Aftereffect (The Order of Ravens and Wolves Book 1)

by T. L Hodel

  Why hasn’t he come up yet?

  I stood there waiting for the kid to break the surface.

  Nothing.

  Fuck!

  I’d never sobered up quicker than I did diving into that water. By the time I found him and flopped his body onto shore, all the alcohol had left my system. My heart wouldn’t calm the fuck down. Time stood still as sat there hunched over the kid, dripping wet, waiting for him to breathe. Finally, he rolled over, coughing out mouthfuls of water.

  “Jesus Christ, kid,” I said, falling back with a loud exhale. “You damn near gave me a heart attack.”

  “Who the hell are you?”

  I sat up and cocked a brow at him. “I’m the guy who just pulled your ass out of the lake.”

  “Yeah, well,” he said, glaring at me, “I didn’t ask for your help.”

  I laughed out right. If Junior wasn’t so fucking skinny, the kid would’ve reminded me of myself. He had the same dark hair, olive skin, and hard expression to match his fucking attitude.

  “You were doing a real good job of pulling your own ass out of the water.”

  Junior pushed himself off the ground. “I was getting there.”

  “How? Sprout wings and fly the fuck away?” I tilted my head. “Why the fuck can’t you swim?”

  This town was ocean side. Add in the lake and hot springs, and it was just plain irresponsible not to teach your kid to swim. Even fucking Riley could swim, and her mother was a useless drunk. What kind of fucking parents did this kid have?

  “I’d have figured it out.” Junior shrugged. “How hard can it be?”

  I looked at the water, and then back at him. “You do realize you damn near died?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Because I pulled your ass out of the water!”

  He shrugged and started walking away.

  Who the fuck was this kid?

  “Where the fuck are you going?”

  “Home.”

  I watched him take a couple of steps and waver. “You sure you’re okay, kid?”

  He tripped over his feet and couched. “I’m fine.”

  “You don’t look fine.”

  “Well, I am.”

  I pushed myself off the ground and sighed. “Look, kid, I didn’t save you from drowning to watch you keel over.”

  “I told you,” Junior growled, “I don’t need your help.”

  Which was went he hunched over and violently heaved his stomach’s contents onto the ground.

  * * *

  I ended up taking Junior home that night, and hadn’t left since. Someone needed to take care of him – his mother sure as fuck wasn’t. So, I took it upon myself. Little fucker made it hard though. He didn’t tell me when shit was going on, I had to find out myself. Like right now . . . My eyes narrowed on an angry red welt mark on Junior’s back.

  “What the fuck is that?”

  Junior sighed. “I told you I didn’t want to go swimming today.”

  “That’s not a fucking answer, Junior. Did that prick come back?”

  “No.” He said, trying to slip past me.

  I grabbed his arm and stopped him. “Who the fuck did that?”

  “No one.”

  “Don’t bullshit me, Junior.”

  He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “I fell, okay?”

  There were a few things I’d learned from Logan, like how much pain the human body was capable of enduring. What it looked like when someone was fucking whipped, and when someone was making up excuses. I fell. I tripped. I walked into a door. Those were all things I’d heard Logan say over and over again. Not because he was trying to protect his asshole father, but because he didn’t want anyone to know. Logan did it out of shame. Junior was doing it out of fear, and there was only one reason for that.

  “Did your fucking mother do this?”

  His dark eyes went wide as he quickly explained. “It wasn’t her fault; I hid her stash.”

  Fucking Julia! Guess Ava’s last visit didn’t teach her enough I was going to have to give her a lesson myself . . . a lesson of what it felt like to be buried six feet fucking under.

  “Please don’t hurt her, Micha,” Junior pleaded. He knew what I was capable of. He helped me get rid of the body of the first fucker I caught pounding on him. “She needs me.”

  Like fuck she does!

  “The only thing she needs is her next fix.”

  “Which is why she needs me.” He hung his head and whispered, “I have to save her.”

  I felt for the kid, I really did. But his mother wasn’t worth the effort.

  “Some people can’t be saved, Junior.”

  “I have to try.”

  “No, you don’t.” I scrubbed a hand down my face, growling out my frustration. “She should be taking care of you.”

  Junior hung his head and quietly said, “She loves me.”

  She loved him so much, she was tricking him out for her next fix. It was a miracle the kid survived his infant stage. She couldn’t even be bothered to give him a proper name. Junior got his name because the bracelet they put on him when he was born said, Alverez Jr. The damn hospital named him, because his mother couldn’t be bothered.

  “Please,” Junior begged, drawing out the word while giving me those big, sad fucking eyes. “Don’t hurt her. She won’t do it again.”

  Yes, she fucking would. I knew that and so did he.

  “Fine,” I begrudgingly agreed. As much as I wanted to slit Julia’s goddamn throat, it would break Junior’s heart. “But if she touches you again, that’s fucking it.”

  I don’t know who was worse, Junior, or Riley? Maria tried to kill her daughter, while Julia used hers to buy drugs. Yet they were both loyal to a fucking fault. Like a dog that just got kicked by his owner, but came running when he called. It made me want to strangle them both.

  “Do me a favor,” I said, walking out of the locker room to the pool. “Leave your mother’s stash alone. You don’t want that shit in your system.”

  Junior nodded. “Okay, but Tony got locked up, so she hasn’t been able to get smack for awhile. It’s mostly just crack now.”

  Just smoking crack now. Fan-fucking-tastic. Like that was any better.

  The fact that an eleven-year-old was on a first name basis with his mother’s dealer, and knew the street name for heroin was bad enough. I sighed and shook my head. What the fuck was I going to do with this kid?

  Chapter Nineteen

  Riley

  I was informed that Preston would be taking me home after school, because Micha had something to do. Ever try to refuse death? Yeah, it doesn’t go over well. When I told Preston to go to hell, that I wasn’t getting in a car with him, he simply picked me up and tossed me in. Surprisingly my savior was Logan. He told Preston, he’d take over watchdog duty, if he wanted to take a break. As happy as I was to lose death for a bit, I was incredibly insulted that Micha appointed me a babysitter in the first place.

  I didn’t expect Preston to so easily agree, or for Logan to offer in the first place. And I definitely didn’t expect him to pull into the Y.

  “What are we doing here?” I asked, brows furrowed at the brown building.

  Not that I had anything against the Y. I spent a lot of my childhood years here. It was the only place I could take art lessons, that we could afford anyway. The question was, why was Logan here? Call me crazy, but I was pretty sure he could afford a top-notch coach in whatever sport or lesson he wanted.

  “Ma wanted me to drop some stuff off,” Logan explained, scooping up a couple of black bags in the backseat. “Personally, I don’t know why she wastes her time? She should just throw this shit out. Nothing wrong with more naked people in the world.”

  I rolled my eyes. “How charming of you.”

  “Isn’t it,” he said, flashing me his perfect white teeth, before opening the door of his Mustang. “You can wait here if you want.”

  Logan’s car was nice. Like really nice. White stitching on the black le
ather interior stuck out in an artistic way. It smelled like Creamsicles, and was so clean I was afraid to touch anything. The paint job was just as pretty. A deep midnight blue with shades of aqua and teal. It glittered like a gemstone in the sunlight. But I didn’t want to get caught sitting in this thing outside the Y. This car, in this neighborhood, screamed one thing – I have money, please rob me.

  “I’ll come in,” I said, grabbing the last bag on the seat. “Besides, it looks like you might need some help.”

  “Come on then.” Logan nodded and headed for the building.

  I looked back. “Aren’t you worried about your car?”

  “No one will touch my car.”

  I grew up in this neighborhood, and knew the kind of scum hanging around. People got mugged for their shoes for Christ’s sake.

  “You sound awfully sure of that.”

  “I am.”

  Whatever. If Logan wanted to risk his car, who was I to argue? He probably had three more just like it anyway.

  I dropped my bag at the donation desk and left Logan to deal with the paperwork. The lady there seemed to know him. She was all smiles when he walked through the door. I saw his charming smile everyday. Not to mention, I didn’t think I could take anymore of his flirting. It was sickening how girls swooned over him, and apparently with age did not come wisdom. Because the girl handling donations was at least thirty, and she had the same awe inspired sparkle in her eye, as the girls at school. His smile made girls stupid; I’d stumbled over my words a few times. It was sickening.

  I walked over to the run-down furniture by the window overlooking the pool, and ran my hand along the edge of the couch. When Mom had to work late, I’d curl up in the corner of the couch and draw the people swimming in the pool. That was when my admiration of the water began. Watching the way it shimmered and flowed was mesmerizing.

  There weren’t many people in the pool today. An older couple off to the side, and a dark-haired boy swimming with a man I was pretty sure the Greek gods themselves created. Perfect olive-tinted skin stretched over muscles that flexed as he gracefully moved through the water. On his back was a large tattoo of a tree. Oak, I think? The trunk traveled up his spine, with the leafy branches spanning across his shoulder blades. It was beautiful. He was beautiful.

  Wait . . . Why does that tattoo seem familiar?

  My stomach flipped and I quickly ducked under the window. Micha? What the hell was he doing here? And who was that kid? I peeked over the edge, eyes zeroing in on the kid. He looked like a mini Micha. Even had the same bored expression. Did Micha have a kid?

  Micha picked the boy up and tossed him back into the water. The boy laughed and splashed Micha, making my heart flutter when a large smile spread across his face. Not one of those evil smirks I was used to seeing, but a genuine smile and it lit him up. Shining joy in his eyes, and for just a second, I was jealous. I wanted Micha to smile at me like that.

  “Riley Adams, is that you?”

  I jumped back, banging my head loudly off the window.

  So much for my career as a spy. Pretty sure the whole building heard that.

  An older, portly woman I knew as Mary-Lou giggled. “Don’t hurt yourself now.”

  “Hi, Mary-Lou,” I grumbled, rubbing the sore spot on the back of my head while peeling myself off the floor.

  I was surprised to see her here. When I was a kid, she was a senior staff member. That was like five years ago. Thought she would’ve moved onto better things by now.

  Mary-Lou wrapped her arms around me, and pulled me in for a tight hug. At one point, this woman was a second mother to me. She read me stories, talked to me, and brought me soup when I was sick. So, I didn’t mind her being friendly. Besides, it was nothing new. The first day I met her she hugged me. She was just one of those people.

  “Look at you all grown-up.” she said, stepping back to take me in. “I bet you have all the boys chasing you.”

  “Just one actually,” I muttered.

  though he wasn’t really the chase type, more like hunt and slaughter.

  “I’m so glad to see you, sweetie, it’s been too long.” She pulled me in for another hug. “I hope you aren’t here for classes, though. We don’t have an art program anymore.”

  “I came with my stepbrother. He had to drop some . . . Wait . . . Why don’t you have an art program?”

  “Sasha got married and left.” Mar-Lou frowned. “We didn’t have anyone to replace her.”

  What about all those kids who couldn’t afford classes? Where would they go to learn shading techniques? Or what brushes to use? It wasn’t fair. The Y was one of the few opportunities us poor kids had.

  “I’ll teach it.” The words left my mouth before I had a chance to think about it.

  “Oh, that would be great!” Mary-Lou declared, clapping her hands.

  Running my own art class and molding young minds, I could handle that. Hell, I was looking forward to it. Finally, something good in this crap-hole I called life. Should’ve known that wouldn’t last.

  There was a tap on the window next to us. I really didn’t want to look over there, but it was like I had no control. My body turned as I told myself not to do it. Standing on the other side of the window, was a very wet, half-naked Micha.

  My eyes followed drops of water as they carved a path over his chest, down his washboard abs, and into the waist band of his dark blue swim trunks. It took me a second to notice that his mouth was moving. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but if that scowl on his face was any indication, then I probably didn’t want to.

  Kudos on the soundproofing Ashen Springs YMCA.

  I smiled and shrugged my shoulders, while pointing at my ear and shaking my head. He did not like that. Micha’s face darkened and he rose his voice to a point that I could almost hear him through the thick glass. This was too much fun! I furrowed my brow and cupped my hand behind my ear. Infuriating him further.

  Mary-Lou waved at Micha and whispered, “Do you know that young man?”

  “Unfortunately.” I shook my head, and shrugged my shoulders when he once again tried to say something.

  “Such a nice young man.” Mary-Lou said, making me roll my eyes.

  Yeah, sure. Rainbows and sunshine come out of his ass.

  “I don’t know where Junior would be without him.”

  “Who’s Junior?” I asked, opting for the smile and wave technique when Micha once again tried to say something.

  I could practically hear his teeth grinding when he slammed his fist on the glass.

  “That’s Junior.” Mary-Lou pointed at the boy in the pool. “Poor thing used to come in here hungry and dirty. And then this young man showed up.”

  What? That made no sense? Why would Micha help some random kid?

  Micha, who huffed and pointed to the left.

  “Must be a cousin or something?” I said.

  Mary-Lou shook her head. “Junior met him a couple of years ago, when Micha saved his life.”

  My eyes snapped to Mary-Lou. “He saved his life?”

  I said it, but still couldn’t believe it.

  “That man is that little boy’s hero. You should hear how Junior talks about him.”

  Next thing I knew I was being ushered toward a door on the left.

  “There’s some paperwork you have to fill out. I’ll go get it ready,” Mary-Lou said. “You talk to your friend.”

  “What? No, no, no.” I argued shaking my head as she unlocked it and pushed me through.

  “It’s okay, dear.” She winked and added, “He’s a fine young man. Good choice.” Then she pulled the door shut.

  I stood there with my mouth open.

  What the hell just happened?

  Micha cleared his throat and this time, I could hear it.

  “Mind telling me what you’re doing here?”

  I sighed and rolled my eyes up to the roof. Seriously? Did someone up there hate me? Did I wrong the universe in some horrible way?

  “I he
ar they have a great support group here for the victims of human slavery, so I thought I’d check it out,” I said, chanting the words ‘don’t look at him’ in my head.

  “There’s that mouth again,” Micha tsk-ed. “Do you not remember what happened the last time you got mouthy with me?”

  Oh, I remembered. Stupid Preston ratting me out. Not that I’d ever say that to him. I was pretty sure he had a direct line to the underworld. Now, I had the memory of how firm Micha’s thighs felt under me permanently seared in my skull. My cheeks flamed just thinking about it.

  Don’t look at him, don’t look at him, don’t look at him.

  “Do you like being punished, Mouse, is that it? You want me to spank that perky little ass?”

  Don’t look at him.

  “Or maybe you want something more . . . something like what I did last night?”

  Butterflies erupted in my stomach and my core clenched. His fingers felt so good.

  Don’t look. Don’t do it.

  “I wonder how loud you’ll scream when I put my mouth on your pussy.”

  I shivered thinking about his lips on me. Would they be as soft as they looked?

  No, no, look at the wall. Stare at that tile. It’s white, with underlying hints of white, and more thick lips, curved in that sexy smirk.

  I could feel his hot breath on the back of my neck as he softly growled, “Next time you come, Mouse, it’ll be on my cock.”

  “Never gonna happen!” I snarled, spinning around.

  Ah crap. I looked.

  Without the glass as a barrier, I could see every defined dip in his torso. The curve of his muscles as they flexed, and that perfect V dipping into his swim-shorts. I could feel his heat from here, smell his intoxicating scent, which was somehow more potent mixed with the chlorine. I watched his chest rise and fall and my fingers twitched, as my hand rose.

  Just one touch couldn’t hurt . . .