Yeah. Bobby is a nice guy, when sober. Lately though... I don't know. I think maybe something happened. He keeps saying he's leaving for good and not coming back. She says, "good, I don't need you anyway", but later calls him crying."

They got into the car, and starting it up, he backed out and headed for home.

"And he comes back."

Topaz replied, "Yeah, he comes back all right, but he's always drunk. It makes me wonder if that's the only way he can make himself come over and face her."

"If it is, he definitely needs to break ties with her."

"Yeah, I agree. They don't seem to make each other happy, so why they keep getting together I'll never know," she said, staring out the window.

Raul was soon pulling into his driveway.

"Nice house," Topaz commented.

"Thanks. Carlito and I moved here not long after Lola died. There were too many memories in our old house, and it was just too big for the two of us," he told her

He got out, grabbed her bag from the backseat, then walked around to open her door.

Once inside, the house, he led her to the guest room and placed her bag on the bed. "We don't get a lot of company, but the room still gets cleaned once a week."

"It's fine, Raul."

"Have you eaten?" He asked.

"No. I was going to fix something, but the fighting started, and I ended up in my room with the door barred."

"Well, let's go find you something to eat," he suggested. She wouldn't go hungry, not on his watch anyway.

He walked into the kitchen, her following behind. Raul quickly got busy pulling food out, and Topaz sat down to watch him work.