He looked up, tilting his head as he looked at the phone. “Do you want to keep it? Or did you want a new one?”
“Huh?”
“It’s an emergency phone,” he said. “It’s got a limited amount of minutes on it. An old model, too.” He held out his hand, offering to take it. I gave it to him and he looked it over. “Not a bad thing. It’s just disposable. We should probably get you a better one.”
“I don’t need it,” I said. I’d gone for so long without a cell phone, I couldn't imagine getting one now. And I couldn’t afford it. I didn’t want them buying one for me.
“We’ll get you one,” he said. “Probably a good idea to get one for both you and Wil. You need permanent numbers so you can call each other.”
I smothered my retort, not wanting to accidentally suggest: if I let them find Wil. Keeping my mouth shut about this was difficult.
He was right, though. If my brother and I had phones now, I wouldn’t be in this mess at all. I could just call and ask where he was. Corey didn’t mean to, but he was showing me how dysfunctional being poor had been.
He zipped up his case, looked over at mine, barely a quarter full, with only a few pieces of clothing, and half of the ones included were his. “Got everything you need?”
“I guess.”
He scanned me, checking out my feet. “Do you need shoes?”
“My old ones are at Coaltar’s house. I don’t think we can get those back.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Probably won’t see those again. And boots don’t really go with shorts, do they? There’s those sandals you wore to the party around here somewhere. Or we can get you new shoes.”
“You can’t keep buying me things.”
“Yes, I can. I’ve got money.”
“No, I mean, you can’t just buy stuff for me like that.”
He picked up my two book bags, and stuffed them on the shelf in his closet. “We’ll unpack when we get back. Anyway, yes, I can. You need shoes because you can’t go barefoot everywhere.”
I scoffed. So not the point. “I don’t want to owe you anything.”
“You won’t.” He walked over and hugged me around the shoulders. “We’ll get you whatever you need, okay? If you need shoes, we can get you shoes. If you want your own apartment, we’ll get it for you. Cell phone, clothes, food, a car, whatever you need.”
“But I...”
“And you won’t owe us anything,” he said, he hugged a little tighter, looking down at me with a big smile. “We’ll never ask.”
“I can’t be a mooch, Corey,” I said.
“You’re not. You’re going with me to do this thing, aren’t you?”
“I guess.”
“Well, now it’s like you’re part of the team. But if we’re chasing down bad guys or crossing the state border, you need a pair of shoes.”
I still felt guilty. The lady had said their accounts were low, that they didn’t have much money left. It would cost money if they wanted to adopt me. I didn’t say anything, just twisted my lips into a pout. Saying no to Corey was tough.
Corey sighed. “Look, just trust me, okay? I’d do it for any of the others.” With that, he released me, picked up his bag and mine, and then pulled out his keys. “Ready to go?”
I nodded, even as my insides were in knots, wondering how much further I was diving into this. Now Corey said it was like I was becoming a part of their team, and I was pretending I was fine with it.
I tried to tell myself it would be okay, that we were helping an old lady, and that sort of thing was a good deed. Corey didn’t appear to be a bad guy.
I could only hope it was true. I’d have a hard time escaping if it wasn’t.
HOW TO WAKE UP A BEAR
Corey locked up the apartment, and I followed him down the hallway. He stopped and knocked at Apartment 737.
Nothing. He took out his keys, and opened the door.
“You have a key to their place?”
“Yeah,” he said. “We all have one to each other’s cars and anything else. Comes in handy if they aren’t around and you need in.” He said it with a smile, like this was obvious and he was humoring me. He held open the door, letting me go in first. “I guess we should get you a set.”
I shoved his remark aside, not wanting to get that close while I still had my doubts. “Are we supposed to walk in on them?” I asked. I swept my eyes over the apartment. Bedroom doors were closed, bathroom doors were open. Kitchen and living room were empty.
“I’m pretty sure it’s only Raven in here,” he said. “And if he’s asleep, which I think he is, he’s dead to the world. We’ll have to wake him up.”
That was a job I could handle. “I’ll do it.”
Corey stood in the living room near the couch, and placed a hand on his hip, his smile fading. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
“I’ve got this,” I said. I was looking to fight anyway. I needed to release some pent-up anger, and Raven was a good target. No real reason, but I knew he wouldn’t be offended by a few punches.
Corey put our bags on top of the coffee table and then shrugged. “Okay, you do that. I’ll stay out here.” He started heading for the kitchen, passing me as he did. He patted me on the arm as he went by. “Just do me a favor and stand out of range when you wake him.”
Raven threw things? I had to assume he kept a gun beside his bed, too.
I crept over to Raven’s room, and shook the handle gently, just in case he was awake already. No noise. I knocked. “Raven?”
Silence.
I opened the door a crack. The fierce bear tattoo on his back faced me as he lay on his stomach. The blanket was bunched around his hips and twisted between his legs. His arms were up around the pillow and his head was buried in it, as if trying to block out the light.
The last time I’d been in his room, there was a table with a lot of guns on it, with more bullets and guns all over his dresser. The guns and bullets were gone now and the floor was clean, with the table folded up against the wall. The dresser top had a couple of books on it: a dictionary and a couple books that were in Russian.
I stepped inside, closing the door behind me, and then felt a twinge of panic when I realized I should have left it open just in case I needed to run. It couldn’t be that bad, though. He was tough, but he hadn’t killed anyone yet.
Or had he? I still didn’t know him that well.
I tiptoed over to Raven, checking him out. His eyes were closed. Everything about him was so still except the rise and fall of his back. I studied the tattoos. The bear was snarling as usual. Watching Raven breathe, it really was like the bear was breathing, too.
I glanced around, wondering if I should risk going through his closet or drawers for information. If Corey didn’t keep Academy secrets in his bedroom, did Raven? Probably not. He seemed more like hired muscle. If anyone had secret documents, it was probably Axel. There wasn’t a chance I’d be able to poke around in his room right now.
I stood beside Raven for a moment, trying to figure out the best approach. Gentle nudge? Calling from the other side of the room? Throwing a shoe at his head?
Go for broke. I planted my foot against his butt and shoved, trying to push him over on the bed.
A hand shot out, capturing my ankle. With a swift tug, I was on my back on the floor, all the air gone from my lungs.
Before I could recover, a wild Russian face came nose to nose with me. Raven’s hand clamped down around my throat, holding strong but not choking. He sat on top of me, pressing his weight, trapping my legs. All I could see was his face, his unfocused eyes wild. His chest shoved up against my breasts, preventing me from expanding my lungs, almost suffocating me.
My hands went up, catching his wrist, holding back on his hand before he could choke me. “Raven, stop,” I wheezed.
“Chto za huy,” he called out, and I understood it to be Russian cursing of some kind. He breathed heavily and blinked, shaking his head a few times. “It’s you.”
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“Who did you think it was?” I asked.
He loosened his grip on my neck, but still clung to it. His thumb traced up along my skin. His hair was messed up from sleeping, going this way and that. His dark eyes were squinty, and if I thought he looked sexy tough before, he was incredible now. It made every look he gave into a sensual glare. He lowered his body over mine, until he was nose to nose with me and I could feel the weight of him from chest to hip. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“We’ve got to go to Florida,” I said. I released his wrist and pushed at his shoulders to try to encourage him to get up. “Corey’s out in the living room. We’ve got some assignment.”
“You’re going?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Guess we’re including you now.” His backed up his head, although he stayed on top of me. His eyes lowered. “You have to watch how you wake me. I may not go so easy on you next time.”
“You moved pretty quick.”
“Used to have to,” he said. “If you don’t, where I come from, it could mean you don’t wake up at all.”
“You make it sound like there’s assassins in every closet in Russia.”
“Depends on which part of Russia you’re in,” he said, “or who your friends are.” He released my neck, but his fingers traced down along my collarbone. He pinched the strap of my tank top between his fingers. “What’s this?”