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He lifted himself but still hovered and dropped a hard hand against my butt. “Marc said to not let you out of sight. This Coaltar fuck’s already called for you.”
I jerked up, but my movement was limited since he was on top of me. I tried shoving him off, and he rolled over onto his side next to me.
“He called?”
“Don’t sound so excited.”
I couldn’t help it. My heart was pounding like I was a girl with her first crush. I wasn’t sure if I really liked him. He was hot, yeah. A night of sleep had mangled my feelings up until I wasn’t sure what I had felt at the party. I think at some point I presumed he was just toying with me and wouldn’t think of me again. “How do you know he called?”
“He called Brandon’s cell phone looking for you last night. I think it was on purpose to piss him off.” He rolled onto his back, folding his arms under his head like a pillow. “He’s a shithead, so you’re going to stay here with us for a bit.”
“For how long?” Not that I minded a few more hours or even another day. It’d been a long time since I felt I could take a day off. “I mean I need to get to work if I’m going to be able to afford rent. And I need to call Wil.”
“You can’t call Wil,” he said. “You’re in hiding.”
Somehow what he said didn’t register with me at all. It didn’t make sense. “What?”
“Coaltar has a big reach. You don’t know. You need to go underground.”
I got up on my knees, leaning over him a little. “What do you mean? How long is this for?”
He shrugged. “Could be a week. Could be a month.”
“A month!”
“You’re the one that got too close.” He got up, swinging himself around until he was sitting cross-legged on the bed. It was the first time I noticed the sweatpants he had on. I guess I was too distracted by the tattoos before. “You need to stay with us.”
“Like hell I do.” I got up, crawling to the edge of the bed and put a foot down on the carpet.
Raven reached out, grabbing at a wrist. “Hang on, little thief.”
“Let go,” I said. I swung around, catching him in the arm with a fist. “I want to talk to Marc. Where is he?”
“He’s not here.” He tugged at my wrist, strong enough to get me to kneel on the bed again.
“You mean he’s following Coaltar?”
“Maybe.”
I grunted. “How am I supposed to yell at him if he’s gone?”
“You can talk to Axel. I’ll take you to him if you stop hitting me.”
I pouted, and swung a fake punch with my free hand at his knee.
He caught that wrist, drawing my hands together, and held tight. “Now what are you gonna do?” he asked.
I wriggled to try to slip my hand out of his grip, but he clutched me with one hand easily. I shoved a foot at his arm, trying to pry him off.
He leapt on me, shoving his free arm around my waist until he could scoop me up and tackle me to the bed. He sat on my hips again, pinning my wrists to the pillow. His broad nose lowered until he hovered over my face. His deep brown eyes bore into me. “I don’t understand you. Are you trying to tell me you don’t want to talk to Axel? Is that why you’re fighting with me?”
“I’m just ticked off. I don’t know what I want to do.” It was true. I had no idea what to think. Would yelling at Marc do any good? Axel was the boss, but if he had disagreed, he wouldn’t have let Raven hold me hostage here, would he? I didn’t want to believe Coaltar was a bad guy, but what did I know? They were some super spy team and I just walked in on this yesterday.
“So you start beating me up? Christ, I’m going to start calling you little demon.”
I twisted and squirmed underneath him. Why was I fighting him? My heart was pounding. Raven’s muscled, tattooed shoulders and attitude set something off inside me. I would never admit it in a million years, but I wanted to pummel him for making me feel like I wanted to kiss the tar out of him. “Get off of me. I’ll tell Axel.”
“I told you, he’s not here.” His eyes lowered, tracing my face around my cheek and down to my lips. His eyes shifted, as if something caught his attention, and his gaze settled on my shoulder. The big T-shirt I was wearing slid off my shoulder, revealing my skin. He poked with his free hand at a sore spot. “Looks like I left a bruise.”
I twisted my head, trying to see what he was seeing and couldn’t. “I get those all the time.”
“No shit. Do you do this with all your boyfriends?”
I snorted. “What boyfriends?”
He released my wrists, sitting back. “Don’t give me that, like you’ve never had one.”
“I’m not saying I’ve never had one. You just said it like I’ve got a pocketful right now and all over the place.”
“So Marc was right? You’re single?”
I huffed, indignant. “As if I’d let you sit on top of me if I did have one. I’m not that kind of girl.” I planted a palm on his stomach, shoving. “Get off of me.”
He climbed off, and landed on the floor. He sat on the carpet, cross-legged, leaning with his elbows on his knees. He twisted his upper half, inspecting his arms. He poked at a spot. “Shit, you’re leaving a few on me, too.”
I found where he was pointing. A splotchy purple mess could be seen between the tattoo pigments. “We’re rough.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Do I need to go easier on you?”
“No,” I said quickly. “A few bruises never bothered me.” I didn’t want to say so, but after a while, I understood that I tended to bruise pretty easily. I telling him would make him feel like he had to go easier on me. I didn’t want that. Wrestling with guys was a lot of fun.
He smirked. “I might have been wrong. Maybe other boys couldn’t handle you – not like this. Not like I can.”
I sputtered and then snorted.
“All right,” he said. “First thing today, we need to get you settled.”
I couldn’t believe this was happening. Settled? I needed to get out of here. “No, first thing we need to do is find Wil.”
“Kayli.”
“Raven.” I got on my knees on the bed. “He needs to know or he’ll come looking for me. If what you’re saying is true, if this guy is so terrible, help me warn him.”
His lips twisted, the hole where his lip ring had been removed for the night flexed. His dark eyes squinted at me, like he wasn’t sure how to do this.
“Please,” I begged, in a softer tone. I thought about the day before and what I did to Corey. I hoped that worked on Raven. I stumbled off the bed, tentatively moved as if to crawl into his lap. I was ready to jump in case he was going to push me or hit me.
He sat up, and then back to lean on his hands, opening himself up but unwilling to pull me in. I was fine with that. I was the one begging. I crawled into his lap, planting a knee on either side of his thighs as I faced him, I slipped my arms around his neck, and then felt an odd thrill as his bare chest was pressed up against my T-shirt covered breasts.
“Raven,” I pleaded, pressing my cheek to his. “Help me get word to him. Anything. I’ll stay here if you want me to. I can do it. Just help me make sure.”
A wide hand dropped to the nape of my neck, cupping, warming. “You’ll stay here with me?” he asked in a low, gruff
whisper.
“Please,” I breathed, trying to be nice. I had been rough with him for no reason but now I was being serious. Wil needed to know I was fine. I needed to make sure he wasn’t looking for me, that he was safe and Jack wasn’t treating him too badly.
His thumb massaged a spot behind my ear in a slow motion as if trying to make a decision. Moments passed with me pressed against his body. His thumb pressed harder, making my head tilt toward it and for the moment, I forgot I was asking. His fingers were strangely relaxing.
Suddenly, he pushed me away from him until I spilled out on the floor. He stood up, and marched to the door.
“Raven?”
He paused just in the hallway, his fists clenched. “Get dressed, little thief.” He turned partially, facing the wall, but it was enough for me to see the lightning firing off in his eyes. “I’m going to do this. And when we get back, you’re not going to worry about your brother, and you’re not going to worry about this Coaltar. That party is the last time he’ll get anywhere near you.” He turned again and punched at his door to open it wider. It swung in, hitting the wall hard enough to feel like it shook the apartment.
I stilled on the carpet, my heart trembling in my chest. What on earth did I just do?
THE FIERCE BEAR
I wore my old shorts and a borrowed-without-asking shirt from Marc’s closet. Raven dressed in jeans and wore a black T-shirt that only partially covered his tattooed arms. He’d put the lip ring back in. He directed me to a black truck in the parking lot.
“I thought this was Marc’s?”
He grunted. “I’m borrowing it.”
He had a key? I shrugged it off. They shared an apartment and shared cars. For friends, I guessed that was just their thing. Most of the guys I’d known in high school wouldn’t do that, but most guys were jerks anyway.
We were on the road for only ten minutes when traffic slowed us down. Raven cursed at the other drivers through the windshield. I slumped in my seat.
“Where are we going?” I asked. I mean I knew the general plan, but didn’t have a clue what his intentions were.
