Raven

by BE Kelly

  Tex parked in the back of the bar’s parking lot and they went in to find Remi. “You think she’s still here?” Tex asked. Honestly, Jag was so tired, he was ready to find their girl and head over to the hotel. He and Tex had found a vacancy at the only hotel in the area. Judging from the less than warm reception from Remi’s grandmother, it was probably for the best.

  “I don’t know man,” Jag grumbled. “I’m about ready to call it a fucking night though.”

  “I’m tired too, but Remi might need us,” Texas said. He stopped short when they both seemed to spot their girl at the same time. She was in the back of the bar, on the dance floor, with her arms wrapped around a big, tattooed biker and Texas looked about ready to walk back to her and tear the unsuspecting guy apart.

  “What the fuck,” Tex growled.

  “I’m leaving,” Jag shouted over the music. “Fuck this.”

  “No,” Texas said. “Let’s hear her out first, man.” Nena slipped from her bar stool and walked across the bar to them. She smiled up at Jag as if she was happy to see them, but her eyes told another story.

  “What are you guys doing here?” she asked.

  “We wanted to surprise Remi, but I think she’s one-upped us on that front,” Jag said. Nena looked across the bar to where her sister was making out with the very handsy guy and back to Jag. “I’m sorry you guys have to see her like this,” she shouted. “It’s been a rough day and she’s just blowing off some steam.”

  “Is that what we’re calling that?” Texas said, nodding over to Remi’s display of PDA. The guy reached down and grabbed her ass, hauling her up his body to kiss her. Texas growled and shot across the barroom and Jag knew that there was going to be trouble, whether he was ready for it or not.

  “Take your fucking hands off our woman,” Texas yelled. The big guy, who currently had his hand’s full of Remi’s curvy ass, looked at Tex and smiled.

  “Remi’s mine tonight; beat it.” He made a shooing motion with his left hand and Tex looked about ready to remove the guy’s whole arm. Remi looked over her shoulder at the two of them and frowned; not quite the reaction either of them were hoping for.

  “Listen Texas, maybe this is what Remi wants. Let’s just go; this was all a huge mistake,” Jag admitted. It was, too. Flying to New Mexico to fix something that was never meant to be was a big fucking mistake.

  “No,” Texas growled. “I want to hear it from her—Remi?” God, he hated how torn up Tex sounded about all of this. Jag knew—he realized what they both were to her. Remi used them to feel good for a couple of nights, but that was all. She wasn’t really giving them a chance.

  “We knew the score,” Jag said. “She spent the night with us to save my life. We were nothing else to her. Am I right, Sweetheart?” His smile felt mean and he knew that he was being a complete ass, but he didn’t give a fuck. It hurt to see the woman he wanted tangled up with some other man. It felt like a fucking knife to his gut hearing how torn up Texas was about finding Remi with the tattooed hulk. They were both hurting but he wasn’t about to stand in the middle of that bar and fucking beg her to be theirs.

  Remi turned to face them and the Neanderthal she was with had the nerve to band his arms around her middle and pull her back against his body. Texas let his frustrated growl rip from his chest, just as the music paused, and the entire bar seemed to take notice of their little scene.

  “Stay cool, man,” Jag loudly whispered. “We have eyes on us.”

  Remi seemed to notice their new audience and shyly ducked her head. “Can we please take this outside?” she asked. “These people are my friends.”

  “And what are we?” Texas growled. “Just two guys you fucked?”

  “Tex,” Jag warned. The caveman who was still holding her looked about ready to kill someone and from the way some of the guys in the bar started to crowd around them, he had friends who were willing to throw down for him.

  “Please,” Remi begged.

  “Fine,” Jag said. It looked like his options were to go outside and have a conversation he didn’t want to have, or get the piss beat out of both him and Tex in the little dive bar. “But your new boyfriend stays here,” Jag countered.

  Remi looked up at the hulk and smiled and nodded. “I’ll be fine, Butch,” she offered. “They are friends from New Orleans.” God, it stung to hear her call them “friends”. They were so much more than just her fucking friends, but he’d explain that to her once they were away from every testosterone-fueled man in town. They swarmed around him and Tex and Jag knew that they were outnumbered and would end up with more than just a beating to deal with. Texas looked at Remi like a love-sick puppy and Jag wanted to tell his friend she wasn’t worth it. He wanted to tell Tex that Remi wasn’t worth the heart-ache or trouble she was causing them at every turn. That would be a lie though because she was. God help him, she was.

  Remi

  Remi had spent the day filing a missing person’s report for Aylen and begging anyone and everyone to believe her and Nena. They had proven their abilities over and over again but each time they had a new vision, it was almost like they had to start all over. Today was no different and she was mentally and physically exhausted. It didn’t help that she had slept with the officer on duty a few years back. Hell, it probably cut down on her credibility with him, but finding her cousin was too important to back down just because she had a night of casual sex with the guy.

  Nena finally stepped up and got him to believe them, but it still sucked. By the time they ended up at their favorite spot in town, all their friends were there waiting for them.

  She and Nena had a plan to divide and conquer, asking each person if they had seen or heard from Aylen; but no one had. Kaiah had called home earlier and was beside herself with worry but they all agreed to keep Aunt Joanna in the dark about her daughter’s disappearance until after her testing was done. There was no sense in worrying her before they had news.

  Anali was beside herself with grief and worry. As soon as they showed up, they told their grandmother all the sorted details. Watching her grandmother become so distraught at not seeing Aylen’s fate was awful. It was a feeling she knew herself, all too well. When she lost Aria, she had felt that way. Anali questioned why she herself had missed seeing something having to do with her own granddaughter. Remi hated the guilt she heard in her grandmother’s pleas to find their cousin. Remi and Nena promised to bring Aylen home, but was that a promised they’d be able to keep? Remi was worried that it wasn’t; especially after hitting so many brick walls today.

  That’s why when her old high school flame, Butch, asked her to dance tonight, she quickly agreed. All Remi wanted to do was lose herself in someone else. He offered her a means of escape and that was exactly what she needed. Mind-numbing sex with someone who didn’t matter to her anymore. A means to forget seeing her younger cousin bound and gagged in that fucking van. A way to forget the fact that she and Nena were no closer to finding their cousin and keeping their promises to both Aylen and Anali. Remi never dreamed that both Tex and Jag would chase her half-way across the fucking country to find her in that little dive bar. She’d do just about anything to take away the hurt she saw in both of their eyes. It was the last thing she wanted to do—hurt them, but it was best that they learned who she had become now before they fell for her.

  She followed Texas and Jag out to the parking lot, hoping to avoid having this conversation with an audience. The last thing she needed was the extra attention. She and Nena were so used to that unwanted attention, but the guys weren’t. They needed to hear from her that she wasn’t the person they thought she was. Jag and Texas were better off without her and the sooner they all realized that, the better off the three of them would be.

  Remi spun around to face two very pissed off, sexy as fuck, bikers and her traitorous body seemed to hum to life.

  “You want to tell us what the hell that was, Honey?” Texas barked.

  “That was me blowing off some steam after a very ba
d day. That, Texas, was none of your business.” Remi put her hands on her hips, trying for badass but falling short, according to the smirk on Jag’s face. “Why are you smiling at me like that? Are you making fun of me, Jag?”

  He held up his hands as if defending himself, “Naw,” he drawled. “I’m just trying to figure out which of you two alpha dogs is gonna win this one. I have to admit that watching the two of you circle each other isn’t boring.”

  “There is nothing funny about any of this,” Remi insisted, stomping her foot for good measure. Yeah, she wasn’t helping her case by acting like a complete child. Texas was now smiling at her just like Jag and she was having a hard time keeping a straight face. The three beers she had earlier weren’t helping her either.

  “Why are you guys even here?” Remi whispered. “I told you I’d be in touch when I got back to town,” she said. Sure, it was a total lie, but the guys didn’t know that.

  “Right, Honey,” Texas said. “I think you made it crystal clear about what your plans were. You had no intention of seeing us again because we force you out of your comfort zone.”

  Jag stared her down, “Is that what this is about? You’re afraid that we’ll tear down your walls, so you’re shutting us out, Honey?” Jag asked. How could she admit that every time he started getting close to her, she’d push him away? She’d shut him down and put her mask back into place. It’s who she had become since losing her daughter and she owed neither of them any apologies.

  “No,” she lied. “I’m just not the type of woman who wants a relationship. Things with me—well, they’re complicated.” They were too, but mostly because she chose to let them be that way between her and the two guys. It’s how her life had to be because letting them in would mean that she’d have to give up some of her tightly held control and that couldn’t happen.

  “Is this because of Aria?” Texas asked. Remi gasped and took a step back from them both.

  “How could you, Texas?” Remi spat. “I told you that in private.”

  “Who’s Aria?” Jag asked. God, she didn’t want to get into this here and now. She just wanted a night of fun and a way to forget that she’d messed up once again and someone she loved was now missing or possibly worse. She should have seen what happened to her cousin before it occurred, not after. Maybe, if she had been paying better attention and worrying less about ending up in bed with Texas and Jag, her cousin would be safe right now instead of bound and gagged in the back of some van.

  Remi defiantly raised her chin. Facing Jag’s simple question like it was a challenge. “Aria was my daughter.”

  “You have a kid?” Jag questioned. This was the part she always hated. Having to explain that she did have a daughter, but that she was careless and lost her baby girl. People always looked at her a little differently when she admitted that to them. It was always a cross between pity and despair that she saw in their eyes.

  “I did,” she admitted.

  “Oh,” Jag whispered, catching on. “I’m sorry.”

  “I am too, Remi,” Texas offered. He reached for her, but she took another step back. “I didn’t mean to blurt that out. Not like that, but we need to talk about this—about us.”

  Remi barked out her laugh, “There is no us,” Tex,” she almost shouted. “Can’t you just accept that I was a one-night stand and move on?”

  “Nope,” he said, smiling triumphantly down at her. “We were a two-night stand,” he corrected. Jag’s scowl looked like he was finding the whole scene a lot less funny than Tex. He was always the serious one. She could sometimes feel him watching her, studying her and now was no exception. His blue eyes felt as though they were going to bore into her soul and Remi worried about what he’d find there.

  “Please don’t look at me like that, Jag,” she whispered.

  “Is this what you told Texas the other night? You two bonded over the fact that you lost your daughter, but you couldn’t tell me? What the hell, Remi?” Jag looked about ready to punch someone and she had to admit, his anger was easier to deal with than his pity.

  “Yes,” she admitted. “That and the fact that we both grew up without a mom or dad in our lives.”

  “Fuck,” Jag swore. “I didn’t even have a chance, did I?”

  “What does that mean?” Remi questioned.

  “Well, I don’t have some tragic story, so how can I compete?” Jag asked. Honestly, he was right. She knew close to nothing about him and that was on her. She hadn’t taken the time to get to know Jag because if she had, she’d be giving him the power to rip her world apart. Every time he looked at her, she knew that he saw her—not some version of herself that she put out into the world for people to see. Jag and Tex were the only people in her life who could see straight through her bullshit.

  “That’s not fair, man,” Texas said. She smiled up at him, thankful that he was trying to come to her rescue, but Jag was right.

  “No, Texas—Jag’s right. I never let you in and I’m sorry. I was afraid,” Remi admitted.

  “Of me?” Jag asked. “Of me not wanting you because of your past?”

  “No,” Remi answered. She wouldn’t give him anything but her honesty now. She owed them both that and so much more. They had saved her and her sister’s lives and Remi knew that lying to either of them now wasn’t something she could do. “I was worried you’d want me—you know like you’d want to fix me. I’m broken, Jag and you’re so—”

  “So what?” he asked.

  “So perfect,” she whispered. “I worried that if I let you both into my world, you wouldn’t want to let me go. I don’t let my walls down for anyone—not even Nena. If I let them down for the two of you and something were to happen to either of you, it would kill me.”

  “You don’t let people in because you’re afraid that you’ll lose them, the way you lost Aria?” Texas asked.

  Remi didn’t try to hide the small sob that escaped her chest at the mention of her little girl. “Yes,” she cried. “I can’t lose anyone else, but now—Aylen is missing and—” Remi’s voice cracked and the guys didn’t let her finish, pulling her between their bodies, cocooning her, making her feel completely safe between them.

  “Stay with us,” Jag whispered into her ear. “We’re at the hotel down the road. We can talk or not, whatever you need, Honey. Stop shutting us out, Remi.”

  “What about Nena?” Remi asked.

  “I’ll take the car back and stay with Anali,” her sister said, startling her.

  “Nena,” Remi yelped. “How long have you been standing there?”

  “Long enough, Sis. You go with the guys and work things out. I’ll take care of Anali. We can meet up in the morning, to start our search for Ay again.” Nena didn’t wait for her to answer. She kissed her cheek and walked to her car, not looking back.

  “Well, she was my ride. So, I guess I’ll take you up on your offer to stay with you,” Remi said. She wasn’t sure if spending the night with her two sexy bikers was a good idea or not, but she honestly didn’t care. Remi needed them—both of them and for once, she was going to take what she wanted.

  ****

  They got down to the town’s only hotel and Remi cringed at seeing another one of her exes working the check-in desk. “Remi,” Trevor said. He was always a smooth talker. It was one of the things she liked most about him and apparently, she wasn’t alone in that. After they broke up, she found out that half the women in town had dated the silver-tongued Romeo. She couldn’t blame him; she was a serial dater too and they both knew the score.

  “Trev,” she said, plastering on her best smile.

  “Nena just stopped by here on her way back to your grandmother’s place. She left this for you and said she thought you might need it.” Trevor handed her the small suitcase she had brought along.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  “Um, we have a room for the night,” Jag interrupted.

  “Just one room?” Trevor asked. Honestly, he sounded more like he was accusing them of some
thing. “If that won’t suit, I’m sure I can help find other accommodations for you, Remi.” Texas looked about ready to pound poor Trevor into a pulp. She stepped between them and smiled up at Trevor again.

  “Nope,” she said. “No alternative accommodations needed Trev. Just the one room, please,” she said, noting the way he looked her up and down as if weighing and measuring her. Jag took a protective step in front of her as if trying to block her from Trevor’s assessments. “It’s okay, Jag,” she said. “I’m good.”

  Texas took her bag from her and held out his hand for hers. Remi took it and when Jag did the same, she took his hand too. “Key card?” Jag asked, holding out his free hand to Trevor.

  “Yeah,” Trevor stuttered. “Room two-twelve,” he said. “If you need anything else, please let me know.”

  “Thanks, Trev,” Texas said. “But, I think we’re good for the night.” They led Remi to the elevator and she didn’t bother to look back at Trevor. She knew that judgment she’d find staring back at her and right now, she didn’t give a fuck.

  ****

  They found their room on the second floor and before Jag could even get the fucking door open, Tex had pushed her up against it, kissing his way into her mouth. God, she missed him. His raw need and the way he seemed to want to consume her set her girl parts on fire. Jag finally got the key card to work and opened the door. She and Tex practically fell into their small room and Jag kicked the door shut behind them. They threw the bags into the corner of the room and her guys surrounded her body, tangling her up between them. Remi wasn’t sure where they ended and she began, giving her exactly what she needed from them both.