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Zay
I messed up.I’ll admit that. But I was trying to get some answers so that we didn’t have to enter that school completely blind. So, when I had left the house tonight, I went to this party that Porter was at, because I’ve had my assumptions that it was him from the start. That whole bullshit story I told Hunter was because I wasn’t ready to tell him what I’d found out yet, not until I was sure.
I had asked around, called up some of my connections, and managed to get some surveillance footage from a house that’s near Raven’s uncle’s place. The footage was around the time that she was taken, and wouldn’t you fucking know it, but an SUV that looked an awful lot like Porter’s was driving around in the area.
The thing is, his SUV is pretty common, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try to scare him enough to find out the truth—if he was part of the bridge incident. And if he was, I was going to make him pay.
I drugged him at the party and dragged him into the basement where I tied him up and waited for him to come to. That’s the thing about being the mafia offspring of a psychopathic assassin—you learn a thing or two about scaring people into a confession. However, my father always ended their lives after he was done with them. I’m not a killer, though. At least not yet. It’s something I worry about all the time. Every time I get angry, I can’t help wondering if it’s the genetic monster trying to claw its way out of me.
Anyway, once Porter woke up, he freaked out, spitting and cursing at me to let him go. Then, after me bashing him around for a moment—hence the cuts on my knuckles—he started to calm down and talk.
“You think I was part of that?” He laughs, blood and sweat dripping down his face. “That’s child’s play, bro.”
“True. But you are a bit of a dipshit when it comes to this sort of stuff,” I mock, crouching down and getting in his face. “And I saw your SUV nearby when it happened.”
He rolls his eyes. “You and I both know every damn person in the mafia has an SUV like mine. Well, except for you and your friends.” He smirks. “But, are you guys even part of your family anymore? Or, did they disown you?”
I roll my eyes. “See? A dipshit when it comes to this sort of stuff.” I start to stand up so I can return to punching him when he says something that completely blindsides me.
“You think I’m the dipshit?” A smirk curves across his swollen, beaten face. “Well, here’s a little secret that’s going blow your mind.” He leans forward. “That pretty little bird you’ve brought into your group isn’t who you think she is. Ravenlee Wilowwynter, aka Willow Raven Lee. And she didn’t move here by coincidence. Her uncle was paid to move here so that she could return to Honeyton.”
My pulse quickens, but I manage to keep my composure as I tell him, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I am about to kick your ass again.”
“You do know what I’m talking about, bro,” he says with a roll of his eyes. “I’ve lived here my whole life, too, and I haven’t forgotten about that little friend you guys used to have.”
I start to panic, and I never panic.
“Willow’s middle name wasn’t Raven.” I shouldn’t have said that, shouldn’t have let him know he’s on to something. But part of me wants to hear what else he has to say.
“Isn’t it?” He lifts his brow tauntingly.
I want to punch him in the face. And I would, too, if I wasn’t so thrown off by what he said. And that’s where I make my mistake, because that slipup gives him enough time to bash his head against mine—hence the cut on my face.
As our skulls clank, we’re both knocked backward. The chair he’s on topples over, while I fall back onto the floor. And when the chair hits the cement floor, it breaks enough that he’s able to slip out of the ties around his wrists and legs.
I sit up as he gets to his feet, staggering a bit, probably because he has a concussion. I think I may have one, too.
He doesn’t come toward me, but I don’t expect him to—Porter isn’t brave without his gang of friends with him. Before he runs off, though, he does utter some ominous words that I don’t think about too much at the moment, but I do later.
“I’m going to retaliate,” he says, wiping the blood from his lips with the sleeve of his shirt. “And it’s going to be bloody and straight at your heart.” With that, he takes off.
And as I stand here, staring at the dead raven, I finally get what he meant. I get it straight to my heart. And not just mine, but Jax’s and Hunter’s, something they’re making pretty damn clear as I tell them what happened. Well, minus the Willow part. I haven’t figured that out yet, and I don’t know how to tell them. I definitely can’t tell them in front of Raven, because either she does know she’s Willow and is hiding it—if that’s the case, I can’t tip her off yet—or she’s completely clueless and I can’t just throw it all on her like this. Because telling her means telling her everything about the past—all the pain, torture, and betrayal. I can’t do that yet. Or ever.
“I can’t believe you did this,” Jax mumbles as he paces the living room. “Well, I can because you’re you, but I’m still pissed off!”
“Cleary,” I mumble, eliciting a glare from him.
I don’t react, because that’s what I do—bury my feelings to the point where I come off as cold and cruel. It’s how I have to be. If I wasn’t, my father, or someone else, would see that and use it to break me. I know this for a fact, because the last time I ever exposed any sort of emotion, they took it away from me.
Took her away from me.
Willow …
My gaze strays to Ravenlee, who’s sitting in the chair across from me and beside Hunter, chewing on her thumbnail. The glow of the fire in the fireplace gives me a good view of her, even with the darkness trying to take over the house. Her raven-colored hair is wavy and wild, and her big eyes are locked on the floor. I’ll admit, she’s fucking gorgeous. As pissed off as she made me the first time I saw her, I noticed that about her—how beautiful she is. Her eyes are my favorite part.
Hunter would probably tell you how much he wants to photograph her beauty, while Jax would—or probably already has—written poems about her. Me? I’m not an artist by any means. What I can offer, though, is protection. So, that’s what I’m going to do.
“Everyone just needs to chill the hell out,” I say, slanting forward and resting my arms on my legs. “Porter is a minor thorn in our asses. That bloody raven out there was all for show. We’ve known him forever, and we know the dude is weak as fuck, especially when he’s not around his little friends.”
Hunter, who’s playing with Raven’s hair—something that I’m not even going to begin to decipher yet because I already have way too much other shit to worry about—glances at me. “So, you want to what?” he asks in a challenging tone, obviously irritated with me, too. “Retaliate against his retaliation? Because all I see that doing is us getting into a retaliation war. And we also have this stupid game to worry about. Plus, figuring out who actually pushed her off the bridge.” He frowns at that. “Plus, we have this club to check out—”
“I can check that out on my own,” Raven cuts him off. “I already said that.”
“And I already said I’d come with you.” Jax sinks down onto the sofa beside her, putting the three of them wedged into it side by side.
I can already see the relationship forming, them all getting close. If she is Willow, I’m not surprised. It was exactly how our friendship started back then. The three of them bonded almost instantly, whereas it took me a while to soften up to her. Once I did, though, she owned me. She was the only person who ever has, besides my father, but that was in a completely different way. I didn’t mind Willow owning me. In fact, I kind of liked it. It gave me a purpose. And it gives me one now, if she is her.
The thing is, I don’t see this going down the way it did in our past. We’re all older, and the friendship vibe between the three of them is already intense. It’s what I meant when I said the beginning. I can see this as being the beginning of a huge changing point in our lives, like we reached some sort of fork in the road that we’ve been cruising down. They’re either going to hit their brakes and back up or take off and speed into the unknown, all three of them together, like they did when they were kids. Only, they’re not kids anymore. I’ll just have to wait and fucking see what they do. Then I will decide if I want to go with them or bail out of the damn car.
