by A. P. Jensen
“What are you doing here?” she yawned.
“More importantly, how the fuck did you get in here?” Cain snapped, pulling on his pants.
“I forgot to tell you, Jackie can walk through walls just like you,” Raven said.
Cain stared at Jackie. “You can?”
Jackie winced. “Not exactly.”
“What do you mean, not exactly?” Cain growled.
“I can use other people’s power and I… borrowed some of Cain’s. We’ve run into each other a couple of times.”
Raven stepped between them before Cain could beat her little brother to a pulp. “What are you doing here?” she repeated.
Jackie hung his head. “I’m sorry about what Pop said.”
It still stung enough to make her flinch. “Whatever. It’s done.”
“But I believe you can change our fate!” Jackie said earnestly. “Pop’s old school and he’s accepted that no one will remember him. He’s loved women and tried with all his might to change what he is. It’s made him bitter. He’s afraid to believe, but I’m not.”
She took a long sip of her coffee before Cain took it to drink out of it, too.
“Jackie, I don’t know if I believe in the prophecy. All I know is I’m an Unmemorable.”
“But you haven’t tried to break the curse, right?”
She took the coffee back from Cain. “No, but I have no idea how to go about that. I don’t know anything about being an Unmemorable, or about this prophecy.”
“I can teach you,” Jackie said excitedly.
“In return for what?” she said suspiciously.
“Trying to reverse me from being an Unmemorable.” Jackie looked at Cain and then back to her with a frown. “I thought you erased his memory.”
“He’s smarter than I am,” Raven said wryly.
Jackie nodded. “Cain has a reputation as a nasty bastard.”
Cain didn’t deny the charge and took back the coffee.
“I can’t make any promises,” Raven said and got to her feet. “And I’m not sure I even want to. Gerald’s an ass and most of them looked at me like I was a tramp-”
Cain voice was lethal. “What?”
Jackie took a step away from Cain as he pleaded with Raven. “I know! Most of the guys have accepted their fate like Pop, but I believe. I want a woman to remember me. I don’t want to be like this forever!”
Jackie pushed the furniture in front of the door aside and opened the door. Raven blinked when Luester and Happy stepped in with three other men she didn’t recognize. Cain reached for his gun and Luester’s lip curled. Raven tugged Cain’s shirt down as low as possible and looked the men in the eye. She had nothing to be ashamed of. She loved Cain and, yes, she slept with him. That didn’t make her a whore. The superior looks on their faces were gone, except for Luester who had his arms crossed over his chest. He glared at her threateningly and she saw Cain take a step towards him.
“What do you want?” Raven snapped.
Jackie punched Luester in the arm and he hissed.
“I wanna see what you can do,” Luester said arrogantly.
Raven smiled sweetly. “I’m not gonna do anything for you, asshole, so you wasted the time you could’ve spent pumping more iron.”
Luester’s mouth twisted. “Jackie thinks you can change us.”
“If you were listening with your ear pressed to the door, I said I don’t know if I can. I only found out what I am a week ago. I just wanted to know where I come from,” she swept them all a scornful look, “and it’s nothing to brag about.”
“But you’re gonna try with Jackie?” Luester persisted.
“Why the fuck do you care? All of you thought I was a whore yesterday and that being Unmemorable is a gift so why don’t you go on with your lives?”
Silence fell.
“Because they want it just as much as I do,” Jackie interjected.
“This is crazy,” Raven snapped. “There’s too much shit going on. I can’t even think. I want to go back to Vegas.”
“You want to go back?” Cain asked warily.
She nodded briskly. “I work in two days.”
“What?!”
The explosion came from more than two voices. She glared at the group, including Cain, who shook his head.
“I’m not rich like all of you.”
“We can give you-.”
“I don’t want anything from any of you,” she hissed and walked into the bathroom and slammed the door.
She heard Cain say, “I need hair from all of you bastards. I’m not taking any chances.”
She muttered to herself as she showered and dressed. When she came back out, she was surprised to see all of them still standing around. Cain kissed her and went into the bathroom to change. She crossed her arms and tapped one foot as she considered the Unmemorables. Some of them wouldn’t meet her eyes and all but Luester looked ashamed.
“I’m going to go back to Vegas. I want to sleep for two days and clear my head before I go back to work. I don’t know if I can change anything for any of you. All I know is no one can remember me and I can remember you. That’s it. I don’t kiss anybody’s ass and I love Cain. If any of you has a problem with that, you can run home to that asshole, Gerald.”
No one said a thing. Cain came out of the bathroom and packed up her stuff. When they walked out of the room, the Unmemorables followed them out to the parking lot. They drove from Vegas in a SUV and an Aston Martin. Cain tossed the Honda keys to Jackie and Raven ducked into her old Saturn, which Cain brought with him. Jackie knocked on the window and she rolled it down.
“I never got to tell you that I’m happy I have a sister.”
Her heart melted and she took a deep breath. “If you ever throw me off of anything again, you’ll wish you never met me.”
“Deal. No matter what, I’m sticking with you. I believe you can change our fate.”
She bit her lip and didn’t know what to say. Cain started the car and watched Jackie toss the Honda keys to Happy who scowled. Jackie yelled something before he ducked into the Aston Martin.
“So you have a brother,” Cain said in a flat voice.
She sighed. “Looks like it.”
“He came after you.” When Raven didn’t comment, he added, “Who’s Gerald?”
“An asshole. He’s the leader of the Unmemorables.” Cain nodded and she rubbed a hand over her face. “He’s our dad.”
Cain’s head snapped around and for some reason, he smiled, “No shit.”
Raven rolled down the window as they drove out of the parking lot. When they passed the beach, she looked longingly at the surf that crashed on the shore. Cain pulled onto the freeway for the ride back to Las Vegas and three cars flanked them. She knew if anything happened, they would have back up. She turned her head to look at Cain.
“This is all your fault,” she accused.
“It’s fate.”
She reached over and twined their hands together. He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. The braid on his wrist shone in the sunlight as they headed back to Sin City and whatever waited for their return.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A. P. Jensen was born and raised on the Big Island of Hawaii. She spent several years on the mainland before moving home in November 2012 to pursue her writing career.
A. P. Jensen loves to read, write, travel, and watch movies, listen to old-timer’s talk about the good old days and daydream. She has two dogs, Ali’i and Maile who are world travelers and tolerate the long hours she spends in front of the computer.
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A. P. Jensen on Twitter: @authorAPJensen
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TITLES BY A. P. JENSEN
Contemporary Romance
EMMA’S SECRET
CAN’T LET GO
HELL ON HEELS CHRISTMAS
THE SONGWRITER
Paranormal Roma
nce
UNMEMORABLE
LOST IN WOLF DREAMS
YA Fantasy
BIRTHRIGHT SERIES
BIRTHRIGHT
WINTRA (2014)