Raven

by BE Kelly

  She followed them up to the room that he and Jag rented from Tank. It was easier to take women there instead of introducing them to where they really lived. It was also a whole lot less messy when they’d try to track down him or Jag, wanting another turn with the two of them. That wasn’t the way they liked to play things. Remi smirked up at him and shook her head. “How many women do you two bring up here?” she questioned, as if able to read his thoughts.

  “What exactly are your abilities, Honey?” Texas asked. If she could read minds, he was pretty sure that he and Jag both were fucked. Hell, if she could read minds, this might all have gone a lot smoother than it had between the three of them.

  “No,” Remi giggled. “I can’t read minds, Tex. But, it’s not hard to decipher what the two of you are thinking.”

  “How’s that?” Jag questioned.

  “Well, you two tell it like it is. You’ve been completely open about what you want from me and I’m betting I’m not the first woman you’ve asked to do this—you know sharing thing, with.” Remi looked between the two of them as if expecting them to give her an answer to the question she really never asked.

  “If you’re asking if we’ve shared women before, then the answer is yes,” Texas said. “We don’t hide the fact that we like to share women. If you’re not up to this, just say so, and this all ends here and now.” Texas felt like he was holding his damn breath, waiting for her to make up her mind again. It was like watching a ping pong match, trying to keep up with her. His fingers flexed on the doorknob where they rested, waiting to hear her final verdict.

  “I’m here, Texas and I agreed to this. I’m not going to renege now,” she mumbled. Tex worried that they were pushing Remi into something she might regret and he hated that. She was an honorable woman, trying to help people with her abilities and now, Jag was on the receiving end of her kindness. Texas would do just about anything to keep his friend from ending up the way he had in Remi’s vision. What he wouldn’t do was force her to be between the two of them.

  Texas nodded and turned the doorknob, letting the door swing open. A single king-sized bed sat in the middle of the room and he watched Remi as she took in the sparse furnishings. Remi smiled and looked up at him again.

  “You guys travel light,” she teased. “Honestly, all you need is a neon sign flashing the words, ‘bachelor pad’ and this place will be the complete package.” Jag choked back his laugh and crossed the room to close the blinds.

  “Well, the secrets out,” he said. “Tex and I are two single men who like to share women. She’s found us out,” he teased. Remi giggled again and it was so nice to hear her finally happy. Texas wasn’t sure if they would ever see that side of her. Between warning Lyra about Dave and tracking down her sister, Texas was sure she didn’t have much to laugh about in life. There was more though. Every time he looked at her, he could feel her sadness and Texas knew it had more to do with anything that was going on around them. Remi had been through something—something awful and he wondered if she’d ever let him in and share that part of herself with either of them.

  “Ready,” Remi defiantly asked, raising her chin as if daring either of them to turn her away now. It wouldn’t happen, not now or ever, but Texas wasn’t about to tell her that. He planned on taking whatever Remi was willing to give them and, in the process, slowly chip away at the giant wall she had built around herself. Sooner or later, she’d let him in—she’d let them both through her barrier.

  Remi

  She felt like a rebellious child, staring down Jag and Texas as if challenging either of them to change their minds. Remi was awkward and completely out of her element. She tried to act cool, resting her hands on her hips, as if channeling her inner angry librarian, but that didn’t seem to fly with the guys. Maybe they didn’t spend much time in libraries or maybe they just didn’t find her as threatening as the town’s residents. As far as librarians went, she hardly fit the mold but not fitting into the roles people generally tried to place her in, was kind of her thing. There really weren’t many Native American librarians in her town and that was just fine with her. Remi liked being different and besides her twin sister, Oryana, not many people got her.

  Remi made a show of checking her watch as if letting Jag and Texas know she wasn’t going to wait all night. “We going to do this guys?” she asked. “I have to be at work in ten hours and will need to run home to shower, change and feed my cats.”

  “Cats,” Jag asked. “As in more than one?”

  “Yep,” she proudly said. “Five, actually.”

  “You have five cats?” Texas questioned.

  “Yep,” Remi said. Texas and Jag shared a look and then actually had the nerve to laugh. “Um, what’s so funny?” she asked.

  “Just that, with that many cats, you could be considered an old, crazy cat lady,” Jag teased.

  “Yeah, but she definitely doesn’t fit the old and frumpy part of it,” Texas said, correcting Jag’s assessment of her. “How about the crazy part, Honey? You fit that part of the description?” Texas asked.

  “Well, that depends on the situation. Like, right now, dealing with you two—I’m feeling a little crazy,” Remi teased. “Maybe this was a bad idea.” Remi picked up her bag and headed for the door.

  “Don’t,” Jag ordered. “You promised that you won’t back out of our deal, Remi,” he said. He sounded more desperate than angry and Remi knew exactly how he felt. Every time she turned the guys down, she felt a pang of desperation that would have her running all the way back to her grandmother’s house in New Mexico. Her Anali, as Remi called her in her native Navajo language, could always tell when she was running from something rather than just making a trip home for a visit.

  Remi turned back to face Jag, noting the panic she saw in his eyes. “Alright,” she whispered. She crossed the small room and wrapped her arms around Jag’s neck. “I’ll stick around, but you need to figure out what you’re going to do with me. You do have just one night,” she reminded him.

  “So you said,” Jag teased. He looked around her body to where Texas stood in the corner of the room. “What should we do with her, Tex?” Jag asked.

  Texas closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around Remi, her back to his front. She could feel his erection pressing into her back, letting her know that she wasn’t the only one affected by what seemed to be playing out between the three of them. “I’m pretty sure we can figure out a few things,” Texas drawled.

  Jag kissed his way up her neck and when he got to her lips, he stopped to watch her, as if silently asking her permission. Texas tugged her long, dark hair to one side and kissed her neck, gently nibbling her shoulder. They were good at working together to distract her, but Remi was guessing they had a good deal of practice with sharing a woman.

  “What are you waiting for, man?” Texas asked.

  Jag smiled at her and nearly took her breath away. “I’m waiting for our Raven to give me the go-ahead,” Jag said. “Tell me I can kiss you, Remi.”

  Remi wasn’t sure if she liked that he called her his Raven. Honestly, the name hit a little too close to home. Her Anali had always called her the all-seeing Raven and Remi wondered how Jag had picked up on that.

  “How do you know my nickname?” she stuttered.

  “What?” he whispered. His lips were so close to hers; she could practically feel them brush against her own. She wanted him to kiss her. Hell, she wanted them both to make her theirs, but first, she needed some answers. Remi never took signs and little coincidences lightly. They were too important and to people like her—women who could see things, both past, and future, they could mean the difference between life and death.

  “You called me Raven,” she said, leaning into Jag’s big body. She couldn’t help herself, letting her fingers trace his tattoos and lean muscles up his forearms. “That’s my nickname.”

  “Really?” he asked. Jag seemed surprised and Remi took a step back from him, pressing tighter against Texa
s’ body. She reached for the hem of her t-shirt and tugged it over her head, leaving her standing between the two of them in just her bra and jeans. She liked the way Texas let his hands freely roam her body. He wouldn’t be asking her for her verbal consent at every turn of their night together. She had already given him the green light by agreeing to go to their room with them and that seemed to be enough for Texas. Jag, on the other hand, needed more reassurances that she was a willing participant in tonight’s debaucheries. Jag looked her torso over, letting his eyes rest on what she wanted him to see—her tattoo of a raven on her upper shoulder. The bird looked almost as if it was flying through her body and Texas let his fingers trace the part of the tat that ran along her back shoulder blade.

  “A raven,” he whispered.

  “How did you know?” she asked Jag again.

  He shrugged and gave her his easy smile. “We didn’t,” he admitted. “Texas and I just got to talking about you one night and well, we both agreed that nickname fit you. Hell, I can’t really explain it.”

  “I can,” she said. “We have a connection, the three of us,” she admitted. It was something she always looked for in other people. Usually, when she found a strong connection with others, especially men, she ran the opposite way. Remi didn’t have time for messy relationships that she knew from experience would only lead to heartache.

  “I don’t know about that,” Jag countered. “I mean—it could just be that we are good guessers and hell, maybe it’s just a coincidence.”

  “No such thing,” she challenged.

  “As a coincidence?” Jag asked.

  “Nope,” she said. “I don’t believe in them or in fate,” she said. “I’ve learned that people’s paths are usually changed by the choices they make. For example, when I showed up here tonight, to save your life,” she paused and smiled up at him as if reminding Jag that she had a purpose for just showing up at Reckoning. “I changed your fate by agreeing to spend the night with the two of you.”

  “Okay,” Texas said. “We get the whole change the outcome thing. When you helped us to save Lyra, it changed what she saw. You can’t honestly believe that coincidences don’t exist. How do you explain chance meetings or bumping into someone you were just thinking about a few days before?”

  “I see those as the universes way of putting us in the right place at the right time. Maybe you weren’t supposed to go to the grocery store, but you realized the milk in your refrigerator was spoiled, leaving you no choice. While you’re there, you run into an old high school friend who had been having a hard time with life. You ask your old friend to dinner and she accepts and while you’re at dinner, she tells you that she was planning on going home tonight and was going to kill herself because she felt so completely alone. Her chance meeting at the grocery store reminded her that someone in the world cares and she changed her mind. Instead of ending her life, she decides to go to see a therapist to get help for her depression,” Remi paused and smiled at Jag. “After two years of therapy, you see her again at the same supermarket. This time, she’s happy. She tells you that she’s married to her former therapist and they are expecting their first child together. How can that be just a coincidence or something that happened by chance?”

  “Wow,” Jag breathed.

  “Yeah, wow,” she agreed. “It’s a true story. The universe put me in her path, not coincidence.” Jag held up his hands as if in defeat. “Okay, Honey. I get it—no such thing as fate or coincidence. But how would I know about your tattoo or nickname?”

  That was something Remi couldn’t explain. She knew that she was connected to them both, in some way. It’s why she felt as if she knew Texas and why she was seeing Jag’s path. Remi usually had a connection to the people she saw in her premonitions and the bond that seemed to exist between the three of them scared her—though she wasn’t about to tell them that.

  Remi shrugged and smiled. “No clue,” she admitted. Texas wrapped his arms around her almost naked body, reminding her that she was standing in front of them wearing only her bra and jeans.

  “I like the idea of the three of us being connected,” he admitted. Remi wrapped her arms over his, hugging him close.

  “Me too, Tex.” Remi looked at Jag and nodded. “You can kiss me, Jag,” she whispered. For just a split second, Jag looked confused. She could tell the exact moment he seemed to catch up, taking a step towards her, invading her personal space. Jag leaned into her body and gently brushed his lips over hers. He was so gentle with her, compared to Texas. He seemed almost shy when it came to taking what he wanted from her and when he touched her, it felt like he was making her promises. But, that was crazy. He wasn’t promising her anything except a night together and that was all she was capable of giving either of them in return.

  “My turn,” Texas growled, turning her in his arms. Remi ran her hands up over his shoulders, hooking her hands behind his neck. She was tall but next to Texas and Jag, she almost felt petite.

  “Yes,” she agreed. “Your turn, Tex.” He smiled a wolfish grin at her, making her giggle. He pulled her tighter against his body and didn’t hesitate. Texas kissed her like he was a starving man, licking and nipping his way into her mouth. Remi moaned and he took that as his cue to deepen their kiss. Jag pressed up against her back and she had never felt so safe, surrounded by their big bodies. But it was more than just having them close. Remi could feel that they had been waiting for her, wanting her for so long and now that she was agreeing to let them take what they wanted from her, she felt like the universe might be trying to tell her something. What that might be, she had no idea. Sometimes, the clues were so loud she instantly knew what she was meant to do. With Texas and Jag, it felt like the universe was screaming at her in a language she couldn’t understand and that scared the shit out of her. For the first time in a damn long time, Remi was flying blind and finally taking what she wanted. What could possibly go wrong?

  Jag

  Jag wasn’t sure how much more teasing he could take. Remi was driving him to the brink of insanity and watching her with Texas was making him feel things he hadn’t usually experienced—namely jealousy. That emotion was a new one for him when it came to him and Texas sharing women. Then again, he had never wanted a woman as badly as he did Remi.

  Jag was ex-military and that afforded him the type of lifestyle he always dreamed of having. He joined the Air force to become a pilot and see the world, just like the stupid brochures promised. He just never imagined he’d enlist and be sent into a warzone that was a hotbed for shooting down American fighter jets. He was one of the lucky ones—he got out. Some of his buddies weren’t so lucky and once his time was up, he refused to re-up no matter how much the military offered him, trying to make it worth his while. He was thirty-four years old and had too much life to live to fight someone else’s war.

  Once he got back home, he realized he had nothing waiting for him. No woman was sitting back in the states, hoping he’d make it back to her safely. Jag moved down to New Orleans from his hometown of Michigan. It wasn’t just a temperature change, but a culture shock for him. He had one friend in the world he knew he could reach out to and that was Tank. He and Tank had known each other in the service and when he decided to take the leap and move to NOLA, he called his buddy. He helped Jag get settled and when he wanted to prospect for Reckoning, Tank found him a sponsor—Reaper. They were his family now—his brothers and he was damn lucky to have each of them in his life.

  He loved his life in NOLA. Jag had enough money saved up to buy an eighteen passenger plane and he started up his own venture of running local businessmen from state to state. They liked the anonymity he afforded them and the fact that they could basically fly private without the cost of owning their own jet. He made a damn good living catering to the rich and sometimes even famous clientele who called NOLA home.

  When he met Texas, he almost wrote the guy off. Tex was a kid from the wrong side of the tracks and Jag didn’t want to get mixed up with him. He h
ad done time for stealing a car when he was just nineteen. Texas started coming around Reckoning when he got out of prison and Jag tried to tell the guy to get lost, but Tex never took his not so subtle hints. Texas was as decent as they came. He spent five long years in prison, making up for one stupid mistake and he deserved a chance. They were the same age and Jag could see a lot of himself in the guy. Texas grew on him over time and when he asked Jag to be his sponsor, to prospect into Reckoning, he agreed. The two had been inseparable over the past five years and Jag never felt anything but respect and admiration for his friend. Seeing Texas with Remi tonight evoked all new feelings though and Jag wondered if it was all worth it—if she was worth it.

  “You good man,” Texas questioned as if he could pick up on Jag’s feelings of unease.

  “Yeah,” he lied.

  Remi smiled up at him and shook her head, making a tsking noise. “You aren’t a very good liar,” she accused.

  “What makes you think I’m lying, Honey?” Jag countered. He and Remi didn’t really know each other. She had been to Reckoning a handful of times when she was trying to save Tank’s woman, Lyra. He had to admit, he and Texas had more than one conversation about the sexy dark haired raven who walked into Reckoning and turned the both of them inside out with lust. But, she was determined to give them hell, turning them down every chance she got. Jag didn’t believe they’d ever get their shot with her and there was no way in hell he’d fuck this all up now.

  Remi shrugged, “I feel it,” she said. He knew she had the same special powers that Lyra and her sister Beth had. Remi and her twin sister, Oryana seemed to have different skill sets than Lyra and Beth. Jag knew enough to know that if Remi said she could sense something; he should believe her.

  Remi placed her palms flat against his chest as if she was trying to feel his heart beating through his shirt. Hell, she could probably feel it racing since he felt like it was going to beat out of his damn chest. And, when she looked at him, it was as if Remi could see straight through him—right into his soul. She closed her eyes and smiled.