by C. L. Stone
“Hmm?” I heard him, but I couldn’t answer him as I was really too far asleep. I was cold though and responded by rolling toward his back.
“Yes? No?”
“Hmm.”
“Gotcha.” There was movement and I felt another blanket getting tossed on top of me.
I kept waking up during the night, forgetting where I was for a moment. Each time I did wake enough to recognize where I was, I panicked, and worried about Wil being alone. I worried about why I was there. I stressed over why I was in a bed with a near complete stranger.
For a time, I stared at the ceiling, afraid of what tomorrow would bring.
Sometime while it was still dark, I woke up in a half daze to hear Marc talking.
“What do you need?”
I mumbled.
“Not you,” he said. He nudged my shoulder. “Go back to sleep.”
I twisted onto my back. At first, all I saw was him sitting up, his phone pressed to his ear.
And then I noticed he was shirtless. There were shadows across his back that were uneven in the dim light. I thought it strange, until I realized I was looking at scars. In my sleepy state, I stretched out a hand, feeling one with my fingertips.
“Yeah,” he said into the phone. He twisted at the same time, capturing my wrist and holding it in a firm grip. He gazed at me and frowned. “Yeah. I’ll be right there.” He hung up the phone.
I wanted to ask him where he was going, but in my tired state, I only managed to mumble something incoherent, as I stared at him with my muddled questions through half closed eyes.
He sighed, leaning over and planting a soft kiss on my brow. “This is why I’m going to end up old and alone.”
“Hm?”
“Nevermind.” He got up, fished a T-shirt from out of the dresser and headed to the door.
I turned over, unsure what he was up to. Too tired and out of it to follow. Did he just kiss me on the forehead?
I heard a distinct knock from down the hall.
“Raven,” Marc called. “Go stay with Kayli. Don’t let her run off or anything.”
I gave a tired, indignant snort and rolled over, facing the wall.
Another minute-eon later, and the bed shook again.
I yanked the blanket, stuffing it over my head. “How does anyone sleep here?” I asked.
“Hey,” Raven said. He tugged at the blanket. “Get your own apartment if you don’t like ours.”
I kicked backward, finding his shin. His foot knocked back into my ankle in response.
“Stop,” he said. “Trying to sleep.”
I grunted and turned, lifting both feet until I was pressing my frozen toes into his bare back. He jerked forward, capturing an ankle.
“As cold as your heart,” he said.
I stilled, and expected him to let go. I was going to turn over again and go to sleep. Raven, instead, held on to my feet, cupping them with his hands.
“What are you doing?”
“Have to warm those toes, little thief.”
♠♠♠♠♠
In the morning, when the light was filtering in through the window, I flipped over, finding Raven sprawled out on his back, snoring. His shirt was off. Since he was sleeping, I was able to study the tattoos on his arms that extended on his chest. Along his chest were some Russian words I didn’t understand, and on his stomach were three Russian-style towers, with what looked like upside-down dome tops. There was a rose with barbed wire twisted around it along the inside of one of his arms.
I stared at the details as I drifted in thought. It was hard to shake off the feeling that I had to get up and go. It felt like every minute I spent standing still, I was losing the little bit of headway the guys had provided for me. Did I really not have to pick pockets anymore? Would I get a job? The tingle of my life changing made me feel so alive. Different, too.
Maybe the truth was I never thought I’d stop stealing. I didn’t have much hope for myself. And what sort of job could I do? I’d done odd jobs all my life. They were asking me what I wanted to do. I hadn’t thought this far. I was always trying to get by, let alone get ahead.
I absently traced the line of one of the barbed wires, checking out the detail. Raven’s hand made a sweep, and he slapped my fingers away from his arm. “Stop.” He turned over onto his side, exposing his back to me.
His back was covered with the face of a grizzly bear with his mouth open in fierce snarl. The eyes were wide, harsh.
I grunted, planted my two feet on his back and shoved.
The sheets were cotton and smoothed out tight, leaving almost no friction. Raven slid off the edge of the bed, landing on the floor in a heap. He growled, and sat up. “Pidorás!”
I didn’t need a translator to guess that he was cursing in Russian. I rolled over until I was taking up the rest of the bed, spread eagle on my stomach. I stuffed my face against the pillow, trying to hide my smirk. For having woken up several times, I did sleep better than I had in a long time. I was awake now, and ready to play.
He shoved the heel of his foot at my hip. “Scoot over.”
I tilted my head away from him so I could talk to the wall. “No.”
He climbed up until he was on top of me. He sat on my butt, and started dropping his full weight threatening to squish. “Crazy woman. Move.”
I tried knocking my heels into his back but he didn’t budge. “Go away.”
“I’m supposed to stay here.”
“I’m not four years old. I don’t need a babysitter.”
He lifted himself but still hovered and dropped a hard hand against my butt. “Marc said to not let you out of sight. This Coaltar fuck’s already called for you.”
I jerked up, but my movement was limited since he was on top of me. I tried shoving him off, and he rolled over onto his side next to me.
“He called?”
“Don’t sound so excited.”
I couldn’t help it. My heart was pounding like I was a girl with her first crush. I wasn’t sure if I really liked him. He was hot, yeah. A night of sleep had mangled my feelings up until I wasn’t sure what I had felt at the party. I think at some point I presumed he was just toying with me and wouldn’t think of me again. “How do you know he called?”
“He called Brandon’s cell phone looking for you last night. I think it was on purpose to piss him off.” He rolled onto his back, folding his arms under his head like a pillow. “He’s a shithead, so you’re going to stay here with us for a bit.”
“For how long?” Not that I minded a few more hours or even another day. It’d been a long time since I felt I could take a day off. “I mean I need to get to work if I’m going to be able to afford rent. And I need to call Wil.”
“You can’t call Wil,” he said. “You’re in hiding.”
Somehow what he said didn’t register with me at all. It didn’t make sense. “What?”
“Coaltar has a big reach. You don’t know. You need to go underground.”
I got up on my knees, leaning over him a little. “What do you mean? How long is this for?”
He shrugged. “Could be a week. Could be a month.”
“A month!”
“You’re the one that got too close.” He got up, swinging himself around until he was sitting cross-legged on the bed. It was the first time I noticed the sweatpants he had on. I guess I was too distracted by the tattoos before. “You need to stay with us.”
“Like hell I do.” I got up, crawling to the edge of the bed and put a foot down on the carpet.
Raven reached out, grabbing at a wrist. “Hang on, little thief.”
“Let go,” I said. I swung around, catching him in the arm with a fist. “I want to talk to Marc. Where is he?”
“He’s not here.” He tugged at my wrist, strong enough to get me to kneel on the bed again.
“You mean he’s following Coaltar?”
“Maybe.”
I grunted. “How am I supposed to yell at him if he’s gone?”
“You can talk to Axel. I’ll take you to him if you stop hitting me.”
I pouted, and swung a fake punch with my free hand at his knee.
He caught that wrist, drawing my hands together, and held tight. “Now what are you gonna do?” he asked.
I wriggled to try to slip my hand out of his grip, but he clutched me with one hand easily. I shoved a foot at his arm, trying to pry him off.
He leapt on me, shoving his free arm around my waist until he could scoop me up and tackle me to the bed. He sat on my hips again, pinning my wrists to the pillow. His broad nose lowered until he hovered over my face. His deep brown eyes bore into me. “I don’t understand you. Are you trying to tell me you don’t want to talk to Axel? Is that why you’re fighting with me?”
“I’m just ticked off. I don’t know what I want to do.” It was true. I had no idea what to think. Would yelling at Marc do any good? Axel was the boss, but if he had disagreed, he wouldn’t have let Raven hold me hostage here, would he? I didn’t want to believe Coaltar was a bad guy, but what did I know? They were some super spy team and I just walked in on this yesterday.
“So you start beating me up? Christ, I’m going to start calling you little demon.”
I twisted and squirmed underneath him. Why was I fighting him? My heart was pounding. Raven’s muscled, tattooed shoulders and attitude set something off inside me. I would never admit it in a million years, but I wanted to pummel him for making me feel like I wanted to kiss the tar out of him. “Get off of me. I’ll tell Axel.”
“I told you, he’s not here.” His eyes lowered, tracing my face around my cheek and down to my lips. His eyes shifted, as if something caught his attention, and his gaze settled on my shoulder. The big T-shirt I was wearing slid off my shoulder, revealing my skin. He poked with his free hand at a sore spot. “Looks like I left a bruise.”
I twisted my head, trying to see what he was seeing and couldn’t. “I get those all the time.”
“No shit. Do you do this with all your boyfriends?”
I snorted. “What boyfriends?”
He released my wrists, sitting back. “Don’t give me that, like you’ve never had one.”
“I’m not saying I’ve never had one. You just said it like I’ve got a pocketful right now and all over the place.”
“So Marc was right? You’re single?”
I huffed, indignant. “As if I’d let you sit on top of me if I did have one. I’m not that kind of girl.” I planted a palm on his stomach, shoving. “Get off of me.”
He climbed off, and landed on the floor. He sat on the carpet, cross-legged, leaning with his elbows on his knees. He twisted his upper half, inspecting his arms. He poked at a spot. “Shit, you’re leaving a few on me, too.”
I found where he was pointing. A splotchy purple mess could be seen between the tattoo pigments. “We’re rough.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Do I need to go easier on you?”
“No,” I said quickly. “A few bruises never bothered me.” I didn’t want to say so, but after a while, I understood that I tended to bruise pretty easily. I telling him would make him feel like he had to go easier on me. I didn’t want that. Wrestling with guys was a lot of fun.
He smirked. “I might have been wrong. Maybe other boys couldn’t handle you – not like this. Not like I can.”
I sputtered and then snorted.
“All right,” he said. “First thing today, we need to get you settled.”
I couldn’t believe this was happening. Settled? I needed to get out of here. “No, first thing we need to do is find Wil.”
“Kayli.”
“Raven.” I got on my knees on the bed. “He needs to know or he’ll come looking for me. If what you’re saying is true, if this guy is so terrible, help me warn him.”
His lips twisted, the hole where his lip ring had been removed for the night flexed. His dark eyes squinted at me, like he wasn’t sure how to do this.
“Please,” I begged, in a softer tone. I thought about the day before and what I did to Corey. I hoped that worked on Raven. I stumbled off the bed, tentatively moved as if to crawl into his lap. I was ready to jump in case he was going to push me or hit me.
He sat up, and then back to lean on his hands, opening himself up but unwilling to pull me in. I was fine with that. I was the one begging. I crawled into his lap, planting a knee on either side of his thighs as I faced him, I slipped my arms around his neck, and then felt an odd thrill as his bare chest was pressed up against my T-shirt covered breasts.
“Raven,” I pleaded, pressing my cheek to his. “Help me get word to him. Anything. I’ll stay here if you want me to. I can do it. Just help me make sure.”
A wide hand dropped to the nape of my neck, cupping, warming. “You’ll stay here with me?” he asked in a low, gruff whisper.
“Please,” I breathed, trying to be nice. I had been rough with him for no reason but now I was being serious. Wil needed to know I was fine. I needed to make sure he wasn’t looking for me, that he was safe and Jack wasn’t treating him too badly.
His thumb massaged a spot behind my ear in a slow motion as if trying to make a decision. Moments passed with me pressed against his body. His thumb pressed harder, making my head tilt toward it and for the moment, I forgot I was asking. His fingers were strangely relaxing.
Suddenly, he pushed me away from him until I spilled out on the floor. He stood up, and marched to the door.
“Raven?”
He paused just in the hallway, his fists clenched. “Get dressed, little thief.” He turned partially, facing the wall, but it was enough for me to see the lightning firing off in his eyes. “I’m going to do this. And when we get back, you’re not going to worry about your brother, and you’re not going to worry about this Coaltar. That party is the last time he’ll get anywhere near you.” He turned again and punched at his door to open it wider. It swung in, hitting the wall hard enough to feel like it shook the apartment.
I stilled on the carpet, my heart trembling in my chest. What on earth did I just do?
THE FIERCE BEAR
I wore my old shorts and a borrowed-without-asking shirt from Marc’s closet. Raven dressed in jeans and wore a black T-shirt that only partially covered his tattooed arms. He’d put the lip ring back in. He directed me to a black truck in the parking lot.
“I thought this was Marc’s?”
He grunted. “I’m borrowing it.”
He had a key? I shrugged it off. They shared an apartment and shared cars. For friends, I guessed that was just their thing. Most of the guys I’d known in high school wouldn’t do that, but most guys were jerks anyway.
We were on the road for only ten minutes when traffic slowed us down. Raven cursed at the other drivers through the windshield. I slumped in my seat.
“Where are we going?” I asked. I mean I knew the general plan, but didn’t have a clue what his intentions were.
“I’m going to find your brother and let him know you’re safe.”
My mouth fell open at his suggestion. One look at his hulking figure and tattoos and I had a sudden vision of how well that would go down.
He side glanced me. “What?”
“Oh, nothing. It’s just you look like you’re part of the Russian mafia and if you walk up to him and say ‘she’s safe’, you’re going to make him think you’re holding me for hostage money.”
He grunted. “What am I supposed to do? Send him flowers? Butter him up?”
“Can’t I talk to him?”
“It’s best if you’re not seen together right now. If anyone comes asking for you, he can honestly say he hasn’t seen you for a while. You should be back at the apartment but you need to stay near me.”
I breathed in deep and exhaled slowly. South Carolina dampness and car exhaust filled my lungs. I coughed. It was mid-morning, so the traffic made no sense. Why wasn’t everyone at work by now? “What if I left a note?”
“Where?”
“At the hotel. I could leave a note in the room.”
“You shouldn’t go near the hotel.”
“Why?”
“Same reason. No one to say they’ve seen you recently.”
“How would he know if I lived there?” I grumbled. They were making a lot of assumptions about this guy and what he could do. Coaltar met me yesterday. What did he know about me? Did he stalk every girl at his party? “What if I wrote a note and you took it to the room?”
He thumped his fingers over the steering wheel. “You can’t tell him where you are.”
“What can I say?”
He shrugged. “Tell him you’ve eloped with a handsome Russian.” He leaned on the door, angling to see around the row of cars. He pounded at his horn but despite the effort, the line didn’t move.
I snorted. “Me? Get married? I may as well tell him I sprouted wings.”
He leaned forward, digging his cell phone out of his pocket. “Tell him now. We won’t have to bother him later when we get around to it.”
I thought he was joking so I shook it off. “Where’s a pen?”
He gestured to the glove compartment while he was still buried in his phone.
I found a small notebook and a couple of pens, along with binoculars, and a pocket knife. Spy stuff. I wanted to dig further but wanted to get the note out of the way so I closed it up.
I was just telling Wil in the note that I was fine when Raven shifted gears and started cutting off to the right, driving along the shoulder. Part of the truck ended up in the grass. I gripped the suicide handle to keep from knocking my head into things. “What are you doing?”
“Going around,” he said. “This goes on for miles. Out past Summerville.”
“Why?” I asked. “Bad wreck?"
“Yeah, bad wreck,” he said. “The police fucked up. There’s a threat at one of the schools that called in the bomb squad. The responding officers cut off some people driving on the highway and there’s a ten car pileup down there.”
“Which school has the bomb threat?”
“I don’t know,” he said.
I shrugged. “Happened a lot at my old school,” I said. “There’s never a bomb. It’s just a stupid kid calling it in to get out of class. Which was nice. Usually stalled things at school for a few hours.”
