Rose

The rain was coming down in rather thick heavy and hard pelleting sheets. It didn't show any mercy when fell down upon people. The large drops were quick to soak and splatter whatever they came into contact with and the freezing wind only made the chill worse for those who forgot their umbrellas and rain coat.

"Thank you, I know that everything took longer than we had expected but I really appreciate you staying here with me to go over everything." The young woman thanked the older man as she shook his hand.

Turning to face the outside world, she frowned she saw how hard the rain was coming down. For once, she hadn't come prepared by taking her umbrella with her as no rain had been forecast for that morning.

There was nothing that she could do about it at the current moment in time though. Most everyone else had already left leaving no one around for her to ask if she could borrow an umbrella from.

Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself as she gripped the strap of her purse rather tightly.

The bus stop really wasn't that far between the entrance of the building and where she was standing. If she could move quick enough, there was a chance that she could avoid getting completely soaked by the time she moved.

Once she could get to the bus stop and be on her bus, there would be nothing else that she needed to worry about.

She just had to be careful to ensure that she didn't end up falling or worse rushing through the pouring rain. She glad today she choose to wear slacks instead of her favorite short skirt.

Should she fall, she wouldn't have to worry about what anyone might see.

Somehow she did manage to make it to the bus stop but far more soaked than she had been hoping to be. The distance in her mind to the bust stop and the actual distance seemed to have not aligned correctly somewhere along the line.

Either way, she had made it to where she wanted to be despite the pelting rain that tried to thwart her.

She had hardly been standing there for two minutes and attempting to dry herself off as best as she could with her handkerchief when a black SUV pulled up into the space where the bus usually stopped.

She chose to ignore it at first as she didn't think that it had anything to do with her. She didn't know anyone who drove a vehicle like that.

"Rose, I take it?" She looked up from rummaging in her purse for another handkerchief when she heard her name being said.

The voice had come from the window that had been rolled down. She could tell by the deep baritone that it belonged to a man though she couldn't see what he looked like.

"Depends on who is asking." she replied, lifting her head to give the owner of the voice that she couldn't see a rather level stare.

"Someone who would be rather pleased if you would accompany him for a little while." The voice replied. In response to his words, a man stepped out of the front passenger side of the car.

He unfolded his umbrella as he came around to open the back passenger door closest to her.

rather than stepping inside, Rose stopped and stared.

She wasn't as compliant as they might have been hoping for.

"I would like to know who's asking first." she replied in the same level tone that she had spoken in before.

Neither the man holding the umbrella nor the one sitting inside the SUV spoke right away.

what broke the silence was the soft chuckle that came from inside the car.

"You're much bolder than I expected that you would be." the unknown man remarked.

"If you want to know who I am though, all you have to do is get inside the car." he replied.

"I would prefer to know who you are first." she repeated as she went back to drying herself off.

"Well we don't always get what we want in the order we'd like. Again, I recommend that you get inside the car before I have to request that my friend assists you in getting into the car."

It was subtle but there was a definite unspoken threat to the back of the man's voice. One that Rose didn't like at all.

"I do think that you would rather get inside on your own versus having some assistance. I'm sure Romeo wouldn't mind though." she could only presume he meant the man holding the car door open.

"A little conversation never hurt anyone and as soon as we are done, I have no problem taking you home." how he helped her to get home was what she was worried.

It would only take an idiot to not know what kind of man she was speaking with.

She glanced between the man outside and the open SUV door.

He was a rather stalk man who by his look had probably been in a fair number of fights that would make someone like the young woman not much of a challenge to deal with if it came down to needing to use force.

Today would be the one day that the rain left the area rather vacant. The few people that were around didn't seem interested in getting involved with what she was dealing with.

They pretty much left Rose on her own.

"Very well but know that someone will come looking for you if I'm not back home in the next hour or so." She conceded. She waited outside for the reply before even considering stepping inside the vehicle.

"As long as you cooperate, I'll be certain to have you back in one piece in no time."

This didn't instill Rose with much confidence but it didn't seem like there was any other choice but to go along with whatever they wanted while he was still being polite.