Unleashed (Unmemorable Series Book 2)

by A. P. Jensen

  Contents

  Title

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Unmemorable Series

  Titles by A. P. Jensen

  About the Author

  UNLEASHED

  Unmemorable Series, Book 2

  A. P. Jensen

  Copyright © 2014 A. P. Jensen

  All rights reserved.

  To Vegas, my second home.

  Chapter One

  “You don’t have to do this.”

  Raven buttoned up her housekeeping uniform. “Yes, I do. I need some kind of normal in my life.”

  “You think cleaning up after other people is normal?” Cain asked with a straight face.

  She shot him a quelling glance and pulled her hair into a slick ponytail. “It’s my normal, rich boy.”

  She walked out of the bedroom and paused on the landing that overlooked the two-story penthouse suite at Decadent, a casino on the Las Vegas Strip. She jogged down the glass staircase to the kitchen while Cain followed, muttering under his breath. Ever efficient, Cain already had breakfast ready. While she drank orange juice and scarfed down bacon and eggs, Cain continued to glower at her. She met his stare with a challenging one. Cain had military short hair, piercing blue eyes, a rugged face and a body like a marine. His tailored clothes didn’t disguise the lines of his well-defined body.

  “You’re making yourself a target,” Cain said, still not willing to let it go.

  “Cain, I’m going to be fine.”

  Cain crossed his arms and the beige shirt gaped at his throat. Her eyes roved over him reflexively. He wore crisp slacks and a shiny belt around his trim waist. There was something about Cain’s sophisticated, prim appearance that made her want to jump him. He didn’t seem to mind. She blamed her voracious appetite on the fact that she was nearly thirty and had been introduced to sex for the first time by Cain a week ago.

  “I don’t like this,” Cain said.

  She rolled her eyes. “I’ll be finished in no time.”

  A muscle ticked in his cheek. “You don’t have to clean up after people. I have enough money for both of us.”

  Raven grew up without friends or family. She’d always been alone and preferred it that way before Cain barged into her life two weeks ago. Since then, her life turned upside down and she was deeply involved with a man who could walk through walls and wanted to take care of her.

  Keeping her housekeeping job wasn’t about the money, but it was difficult to put into words so she said, “I like to clean.”

  Cain gestured around the huge penthouse. “I can mess this place up if you want to clean that badly.”

  “I need to help.”

  He frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  “People died because of me.”

  Cain closed the distance between them and clasped her face between his hands. “That wasn’t your fault.”

  “The Battalion lit the casino on fire to grab me,” she said fiercely.

  “You didn’t kill those people. Angel did.”

  Raven wrapped her arms around Cain and leaned into him. The past two weeks had been utter chaos. Raven had been kidnapped, stabbed and shot. She desperately needed something she was familiar with. At a time when she felt as if she were free falling, she needed to keep her feet solidly planted in the mundane nine-to-five job she was clinging to for dear life. She didn’t know how to tell Cain that she wasn’t ready to let go of her old life and jump into the murky depths of the world he inhabited.

  “I need to work,” she said into his chest.

  He ran his thumb over her lips. “You have no idea how badly I want to cuff you to the bed again.”

  Her heart began to pound. “Try it. I dare you.”

  He leaned down and kissed her. Heat flared instantly between them and all thoughts of work and the events of the past weeks flew out of her head. His hand moved over the buttons of her uniform and she wrapped her legs around his waist before she came to her senses. She bit his lip and shoved away.

  “You’re using sex to distract me? Really?”

  He watched as she buttoned up her tunic. “It was worth a try.”

  She put her hands on hips and eyed him sternly. “I know you’re worried, but I have to do this. This is the best cleaning gig I’ve ever had.”

  “I’ll pay you triple to stay here,” he bargained.

  “I told you it’s not about the money.”

  “I’m not trying to step on your independent toes, Raven. I want to make sure the Battalion doesn’t get another shot at you.”

  “They won’t,” she said firmly and swept purposefully toward the front door. Before she could grasp the handle, Cain pulled her back and walked through the solid wall of wood. She was getting used to his super power, but it still freaked her out when he walked into the bathroom unannounced. When Cain reappeared in the foyer, he didn’t look happy.

  “They’re here,” he said.

  She blinked. He couldn’t be talking about the Battalion, which left... “How many?”

  “Five.”

  She hadn’t seen or heard from the Unmemorables since they drove back to Las Vegas. Honestly, she didn’t know what to do about them. The Unmemorables were part of the reason her life was in shambles. Apparently, she was an Unmemorable, a human cursed with being forgotten the moment someone looked away from them. The kicker was, she was the only female to be plagued by the curse that haunted the males in her family for generations.

  Raven opened the door and a lean, handsome male with brown skin and green eyes pulled her into a hug. Cain’s hand twisted possessively in the back of her uniform even though the guy she was hugging was Jackie, her long lost brother and the only Unmemorable she liked thus far. Jackie was an enthusiastic adrenaline junkie and convinced she could break the Unmemorable curse because of a prophecy that she wasn’t sure she wanted to believe in.

  “Hey, sis,” Jackie said and grimaced when he looked down at her uniform. “Really?”

  She shoved him away and faced the others. She knew Luester who wore torn jeans and an old bomber jacket. He didn’t give a damn about anything, so why was he here? She didn’t recognize the other three. One wore a white V-neck that showed off his defined chest and a black leather jacket. He was very attractive with artfully messy dark hair and light green eyes. She blinked when he winked at her. Cain tugged her back and stepped in front of her.

  “They’re my relatives,” she hissed.

  “That doesn’t matter to some people,” Cain said darkly.

  “It matters to me.” She elbowed him aside and faced the group of Unmemorables. “I need to get to work.”

  None of them looked pleased with her announcement, but she ignored that. She walked to the service elevator and grit her teeth when they piled in with her.

  “Are you freaking kidding me?” she snapped.

  “That’s exactly what I was going to say,” Luester drawled. “The Battalion torched the hotel and kidnapped you once, but that’s not enough for you, huh?”

  She opened her mouth to blast him, but the elevator doors opened. She walked out and clenched
her hands into fists when they got out with her. She shepherded them into the empty guest hallway and eyed them sternly.

  “I have a job to do,” she said, striving for calm. “I have a cell phone and a secret agent pen that will alert Cain if I’m in trouble. I appreciate your concern, but I can’t work if you’re crowding me.”

  No one spoke. She nodded, satisfied that she got her point across and walked into the closet that served as a gathering place for housekeepers to clock in for work. The small room was filled with intense chatter since this was their first day back on the job since the fire. Between the foreign languages, Raven gathered that most of the guests who checked back into the hotel were on the top floors, which hadn’t been affected. Housekeepers assigned to the lower floors would be dealing with the damaged rooms.

  Raven swiped her employee badge through the time clock and grabbed a bunch of microfiber rags while her supervisor, Rose, did the pre-shift in Spanish. Raven inhaled the smell of disinfectant cleaners and some of her tension eased. Before Cain, she didn’t have friends, family, pet or place to call home. She was constantly on the move, but no matter where she was, her job remained the same. At a time in her life when nothing made sense, she desperately needed housekeeping to keep her grounded. In the past month she went from the ghetto to a penthouse, virgin to full-time relationship and a boring existence to gun battles and super powers.

  She was tempted to ask Rose to speak in English instead of Spanish since she was probably talking about the casino fire. If the owner ever found out that an organization with super powers torched the casino to snatch a housekeeper, they would have seizures. Millions of dollars in damage and needless fatalities to attain one person? Who would do that? Raven suppressed a shudder. The Battalion was as ruthless as their adversary, the Council. Neither party cared who or what was in their way. Each side wanted control of the legendary Unmemorables. An army of lethal men that no one could remember? It was a commander’s wet dream.

  Raven was close enough to Rose to snatch her room assignment paper before the supervisor called out her name in a confused voice. Raven surveyed her rooms and saw that she had Cain’s penthouse and five single rooms. She dashed out of the storage room, up the emergency exit stairs and stopped dead when she ran into a wall of men. She glared at them before she pushed through the throng.

  “There’s something sick about the fact that you like doing this type of work,” Luester said as they trailed behind her.

  “You should be happy that I like to work. I could’ve joined the Battalion when Angel promised me that I could have anything I want,” she retorted and glanced at Cain. “I thought you were going to wait in the penthouse.”

  “I didn’t say that,” he said calmly.

  She looked at Jackie. “I’m going to be fine.”

  Jackie shrugged. “Okay.”

  “I’ve gotten along just fine without all of you!” She shot a nasty look at Cain.

  “You’ve disappeared on me too many times,” Cain said.

  She couldn’t argue that point. The Battalion kidnapped her once and she had her reasons for leaving Cain behind twice. It was clear that Cain wasn’t giving her another opportunity to split even though she promised that she wouldn’t.

  When they tried to follow her into the storage room where her cart was, she slammed the door with a satisfying bang. Another housekeeper was already stocking her cart. She didn’t bother to look up when Raven entered so dramatically. Raven quickly filled her cart with fresh towels, sheets, soap, shampoo, clean water glasses, etc. She kept an eye on the door and silently vowed that anyone who opened it would get their ass whooped. When her cart was stocked, she used her butt to brace the door open while she maneuvered the cart out of the room. She nearly fell on her ass when Cain opened the door wide. She silently fumed as she went to her first room and the parade of men fanned around her like she was the President.

  Clearly, talking wasn’t going to work so she’d ignore them. They would realize they were being overprotective, get bored and leave her alone.

  She rang the doorbell and called out, “Housekeeping!”

  Luester sniggered. She nearly chipped her tooth when her teeth ground together. She walked into the room and took in the spilled coffee grounds, dirty dishes and used condoms scattered over the floor. She took a deep breath to calm herself. She wanted normal and this is what she got. Why the hell did people have to be such fucking slobs, though? She turned and saw that the guys entered behind her and eyed the mess in disgust.

  “The guest could walk in and see you!” she said and shoved them out.

  “They’d forget us within ten seconds,” Luester said carelessly.

  She shoved him with extra oomph. Luester barely caught himself before he crashed into the wall. When he whirled, she gave him an innocent look before she barred the door with her monstrous cart, snapped on gloves and got to work.

  Raven started with the kitchen/dining area and moved into the bedroom. She held her breath as she scooped up the condoms and kicked the guest’s boxers under the bed. She was in the middle of smoothing out the duvet when someone spoke from behind her.

  “Your cousins are annoying.”

  She let out a muffled shriek and whirled. Cain had his hands in his pockets and eyed her with more heat than he should when she was working.

  “Stay outside!” she ordered in her best stern teacher voice.

  Cain ignored her and lifted his sleeve, revealing her braid wrapped around his wrist. Through the knuckles of a closed fist, she saw tufts of hair sticking out from between his fingers.

  “Is that...?”

  “I’m not going to let them hang around if they’re not willing to let me have some of their hair again,” Cain said as he carefully wove the shorter pieces of hair through hers.

  “We’re going to go bald,” Raven said and got back to work.

  “We know there’s an alternative,” Cain said and she stiffened.

  The leader of the Battalion, Angel, drank her blood when he kidnapped her. Ingesting an Unmemorable’s blood had the same effect as the braid, but neither method lasted long.

  “I don’t think I can do the blood thing,” she said and karate chopped the pillows in half before she stuffed them into pillowcases.

  Cain finished with the braid, which was now threaded with shades of brown, black and blonde. He pulled his sleeve down to cover it and said, “I know, but we may not have a choice in the future.”

  “I need some time.” The memory of Angel lapping up her blood still made her sick. She smoothed the duvet, fluffed the pillows and tossed her dirty linen in a bag.

  “The Unmemorables have some theories about how to break the curse and they want to try them out with you,” Cain said.

  “If they were so eager to experiment, why haven’t I seen them since we came back to Vegas?” she asked and hoped her voice didn’t reveal how bothered she was by their absence.

  “When we were staying at the Bellagio, they broke in three times. I stabbed two of them and the third I threatened to toss off the roof. They stopped after that.”

  She stopped what she was doing and stared at Cain. “When did this happen?”

  “In the middle of the night and once when you were in the shower.”

  “I thought they were following Gerald’s orders and didn’t want to risk coming to see me. You should have told me they came by,” she said, irritated by his interference.

  “We needed time together.”

  She couldn’t argue with that. Several days ago she cut her braid off Cain’s wrist and forced him to forget her so she could learn from the Unmemorables. That ended up being an epic fail when her father told her in no uncertain terms that she wasn’t welcome. She thanked her lucky stars that Cain outwitted her by concealing more than one of her braids. Cain didn’t take chances with her. She was sure he had stashes of her hair everywhere. It was a good thing her hair was long and thick. If she had a pixie cut, Cain would have shaved her bald.

 
“You better not have stabbed Jackie,” she said and narrowed her eyes when Cain didn’t answer.

  The first time she met her brother, Jackie took her on an impromptu skydive off the Eiffel Tower, which was a mere five-hundred-foot drop. To make matters worse, Jackie simultaneously caused a power outage on the Strip, which resulted in chaos and mayhem. She wondered if insanity ran in the family. She had to remember to ask him.

  Raven stomped into the bathroom. She sprayed the vanity with a cleaner, turned the shower on and closed the door so the stall would steam. She kicked a Speedo at Cain and he ducked as if it was a grenade. She bit back a giggle. Despite the fear that tickled the sides of her subconscious, her heart was lighter than it had ever been. She never had a friend or lover and had found both in Cain.

  She cleaned the toilet, emptied the trash and organized the items on the vanity. She stepped into the shower and began to wipe it down. Her eyes met Cain’s through the glass and her heart gave a painful thud before she looked away and finished. She tossed the rest of her dirty linen in the sack and went to the cart to fetch clean towels and amenities. She shot the Unmemorables a sharp look as they ribbed each other in the hallway before she went back to the bathroom and folded the towels.

  “What is it?” Cain asked.

  He’d been around her for two weeks and knew her moods better than she did. His sixth sense where she was concerned freaked her out. She continued to place the towels and amenities in place until he stepped in front of her.

  “What’s wrong?”

  When she didn’t answer, he snatched the towel from her hand. She tugged, but he wouldn’t let it go.

  “What if I’m not the girl from the Unmemorable prophecy?” she asked.

  “What if you are?” he countered.

  “I don’t want to give anyone false hope.”

  He crossed his arms over his chest. “Meaning?”

  “If I can’t reverse the curse, are you going to wear my hair on your wrist for the rest of your life?” She snatched the towel out of his hand because she needed to do something.