by A. P. Jensen
She opened her mouth to defend herself and then closed it. There was no excuse for her stupidity. She knew the Battalion was after her, yet she bought that guy’s baby face like a gullible idiot.
“This is too risky. You’re going to quit,” Luester decreed.
She jerked her head up. “No.”
“What’s it gonna take for you to wake up? If he touched you, he could transport you right into Angel’s hands. You realize that, right?”
Her body went cold just thinking about the leader of the Battalion. She’d been Angel’s captive once and that was one time too many. “Okay, I’ll be more careful.”
“Good, then quit,” Luester said.
“No, I mean, I won’t let anyone in the room no matter what.”
Luester swore and paced away from her. “Women don’t make sense!”
Jackie shook his head at her. “When we tell Cain, he’s going to say the same thing as us. You’re putting yourself at risk for a cleaning job? Come on, Raven.”
“You’re not going to tell him,” she said.
“Why’s that?”
“Because you guys screwed up.”
“What?!” Luester shouted.
She met his irate gaze. “You guys were supposed to protect me and you fucked up.”
“You’re saying it's our fault that a fucking Traveler came into the room?”
Luester nearly shoved her cart over when he stalked out of the room. Jackie eyed Raven with a considering expression and she knew he was weighing what she said. As Luester put it, Cain was very capable of “cock-blocking” them. If Cain found out the Battalion came within touching distance when the Unmemorables were on babysitting duty Cain would cut them off from her again. It was a measure of their respect for Cain that they didn’t just kidnap her. They needed her willing and she came with Cain, a man they viewed as the enemy.
“Luester got there in time,” Jackie said, but his voice lacked conviction.
“Exactly. No harm done,” she agreed.
Raven didn’t want Cain to freak out and she didn’t want to let go of her job. The damn Battalion was butting in, as usual. No one told her what to do. She wasn’t ready to live full time in the magical world. Not yet.
Forcing away the jitters, she got up and finished the room, which took twice as long as it should have due to her damaged hand. The Unmemorables gave her angry, disapproving looks that she ignored. She was jumpy and defensive and the guys paced with their guns out, which put her on edge. Ace vacuumed up the glass and she made sure the splatters of blood were properly cleaned up. Luester called her baby-faced assailant a Traveler. If that meant that he could move through time and space then his power was way cooler than hers.
Raven finished the room and this time didn’t protest the Unmemorables’ escort through the hallways. Luester reappeared and shot her fuming looks that promised a verbal whoop ass, but he was holding back for now. She thanked her blessings.
When she pushed the cart into the storage room, she wasn’t surprised to find it empty. Housekeepers were lucky to finish on time, much less stock their cart for the following day. If Cain’s penthouse wasn’t clean, she would be in trouble. The Unmemorables came in with her and watched as she emptied her linens and restocked. It was a tight fit and she was constantly repositioning them so she could get what she needed from the shelves. The relief she felt this morning to get back to work was gone.
The phone in her pocket beeped. She pulled it out and saw that she had a missed call and voicemail from Cain. She glanced at the time and inwardly cursed as she dialed his number.
“Everything okay?” Cain asked in a clipped voice.
“Never better,” she lied and narrowed her eyes at Jackie and Harvard who stood in front of her with their arms crossed. “The room was worse than I thought and I just stocked my cart for tomorrow.”
“Alright. Your food’s here when you’re ready.”
“Thanks. I’ll be right up,” she said and pocketed the phone.
“You don’t know who you’re dealing with,” Ace informed her.
“What do you mean?”
“Cain’s not the type of guy you lie to.”
She ignored the flare of guilt and glared at him. “I can handle Cain.”
“That’s what I mean. You don’t handle a man like him. He’s done a lot of bloody stuff for the Council. He doesn’t care what his orders are, he just does it.”
“How do you know?”
“I’ve seen him in action,” Bam Bam said from the doorway. “He’s a cold fucking killer.”
“And what are you?” she challenged.
“I get off on women, not fighting,” Bam Bam said.
“Cain doesn’t get off on fighting.” Apart from an incident in a nightclub and the gun battle in her apartment, she hadn’t seen Cain in action. If anything, she was more violent than he was. He baked cookies, for God’s sake!
“Rich isn’t going to let his grandson run around with you for long,” Ace said darkly. “Can you trust Cain?”
She met his eyes. “Yes, I can.”
Their expressions were frankly derisive and she couldn’t blame them. She had only known Rich for a short time, but she knew deep in her bones that the leader of the Council wasn’t used to hearing the word no. Rich was a deceptively genial man who could turn on you in a heartbeat. Rich put her in a fight to the death and watched while smoking a fucking cigar. It still gave her nightmares. She surprised the hell out of Rich by besting Pris with a metal trash can lid. It didn’t help that the woman Raven nearly killed was Cain’s mother. In Raven’s eyes, Rich may be more ruthless than Angel and that was saying a lot.
All his life, Cain followed orders and now, because of her, he turned away from his family. She couldn’t believe it and honestly, didn’t really understand it. She was a nobody, yet when it came down to it, Cain chose her potty mouth over the all-powerful Hensons who controlled a large portion of those with super powers.
She finished filling her cart while the Unmemorables shot her moody, disgruntled glances. They weren’t happy about being bested by her, Cain or the Battalion. She unwrapped her hand and found it completely healed. She arrived at the fifty-fifth floor fifteen minutes early to clock out. Her supervisor, Rose, shot her a suspicious look and smoothed out Raven’s crumpled room assignment paper.
“You did three checkouts, the penthouse and two occupied rooms on time?” Rose asked with raised brows.
“They were clean,” Raven lied and swiped her card.
The Unmemorables followed her to the penthouse and she silently hoped they’d keep their mouths shut. When she opened the penthouse, they lined up in the hallway and didn’t enter without Cain’s invitation. She walked in and found Cain sitting at the massive island in the kitchen with his laptop. He looked up when she entered.
“Hey, babe,” he said.
She walked over and wrapped her arms around him from behind. She stayed that way for several seconds before she sat beside him. He glanced at her curiously, but he didn’t ask questions. She pushed away the steak and watched Cain type on his laptop, very aware of the Unmemorables’ presence in the hallway.
“They want me to do a cleansing bath,” she blurted out.
Cain looked up, eyes narrowed. “A bath?”
“I have to soak in a tub and they have to be touching me.”
He didn’t shift, but she knew his attention was totally focused on her. “Who suggested that?”
“Harvard.”
Cain relaxed a little. “I thought you were going to say Bam Bam.”
“How’d you know his name?”
“I make it a point to know as much about them as possible. I monitor them through the walls. They’re not used to being under surveillance, which makes them careless and arrogant.”
She shifted uneasily, thinking of the incident with the Traveler. “They’re waiting outside.”
He jerked his head. “Let them in.”
She walked to the door and stepped into the hallway wit
h the Unmemorables. Conscious of the fact that Cain could be listening from within the walls, she shot them a threatening look and said out loud, “Cain says we can try the cleansing thing.”
Luester’s expression didn’t bode well, but she knew he wanted to break the curse more than he cared about her stupid job. Her refusal to quit wasn’t as important as the fact that she was willing to try to break the curse. The Unmemorables entered the penthouse and tightened their hold on their weapons when they faced off with Cain who had taken the time to arm himself to the gills.
Jackie broke the tension. “This cleansing bath is a serious thing, Cain. You can look it up on the Internet. It’s legit.”
Cain crossed his arms across his chest and said nothing.
Raven put a hand to her pounding temples. “Let’s get this over with.”
Chapter Three
The men went into the second bedroom while Raven pawed through the clothes Cain had bought her. She decided workout clothes would have to do since she didn’t have a bathing suit. By the time she walked into the bathroom, all five of the Unmemorables were clustered around the steaming tub. Interesting scents wafted through the air and her headache eased a little. When the Unmemorables turned toward her, she expected to see a dirty look on Bam Bam’s face, but he was focused and somber. Maybe it was because of Cain who stood nearby with a gun in his hand.
“Come,” Jackie said and held a hand out to her.
She walked over and inhaled the bath water. “What’s in it?”
“Cinnamon, rosemary and lavender oil,” Harvard said and took a deep breath. “Clear your mind.”
She nodded and tried to get into the tub, but Harvard stopped her.
“You have to stand in agreement with us. You have to want the same thing,” Harvard said sternly.
She frowned, glanced around at the Unmemorables and then her eyes moved to Cain. Something shifted in her chest. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay.”
Harvard and Jackie held her arms as she stepped in. She paused to get her body adjusted to the heat and then sank into the frothy water. If she’d been alone, she would have closed her eyes and put on some freaking Kenny G or something. The water smelled amazing and her eyelids began to droop. As the heat penetrated aching muscles, her encounter with the Traveler suddenly seemed very distant and unimportant.
She crossed her legs underwater and blinked when the Unmemorables knelt beside the tub. They clustered around her and settled their hands on her shoulders and neck. She shifted uncomfortably and glanced at Cain who watched without expression. Having five pairs of hands on her when she wasn’t used to being touched at all was strange. Before she could shift, Harvard began to chant in another language and the others joined in. She sat like a rigid statue as their voices echoed eerily in the bathroom. Goosebumps erupted over her arms. She forced herself to stay still and took comfort in the fact that Cain was nearby.
“What language?” she mouthed.
“Latin,” Cain mouthed back.
The Unmemorables knew Latin? Every time she tried to peg them, they slipped out of whatever stereotype she put them in. They may live in a building that rivaled the Playboy mansion and lift weights until their muscles bulged, but they were educated and not as ignorant as she first assumed.
The Unmemorables’ voices rose and fell and blended as one. Their hands didn’t wander and she began to relax. If it wasn’t for the chanting, she may have fallen asleep. When their voices faded abruptly, she blinked and jerked out of her reverie.
“Did you feel anything?” Harvard asked as they retracted their hands.
“I got goosebumps, but . . . I don’t know. Was I supposed to feel something?” she asked.
“Wash off and we’ll see if it worked,” Harvard said
She grabbed the nozzle and paused when she saw them all watching. “Wait downstairs.”
The Unmemorables hesitated until Cain shifted. They filed out and Cain closed the door behind them while Raven rinsed off the oil.
“Did you sense anything?” she asked.
“I don’t have any experience in this,” Cain said with a frown.
“You don’t? But, you grew up with all this magic stuff.”
“I don’t have that kind of power. Not just anyone can curse people, and since it's not a skill I have, I never paid attention.”
Cain held up a towel as she stepped out of the tub and she briskly wiped herself down. She slipped into a robe and her eyes slid down to the braid on his wrist. Had the weird cleansing experience reversed the curse? As if he could hear her thoughts, Cain shook his head.
“Find another guinea pig,” he said sternly.
Apparently, taking the braid from him even momentarily wasn’t an option. Like he said, he wasn’t taking any chances where she was concerned.
Raven walked down the glass staircase and found the Unmemorables pacing restlessly. When they saw her, they filed out of the penthouse and she followed. Jackie grabbed her arm and they all held back as Ace walked down the hallway and approached an elderly woman. Ace called out to the woman who smiled and replied. They chatted for a minute with the older woman gesturing down the hallway, obviously giving directions and Ace nodded. When the woman continued down the hallway, Ace waited ten seconds before he called out to her again. The elderly woman glanced back, clutched her purse and hurried to her hotel room with a frightened look on her face. Clearly, she didn’t remember her brief conversation with Ace.
There was a sharp silence and Ace’s face was carved into hard lines as he came back toward them and walked to the guest elevators. Luester followed, but not before he cast Raven an accusing look.
“It was a simple curse breaker,” Harvard said quietly and pulled out his notepad from his pocket and made a decisive slash through the first paragraph.
“What else can we do?” she asked as she tried to deal with the surge of disappointment and guilt. Had she really expected a bath to work?
“Wear this.”
Harvard held up a necklace with a black and brown rectangular stone framed in silver that hung from a long chain. It gleamed in the light.
“What’s this?” she asked as she took it.
“Tiger’s eye. It’s supposed to ward off evil curses,” Harvard said.
“We already have an evil curse,” she pointed out.
Jackie came over and put his arm around her. He wasn’t perturbed by the fact that the experiment hadn’t worked. He kissed her on the cheek and gave her a quick squeeze. “Someone could try to put a hex on you when they find out we’re trying to break the curse. Just indulge us. We’ll be back tomorrow.”
Bam Bam gave her a silly grin. “Maybe the next experiment will be more titillating.”
She sensed that he was trying to lighten her grim mood. She scowled for show and appreciated that he wasn’t angry like Luester and Ace.
“I’ll keep trying,” she said.
“That’s all we ask,” Jackie said and gave her another kiss before they walked away.
Raven walked into the penthouse and passed Cain who was on his laptop again.
“No luck?” he asked.
She didn’t look at him when she answered, “No.”
She ran up the stairs and passed through their room, which had both of their clothes draped over chairs and his watch on the nightstand with her rubber bands. She didn’t believe in magic two weeks ago and now she was trying to break curses by lying in a tub while five guys spoke Latin mumbo jumbo. She couldn’t get the look on Ace’s face out of her mind. She felt personally responsible for letting them down and she didn’t like it.
She stripped off her damp, oily workout clothes and got into the shower. She turned the water on full blast and felt a draft a moment before a pair of muscular arms wrapped around her. Cain turned her around, pinned her against the wall and covered her mouth with his. His hand slipped over her slick body and she arched against him, desperate for touch. He sensed her urgency and lifted her high against the
wall so he could slide into her. He moved sensuously in and out of her and she tilted her head up to the spray, determined to drown in lust instead of despair.
“Look at me,” he commanded.
She opened heavy eyelids and met his fevered gaze.
“This is going to work.”
She clenched her teeth against the pleasure. “How do you know?”
“Because that’s all I’ll accept.”
She grasped his face and jerked his mouth down to hers as he amped up the speed of his thrusts. She wrapped her arms and legs around him and dug her nails into his back when he hit her sweet spot. She wrenched her mouth away from his to scream as he pounded her mercilessly into the shower wall. Just as she was about to climax, he stopped. Her eyes flew open. She could feel him twitching inside of her and knew he was close to the edge as well. His hand collared her throat. His eyes were tiny slits as they met hers.
“Tell me,” he said.
“Do you have to do this each time?” she complained and milked him seductively.
Cain jerked in reaction. She smiled and got a grip on his shoulders, ready to go over the edge, but Cain held her in place.
“I don’t want you to forget. Tell me.”
“Just do me,” she hissed.
“Say it or I leave you like this.”
“You’re such an asshole bastard!” she shouted.
“Say it!”
“I love you.”
“And?”
“I won’t leave you.”
“Don’t you forget it,” he growled.
Seconds later, they climaxed. Cain turned with her in his arms and sank to the ground with her slumped over him. Water continued to rain down and she tucked her head beneath his chin as she recovered. His hands moved over her and when thought returned, she bit him. He grunted in reaction. She braced her hands against his chest and glared at him.
“That’s blackmail,” she accused.
“I do what I have to,” he mumbled as his hand cupped the pendant lying between her breasts. “What’s this?”
“It’s supposed to ward off evil, but I don’t think it’s working,” she said and slid off him.