by A. P. Jensen
“I told the boys here Jackie’s tale. I can see for myself that you remember me from last night. I know you’re my daughter too. You know there’s never been a female Unmemorable.” He waited for Raven’s nod and continued, “We all know the legend about the Unmemorables and we’ve lived with it every day of our lives but it’s not a curse. It’s a blessing. It’s a power.”
There were several murmurs of agreement from the crowd and Raven’s hands twisted in her lap. Her body was slowly going numb as Gerald spoke.
“We like the way our lives are. It suits us. We take in the male babies that are left for dead and raise them to deal with this life. We do well for ourselves and we’re not sure we believe in the prophecy.”
She felt the dismissal and knew it was deliberate. Cain’s words came back to haunt her and she tilted her chin up as she looked from her dad to the men who were nodding and elbowing each other in agreement.
“I heard you’ve been screwing Cain Henson,” Gerald said deliberately.
Jeers and chuckles echoed in the theater and she trembled as all the emotions from yesterday flooded her.
“We know who he is. Hard not to when his reputation precedes him. We know what the Council or Battalion expects us to do. They think they can dangle you in front of us and when you go to whatever side you fancy, we’ll follow. I’m telling you now, you can head back to wherever you came from because we’re not interested in changing our fate even if you could, which I doubt.”
She’d never felt so disposable in her life. Angel and Rich believed she could make the Unmemorables dance to her tune yet her own father was telling her to her face that he didn’t give a rat’s ass about her. Fury, misery and mortification churned in her gut and her heart felt as if it weighed fifty pounds as she slowly got to her feet and faced Gerald.
“You look at me and hate the fact that I’m female, but I’m not the mom, aunt, sister, lover or whore that forgot you the moment you turned your back. I’ve lived the same existence as you and unlike all of you,” she swept the quiet room with a shaking hand. “When my mom forgot me in the park… no one came for me. I was raised in foster homes and ignored all my life thinking I didn’t have a good personality or maybe I was ugly and that’s why no one could remember me.”
She swallowed her tears. She refused to let them fall and when her vision blurred she thought that might be best. If she saw them roll their eyes, she might attack one of them. Their selfishness and prejudice made her feel sick to her stomach. Maybe they were exactly what Cain claimed they were- swindlers and cons.
“I’ve been on the run from the Battalion all my life. I’ve been attacked over ten times and when they gunned down my apartment on Thanksgiving, Cain Henson protected me when they shot me. I didn’t know what I was and neither did he. The Battalion torched Decadent and took me. I met Angel and couldn’t do anything when he sliced my arm open and drank my blood.”
She didn’t know if they were listening and she didn’t care. She’d been through hell and before they kicked her out, the least they could do was sit there and listen to what she had to say.
“Just so you know, if someone takes your hair or drinks your blood, they can remember you, but I don’t know how long that lasts.” She rubbed her throbbing head and a tear trickled down her cheek and she angrily wiped it away. “Rich and Angel want me because they think I can control you because of a prophecy.” She let out a bitter laugh and wiped away more tears. “What a fucking joke. A week ago, I didn’t even know I had power. I thought all I had to do was find other Unmemorables and you would teach me what I need to know. I can see now that I was mistaken.”
She looked straight at Gerald who was expressionless as if she really were invisible.
“You sit here and judge me without even knowing me. You’re bitter for having to live the way you do, but I’m not the one that had the advantage of expecting people to look through me. I’m not the one living in a mansion with toys and pools and cars. I’ve been a cleaner my whole life and fought alone, walked alone. I never had a friend until Cain came along and I walked away from him for this.”
She waved her hand around the theater at her relatives that wanted her gone. More tears dropped and she could barely breathe. She knew men didn’t like emotional women and she didn’t much either, but she couldn’t stop. She opened her mouth, but realized there was nothing more to say. She walked out of the room, away from all of them. She made her way back to the front entrance and walked out the front door in bare feet. The brick was cold beneath her feet but she’d been cold before. There was a large water fountain in the middle of a round driveway. She started down the drive and hoped she’d be able to hop the fence. She heard the rev of a car and looked over as Luester pulled up beside her in the old Honda.
“You can take it. I left a grand in the cup holder,” he said.
She didn’t meet his eyes as she got in, adjusted the seat and floored the gas pedal. She came to a fence she definitely wouldn’t have been able to climb. It opened as she approached and she didn’t look back as she left the Unmemorable estate. It took her a while to find a road she was familiar with since the Unmemorables lived far from civility. Figures. She didn’t think twice as she got on the freeway towards California because she needed to see the ocean. She turned on the heater full blast and wiped away the tears that rolled down her cheeks.
By the time she reached California, the sun was setting. She parked and sat on the hood of the car and let the ocean breeze play with her hair and ease her swollen eyes. She listened to the sound of the waves and wished life was simple. How could she fuck up her life so damn fast? She thought she was cried out, but tears still seeped from her eyes. She had no idea what she was going to do. She had nowhere to go, no one to turn to and she had the Battalion hunting for her… and maybe the Council and she didn’t know which was worse.
Her head was pounding so when the sun sank beneath the horizon she went through a drive thru, picked a cheap hotel at random and paid with the cash Luester gave her. She wasn’t sure why he gave her the car or money and she didn’t really care. Once she was in the room, she pushed every scrap of furniture against the door. She turned the heater on in the room and when she showered, spent a long time letting the hot water pour over her. When she stepped out of the tub, she rubbed a hand over the foggy mirror and examined her wan appearance. She wrapped her hair in a towel, switched on the light in the bedroom and let out a strangled shriek.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Cain stood in the middle of the room in a pastel green button up shirt. His eyes glittered in the light and his wrath pulsed in the air between them. Raven couldn’t move or speak. What was he doing here? He couldn’t remember her, could he? Without warning, Cain launched himself forward. One hand wrapped around her throat and he moved her out of the bathroom doorway and pinned her against the wall. He caged her between his body and the wall. The only sound in the room was his harsh breathing, uneven and too loud.
“How could you?”
Cain’s voice shook and she knew he remembered everything. She said nothing because she’d betrayed his trust and there was nothing she could say. Her heart pounded so hard in her chest she swore he could probably feel it pounding on the surface of her skin.
“Why?” he hissed, leaning down so their faces were less than an inch apart. “I want to protect you. I want you safe. Do you think I would take you to Texas if they were going to torture you? Don’t you know me better than that?”
Raven turned her head to the side and closed her eyes against the sight of him. She felt the burn of tears and clenched her shaking hands at her sides as emotions roiled. How could she explain? It was beyond complicated and she’d done what she thought was right at the time. Even though going with the Unmemorables had been a spectacular fail, she wouldn’t take it back. It was something she had to do and she wouldn’t apologize for it.
“You’re not going to explain yourself?”
Raven forced herself to look at him and
her eyes were blessedly free of the tears that wanted to flow down her face. She glared at him instead. “No.”
His eyes flared and he grasped both of her shoulders and gave her a hard shake. Raven did nothing to stop him.
“You owe me an explanation, damn it! You stole what you had no right to. How could you steal my memories as if our time together never happened?”
No response. Pain and anger so deep it made his body ache surged through him in an endless tide. He stared down at Raven, so still and pale. She met his eyes but he couldn’t read them. Her betrayal sliced so deep, he had no idea if he would recover.
Raven saw his eyes change and couldn’t stop the tensing of her body or the way her hands moved up in a defensive manner to brace against his chest to stop him. Cain leaned down and covered her mouth with his own. His hands slid from her shoulders to her hips. He hauled her roughly against him and cupped one hand around her nape to hold her still.
Raven tried to shove him away, but he had no intention of letting her go. He turned to the bed and pinned her beneath him on the mattress. No matter what move she made, he countered it without effort. Their fight was completely silent and when Raven went limp, he pinned her hands over her head and held himself tense and ready over her. She closed her eyes.
“Raven, I’m not going anywhere.”
A tear leaked out of the corner of her eye and slowly coursed down her temple and disappeared into her hair. Cain relaxed slightly and let his body settle on hers. He nuzzled her cheek and felt her chest quake but she didn’t make a sound. He released her hands and wrapped himself around her. Her hand brushed over his wrist and paused over the braid wrapped there. Her hand fell to the bed and lay there, as still as the rest of her.
“I don’t take chances where you’re concerned. I cut your hair again after we slept together and hid it in my bag. I was driving to the airport when my hand brushed against it and I remembered everything.”
A large hand settled on her jaw. Cain gripped and turned her face towards his. When she didn’t open her eyes, Cain squeezed until her eyes fluttered open.
“Why?”
Raven let out a long breath and gathered what little courage she possessed. She wasn’t sure whether to be ecstatic, put out or afraid that Cain had outwitted her. All she knew was that she didn’t have the energy to deal with him. Damn Cain for being too stubborn to let her go. He wouldn’t allow her to slither away and live a forgettable existence. He just wouldn’t let her forget him so easily.
“I can’t do this.”
“Do what?” he snapped.
She swallowed the lump in her throat. He still hadn’t released her face. “I won’t pick a side. I’m going to do what I want.”
“Which is what? Housekeeping at some motel where you think none of us will find you?”
She pried his hand off her face. “That’s none of your business.”
“You’re wrong. Aside from the fact that the Council ordered me to protect you, I care about you.”
“No, you don’t,” she said and remembered the way her father looked at her. If your own blood didn’t stand up for you, why would a man she’d known for a week? Cain’s first allegiance was to the Council, where it should be. She was a nobody.
Cain stared down at her. “Most of the time, I don’t know whether to fight you, spank you or screw you. You make me crazy and you don’t listen to me, which pisses me off. You thought I was in on it when Rich told my mom to test you. I would never put you in danger and if I’d known, I would have stopped it.”
Cain got to his feet and paced to the door. She sat on the edge of the bed and half expected him to walk through the door, but he just stood there with his back to her, one hand wrapped around the back of his neck.
“When you got taken from me the first time, I was scared shitless. I’ve never felt like that before. You disappeared twice on me in a matter of hours. It doesn’t matter how far you run, Raven, I’ll use every last drop of my tracking talent to chase you down. You got that?”
Cain faced her with his hands in the pockets of his perfect slacks.
“I told my grandpa he can screw himself. I won’t take you to Texas unless you come of your own free will.”
She cleared her throat. “And how did he take that?”
“Not well. He doesn’t remember ordering my mom to fight you in the alley.”
Raven rubbed her hands over her face. “This isn’t going to work.”
“It has been.”
She shook her head. “No, it hasn’t.”
Cain walked over and knelt in front of her. “You missed me, Raven.”
“I didn’t!” The lie was said through tears.
“I don’t know what the hell you’re doing in California and I don’t care. I’m not going anywhere. I can’t.”
She pushed against him. “How can you even look at me after what I did?”
He cupped her face. “Promise me you won’t do it again.” He saw her struggle to give him that promise. “I won’t take you in unless you want to. I can’t promise I won’t try to convince you to go in, but I won’t force you. I want you to trust me. Promise me you won’t make me forget you again.”
She stared at him with solemn eyes and he hated seeing her like this. He brushed his hand over her breasts and she jerked as if she’d been hit by lightning. She tried to pull back, but he wrapped his arms around her and brushed kisses over her lips.
“You love me, Raven.”
She raised her hand to slap him but he caught it in his.
“You love me.”
“You’re an asshole!”
“You love me.”
She clamped her lips together and refused to give him the words he wanted. Cain let out a frustrated growl.
“Maybe this started off as a job, but I’ve never felt like this before and I know it’s not going away. You’re stuck with me.”
She shook her head and he gave her a firm shake.
“I love you, stubborn pain in my ass! Damn it, Raven, what the hell do you want?”
She raised her hand and traced the braid on his wrist. He jerked his hand away, afraid she was going to rip it off again and disappear forever. He gripped her hair and pulled until she met his eyes.
“You do that again, I’ll shave your head and hide strands everywhere. You’ll never be rid of me, Raven.” Her lip quivered and he stroked her throat with his finger. “Fight for me, Raven. Fight for us. I know you want me. Why can’t you admit it?”
Slowly, her touch so light he thought he might have imagined it, her hand brushed over his chest. He held his breath as he felt her arms slide around him and grip tightly. Weak with relief, Cain slumped against her.
“Tell me you love me.”
“I love you.”
He clasped her face. “Promise me you’ll give me more of your hair or blood if I start to forget.”
With her lips quivering, she whispered, “I promise.”
Cain pushed her on her back and yanked off the towel. He put her legs over his shoulders and licked her core. She screamed and came in less than two minutes. He crawled up her body and pushed into her as aftershocks still pulsed through her. He groaned and kissed her as he thrust. He crouched over her and the way his eyes moved over her made goose bumps erupt over her skin. He looked like what he was- a warrior.
“I don’t care how complicated this is. We’re meant to be together. Everything happens for a reason, Raven. You believe that?”
She nodded and he leaned down and kissed her, sealing that vow. After they climaxed, he stayed inside of her. She stroked her hands over his skin and felt relief and happiness bubbling in her chest.
“I had to find out about the Unmemorables,” she whispered.
A muscle flexed in his jaw. “I know.”
“You were right. They didn’t want anything to do with me.” He tensed but she ran her hands soothingly over his warm skin. “They didn’t hurt me. They like their life the way it is. They gave me a car and I nee
ded to come to the beach.”
He buried his face in her hair and rubbed the strands between his fingers. “God, they could have killed you.”
“They gave me Lucky Charms.”
He raised his head. “What?”
She sighed. “What the hell do we do now? I’m no good to either side, but they won’t believe me because the stupid prophecy says I can control the Unmemorables.”
“Rich and Angel would still use you. You’re still valuable.”
“How?”
“You would be an even better retriever than me.”
She ran her hands over the tight muscles in his back. “Did you really tell Rich you wouldn’t bring me in?”
“I’m not going back either.”
Her mouth dropped open. “What?”
“I told you, I’m not going anywhere,” he murmured and hardened inside of her again. “For once, I decided to do what I want.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Raven woke when she heard someone choking. She opened bleary eyes and saw Cain pin Jackie up against the wall with his forearm over his windpipe. She sighed and shook her head to clear it. It was morning now and she felt a sense of unreality about everything but she heard Jackie gasping for breath, so she pulled on Cain’s shirt and buttoned it before she went over to help Jackie.
“Let him go,” she said calmly.
Cain hesitated a second before he let Jackie crumple to the floor. Wheezing, Jackie hopped up and handed her a caramel coffee that he placed on the nightstand before Cain attacked. Charmed, she smiled sleepily at him and sat on the bed and crossed her legs.
