the darkness.
“I didn’t,” I lie.
“No, you did. And I want to know why,” he demands, taking an intimidating step toward me.
I roll my eyes. “Didn’t I already tell you that you’re not as scary as you think you are?”
“That’s because I haven’t even tried to be scary yet.” He slides his hand up my arm then pulls me closer, his fingers trembling a bit. “Now tell me why you sounded doubtful about us sitting down and talking with you tomorrow.” He’s trying to act scary, but the way he quivers makes me feel almost sorry for him.
He hates being touched. And I can barely remember what it feels like.
“I just don’t think it’s going to happen,” I say. “I think, by tomorrow, you guys are going to realize you don’t really want me in your circle and that’s gonna be that.”
“So you think we’re going to dump you?”
“Yeah, pretty much. But it’s cool. Like I said before, I do better alone.”
He silently stares at me, a cool breeze gusting around us. “It’s going to be fun proving you wrong.” He releases my arm, steps back, then gestures for me to get in. “I’ll see you tomorrow, princess.” He aims one last smirk at me then hikes toward the front doors.
Looking away, I climb into the car and shut the door. The driver, an older guy with grey hair, greets me with a smile but doesn’t ask me where I need to go, driving forward toward the gate.
“Do you need my address?” I sit back in the seat and stretch out my legs.
“No, Mr. Capperellie gave me the direction,” he replies, pushing a few buttons on his GPS. “You just sit back and relax.”
I highly doubt I’m going to be able to do that with how wired I feel. Still, I rest my head against the window and watch the fields pass by in a blur as we drive down the hill and toward town. It takes us at least twenty minutes to get there, and by the time we're pulling up into my driveway, exhaustion has crept up on me.
“Thanks for the ride,” I tell the driver as I reach for the door handle.
“You’re welcome.” Then he reaches over the seat and hands me a card. “If you ever need a ride anywhere, just call me. Mr. Capperellie has already informed me that I’m to drive you anywhere you need at any time of the day.”
“You mean Jax?” I make sure since Zay’s last name is the same.
“Or Zay.” He urges me to take the card. I do, confusion whisking through me as I glance at it. All that’s written on it is a phone number.
Why would Jax have him give this to me? It doesn’t make any sense.
“Just dial that number,” he tells me. “That’s all you need to do.”
“Okay.” I fold my fingers around the card. “Do you have a name at least?”
He smiles warmly. “It’s Zee.”
Right. I remember one of the guys mentioning that.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Zee.” I reach over and offer him my hand to shake. “I’m Raven.”
He puts his hand in mine. “It’s nice to meet you, Raven. I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of each other now that you’ve joined Mr. Capperellie’s circle.”
Again, I’m not sure if he’s referring to Jax or Zay.
“Yeah,” is all I say, my head spinning in confusion as I push open the door. “Thanks for the ride.” I wave then climb out, feeling completely … Well, I’m not sure there’s a word that fits how I feel right now.
Totally mystified. Freaked out. Baffled. Yeah, those might work.
Stuffing the card into my pocket, I hike toward the front door of my house and decide to shove thoughts of the guys aside for now since I’m sure I’m about to get my ass chewed out for mouthing off this morning. Plus, I never did give Dixie May her stupid makeup case.
“All right, Raven, this is going to go a heck of a lot better if you just keep your mouth shut,” I give myself a pep talk, hoping for once I can listen to myself and keep my lips zipped.
Taking a breath, I open the front door and enter the house. The instant I step over the threshold, my guard goes up. All of the lights are off in the house, except for the hallway lights upstairs. The air is quiet, too.
Where is everyone? Did they go out for a family dinner or something?
I smile at the