The Raven Four Books 1-3 - Jessica Sorensen Page 0,21
doing?” Zay snaps, jerking on my arm and yanking my hand out of my pocket.
My phone flies out and lands on the floor with a thud.
“Stop!” I shout, writhing around in a lame-ass attempt to escape. I’m not going to stop fighting until the end. It’s in my blood to fight.
“Whatever you do, never give up,” my dad once told me. “Hold your ground and fight. You got that, Raven. You fight until the very end,”
He did that a lot—taught me to defend myself—starting when I turned six, and we moved into a neighborhood that had a pretty high crime rate. And even though I know Zay is a huge dude and I probably don’t stand a chance, I keep on fighting.
Jax’s gaze snaps back to us. Then he leans over the console and scoops up my phone.
“Give me that!” I growl. “That’s mine!”
Jax ignores me, rolls down the window, and throws it out of the car.
“You’re an asshole,” I snap as Zay pins me against the seat again.
Jax gives a shrug. “I’ve been called worse.”
“I’m sure you have,” I snap, my pulse pounding and not just with fear. No, I’m more pissed off than anything else.
How dare they take me against my will.
How dare they taunt me.
How dare they read my personal files.
It’s just like with Dixie May, always controlling me. Everyone is always controlling me. I’m so pissed off. But I’m also tired. Really, really tired of always being pushed around, mocked, beaten down.
“How did you get ahold of those files about me?” I ask, sounding way too calm with how I feel inside.
“I have connections,” Zay replies simply. “All of us do. With the teachers, the cops. In fact, we have almost everyone in this town wrapped around our little fingers, which makes getting what we want pretty damn easy.”
“Good for you,” I say. “But whatever you’re about to try to make me do, it’s not gonna happen.”
“Is that so?” Zay questions. “Well, I guess we’re about to find out.”
Right as he says it, Hunter slows the car to a stop, and fear manages to prickle up through my anger.
We’re parked in front of an old, rickety bridge that stretches across a river. It’s cold enough up in the hills that patches of snow cover the area and chunks of ice stick out from the shore and stretch out across the water.
I swallow hard. “Why are we here?”
Zay doesn’t utter a word as he shoves the door open and climbs out. Hunter silences the engine and follows Zay’s lead. Jax is the one to linger inside as he rotates in the seat to face me.
“You know, part of me wishes you would’ve just given him his damn seat,” he tells me. “You seem like a nice enough girl. A bit feisty, but not really in a bad way.” He assesses me for a beat. “Why didn’t you just give him his seat?”
I lift a shoulder. “I don’t like being told what to do. And I don’t like arrogant jerks who think they always get their way and can walk all over everyone. I’m tired of it … Tired of getting pushed around.”
He studies me unnervingly. “Have you been pushed around a lot in your life?”
For reals? He wants me to open up to him?
“Does it really matter?” I ask. “If I tell you my sob story, is it gonna make you pity me enough to let me go?”
He shakes his head. “No.”
“Okay, then let’s get this over with.” Mustering up every ounce of courage I have, I scoot to the edge of the seat then hop outside.
The air is way chiller up here than it was in town, and the space of flesh between my knee-highs and the hem of my shorts instantly dots with goosebumps. I shiver, wrapping my arms around myself.
“Holy balls, it’s cold up here,” I mutter, my breath puffing from my lips in a cloud of smoke.
“Funny you think that, because in just a second, you’re going to remember this moment and the warmth.” Zay smiles at me coldly then unnecessarily reaches around me to shut the door.
I resist asking questions, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of knowing he’s got me worried. And he does have me concerned. What he said …
My gaze drifts to the water. Water which I’m sure is freezing, considering the ice floating around in it.
Noticing the direction of my gaze, Zay grins. “I think you might be putting two and two together. Maybe you’re not as