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Chapter Eleven
RAVEN
I try not to pay attention to Mac as he takes Kiera’s hand and leads her towards the stairs. It’s fine. I’m getting over Vinn and I definitely don’t feel anything towards Mac, not like that. He’s a friend. Just a friend. I’m happy for him. So, I don’t understand this knotted feeling in my stomach.
Leia hands me another glass of wine. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I say, grinning. “But I think I’ve had enough wine for tonight. I’m gonna head up to bed.”
She smiles sadly. “Okay. Tomorrow, we’ll work on a new job.”
Vinn steps out of Riggs’ office as I pass. “Goodnight, Corvo.”
“Night.”
“You sure you don’t want company?” he asks with a smirk.
I roll my eyes. “No.”
“I wish I had your ability to turn my feelings off,” he mutters.
I head for the stairs, ignoring him. He’s not gonna guilt trip me into falling back into his bed. He’ll leave here tonight and not think about me again. I head for my room, turning down the hall, and almost crash into Mac and Kiera. She’s pressed against the wall with her legs wrapped around his waist, and they’re kissing like they’re starving. They’re kissing like we just kissed. I blush instantly and stare down at the floor. “Sorry,” I mumble, moving around them and rushing to my room.
I close my door, lean against it, and groan. That was awkward. Why was it awkward? I hope he didn’t think I was being awkward. A few minutes pass and I get undressed, slipping into Mac’s t-shirt, pulling the material to my nose and inhaling like a sad loser. It smells of him, and I flop onto my bed with another groan. Fuck.
A knock on the door makes me jump, and I get up to open it as Mac walks in. We stare at each other for a few seconds. “Wrong room?” I ask with a small laugh.
“No. I told Kiera I needed to check on you.”
I frown. “I’m fine.”
“I kind of used it as an excuse to get away.”
I glance at my watch. “Christ, that was fast work.”
He shuts my door. “I didn’t fuck her. Christ, I can last longer than a minute!”
I laugh. “I’ll take your word for it. So, if you didn’t do anything with her, why are you here?” There’s hope building in my chest, but I try to quash it. I’m reading too much into it.
He shrugs. “It didn’t feel right.”
I nod, climbing into bed. His broken heart is stopping him from moving on. I’m not surprised—I know the feeling well. “Has there been anyone since Ruby?”
He ignores me.
“Why?”
He shrugs, pulling his shirt off and placing it on the chair. Unfastening his belt, his eyes briefly connect with my own before he rips it from the loops and places it atop the shirt. My thighs clench and I press my lips together. We might not be a thing, but there’s certainly some sexual tension flying around since the kiss. “I want to know.”
“You want to know how much I suffered as a kid?” I ask, smiling. “Sicko.”
He grins, pushing his jeans down his legs and stepping from them. Once he’s added them to the pile, he lifts the sheets back and gets into bed beside me. I don’t question it. Not once. I don’t even question it in my mind. “Do you have any good memories?”
I nod. “I had a tricycle when I was really young, maybe four? We lived in a high-rise block of flats. They were terrible, practically falling down, but everyone who lived there was like a big family. Women would take care of each other’s kids, so it was like having fifty mums. My mum was never around. She was a prostitute and would sleep most days and be gone all night. I’d ride up and down the ramps at all hours of the day or night. I loved it.”
“Freedom of the bike,” he says with a knowing smile.
“Maybe that’s where my addiction to this life began?”
