Page 2 of Ravage
The memories thicken my throat, reminding me I’ll never have anything close to what I had with him, and the others again.
I ruined that.
Then GE ruined me.
I toss the paper bird back to the nightstand. It’s been five years since I last saw the guys I’d grown up with on the island where GE kept us. It’d be best not to think of them when it only reminds me of happier times followed by years of pain and remorse. I need to keep my focus on my mission.
I yank the top drawer open and rummage through stacks of paper and a bag of hard candies before shoving it closed and going for the bottom one.
“Don’t you know it’s rude to pry through a guy’s drawers without permission?” a husky male voice murmurs teasingly, his breath heating the back of my neck.
I grab my gun, spinning around and swinging my arm out. The stranger moves back effortlessly, like some ninja, but my finger is already on the trigger. The gunshot rings through the room. I focus my flashlight on the dark figure to see if I got him, but there’s no sign of him being injured.
Something pale appears out of the darkness in front of him—fingers, I realize—when they pinch the air. He’s wearing black fingerless gloves that meld with the rest of his attire. It looks like he pockets what he grabbed—which I’m having an oh shit feeling was my bullet—and then something clicks behind him.
Light bursts in the room, and I recoil into the nightstand and squint my eyes at him. He doesn’t move, thankfully, and I blink furiously until I can get a good look at him.
He’s much taller than me, close to a foot, and wearing nondescript clothing. Black jeans, boots, and a hoodie that shadows his face.
I hope he’s not some Gifted Enterprise assassin who can control metal. The lower ungifted goons were easy. I haven’t come up against one with a gift yet.
“Who are you?” I keep my gun trained on him.
He chuckles, and the sound sends a shiver rippling through me. It’s cold and hollow. Nothing like the warmth that normally comes with a person’s laughter. No, his sounds more like a dark promise of all the painful things he enjoys doing to others. But there’s a niggling familiarity in it that tugs at my chest, and I don’t fear hearing it like a person with any self-preservation should.
He raises his hands slowly, palms out, and then pushes his hood back to reveal himself. He tugs down the gaiter from his face until it’s bunched up around his neck. The lighting reveals raven-black hair with an almost bluish tint. It’s cut short on the sides and left long and messy on top. He has a full, pouty bottom lip that would be pretty if his mouth wasn’t twisted into a smirk while he eyes me intensely. As if he’d enjoy nothing more than to chase and devour me.
He cocks his head, reminding me of a confused puppy. A large, deadly puppy. And then it hits me.
The origami animals.
His laser-focused attention.
It’s been five years, and he’s fucking grown since I last saw him, but it’s definitely him.
“Jackson?”
His smile returns.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, my breathing thin.
He doesn’t seem surprised or upset I haven’t lowered my gun, even at knowing his identity. He tucks his hands into his hoodie pocket and shrugs. Like seeing each other after so much time is no big deal. Even after what I’d done that caused him and the others to hate me. They hated me so much they abandoned me on the island with GE and didn’t look back.
But maybe that wasn’t enough.
Are they here to hunt me down and kill me?
If only they knew how much I’d suffered by the hands of GE, by him, after what I’d done, they’d know I’ve already been punished beyond repair.
“This is my room,” he answers matter-of-factly. His voice is low and quiet, but it’s also so calm and confident. It’s exactly how I remember it, and that twists like a knife in my heart at how much I miss it.
“Why did a GE goon have your address in his pocket? Are you working with them now?”
Smirking, he leans casually back against the wall. For what he thinks is going to be a long catch-up session, no doubt. “Because I put it there.”
My expression slackens as I realize the implications of that. He used a Gifted Enterprise lackey to lure me here. I tighten my grip on my gun. “Do you all hate me so much still that you sought me out to kill me, then?”
“No…” He pauses, cants his head to the side as if in thought, then adds, “I don’t hate you. I never have.”
