10. Raven
Chapter ten
Raven
Walking out of Orpheus and up to my bike, Damien grabs my hand, getting my attention.
“I’ll drive you. They can drive my car since we all rode together.” He quips. Looking at him I reply,
“Whatever, I have never backpacked on my own bike, though.” Giving him a mocking smirk, I toss him the keys. I watch as Reyes gets in the driver seat of Damiens challenger while Luis gets in the passenger seat. Damien hops on the bike and I grab my helmet, putting it on as I get on behind him. He starts it up and looks over his shoulder at me. I tap his leg to let him know I'm ready.
He kicks up the kickstand and takes off to get on the highway. Pulling up beside us, Reyes revs up the car and suddenly Damien pops the bike up in a wheelie, my arms grabbing on to him a little tighter. Setting the bike back down, he swaps gears and takes off while Reyes tries to race us there.
Pulling into Sirens, Reyes gets out of the car with narrowed eyes, bitching because we beat them here.
Taunting him, I poke at him a little, “Well, guess now I can say I beat all of your asses at this point.” I start to laugh, stopping myself when Damien gives me a ‘what the hell’ glance.
“You weren’t even driving, Damien was.” He states, trying and failing to catch up to me.
“Doesn’t matter, my bike, my win.” I joke and shrug.
“Hey, do I get any of that credit or what?” Damien quips back, shaking my head as we walk up to the door where Naomi is waiting for us.
“Damn girl, I was thinking I was going to have to party by myself tonight,” she laughs, linking her arm through mine.
“Bitch, I should let you party alone after throwing me under the bus like that. I was going to make them work to know what the fuck I did. Guess that secret is out now.” I reply jokingly as we walk inside the club. The bouncer at the door greets us as we walk by. Looking at the guys, he gives me a questioning look.
“Don’t worry, they’re with me.” He nods and we continue inside. Making our way to the bar, me and Naomi notice Sierra is working. Waving our hands to get her attention, she walks over to us.
“Hey girls, what can I get y’all tonight? Haven’t seen you guys in awhile, how is everything?” She questions. Naomi speaks up first.
“We’ve been good, just working. Can we get four shots of Tequila to start with and a running tab?” She says with a smile.
“Yeah, work as always. How have you been? This place still treating you well? You know I'll kick Zekes’ ass if not.” I sass. She grabs my hand and replies,
“You know I would tell you if I wasn’t happy here, but Zeke takes care of me. Eddie still comes to check on me every now and then too. I’m honestly happy, plus I get to see you girls. I get off in an hour. If you’re still here, I’ll find you and hang out for a bit!” She reassures me. Handing us our shots, Naomi and I toss them back and Sierra tosses one back with us.
“Yes bitch! Find us when you get off, Raven here needs a night off and I don’t plan to leave until she's wasted.” Naomi chuckles. We grab a couple of Sex On The Beaches and walk upstairs to the VIP area where we always sit. Sirens is set up in black and red tones, with flashing lights everywhere. Upstairs is for VIP only. The main area is a huge dance floor, setup with a DJ booth in the far corner. Downstairs, well downstairs is where a lot of the fun happens. That's where the sex club is. I have only been down there a couple of times and mostly to just watch. It’s actually interesting to see all the crazy things people are into.
Sitting down in our booth, I look around and notice the guys didn’t follow.
“Where did your boy toys go?” She asks me. Shrugging, I continue to look around the club but don’t see them anywhere.
“I honestly don’t know. But, we came here to have fun, so let’s down these drinks and go dance.” Giggling, we knock them back. Naomi grabs my hand, tells the guard up here to watch our shit, and drags me down the stairs. My phone pings with a notification, taking it out of my pocket and seeing it’s a text from Zeke.
Zeke: The guys you came in with, they are in my office. The guys at the door told me you came in with them. Don’t worry, I’ll send them out in one piece. You girls have fun. You deserve it, kid.
Me: Jesus Zeke, just don’t kill them ?? Thanks, we definitely plan to have fun. Just tell them we're on the dancefloor when you're done with them .
Closing the text, I put my phone away, look at Naomi and laugh.
“Well, the bouncer at the front told Zeke we showed up with the guys, so he had them pulled into his office.” That makes her full belly laugh.
“Girl, between Eddie and Zeke, it's like having two dads. Two very overprotective dads at that.” Chuckling, she pulls us to the middle of the dancefloor. ‘ Swalla by Jason Derulo’ starts playing and we start moving to the beat. Stepping closer, we grind against each other. Both of us drop low, then sway our bodies back up. She juts her chin just before I feel hands wrap around me from behind.
Looking over my shoulder, Reyes pushes himself up against my back, pulling me tight against his body and kissing up the side of my neck. Taking a deep inhale, I grind my ass against him.
“So, Zeke called you in his office, huh? How did that go?” Raising a brow in question, Naomi stops dancing and puts a hand on her hip.
“Yeah, apparently he just wanted to let us know if we did anything to fuck you over, he would kill us.” He laughs. “I told him we weren’t even in a relationship or anything, that right now we were just hanging out.” He states, but that little bit of information sends a ping of disappointment to my chest for some reason. Before I can say a thing, Naomi steps right in with the sass.
“Well, I agree with Zeke, no matter the situation. However, tonight is about letting loose, so grab more drinks and come dance.” She orders, grabbing me by my hips, grinding her small frame against my body. Reyes and the others saunter off but come back quickly with drinks in hand. Handing them out, we drink them slowly as we continue to dance. Reyes comes up behind me again, gripping my hips, while Damien comes to the front and sandwiches me in between them to dance, slowly rubbing my body against theirs. Naomi backs up and lets me know she’ll be back.
Looking over at Luis, he has an unreadable look on his face. Giving him a questioning glare, he saunters over and steps in front of me with Damien. They both grab my hips and bring me closer just as the song swaps to ‘Love me by Lil Wayne’ . Moving my hips to the music, Luis spins me to face Reyes and bends me over, pulling my ass against him and Damien. Slowly bringing myself up, I wrap my arms around Reyes neck and he groans.
“You make it hard to not want to take you right here, on this dancefloor, where everyone can see.” Biting the side of my neck, he growls when I pull him closer. Jesus, how do they always manage to get me so worked up.
Naomi walks back over with Sierra, and introduces her to the guys. Looking at me, she raises a brow. Pushing herself through the wall of muscle surrounding me, she looks at me with pleading eyes.
“Want to go back up to our table? My feet need a break.” She huffs. I can’t help but chuckle.
“Sure, plus I could definitely use some water right about now.” She links one hand in mine and the other in Sierras as we walk towards the steps. Looking at the guys, I nod my head for them to follow.
Getting to our table, we sit and order more drinks, making conversation while we wait. Reyes looks over at me,
“So when are we going to go secret for secret? We already saw you mid kill so I gathered that's what you meant about the bloody part of the conversation from the diner?” He quips while resting his hand on my thigh and then I feel all eyes shoot my way.
Sierra obviously already knows what I do, considering I was the one who saved her from a trafficking ring. Zeke gave her a job, and she stays at one of the many safe houses we keep for people who have nowhere to go.
“Fine, let's go right now. Secret for fucking secret. Me drinking will be the only way I can open up about this shit! You go first, since you are so interested in me.” I spit with an eyeroll and everyone looks stunned. Looking at Naomi, I see the pain written all over her face, she knows how this shit affects me. Let's get this shit over with. Sierra waves down a bartender that's up here and tells him to bring us more shots. Good, I'll need them.
“Fine, I’ll go first. I assume the girls already know all there is to know about you?” I shrug and he continues, “Well first off, Zeke is mine and Luis’ uncle, he also took Damien in when we were young.” My fucking jaw drops. Looking at Naomi she has the same look. What. The. Fuck?
“What? Are you serious? How have we not known this whole time? I have literally been around him and Eddie for years. How have we not even crossed paths on jobs? Jesus fuck.” Stunned, I throw question after question at him.
“We have already asked ourselves that question too. We run weapons for him and Eddie, so maybe that's why.” He answers, and still, even the fact that they are the ones who have been running our weapons, has me stunned into silence. He adds, “Okay I gave you two secrets, your turn.”
Clearing my throat and downing a shot, “Well when I was seventeen, I-I was raped and abused by my mom’s friend, well lover. That’s where the scars came from on my body.”
Stammering, I take another shot, trying to choke my emotions back. Naomi slides closer and takes my hand. “He would chain me up, and make slices all over my body while he raped me. I tried to tell my mom, but she basically called me a liar and a whore for even saying shit like that. Said I was asking for attention and told me she didn’t want to see me. I called Naomi and she took me to Eddie that night, who then trained me and helped me get stronger.
One night, he came back and took me to the basement. That's the night I killed him. I tortured him and took my revenge. I slit his throat and watched as the life left his eyes. Eddie brought the clean up crew and that's how I got where I am today. That was the night me and Naomi started working for him and Zeke.” I confess, taking a deep shuddering breath, sniffling as I throw back another shot.
Naomi squeezing my hand brings me back to the now. Looking over at them, they all look stunned, similar looks on their faces. I can't tell if it's pity, sadness or rage. Reyes is squeezing my thigh, but Luis chimes in.
“I’m sorry all that happened to you, no one deserves to go through something like that. I guess we’re up. I’ll give you one of my secrets. When Reyes said Eddie sent you to drop off your bike, I looked you up. We needed to know who he sent our way. I was more intrigued because it was like your whole file was wiped clean, other than working at Orpheus and Sirens.
Then earlier, when Zeke called us in, he said you didn’t know about us or what we did and it would be up to us if we told you, but regardless we were to make sure you are safe at all times. We don’t want you to think anyone lied to you or Naomi. He said it wasn’t important if you knew, but after hearing everything you said, I want us to lay it all out now.” He takes a shot along with the rest of the table.
I sit there, absorbing what he just told me when Damien is the next to speak up.
“Raven, the reason Zeke even took me in, is because my step dad beat my mother to death. The night he killed my mom, I had already called Reyes and told him it was bad. Before he could kill me, Zeke showed up and shot him. That was when I moved in with them and we all started working together.” He explains. Jesus, this night just keeps getting darker and darker. Let's just release the demons.
“Jesus Christ, I’m sorry. Not sorry he’s dead, but sorry you went through that. I think that's enough secret exchanges. We can pick this back up another time. Let's just drink and dance. We are here to have fun, so I say we put all the darkness aside.” I state, trying to lighten the mood. Everyone nods and we all take shots before we ask for another round.
Drinking and dancing is just what the doctor ordered.