The Raven Four Books 1-3 - Jessica Sorensen Page 0,53
his gaze slides to me. “I’ll see your beautiful face tomorrow.” Then he leans in and kisses me on the forehead. My brows rise to my hairline in surprise, and he chuckles, saying, “So cute,” before walking away.
Zay sighs then shakes his head before nodding for me to follow him. “Come on, princess; let’s get you home.”
I walk beside him as he starts down the hallway. “You know, I really think if you’re set on giving me a nickname, you should come up with one better than princess. It doesn’t fit me at all.” I also want to point out that from what Hunter said, he usually doesn’t give nicknames to people, but I don’t want to rat out Hunter.
He casts a mildly amused sidelong glance. “I think it does.”
I scrunch up my nose. “I think you’re wrong. Princess seems like a nickname for someone who’s high maintenance, and I’m not. At all.”
“You’re not, huh?” he mocks as we reach a set of wide doors. “I’ve only known you for a day, and I’ve already had to jump into a freezing river to save your ass.”
I let out a groan. “Do we really have to go over this again?”
“Hey, you’re the one who thanked me for saving you.” He smirks at me then turns toward an alarm box on the wall and pushes a series of buttons. When the locks to the doors click, he reaches over and opens a door, peering out first before stepping outside.
I follow him out, folding my arms around myself as the chilly night air nips at my skin. Then I peer around in awe at the wraparound porch lined with wide columns and the driveway that curves around in front and leads to a tall, iron, gated entrance.
“This place is so freakin’ huge,” I mutter as I follow Zay off the porch and to a dark car with tinted windows parked in the arched driveway just in front of the house. Then I turn back around to get a good look at the place.
It’s dark, but several porch lights are on, so I can still take in the two-story mansion lined with shutters and one of the biggest garages I’ve ever seen.
“It looks better in the daylight,” Zay says, observing me observing the house. “But the best part about it is its seclusion.”
I glance back at him. “Yeah, you guys seem to like your privacy. I guess I can kind of understand why. Well, sort of. I’m still a little bit confused about this whole five mafia families’ thing. I mean, are all of you like rivals with each other? Or do you work together?”
Zay snorts a laugh, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “We definitely don’t work together. But we’re not entirely rivals either. We just have a…” He wavers. “A mutual understanding, I guess is the best way to describe it. And as long as one of the groups doesn’t do anything to piss off another, everything is fine. Unfortunately, a lot of us get off on pissing people off.”
“I’m guessing you’re one of those people,” I say with a conniving grin.
He raises his brows insinuatingly. “Like you’re not.”
I give a shrug. “I never said I wasn’t.”
He shakes his head. “I think you’re going to drive me crazy. I really do.”
“Going to?” I question. “I thought we were already there?”
He shakes his head again, stepping closer to me. “You know, you’re the first person to talk to me this way in a long time, and I have no damn idea what to do with it.” His confession throws me off. So is the way that he’s staring at me, like I’m a complicated puzzle he’s unsure how to solve—or if he even wants to solve. But then he blinks and puts on a neutral expression. “There’s still a ton of other stuff I—we need to explain to you, but I don’t have time to do that right now.” He opens the back door to the car, indicating that my time with him is up. “Tomorrow, though, we’ll all sit down and have a talk. Then you can take the oath.”
“Sure.” I force a smile, completely doubtful that’ll happen. Because, deep down, I know something will happen that’ll make them change their minds about bringing me into their group. That’s how it always works for me. Every single time.
I move to get into the car, when he captures my arm.
“Why did you sound so doubtful about that?” he questions, his eyes shadows against