Page 124 of Ravage
Aiden doesn’t look all too pleased with Elias standing in his apartment. The others don’t seem to care less, but I can tell there’s something between them. They know each other. If Aiden tries to kick him out, I’ll punch him.
“Dane, get back to the computer and keep following those cameras. We’ll narrow down the direction and area and we can cross reference it with a list of Gifted Enterprise-owned buildings.”
Dane follows Aiden’s direction by immediately returning to his seat. “I was able to pick up the car they took her in from Hype,” he says. “I’ll see how far I can follow them.”
Elias turns to the other guy he brought with him. “Start pulling the list of properties they own while he’s doing that, Noah.”
The guy, Noah, nods and then his eyes flick over to me.
“That won’t be necessary,” Elias says, as if understanding what that simple eye movement meant.
Noah grunts and moves to the dining table to set down a simple briefcase. He pulls out a laptop and powers it on.
“What won’t be necessary?” I question since it obviously involved me.
“It’s nothing,” Elias replies and I frown at him. “He doesn’t know or trust you and thinks you may be involved. He’d like to check your memories to be certain this isn’t some sort of trap.”
Kellan whistles and strolls over to sit at the dining table with Noah. His back is to me while Noah sits at the end, but I notice that he’s casually placed himself between us. “Checking memories, huh? That’s a crazy gift. Is it like sorting through a file cabinet? Or like a long movie?”
Noah ignores him and instead pins me with another stare. “You show up out of nowhere, find out Elias’s weakness, and then within hours of him coming home, she’s suddenly taken?” He pauses as that sinks in. “Too much of a coincidence.”
“I didn’t—”
“I know,” Elias cuts in. He gives Noah a look. “I already vouched for her. There’s nothing more to discuss on that.”
I’m still frozen with shock that Elias said he vouched for me. He doesn’t know me, not really. Or anything about my past. Seeing the truth can’t be enough for him to know who I am.
Elias gives me a small smile, almost like he can read my mind and is trying to comfort me.
Ugh, stop it.
I owe this man so much.
“Do it.”
Kellan, Noah, and Elias all look at me. Aiden and Dane glance over too, but they’re mostly focused on cycling through cameras in the city. “Read my mind or my memories or whatever. I’ll do whatever it takes to get Portia back.”
Noah looks surprised and then smirks at Elias, who shrugs. “If that’s what she wants.”
Noah stands and we meet each other halfway. Jackson’s suddenly leaning against the dining room table and watching Noah in a ‘hurt-her-and-die’ kind of way. Kellan’s turned in his seat, his body tense.
“You don’t have to do this, beautiful. You don’t owe him shit.”
“I do. For Portia.” There’s a hushed argument happening between Dane and Aiden, but I give my attention to Noah in front of me. “Do you get to pick and choose what you see?”
“For the most part. It’s like rewinding a tape. I can move quickly through it or stop and let it play out.”
I draw in a deep breath. “Okay.” Noah’s hand comes up to reach toward my face. “Does it hurt?” I ask quickly, and he pauses.
“Not at all. Just close your eyes and it’ll be over before you know it.” His tone is soothing, but it doesn’t calm me as much as having Kellan within arm’s reach of him and Jackson right there.
“Just look at the stuff that has to do with Portia. I only met her a month ago, so you don’t need to dig any further than that.”
“What if you plotted to get to Elias before you came here?”
“Fine. Check a couple of months back then.”
“Close your eyes,” Noah commands softly.
