The Raven Four Books 1-3 - Jessica Sorensen Page 0,84

emotion in his tone. “But trust me; I’ll win this fight. I always do, because I always do whatever it takes to win.”

“So do I,” I lie haughtily. Then I lift my chin, refusing to look weak.

Jax’s eyes shadow over, his pierced lips parting. “If you think—”

“Zay, pull the car over for a minute,” Hunter announces abruptly.

Jax’s gaze cuts to Hunter. “Why?” he asks at the same time Zay gives him a confused look and mutters, “Wait … You’re not …?”

Hunter gives Zay an indecipherable look then looks at Jax. “I know you think I can’t handle this, but just let me talk to her privately for, like, five minutes. You guys can keep an eye on me from the car, and if it looks like I’m getting out of control, tape my mouth shut and make me ride in the trunk.” His lips quirk with amusement. But underneath the humor, I detect the slightest bit of sadness reflecting in his eyes.

I wonder what it is, what could possibly make the most upbeat guy I’ve ever met sad.

Jax meticulously studies him. “Are you going to …?”

Hunter swallows hard then nods. “Yeah … I think it might help. With everything.”

Jax considers what he said then nods. “We’ll give you five minutes. That’s it, though. And keep on topic. No straying off to her ass or legs, got it?”

Hunter nods.

Sighing, Zay slows the car down and steers it over onto a flattened space on the side of the road near a cluster of trees. An old farmhouse is in the distance, but other than that, nothing else is around, so there are no witnesses if they decide to pull a stunt like they did yesterday.

“You do realize I can hear you guys, right?” I say, my lips moving against Jax’s finger since he hasn’t pulled it away yet.

“Really?” Hunter mockingly gasps. “This whole time I thought you were deaf. Crap, I hope I didn’t say anything offensive.” He pulls a whoopsie face.

I blast him a hardy har har look, to which he responds with a cheeky grin.

Jax lowers his finger from my lips then pats the back of Hunter’s seat. “Hurry up. I want to have time to go over the rules with her.”

Hunter gives him a salute then pushes the door open, hops out, and lifts the seat up. Then Jax lowers his head and climbs outside, too. A couple of seconds tick by where they simply stand there before Hunter glances back into the cab, strands of his hair hanging in his eyes.

“Come on, little bird; you and I need to talk about a few things,” he tells me, weirdly without grinning.

“Little bird,” the doctor whispers in my ear, causing goosebumps to sprout across my flesh. “Close your eyes …”

“Fine.” I grimace as I cross the seat toward him. “But please don’t call me little bird. If you have to call me something other than my name, then just stick with little raven, okay?”

A crease forms between his brows, but he nods. “Okay. Little raven it is.”

I appreciate his lack of arguing about this and offer him a small smile. “Thanks.”

He smiles back and mutters, “So fucking beautiful.”

Luckily, Jax doesn’t hear him, or else I think he would have chewed his ass out. Me? I roll my eyes so damn hard they nearly get stuck in the back of my head.

But all Hunter does is give me an innocent look. “What? I’m just stating the truth.”

Rolling my eyes again, I move to climb out, and halfway out, Hunter takes my hand, unnecessarily helping me the rest of the way. When I’m standing, he doesn’t release my hand, guiding me past Jax and toward some trees.

My guard immediately goes up, and I curl my free hand into a fist, preparing to fight if I need to. “Where are we going?”

“Into those trees,” Hunter replies as he continues to pull me forward, his clunky boots scuffing the dirt. “I need some privacy for this.”

My stomach ravels into knots again, but this time it’s an unpleasant sensation.

Maybe I am naïve, I realize. I mean, I got in a car with these guys without a phone or anything, and now I’m wandering into the trees with one of them.

I have a feeling something bad is about to happen.

The worst part is, I did it to myself.

Twenty-Two

Raven

Unnerving silence stretches between us as Hunter leads me closer to the trees and farther away from civilization.

“Relax.” He gives my hand a squeeze. “None of us are ever