my reputation.
“All right,” I say. “I accept the oath.”
They all grin. Even Jax cracks the smallest of smiles.
I’m not sure if that’s a good thing, but I guess I’m about to find out.
“But I’m not moving in with you,” I add, just to make sure we’re on the same page.
No one says anything, but by the looks they give me, I know I’m gonna have a fight on my hands. Not that it matters. Yeah, I may have taken the oath, but I’m not going to rely on these guys for everything nor will I let them take care of me. Sure, it’ll be okay to not have to be totally alone while I’m living in Honeyton, but in the end, I can’t trust someone that much. Plus, I’m always going to take care of myself.
“Don’t rely on anyone,” my mom told me only hours before she died. “You’re a strong girl. Always stay that way, okay? You can’t trust people. They’re evil. Evil is everywhere, Raven. Even in places you’d never expect.”
My parents said that to me a lot, and I always nodded, not fully understanding what they meant. But now …
I understand them more than I wish I did.
Twenty-Six
Raven
“You really don’t have any social media accounts?” Zay asks me as we wait for some apps to download onto my new phone and for Hunter and Jax to get done doing what Hunter referred to as “boring office shit.”
“Nope. I’ve never had a reason to have them.” I glance up at him. “I can’t believe you have them, though. You don’t seem like the type to air your personal shit out into public.”
“I don’t post a lot of shit,” he explains as he stacks our dirty plates. “But I do have some accounts—everyone does.”
“Except for me,” I remind him as I set the phone down on the table.
Man, downloading apps takes forever.
“Nope. Not except for you.” He taps his finger against the screen of my phone then starts stacking the empty cups. “You, princess, have officially become a member of online social media.”
“Awesome,” I say flatly. “Honestly, I’d rather not be. It’s not like I have anything to say. Plus, I don’t want people knowing my personal shit.”
“Then don’t post anything.”
“Okay, then what’s the point of creating the accounts?”
He shrugs, rotating sideways so his knees are touching mine. “It’s a way for us all to communicate with each other if we needed another form besides text. Plus, we can keep track of each other that way. And, we gotta play the part.”
“The part of what?”
“The part of us that we show the world,” he says, tossing dirty napkins onto the stack of plates.
“As opposed to the part of you guys that the world doesn’t see?” I collect the rest of the dirty napkins.
He lifts a shoulder as he takes the napkins from me. “I think you’ve already caught on that we all have two sides to us. The one we show the circle and the one we show the world. And I know you have two sides to you, too, so don’t pretend like you don’t.”
“I’m not pretending. I’ll admit I have a ton of sides to me, but no one ever sees most of them.”
His gaze fleetingly zeroes in on my side. “Is that where you keep one of your sides hidden?”
I tuck my arm against my side. “Maybe.”
His gaze lifts to mine. “I think Jax should’ve made you show us what you’ve gotten hidden underneath your shirt … He should’ve made it part of the oath.”
I flash him my pearly whites. “But he didn’t, so I don’t have to.”
He eyes me over warily. “You know, you’ve sassed off to me more than anyone else ever has. It’s making things really complicated.” He tugs on a strand of my hair then quickly pulls back like he didn’t mean to do it. “Maybe if you were more cooperative, things would be easier for you.”
I dismiss him with a flick of my wrist. “Nothing about life is easy. At least, not with mine, so why would I ever think that?”
He shakes his head. “Just show me what’s on your side.”
Great, he’s still on that. “Why?”
“Because it’s driving me crazy.”
“Again, why? Why does this matter so much to you?”
“Because …” He yanks his fingers through his hair, the strands going askew. “If you’d just tell us, then maybe we could take care of whoever hurt you.”
“You’re already supposedly gonna take care of my uncle. And Hunter says he’s gonna take care