The Raven Four Books 1-3 - Jessica Sorensen Page 0,34

me, which I’m thankful for. “Come sit by me for a while. There’re some things I need to explain to you.”

I want to protest, want to yell at him to let me leave, but I have a feeling he won’t help me out of this mansion until I at least hear him out.

I cross my arms. “Fine. But I’m not taking your hand.”

He juts his lip out. “Well, that’s not very fun.”

“Holding my hand isn’t very fun,” I insist. “I suffer from clammy hand syndrome.”

Curiosity sparkles in his eyes. “Is that really a thing or are you telling me bullshit because you think I have cootie?”

I lift a shoulder, struggling not to smile, which is so annoying. I shouldn’t find him amusing. Not after what happened.

I really am crazy.

Grinning, he steps back and motions for me to step out. “Okay, fine. We can pretend I have cooties for now. But eventually, I’ll prove to you that I’m as clean as a whistle.”

“Whistles aren’t clean.” I inch out of the closet and peer around the room, at the hardwood floors and at all the artwork covering the walls.

I’d been in such a rush before I dove into the closet that I hadn’t even noticed the artwork. One in particular draws me in; a painting of what can only be described as a shadow girl hiding in a forest. I can’t see her face, but I can almost feel her pain flowing off the canvas.

“You like art?” Hunter asks as he watches me closely.

I shrug, looking away from the painting. “I don’t really know much about it, but the stuff on your wall seems cool. Or, well, maybe cool’s not the right word …” I waver. “Maybe hauntingly sad and dark.”

A pleased grin tugs at his lips. “I’ll take that as a ‘you like my work.’ ”

My lips part in shock. “You painted these?”

He nods, stepping toward me and stuffing his hands into his pockets. “Which one’s your favorite?”

My gaze magnetizes back to the shadow girl. “I don’t know … Maybe that one.” I rub my lips together, highly aware of him studying me as closely as I’m studying his painting. “She looks sad. I can almost feel it.”

I turn my attention back to him, only to find him staring at me sympathetically.

“Maybe it’s because you’re sad and you see some of yourself in the girl.” He starts to reach for my hand then withdraws, crossing his arms and tucking his hands underneath his armpits. Then his expression turns serious. “Why’d you jump? And please don’t say it was because we made you. Sure, we may have made it seem like you had to, but with how feisty you are, we thought you’d try to run. And we were going to let you do that.”

I frown. “Then what was the point of any of it?”

He shrugs. "What Jax said was true. We need people to respect us around here, and to gain that respect, we took the route of instilling fear in people. It almost always works. Almost every time we’ve hauled someone to that bridge and threatened them, they’ve nearly pissed themselves and ran away. And they fear us after that. But that almost always used to be an always … until you.” He unfolds his arms then hesitantly tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “Why did you jump when you can’t swim? At least, that’s why I’m assuming you didn’t swim out of the river yourself.”

I lean away from his touch and wrap my arms around myself. He frowns at my offish move but doesn’t comment.

“I tried to tell you guys that I couldn’t swim,” I mutter.

“I know, and I’m sorry we didn’t listen.” He offers me an apologetic smile. “But in our defense, that’s the most common excuse we’ve heard.”

“Well, it wasn’t an excuse.”

“Clearly.” He pauses, eyeing me closely. “How are you feeling anyway? You don’t feel sick or anything, do you?”

I shake my head. “I feel a little tired and irritated with you guys, but other than that, I feel okay.”

“Good. I’m glad you’re okay. And I’m glad that whole shared body heat thing wasn’t a myth.”

“Shared body heat …?”

“That thing Zay did to you in the back seat,” he explains with a pucker between his brows. “What did you think he was doing?”

I lift a shoulder. “Honestly, I thought he was going to rape me.”

His eyes widen. “What?”

I shrug again. “He was yanking off my clothes after he threatened me and proposed I could be