by A. P. Jensen
“How do you remember me?” Jackie demanded.
“If someone takes your blood or hair and hold it on them, they can remember you,” Raven informed him.
Jackie looked stunned. “How do you know that?”
“Rich Henson and Angel experimented with me and it works.”
“No shit,” Jackie drawled thoughtfully. “I’ll be in touch.”
With that, Jackie walked out the door, leaving her alone with Cain. She leaned against the wall and eyed him warily.
“You could’ve gotten kidnapped,” Cain said, voice so low she could barely understand him.
“But I didn’t.”
“Jackie’s used to being invisible. He’s not aware of his surroundings or danger. He doesn’t realize that people are gunning for him. He’s too arrogant to think he could be putting you in danger by taking you away from me!”
“I came back, didn’t I?”
She’d had a hell of a night and she didn’t need his attitude. She was alive, wasn’t she? She handled Angel and he didn’t get Jackie’s blood… On that thought, she walked to the sink and washed the blade.
“You’re my responsibility,” Cain snapped.
“And here I am, unhurt.”
“But you nearly were!” he bellowed. “You went off with Jackie when you should’ve waited for me to recover so I could deal with him!”
“He’s an Unmemorable. What do you mean ‘deal with him’?”
“Just because these guys are like you doesn’t mean they give a rat’s ass about you! Have you ever thought that they may actually like being Unmemorable so they can continue to be cons? If they think you might be able to turn the curse, your own kin could kill you!”
She never considered that and she shut her mouth as he paced and raged.
“You keep putting yourself in danger and it’s making me crazy! I’ve done everything I can to make you trust me and you’re still not sure, are you? I know it doesn’t help what Rich did tonight. Yes, he’s my blood but what he does isn’t a reflection on me.”
“Your first loyalty isn’t to me, Cain, it’s to the Council!”
That statement sent a buzzing silence through the room.
“It has to be,” he said quietly.
A pang of something she didn’t want to identify blitzed through her chest and she took a deep breath to ease it somewhat.
“You told Rich about Jackie?” Cain nodded and her heart sank even further. “So now what?”
“Rich wants me to bring you in.”
Her mouth went dry. “And if I refuse?”
Cain waved his hands. “This isn’t a game, Raven! Angel won’t stop until he has you in his hands. The blood he drank is wearing off which is why he went after you again. If I don’t take you into headquarters, you’re begging for trouble!”
“But I thought Rich wanted me to connect with other Unmemorables.”
Cain turned his head away and she sucked in a deep breath because the taste of betrayal was back and it made her feel sick. She saw Rich’s plan so clearly now.
“Neither of you meant for me to connect with them, did you? You wanted them to know I existed and follow me to Texas where they’d have to swear allegiance to the Council if they wanted to see the only female Unmemorable.”
“This is for your own good.”
“Is it?” she whispered.
“Yes. If I take you to headquarters you can be trained there and any Unmemorables are welcome.”
“And I’d have to deal out strands of my hair to everyone so they can wear it around their wrists like charm bracelets or were you going to slice us all open and drink our blood?”
Cain didn’t say anything and she leaned against the sink with the knife at her side. He couldn’t see it from where he stood. Her stomach pitched and she was filled with sadness. Both sides wanted power and control and it was about what she could do for the Council or Angel that made her valuable. She rubbed her eyes with her free hand.
“It’s going to be okay, Raven.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so. The Unmemorables may be my only chance at family. All of us deserve to be free, not forced into an allegiance we don’t want.”
Cain’s face hardened. “Your power dictated that for you, not us. People with power have two choices- the Battalion or the Council.”
“I won’t lead the Unmemorables to the Council,” she stated.
She sensed Cain gather himself to make a move and she eased towards the door. Would he handcuff her again?
“I want to understand what my power is and the Council can’t do that for me. The only people that can teach me are the Unmemorables.”
“You can’t trust them. They’re rebels, con artists and adrenaline junkies. They can get away with murder, literally. You have no idea what kind of men they are.”
“I have to find out.”
“Raven.”
His voice was hard and she heard the edge. He was warning her that he couldn’t let her walk away. She moved towards the door and Cain moved around the counter, eyes trained on her. He leapt forward and she struck out with the knife. Cain leapt back but he wasn’t fast enough. Her braid fell to the floor and she snatched it up and picked up the loose strands as they scattered over the floor. When he came forward, she held the knife in front of her.
“Stay back, Cain,” she whispered.
“Don’t do this, Raven.”
She couldn’t decipher the emotions on his face. She hardened her heart. Cain was just like Angel- he wouldn’t stop until he had her where he thought she should be. Did anyone care what was best for her? She wanted to know about her power, about where she came from and no one could help her with that except Jackie and the others. She had to take the risk. Going with the Council wasn’t an option, especially after what she’d been treated to in the alley. Pris followed Rich’s orders and used Raven for target practice without question. If she hadn’t brained Pris with the trashcan lid, would they have left her in the alley to bleed to death? The Council wouldn’t allow her to live a normal life if they remembered her, which meant she had to cut all ties. Once Cain forgot her, only vague images of the future would tell Rich that there might be Unmemorables in the world… To have a future, she needed to know where she came from and neither the Council nor the Battalion would allow that. She had no choice.
Tears filled her eyes as she reached behind her and tightened her hand around the doorknob. She eased it open and Cain quivered, wanting to grab her but knowing she would strike him if she had to. She blinked so she could see him clearly and took in the angles of his face. Her heart split in her chest. Cain was her first everything. He was the first man that remembered her. Cain tended her when she was sick and held her when she came back from the Battalion, traumatized and lost. He went against his better judgment and let her go down to Sin so she could drink margaritas and he showed her what it was to be a woman. She knew there was no man in the world that could replace him.
“Raven, don’t,” he growled.
Her heart shredded in her chest and if possible, this was more painful than the knife wounds she got from his mom. Without giving herself time to think, she whipped around the door and shut it between them. She heard Cain yell inside the room and his bellow of fury broke her. She backed away from the door, braced her back against the wall, covered her face with her hands and wept. She couldn’t breathe.
The door opened and she lowered her hands as Cain walked out of the hotel room. He looked up and down the hallway, hands reaching out for something he couldn’t remember. He noticed her, standing in the empty hallway with tears trailing down her cheeks.
“You okay?” he asked.
She nodded and a sob escaped from her. “I-I lost somebody.”
Cain watched her for several moments before he nodded. “I think I’m looking for somebody. Did you see anyone out here?”
She shook her head and as their eyes met, her heart stopped beating. She got her wish. There was no recognition in
his eyes. Her hand clenched around the braid in her pocket and she trembled with the urge to give it back to him. She watched Cain pace up and down the hallway.
She committed his face to memory and tried to convince herself that this was the right thing to do. He was tied to the Council and he followed orders. She couldn’t, wouldn’t. She had to do this for herself. God, had she actually fallen for him?
She walked away from him and half expected to hear him call her name or come after her, but he didn’t. She glanced back and saw him pacing in front of the hotel room, one hand clasped on the back of his neck, looking around. The bell for the elevator binged but she didn’t get on. She couldn’t. She watched Cain go back into the hotel room and close the door. She leaned against the wall across from the elevator, but couldn’t make herself get in and leave him completely.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
She wasn’t sure how long she stood there, but she came to when the elevator dinged and Jackie stepped out with two men. One of the men was in his early fifties with a buzz cut. His hazel eyes immediately fixed on her and narrowed. The third guy looked like he was in his early thirties. He had torn jeans and an old bomber jacket. His expression said he’d seen it all and didn’t give a shit either way.
“Raven? You okay?” Jackie said, coming forward and running a hand over her arm.
“Fine,” she rasped.
“This is my dad, Gerald,” Jackie said, gesturing to the older guy. “And this is my cousin, Luester.”
Raven met the older man’s eyes. Gerald ran an agitated hand through his short hair and put his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his work boots.
“You’re mine,” Gerald acknowledged.
There was no emotion in his voice. His voice was neutral and she nodded, already figuring that out for herself when she took in his features. He had darker skin but the cheekbones, the nose…
Jackie blinked. “She’s my sister?”
“I remember her mother,” Gerald said.
“What happened to the guy you let cuff you to the bed?” Luester drawled.
Raven focused on him since it was easier than looking at her brother or dad. She heard the scorn in his voice and felt an instant dislike for him.
“I walked away,” she said and her voice wobbled.
“He won’t come after you?” Jackie asked suspiciously.
“I took back my hair,” she whispered.
Jackie took in her devastated face and his face softened. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “It’s for the best. We have a car outside. We’re armed and ready for the Battalion.”
Her teeth clenched to stop herself from breaking free and running back to Cain. This was right, she chanted in her head. All she wanted was a quiet room where she could close the door and scream against the injustice of life, but she didn’t have that luxury. She didn’t have a place to go because she was damn sure Angel had people watching her apartment. She gambled her livelihood on the other Unmemorables and they were here. She pushed Cain out of her mind and walked between Luester and Jackie as Gerald brought up the rear.
Hotel valets in the front entrance argued over an old Honda parked half on the curb. They looked up when they saw Luester and something on his face made them back away hastily as he dropped into the driver’s seat. Gerald opened the back door for Raven as Jackie got in from the other side. Luester slammed down the gas pedal and valet’s dodged out of the way as he dashed onto the Strip traffic.
Jackie kept tossing glances at her and he was clearly excited, but he seemed to sense her emotional turmoil. No music played in the car and all of the men were completely silent. She was in the same car as a brother and father she never thought she’d meet yet she couldn’t look at them. She didn’t ask her dad the questions she knew she had to. Not yet. The first light of morning struck the sky as Luester jumped onto the freeway. She closed her eyes and focused on not thinking of anything. If she thought too much, she might toss herself out of the car or start screaming.
She must have dozed off because when she opened her eyes, three car doors slammed. She got out of the car and blinked in the bright light. She was standing in a garage the size of the Bellagio lobby. There was everything from a Lamborghini to the old 1988 Honda she just rode in. Men dressed mostly in jeans and leather appeared everywhere and they were all talking at once and staring at her. She thought they sounded angry, but she was too exhausted to care. Jackie grabbed her arm and led her from the garage into a house more beautiful than the penthouse suite. He pushed her into an elevator that went up five levels. He stopped on the fifth floor and pulled her down a black-carpeted hallway to a room with windows along one whole wall. She looked out and saw a golf course, a beautiful fountain, a basketball court and a pool complete with a waterfall.
“Are we at the Playboy mansion?” Raven asked groggily.
Jackie laughed, pulled off her coat and tossed it carelessly on the ground. “You want to eat or sleep?”
“Have to sleep,” she mumbled.
Jackie pressed a button on the wall and automatic blinds slid down to block out morning light. Raven tugged off her socks and fell on the bed and almost moaned when she sank nearly an inch into it.
“Pretty,” she murmured.
“Go to sleep. We’ll talk in the morning, yeah?”
“Jackie?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m still mad at you for making me skydive.”
His laughter followed her into sleep.
Raven woke completely disoriented. It took her almost five minutes to figure out where she was. She rubbed a hand over her aching chest and wondered what Cain was doing and then mentally bitch slapped herself and stumbled into the bathroom. She examined the gold and black bathroom with raised brows. So Vegas. The bedroom was large and basic. The drawers and closet were empty. She felt like crap and she was sure she smelled. She opened the bedroom door and wasn’t surprised or happy to see Luester standing guard.
“Remember me?” he asked.
“Unfortunately.”
She saw the surprise on his face before he masked it and she liked that she’d disconcerted him. Luester thought Jackie was young and naïve and hadn’t believed his claim that she really was an Unmemorable like the rest of them.
“I smell like a dog. Any clothes?” she asked.
“Women aren’t allowed here.”
She blinked. “What?”
He shrugged. “If we want a woman we bang uh, spend time with her elsewhere.”
“Right,” she drawled and eyed his jeans. “You have anything not torn up I can borrow?”
He sneered but went to a room down the hall and came back with sweats and a sweater. She accepted that with a tight “thanks” and slammed the door in his face. She took a quick shower in the bathroom and opened the door again to ask for a comb and toothbrush. Luester rolled his eyes but brought her what she asked for.
“Anything else, Your Highness?” Luester asked.
“Food.”
“Come on.”
He walked with her to the elevator and they rode to the ground floor in a glass elevator that looked out over an elaborate foyer with another fountain. The elevator doors opened and with her mouth slack, she took in the huge double staircase that curved upwards. Men’s voices echoed everywhere and Luester led her to the right into a kitchen twice the size of a normal restaurant kitchen. There were three long tables, enough to fit a small army and an L shaped bar with stools. The surfaces were black marble; appliances stainless steel and everything gleamed.
Three men stood in the kitchen. One of them had on a black apron over surf shorts and a tank top. The other two had on sweat pants and nothing else. They all stopped talking when she walked in and she raised her brows when they just stared at her as if they’d never seen a female before.
“This is Raven,” Luester said.
“No shit. She’s the only female to ever walk on our turf,” one of them said aggressively.
“That’s Patrick, your th
ird cousin, I believe,” Luester said pleasantly, “and the cook is Happy. The other guy is Louie, your fourth or fifth cousin.”
She nodded but didn’t speak. Happy slapped a wooden spoon in his hand menacingly and she looked around for cereal, but the kitchen was so clean she thought it might be just for looks since everything in this house was over the top.
“What do you want?” Happy snapped.
“Cereal.”
“What kind?”
“Lucky Charms.”
That must have been the right answer because Happy grunted and pulled out a bowl, spoon, milk and cereal and set it in front of her. He poured her cereal and milk and put everything back in their place before she even got the first spoonful in her mouth.
“I heard you’re mixed up with the Council,” Patrick said with his arms crossed.
“I met them,” she mumbled through her cereal.
“I heard you were hanging around Cain Henson, the Council’s assassin.”
She looked him up and down. “Yeah. So?”
His mouth worked furiously and Happy glared at her.
“You know who Cain Henson’s grandpa is?”
“I met Rich.”
Happy’s eyes bulged. “Met him? Who else have you met?”
“Angel, the leader of the Battalion.”
While Louie and Patrick made choking noises, Happy broke the wooden spoon and tossed it in the trash. Luester tapped his foot and they all watched her eat. She made quick work of her cereal and saw from Patrick’s large watch that it was one in the afternoon. When she finished, Happy promptly took her bowl and washed it in the sink. None of the men talked, they just stared at her as if she was an unwelcome guest and she shifted uneasily. She looked to Luester who jerked his head.
“Let’s go.”
The men filed out of the kitchen and she followed them through the foyer to the right side of the house. She walked down a hallway and passed a weight room and game room before they turned into a theater. There was a large projection screen across from the mostly full theater filled with men who lounged in black leather seats. Posters of Scarface, Pulp Fiction and The Godfather were pinned around the room. Gerald stood in front of the room and gestured for her to sit in a chair off to the side as Patrick, Happy, Louie and Luester took their seats. She felt as if one hundred people were staring at her. She didn’t look at the guys seated- she looked to her dad instead and dread filled her when he met her gaze. It was a look she’d seen many times and she never thought she’d see it from another Unmemorable- disdain.
