Dangerous Love Affair

Monalise and Rafael

Not going to lie, this part is not edited at all. I've been trying to hurry up and put out chapters so I could go back and edit them later. With everything going on with protests and rioting my mind has been elsewhere. Please enjoy this chapter!!!

I ran through the park with Kekoa next to me and Santiago behind us. It was day five of working out, and already I could feel the changes to my body. I had always been thin, so I thought I was in some way in shape. Santiago showed me how wrong I really was. He had volunteered to train me after I asked him if he knew anyone in the area who could train me in self-defense. He didn't go easy on me no matter my status over him.

Kekoa, my adopted German Shepard, quickly took to our workouts. His name had been suggested to me by the woman who worked at the shelter. She told me his name meant warrior in Hawaiian, and after learning what he'd been through, that's exactly what he was. We were working on getting him to be a little less clingy and more protective.

I picked up the pace when I spotted the familiar colorful bench that meant the end of our mile. I could hear my heart beating through my eardrum. I didn't let up until I was exactly in the middle of where the bench sat. I immediately hunched over, trying to catch my breath.

"That was good Mona," I could see him handing me my water bottle from the corner of my eye. I took it without hesitation, "You're at eight minutes and fifty seconds today. A lot better than when you first started at fifteen minutes."

I took a long swig from my water bottle and stood upright. "You've been kicking my ass all week."

He smiled and reached down to pet Kekoa, "I'm not done kicking it. Next week, we're doing two miles every day. I want to get you up to five miles."

I shook my head at him. Not only we're we running every day, but every other day were doing some kind of defense training. Boxing had become my favorite.

His phone rang, startling both me, and Kekoa, who immediately started barking. I told him ''Quiet'', like the dog trainer taught me to do, and lightly yanked his collar to catch his attention. He didn't stop right away, which made me yank his collar a little harder. After a half bark, he stopped and turned to face me. I waited ten seconds, to see if he would bark again. When he didn't, I pulled a treat out of my fanny pack and gave it to him.

"Yeah boss, she's right here." I heard Santiago say. He turned to look at me with a smirk, "I'll have her home in ten."

I looked away to make it seem like I wasn't interested in the conversation even though he already caught me staring. I knew Rafael was coming home from Dom, who I had let help me with operations since Ana was no longer around. I could really see how valuable of an asset he was and how he was just as important as Rafael was. Sophia was right about everything she said, it was her delivery of what she had to say that had me not returning her calls.

"Alright, let's get out of here." He tucked his phone in his sweat pockets, "Don't think just cause Raf's back I'm going to go easy on you."

I didn't say anything. Instead, I playfully rolled my eyes and feigned exhaustion. Truth was, I didn't want him to go easy on me. Not when Levi was still lurking around.

We began walking to the parking lot where my car was. I decided to drive because I didn't feel it would be fair to have him drive us when I was the one already asking for a favor. It felt like hours before we were home, probably because I was so sore and could barely use my thighs and because I had stopped by a smoothie place.

When pulled up to the house, I immediately felt nervous. I hadn't seen Rafael in a good month and a half and hadn't lived with him for longer. I wondered if he was feeling as nervous as I was.