COHABITATION

3

To say that Val was shocked would be the understatement of the century, what the hell had just happened? Had she really been accosted by a gang? She raised her arms above her head and folder her hands to take a deep breath.

Val swiveled around to inspect where he had stood, thoughts of his eagle tattoo rolled around in her head. The whole occurrence had hit a little bit too close to home for her, she was now breathing too fast. She ran to the bathroom as her previous meal threatened to lurch from her stomach.

********

Weeks strolled passed and the memory of Rio was slipping through her fingers like sand. She went about her normal schedule—work, online school, and home, most days. The weather was progressively getting colder as October neared it's end, and Val was bundled up as she walked in the store.

"Halloween Day Special—all candy is 15% off , today only!" The intercom blared as she meandered over to the candy. Briefly contemplating being the worst type of person who buys healthy snacks to hand out, she laughed and instead grabbed the fan favorites. Her hand ran over the red licorice twists and she stopped cold. A distant memory prodded at her until she remembered it—his calling card. She promptly shoved the memory back, retreating to the checkout counter.

Val recognized the anxiety and immediately began her breathing exercises for anxiety management. Inhale for four counts, pause for four counts, exhale for four counts. She continued this until it was time to pay for her items. The anxiety can not be coming back, she helplessly thought. It had been a good few years without any major inklings of an anxiety attack, and she hoped that the gang visit hadn't triggered it.

********

RAP RAP RAP

Val turned her head from the horror movie that currently played to whoever was at the door. She thought that the sign 'take one' was self explanatory. A sigh later and she had opened her door, expecting to see an angry child with an empty candy bowl.

Instead, it's a man with a damn convincing gunshot wound to the shoulder, she found herself impressed. He was tall and wore a white shirt over his black skinny jeans and boots. The fake blood had seeped deeply throughout his top and his tan skin looked pale. With a laugh she let her gaze travel up his neck and the laugh died in her throat a the sight of an eagle tattoo.

"Ay, ma," Rio wore a smirk even with the slight blood and the bruising his face wore. Despite the fact that her brain had registered the gunshot wound as real, her heart beat steadily. Val had no idea what to do in the moment, was he expecting her to tend to his wounds? Was this the favor that he needed?

"You need medical attention," She said, her eyes finally tore from his to glance at the soaking stain formed on his shirt.

"Yeah, m'pretty sure you owe me a favor, and I need a safe house righ' now." She finally noticed the huge black duffel sitting next to his feet.

"I don't have enough experience for this, you need a doctor. And so, what, you want to stay at my place?" She would not be the reason behind a boss' death due to an infected stitch-up. And there was no way he was staying in her apartment, wouldn't they find him here? Nothing good could come from this. His brown eyes found her worried ones, holding her steady.

"Sounds like you sayin' you have some experience, I ain' goin' to no doctor. And like I said, you owe me a favor, and I'm collectin'." His voice slowly got raspier the more irritated he became. She should be the one irritated, Val thought. She was still deciding on whether or not to let him enter, when he softly pushed her into the apartment to make way for him.

"Where do you want me, mami?" He dropped his bag near the door and stared down at her while her heart skipped at mami. Was she a psychopath or what? Val told herself to focus and contemplated the best area for a bleeding man.