“Sorry, little raven,” a male voice whispers in my ear as I feel an arm slide around my waist.
I move to elbow him, but he slides his arms up, trapping my arm against my side, while Zay still holds my other arm.
“Let me go,” I growl out.
Zay holds up three fingers. “One, two, three,” he counts off, folding his fingers into a fist. Then he cranes back his arm, as if he’s going to punch.
I squeeze my eyes shut and brace myself for the impact. But it never comes.
After a few beats of silence skip by, I crack open my eyes, half-expecting him to be gone. But nope. He’s still right in front of me, his arms crossed, a pleased smile possessing his face.
“Take her to the car,” he tells the guy who has his arms wrapped around me.
The guy’s chest crashes against my back as he lets out an exhale. “You sure you want to do this, Zay? This might be enough. I mean, she’s shaking pretty badly.”
That voice… I’ve heard it before. Hunter, the guy who I thought was charming. Now, he just seems like a whipped pussy. Zay being the one who’s whipped him into submission.
“I’m not shaking.” I hold my chin high. “I’m not even scared.”
Zay leans in, his breath hot on my face. “Liar.”
“Psychopath.”
That eerie smile returns as he slants back. “Yeah, you definitely have a death wish.”
“And I have a feeling you have a fetish for handing those out,” I quip. “But if you so much as try to take me out of this school, I’ll scream.”
He laughs darkly, causing a chill to slither up my spine. “Go ahead. Scream. No one here’s gonna do a damn thing about it. And soon, you’ll learn why.”
“I already know why,” I inform him. “I don’t need a recap about who you are. The Raven Three.”
He measures me up. “Who told you?”
I lift a shoulder. “A little raven.”
“I want a name so I know who’s been running their mouth about shit they shouldn’t.” He digs a pack of cigarettes out of the pocket of his jacket. “And I’ll know if you’re lying.” Then he lights up right there in the hallway.
What the actual shit?
He takes a drag off the cigarette. “Clock’s ticking. And if you don’t give me a name soon, I’ll punish you for their mistake.”
“Why’s it a mistake?” I ask as he blows smoke into my face. “They just told me about you. And, if I’m remembering correctly, you wanted me to know about you when I sat in your seat.”
He sucks in another inhale from the cigarette. “People aren’t allowed to gossip about me. Everyone knows this. And if they break the rules, they need to pay.”
I hold my breath as he exhales a cloud of smoke into my face again. “Yeah, well, I’m not gonna out them.”
He drags his finger along the end of the cigarette, scattering ashes all over the floor. “Then I guess you’re going to pay for their mistake and for yours.”
My lips twitch in annoyance. “I didn’t do anything to you, other than sit in your damn seat.”
He gets in my face “You smarted off, which is about the worst thing you can do to me.”
I roll my tongue in my mouth, my blood boiling. “Other than kick you in the balls.”
He’s so surprised that it takes him a second to speak. “Nah, I can handle that just fine.” He flashes me an emotionless grin then backs down the hallway. “Let’s take her to the spot.”
Hunter keeps his arms around me as he pushes me forward, forcing me to follow Zay. Jax moves up beside us with his hands stuffed into his pockets, his gaze fixed on Zay.
I attempt to dig my heels into the floor, but it doesn’t do any good.
“I can’t just leave school,” I gripe. “It’s my first day.”
Zay glances over his shoulder at me and rolls his eyes. “That’s the last thing you should be worried about.”
“Why? What’re you going to do to me?” As I ask the question—and calmly, I might add—a revelation dawns on me.
I’ve become fairly numb to fear, either because I’m used to it or I really do have a death wish. I’m not even certain I fear death anymore. I did once, back before and during my parents’ deaths. I feared it then. But over the years, that will to survive, to live, has slowly withered like a wilting raven feather.
He lifts the end of his cigarette toward his lips again. “Now, what’d be the fun in telling you?”
“To scare me?” I suggest.
He shakes his head and looks forward again, muttering, “Damn stupid girl does have a goddamn death wish.”
Yeah, Zay, I completely agree.
Seven
Raven
We leave the school without crossing paths with anyone. When we start across the parking lot, though, a couple of people are lingering around, eating their lunches. But everyone looks in the opposite direction as we pass, except for Mr. Mcnellton, who’s heading to his car. He glances at the three of us and frowns.
Seizing the opportunity, I give him a come-on-dude-help-me-out look, but he quickly looks away and ducks into his beat-up Honda Civic.
Blowing out a frustrated breath, I wiggle my arms, attempting to escape again. Hunter just pulls me closer, holding me against his chest.
“Easy, little raven,” he whispers in my ear. “If you cooperate, things’ll end up a hell of a lot better for you.”
“I really doubt that,” I mumble back. “And stop calling me little raven.”
“But it’s such a fitting name.” Amusement flitters in his tone.
“No, it’s not,” I scoff. “Yeah, my name is Raven, but I’m not little.”
“Hate to break it to you, little raven, but you kind of are,” Hunter teases as he slows to a stop in front of a black SUV with tinted windows.
I tense at the sight of the car, flashbacks of the day my parents died flickering through my mind.
A dark SUV with tinted windows rolls up to the front of my house.
“Who is that, Mom?” I ask as I peer out the window.
She gasps as she looks out the window. “Hide. Now, Raven. Don’t let them see you.”
The memory fades. It always does. I can barely recall anything else that happened, except the blood that ended up on my hands and what everyone told me they believed I did.
You killed them.
Murderer.
Evil.
“I’m five-foot-nine,” I point out, shoving away all thoughts of that day and the days that followed. I can’t think about it too much. If I do, I’ll crumble, which is fine when I’m alone. But in front of others, I have to be Raven, the girl who doesn’t give a shit about anything. And I really need to be that girl in front of these guys. “That’s far from little.”
“Yeah, but you’re still small compared to us,” he quips as Jax moves in front of us and opens the back door to the SUV, seemingly distracted by something on his phone.
True. These guys are at least six-two, if not taller, which makes me feel kind of small. But not little …
My thoughts become sidetracked when Hunter nudges me toward the SUV, trying to shove me into the back seat. Panicking, I prop my foot up on the sidestep and throw my weight back, opening my mouth to scream.