Raven

by BE Kelly

  He and Jag surrounded her, touching and kissing her. They were a mesh of hands, lips, and tongues and all Texas could think about was sinking into her willing body to hear Remi whisper his name on her lips.

  Texas walked her back to the bed and nudged her back down onto the mattress. He wanted to make her pretty promises, but that wasn’t what tonight was about. Tonight was three people finally getting what they needed from each other. It was about taking the pleasure Remi was willing to give to them both. That’s just what Texas was going to give her too. He didn’t give Remi any warning, just sank into her body, balls deep, loving the way she moaned out his name.

  “Tell me you’re okay, Honey,” he begged.

  “Yes,” she breathed. “Make me yours Texas,” she said. That was an order he’d be willing to obey. He watched Jag kiss his way down her body and Tex knew he was waiting for his turn, but there was nothing patient about Jag’s demeanor. Tex couldn’t blame him. If the tables were turned, he would be clawing at the damn walls, ready to get inside of Remi. She pulled him down and kissed him like a starving woman.

  “Let me help you, Jag,” she insisted. Jag looked down her body as if he was longing to be exactly where Texas was.

  “Alright,” he stuttered. Jag stood and let Remi’s hands freely roam his body and when she opened her mouth, Jag didn’t hesitate to shove his cock in.

  “Shit,” he hissed. “That feels so good, Baby,” Jag said. Watching Remi work Jag’s dick in and out of her mouth made him hot. He knew he wouldn’t last much longer and he wanted her with him when he came.

  “Jag,” he begged. “I’m close.” He and his friend had taken enough women together that Jag knew exactly what Texas was asking him. He reached down to toy with Remi’s nipples and she whimpered around his dick. That seemed to be all poor Jag could take. He shouted her name as he came in spurts down her throat and Remi took all of him, licking his cock clean before letting him pop free from her parted lips.

  Texas pumped in and out of her body, loving the way she seemed to fit him perfectly. When Jag sucked her taut nipple into his mouth, Remi wrapped her legs around Tex’s ass, tugging him closer. She was so close and Texas knew that her orgasm milking his cock was going to be enough to send him over the edge. Spasms rippled through her body as he pumped into her a few more times, losing himself deep inside of her.

  “Fuck,” Texas growled. The three of them fell into bed together, Jag on one side of Remi and Texas on the other. They made it a rule to never spend the night with the woman that they shared. It always let to an awkward morning after, but right now, Tex didn’t give a fuck. He wanted nothing more than to keep their woman cuddled up between their two bodies all night long.

  Remi sighed and shimmied down the bed, standing to find her clothes. “Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” Texas asked.

  “It’s almost one-thirty in the morning and I need to get home,” Remi admitted. They didn’t really know where Remi lived. All she ever shared with him and Jag was that she lived in NOLA with her sister and that she was originally from New Mexico. Other than that, if he and Jag let her walk out of Reckoning, there was no telling when they might see her again. That thought alone terrified Texas.

  “Stay, please,” Jag offered. Tex knew that Jag could hear the panic in his voice when he asked where she was going. Hell, he could hear it clear as day, even though he wanted to sound cool and in control—he didn’t.

  “I can’t, Jag. Things get too messy that way. I’ve helped to change the outcome of my vision, just as I promised and now, it’s time for me to go,” Remi admitted. Texas hated how cold she sounded about what had just happened between the three of them.

  “That’s all this was to you, Remi?” Jag asked. Texas stood from the bed and pulled on his jeans. He wasn’t about to sit around and watch as Remi so easily walked away from their night together. He’d be the one leaving and if she didn’t like that—well, that was too bad.

  “We knew the score,” Texas drawled. He refused to look at either of them. He knew what he’d find. Jag would be lying in bed confused, sulking, and butt hurt while Remi put her mask firmly back into place. Hell, Texas wasn’t sure that she had even removed it to begin with. He wasn’t sure if he and Jag had ever met the real Remi; she was always so careful in what she shared with them. Remi never really let them completely in and that really burned his ass.

  “Remi warned us that this was just for a night, man. You thought she’d be willing to give us more. Maybe we both were hoping for that, but we were wrong. She doesn’t want that from either of us.” Texas shot Jag a sympathetic look over his shoulder as he grabbed his cut from the chair and slipped it over his shoulders.

  “Texas, please,” Remi whispered, touching his arm as he passed to leave.

  He coldly shrugged her off. “You did what you came here to do, Sweetheart. You warned Jag and saved his life. I appreciate it, honestly, I do. Mission accomplished, so go on home. There’s nothing more for you here, Remi.” Texas pushed past her, ignoring the hurt he saw in her eyes. He wasn’t a cold-hearted asshole, but he was sure acting like one right now. He didn’t give a fuck though. Remi hurt him and all he wanted to do was hurt her right back.

  “See you tomorrow night, brother,” he shouted over his shoulder to Jag and walked out of their room, not bothering to shut the door. All Texas could think about was getting on his fucking Fat Boy and riding until he didn’t give a fuck about how much Remi hurt him. He wanted to ride his bike until the look of disappointment faded from Jag’s eyes and Remi’s scent disappeared from his own skin, but Tex had a feeling there wouldn’t be enough road for that.

  Remi

  After Texas all but stormed out of their little room above Reckoning, Remi made one excuse after another to leave, but the hurt and disappointment in Jag’s eyes made that impossible for her to do. She ended up staying with him, wanting to give him what he needed but she worried that might be a tall order she’d never be able to fill. Jag had that look in his eyes—the one that told her he was falling for her and Remi couldn’t let that happen.

  She had been with men—lots of men—both good and bad. Jag and Texas were both good men and the thought of hurting them made her heartache. But, that was what ultimately was going to happen and leaving was her only way out of causing them any more pain. She wasn’t the type of woman who did mushy hearts and flowers. She didn’t make pretty promises and Lord knows she didn’t need any in return. No man had ever given her that—promises, not even Aria’s father. He was a huge mistake, another one of the men she got lost in while trying to save his life. He ended up leaving her and who could blame him? He didn’t want the baby and when she admitted that she did, he bolted. Remi was pregnant and alone and honestly, happy.

  Her grandmother, aunt and sister all helped with Aria and her daughter was the happiest, most beautiful little girl she’d ever known. The memory of her sweet little face and green eyes haunted her nightly dreams. She’d wake from them still able to feel her baby girl’s soft curls against her palms and smell her sweet scent. Her daughter always smelled like sunshine and honeysuckle and Remi couldn’t get enough of her gentle smiles and devilish laughter. It filled her home and her heart until it was gone; stripped away from her so cruelly, even she didn’t see it coming. She should have seen the whole thing—all of them should have, but they were too consumed with seeing others who needed their help. Faceless, nameless others who’d Remi would gladly trade for the chance to have her baby back. It had been just over five years since she had to say goodbye to her baby girl and not a day passed without feeling as though she wouldn’t be able to take one more breath without seeing her daughter’s face.

  Remi had shut out everyone and anything that made her happy. She stopped going out on dates with men who might come to mean more to her than just a casual hook-up. She learned to meet men in dive bars and offer them her body for just one night, taking as much pleasure from them as humanly possible to make it to her next fix. Sex had become
that for her—a way to escape her reality and find a way to numb the constant dull ache left from losing her daughter.

  Oryana had taken to calling her a “badass”, but her twin sister was wrong. What Nena constantly missed was the fear and panic that welled up inside of her every time she saw a baby. It would send her into a spiral that led her back down the dark road of seedy bars and men who just wanted to use her body. Her family had no clue—no one did, not even the one person closest to her. Her twin sister would never understand her need to take what she could from this shit hole of life and find her way forward. It was her only option and one that she never spoke about. Admitting it would mean that she’d have to admit the truth—she had become a monster and most of the time, she didn’t even recognize herself anymore.

  She spent the night curled up next to Jag’s warm body, soaking up the dreams of possibilities that would never be for her. When the sun rose the next morning, she snuck from Jag’s bed, found her clothes and left Reckoning. Remi made herself the promise she’d never return to that bar or see the two bikers who spent the night before sharing her body, but she was lying to herself. The idea of seeing both Texas and Jag made her feel like a giddy schoolgirl and she knew that staying away from either of them would be impossible for her. She was a masochist when it came to staying away from things that she wanted; things she knew could tear her heart out. Maybe she liked the pain, who knew. But, Remi would go back to them in a heartbeat if it meant forgetting all the shit life threw at her. Tex and Jag were a nice distraction even though she knew how it all would end between the three of them. It would go down in a shitstorm of fire and by the time she finally got the nerve to leave them, they’d hate her just as much as she already hated herself.

  By the time Remi got back to the little house that she shared with Oryana, she found her twin sister already up and having breakfast. Remi walked into the kitchen and tossed her car keys onto the counter, grabbing a coffee mug to pour herself a cup of coffee.

  “Long night?” Nena questioned.

  “I didn’t get much sleep,” Remi admitted. It was the truth. Jag had woken her a few times in the night, taking her body as if he needed the constant contact to remind himself that she was still there.

  “You okay, Remi?” Nena asked. Her sister wasn’t much of a busy body. She usually let Remi do her own thing and didn’t ask many questions. It was one of the things she loved most about her twin. But once in a while, Nena seemed to be able to pick up on just how much she was hurting and now was one of those times. She wouldn’t lie to her sister, there would be no point in it. Nena could always see through her lies, straight into her soul and that scared the shit out of her. Letting Nena see how dark her soul had become—so filled with hatred and the need for revenge, might just send her sister running as far away as possible. She needed Nena as much as she needed food and air. Her twin sister was part of her—the good part; the light to her darkness.

  “Don’t ask questions you might not like the answers to, Oryana,” Remi warned.

  “Geeze, now I’m really worried. You only use my full name when you are pissed. What did I do this time?” Nena teased. That was her sister’s way of letting her know that she would back off. She made light of the situation, even joking around with her when Remi had crossed the line and needed to back down.

  “You didn’t do anything, really. I’m just grumpy from lack of sleep,” Remi lied. Nena eyed her as if she didn’t believe a word she was saying.

  “I just worry about you,” Nena admitted. “I know that this time of year is tough for you.”

  “Don’t,” Remi ordered. She sounded more like she was begging for her sister not to bring up the topic. Remi knew exactly what time of year it was. They were coming up on the sixth anniversary of her baby’s death. Aria would have been eight years old this year, but Remi would never know who her daughter could have become.

  “I miss her too,” Nena whispered. “We all do, but you have to find a way to go on, Remi. Maybe put yourself out there and go on a date. What about Lyra’s friends at her husband’s bar?” Nena was hitting a little too close for comfort with her questions and Remi wondered if she had a vision or was just making a really good guess.

  “Guys?” Remi questioned, playing dumb.

  Nena rolled her hazel eyes at her and smiled. “Yeah—the two guys who helped to find us. What were their names?” From the look on her sister’s face, she knew exactly what their names were.

  “Texas and Jag,” Remi said. “And, I’m not interested.”

  “Well, they’re interested in you,” Nena said.

  “How exactly would you know that?” Remi asked.

  “Tank and Lyra told me that they were sniffing around you. Then, when they found us at the paper factory, you seemed pretty damn happy to see them,” Nena taunted.

  “Tank and Lyra need to mind their own damn business,” Remi grouched, causing her sister to giggle. “And, of course, I was happy to see Tex and Jag,” she covered. “They did save our lives.” Remi thought back to that dark, musty warehouse where they were kept, against their will. Some government guy named Dave was using them as trackers to find Lyra and her daughter, Delilah. He kept Remi and Nena locked in a make-shift cage, getting as much information as he could about where Lyra might have been hiding.

  That was what she and her sister did, found people. They were seers and came from a long line of women who could see things that happened in someone’s past or in some cases, future. But Nena and Remi had a special gift of being able to track people. If someone needed help finding a missing person, they could usually see where they were being held or worse, where their bodies had been dumped. She and her twin sister had found countless missing persons over the years and that was one of the reasons they left home. They had become local celebrities back in their small New Mexico town. It had gotten to the point where reporters and people who needed their help, were invading their personal property to talk to them. She and Nena agreed that they couldn’t do that to their aunt and grandmother anymore. So, they packed their stuff and left, finding jobs in New Orleans and blending in as much as possible. They went home every chance they got but it wasn’t as often as either of them would have liked.

  “Anali called this morning,” Nena said. “She said that Aunt Joanna isn’t feeling well and she wants us to come home. Anali thinks it would be good for our aunt to see us.” Remi panicked at the mention of her aunt being sick. When she and Nena were just babies, their mother took off. They really didn’t know who their father was, although they had heard the whispered rumors through their small town. They were raised by their Aunt Joanna and their Anali, or grandmother.

  Their community was made up of mostly Navajo and most of the people in town were related to each other by either blood or marriage. Everyone knew everyone else’s business and she had to admit, at times, she loved her close-knit community. There were also times she wanted to run away and leave her Navajo heritage as far behind her as humanly possible. Now that she was living away from home and her family, Remi missed them more than ever. She and Nena both knew that returning to New Mexico and putting down roots, would never happen for them.

  It had only been a little over a year after she lost Aria before things started going haywire around town. She and Nena were involved in a case to find a missing little boy and it hit a little too close to home for Remi. The kid was almost the same age her daughter would have been and she and her sister were able to track him and bring him home to his parents. His babysitter had abducted him after losing her own baby. Remi felt such sadness as she watched the woman being handcuffed and led away as the happy parents were reunited with their child. She realized that she recognized herself in that poor, mixed-up woman and the thought of losing her mind enough to steal someone else’s kid scared the living hell out of her. That’s when the local press got ahold of the news story and before they knew it people were showing up on Anali’s doorstep, demanding that they help find a missing loved one. Their gra
ndmother and aunt convinced them to take off and find a place to make a better life for themselves.

  They had, for the most part. Nena was a personal trainer at a local spa and Remi had found a little local library that needed a librarian. It didn’t matter that she had no formal schooling or training for the job, they hired her on the spot just because she shared her love of books. They were her way to escape the hellish reality that had become her life and she loved her job. Remi and Nena traveled home to New Mexico every chance they got, but it was never enough. Her grandmother missed them and they missed her.

  “Will Aunt Joanna be okay?” Remi asked. Even though she was married and had two daughters of her own, Aunt Joanna always checked in on them both. She helped them go shopping for prom dresses and talked to them about boys and life lessons that might have been hard-learned otherwise.

  “Yeah,” Oryana said. “They are running some tests but Anali is worried and well, she asked us to come home. We can’t say no.” Nena was right, they couldn’t. Not after everything both women gave up to raise her and her sister. Besides, a trip home might be just what she needed to put the two sexy as sin alphas out of her mind. The only problem would be facing her past demons and being that close to her baby girl’s grave. The anniversary of Aria’s death wasn’t something she was looking forward to.

  “Fine,” she agreed. “I’ve got to go into work now, but I’ll try to get a few days off at the end of the week.” Nena smiled and sipped her coffee, shoving her second donut into her mouth. How her sister ate so much crap and stayed so skinny was beyond her comprehension. It probably had something to do with the fact that Nena worked out every day and had to stay accountable for her clients.

  “I’ll clear my schedule for the end of the week and maybe we can make it a long weekend trip back home. It will be good to spend time with Anali. I think that Aylen and Kaiah will be home too, visiting their mom. It will be good to see our cousins,” Nena said.