The Raven Four Books 1-3 - Jessica Sorensen Page 0,111
eyes. “Fine. Whatever.” I sink back in the chair. “Honestly, my life wasn’t too bad before… everything happened. My mom was really kickass. She could hold her own in a fight… I looked up to her.” I miss her too, but I keep that to myself, despite how much my mind wants to pour out my heart and soul right now.
“What about your dad?” he asks, combing his fingers through my hair.
“He was cool too. He taught me how to throw a punch and what cars were considered cool, at least in his eyes. He was actually kind of a conman. I’m not really sure about everything he did—I was too young to remember—but I overheard my mom and him talking once about how if he ever got caught doing what he did, he’d go to jail.”
“But you don’t know what for?” he asks cautiously.
I shake my head. “Nah, but honestly they may have said why. I just might’ve forgotten.” I tap my finger against the side of my temple. “Remember how I told you this thing is unreliable?”
He studies me with his brows furrowed. “Did you… Has your dad… or you ever been to Honeyton before?”
Warning flags start popping up everywhere.
Why would he ask that? Did Zay recognize me and tell him?
I could ask. My mind is hazy enough that I may have, but the words won’t leave my lips. Literally. It’s like the connection from my brain to my mouth shorts out and refuses to reboot unless I stop thinking I’m going to talk about that.
What the shit?
So all I can do is give a shrug and say, “I have no idea.”
He bobs his head up and down absentmindedly. “Okay.”
“Why did you ask?” I wonder, measuring his reaction carefully.
He gives a half-shrug. “No reason.” He wipes the distracted look off his face and focuses on me. “You seemed like maybe you were happy back then… Back when you lived with your parents.”
“I was.” As guilt crushes my chest, I clear my throat. “All right, I’ve shared enough about me. It’s time for you to pay up.”
He hesitates then a mischievous smile touches his lips. “Okay, little raven, what do you want to do with me?”
I tap my finger against my lips. “Well, my first thought is to go to a bridge and make you jump off it.” I grin.
He grins back, slanting closer to me. “If that’s what you want to do, then I’m in. But just know that I’m not that great of a swimmer either, so unless you want me to drown, you might want to bring Zay with us so he can save me.”
“Maybe I don’t care if you get saved.”
“Maybe you don’t, but I’m betting you do.” He waits for me to argue, and when I don’t, his grin broadens. “I knew you liked me.”
“Like is a strong word,” I tell him. “I just don’t hate you enough to want to see you drown.”
“Is that so?”
I shrug. “Sure. Why not?”
He smiles and so do I.
But my smile quickly turns to curiosity, “Can you really not swim?”
“Yeah, pretty much. Well, I mean, I can kind of doggy paddle, but that’s about it.”
“Are you afraid of water?”
“Not necessarily afraid, but I’m not a fan of it.”
“Yeah, me either.”
“Yeah, I could tell that yesterday.”
“Hmmm… I wonder why?” My tone oozes with sarcasm.
“Me too.” He plays dumb and I roll my eyes, causing him to grin. “But for reals, what do you want to do, because eventually Jax is going to come look for us and then fun time is over.”
“Who says I’m going to pick something fun for us to do?” I tease.
His all sorts of wicked amusement as he leans in. “Everything with me is fun, sweetheart.”
“And cheesy apparently.”
He presses his hand to his chest. “Hey, I prefer the term amusingly funny.”
“I’m sure you do, but I like to go with the blunt truth.” I pat his arm and offer him a sugary sweet smile, but then sigh. “Honestly, I don’t really know what to do. I’m kind of lame when it comes to having fun.”
He tangles his fingers through my hair again. “I doubt that.”
“Doubt all you want, but it’s true,” I say. “But you seem like the kind of guy who has a lot of fun… Maybe too much. So tell me fun guy, what do you think we should do? I mean, what do you usually do when you’re high and you need to burn off all this racing energy?”