Chapter 38
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
RAVEN
“ N o.”
“Yes.”
Griffin crosses his arms. “No.”
“You’re not the boss of me.” I dig my heels in.
Griffin raises a brow. “Actually, I am.”
I was caught in the act. The act was getting ready for work. Griffin acted as if I were kicking puppies, but I was just putting on mascara. So, we commenced in a standoff and neither side has backed down.
My nostrils flare on my exhale. “It’s been a week since the library…incident. I want to get back to work.”
“And I’m telling you no.” His tone almost feels condescending.
Knox appears behind Griffin’s shoulder. “What’s going on here?”
Griffin gestures to me. “Raven wants to go to work tonight.”
“Griff…” Knox breaths through his teeth awkwardly.
“No,” Griffin repeats.
Relaxing my shoulders on a big exhale, I step up to Griffin.
My hands clasp together around his neck, and the shift in his mood is immediate.
The hard lines etched in his face soften, and his muscles loosen.
His arms drop, and his hands land on my hips.
Griffin’s amber irises find my blue, and a wave of peace lulls us both.
My hands tangle in his hair and massage the back of his head. He groans and tips his head backward.
My fingers still. “I know you’re worried. But I’m okay. I’m safe. The man who attacked me is dead.”
Griffin’s jaw tenses at my mention of Seth.
I offer more reassurance, hoping it’ll give him the calm he needs. “He’s not coming back. The Wandering Raven has you, Knox, Benny…I won’t be by myself.”
Griffin’s focus sways between Knox and me. “You don’t go anywhere without one of us. Not even the storeroom. I want someone to have eyes on you at all times.”
In hopes of cracking a smile, I salute him. “Sir, yes, sir.”
He squints and smacks my ass.
“Hey!” I cry out.
Griffin raises his finger, scolding me. “Don’t be a brat.” His seriousness cracks and a smirk makes its way through.
“No promises,” I mock.
Shaking his head, he walks away, but he shouts, “We leave in twenty. And I’m driving!”
“He just worries about you,” Knox explains.
“I know.” My body leans back against my bathroom counter.
Knox steps up to me. “We both do.”
Without thought, my thighs spread, and Knox steps closer. He reaches under my ass, lifting and setting me on the cold quartz.
He dips his head, and my lips meet his eagerly.
The jolt to my core has me rearing to go, wanting a repeat of his first performance in my bathroom.
But his hands don’t move from where they rest on either side of my hips.
I lift my leg to wrap around his hip and pull him closer, but he breaks our kiss and steps back.
“Don’t want to distract you,” he says with a wink.
I push out my lower lip in a pout. “But I like your brand of distraction.”
He leans forward. His mouth finds my neck and sucks hard. I cry out as his hand reaches between us and covers my pussy. Knox releases my neck with a pop and growls, “I’ll teach you to crave it. Crave me.” He releases his hold and swiftly exits.
Panties soaked.
Nipples hard.
Core aching.
I think it’s safe to say I’m addicted.
“Benny!”
“Raven!”
That big softy. He definitely missed me. And in the blink of an eye, I know he’ll go right back to pretending to be annoyed by me.
Griffin and Knox walk off to get to work, and I fill my spot behind the bar. And just like I predicted, Benny won’t look my way again. As always, he’s watching the TV behind me.
At least some things don’t change.
And that saying holds true an hour later when The Wandering Raven is packed. You’d think that after someone throws grenades around the public library, the community would be too afraid to leave their houses. But I guess not in Texas.
With a tray in hand, I meander around the bodies all over the bar, handing out drinks and food orders. Knox and Griffin have taken turns back and forth helping out. Sometimes they’re both on the floor with me. And Griffin is always sure to find me.
But at the moment, neither Griffin nor Knox is out here helping, and I’m getting swamped. I saw both of them walk out the front, but that was twenty minutes ago.
Dropping my tray behind the bar, I grab the keys to Knox’s bike and stomp to the kitchen. “Camden, you got orders!” I leave him there with a perplexed expression on his face and march to Benny. “You’re on drinks. I’ll be right back.”
Benny watches me leave a trail of smoke in my wake as I march out to Knox’s bike. I’ve ridden it with him enough in the last week to know what I’m doing…I hope.
After a few minutes of failing to start it, I give up and set out on foot. I don’t know how long the walk is, but we’ll see.
Benny and Camden are going to have to hold down the fort a little while longer.
The tire tracks are easy enough to follow, and the full moon lights the path for me. The further I walk, the taller the grass becomes, and the louder the rattle of the cicadas gets.
A chill snakes up my spine, making my muscles go taut. My arms fill with goosebumps, so I hug myself to stave off the sudden cool breeze.
The cacophony of the cicadas blends together to create one sound. One word.
My name floats around me. I turn in a circle in search of the source but find nothing. I spin one more time and pause. Someone stands a few yards back down the path.
Raven. Raven. Raven. Raven.
“Hello?” I call to them, but they don’t reply. They don’t move. It’s like they didn’t hear me at all.
Raven. Raven. Raven. Raven.
My name breaks into a million voices whispering over each other.
I swing my head from side to side, but still nothing. My focus goes back to the figure on the road, but I find him closer than before.
Gasping, I jump back. “Who are you?”
Still no answer.
Raven. Raven. Raven. Raven.
As my hands become clammy, I fish in my back pocket for my phone. Turning on the built-in flashlight, I point it in front of me.
“It’s not real. It’s not real.” I fail to convince myself, and my stomach flips. Illuminated in the beam is the person I miss the most.
Noah Kelly.
He looks just like he did when I found him on the stairs, but without all the blood. The dent in his head is there as if that’s how his head is shaped.
His mouth opens like it did a couple of weeks ago, but his voice sounds like he’s talking underwater. His lips don’t move to shape each word, but I know it’s him speaking. “You weren’t there.”
My lips quiver. “I-I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I should have s-stayed home that day.”
Noah’s voice becomes clearer. “You’re not done.”
“What?”
“You’re not done, Raven.” Noah lifts his arm, presenting me with the belladonna clutched in his hand.
I step closer, taking the deadly flower from his grasp.
“You’re not done, Raven.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re not done.”
His mouth stretches wider, forming creases in his cheeks. But he doesn’t stop. His chin stretches closer to his chest as the skin at the corners of his mouth separates, splitting his face in two. Little creatures with tiny legs trickle out of the hole in Noah’s face.
The sight of spiders gets my feet working again. I shove my phone back in my pocket and hasten down the road in the direction of the barn.
My shoe catches on the tip of a rock, causing me to fall to the unforgiving dirt. A tickle scurries up my leg. A glance down reveals that a few spiders have caught up with me and are climbing up my body.
Scrambling backward, I brush off the spiders, clamber back to my feet, and take off in a dead sprint.
The further I get from Noah, the warmer the night becomes. Sweat rolls down the side of my face, and the muscles in my legs begin to burn, but I don’t stop. I don’t stop when my chest starts to ache. I don’t stop when I spot the lights of the barn.
A pained shout bleeds from the structure, and I finally skid to a stop.
What the hell?