Echoes & Ink: Raven by Emily Rose

 

Chapter One

RAVEN

Ibeam when I see who’s walking through the shop door. Standing, I hold out my arms. “Gimme,” I order, crooking my fingers.

Ash laughs. “What? You’re not even going to say hello to me?” she jokes.

“Yes, yes,” I snicker, “I’ll say hello to you after I get to finally hold my new favorite person. You’re nothing more than chopped liver around here now.”

Ash laughs and dutifully hands over her son, placing him carefully into the crook of my arms. “Is Nix around?” she asks.

“He should be bringing his client out any second,” I tell her as I rock the baby gently. I stare in wonder at Knox Martin Morgan. He looks just like his daddy, with the same dark complexion and eyes. On his head is a mop of dark locks that make me smile.

A pang shoots through me at what I missed, but I push it away. It’s done and over with, and I don’t think about it anymore. I can’t.

Ash smiles at me, but I can see the tired lines around her eyes. “He keeping you up at night?” I ask her.

She nods. “He’s a pretty good baby, but night time is rough. Especially since I’m breastfeeding, and that means I’m the only one who can feed him. Though Nix has been really good about diaper changes and helping out as much as he can.”

“Good,” I say with a grin. “I would hate to have to kick his ass.”

Ash chuckles. “No ass kicking needed.”

I hear a noise and look over to see Nix and his client coming down the hall. The man is some suit from an office building down the street. He’s an okay guy; we’ve flirted a few times, but nothing about him lights my fire, if you know what I mean.

Nix beams when he sees Ash, and immediately swoops in to give her a kiss. “Give me my boy,” he orders me.

“Nope,” I say with a shake of my head. “I just got him and you get him all the time.”

“Then how are you going to check this guy out?” he asks pointedly.

Damn. I sigh and drop a quick kiss to Knox’s head before handing him over to his father. “Work,” I grumble as I sit back in my chair. “Never any fun.”

“If you’re looking for fun, baby,” the suit says with a charming smile, “let me take you out and I could show you all kinds.”

I resist the urge to roll my eyes. Yeah, sure. Him, his little dick, and overcompensating sports car aren’t exactly what I would consider fun. Before I can decline, I hear the shop door open and glance over to let the person know I’ll be right with them, but I stop cold when I see who it is.

It’s a face I haven’t seen in a long damn time. A face from the past I thought I left behind. Everything in me is screaming to turn and run. To walk away. That nothing good is going to come if I stay. Slowly I stand, ignoring the suit who’s trying to get my attention.

“What are you doing here?” I hiss, furious. Furious and terrified. A deadly combination for someone like me. He doesn’t answer, just steps further inside. "Answer me!” I order.

Again, he doesn’t answer, just steps aside. What I see is enough to have my perfect little world tilting on its feet.

Standing behind him is a boy of about thirteen, tall and lanky with thick, dark, black hair and familiar cold blue eyes. Eyes that still haunt me. He looks sullen; his bony shoulders slumped and refusing to look at me. I’m short, and he’s already about my height.

I look back at my uncle, furious that he’s here. I don’t know how he found me, but I’m not about to let him come here and fuck up my life. Not again. My uncle looks so much like my father you would think they are twins. Except for the fact that my father has blue eyes and he has green. Standing over six feet, with a beer gut that’s pushing past his belt a good few inches, he still has the sneer on his face I’ve tried to forget.

“What are you doing here?” I ask again, this time my voice is icy cold. “How did you find me?”

Uncle Nero—yes, fucking Nero. My grandparents really picked some god awful names for their kids—sneers at me. “Don’t matter how I found you. I’ve looked after the brat for the past two years, now it’s your turn. Drove all the way from New York.”

I stiffen. “Who is he?” I demand, looking at the kid as he stares at the floor, refusing to look at me. I already know, but I need to hear him say it.

“Who the fuck do you think he is? He’s your brother. That whore mother of yours had another fucking kid. Kid’s been nothing but trouble. It’s either you take him in or the state can have him.” The words are so final that I know he means it.

Anger burns through me. No, that’s too tame. Hatred burns, but I know I have no choice. That my life is never going to be the same.

“Where are his things?” I ask.

“Like hell am I giving him anything that I paid hard earned money for,” Nero snaps. “He’s got the clothes on his back and his bookbag in the car. That’s all he needs.”

I hear someone gasp behind me, but I don’t bother looking. Instead I say to the boy, “Go get your bag and come back in here.” The boy doesn’t move, just stares at me with eyes so empty it breaks my heart.  Nero shoves him and points to the car outside and the boy turns and walks towards it. When Nero goes to follow him, I snarl, “Don’t you fucking move. You stay right the fuck there until he gets back in here.”

“And let that asshole steal something from me?” Nero scoffs. “Fuck you, cunt.”

I hear a snarl behind me and I glance quickly to see Talon stalking down the hall, face a mask of fury. I step out from behind the counter and hiss, “The only cunt around here is you. Treating that child like he’s shit you can scrape off your shoe. Fuck you. Don’t you ever show your face back here again, you worthless piece of shit. And if you lay one hand on that boy, I will let him,” I say, pointing at Talon who’s come to a stop behind me, “tear you apart. And then I will piss on your broken body. Do you understand me?”

Nero must realize how serious I am, because he just turns away and stalks to the window so he can watch his car.

The entire shop is silent as we wait for my brother to come back. Even the word brother is shocking to me and I can’t quite wrap my head around it. When he finally enters, I beckon him to me, stepping in front of him so my uncle can’t reach him. “Fuck you, and get the fuck out of this shop,” I hiss at my uncle.

He leaves without a word.

When his car roars down the street, I turn and look at Talon, but stop when I see Wolf directly behind him, jaw clenched. “Asshole better hope I never see his face again,” Wolf growls. He looks at me. “Take your brother home and don’t worry about anything else today. We’ll handle shit here.”

I nod, grateful.

“Hey! I still have to pay and book for my next session,” the guy in the suit snaps irritably. “As much as I love some family drama, I have places to be.”

I look at him and narrow my eyes. I’m pissed and I’ve had enough of douchebags. Before I can let him know what I think of his demands, Talon growls, “Nix will cash you out.” Then he turns back to me and says gently, “Go.” I don’t need to be told twice.

My brother and I leave the shop after I quickly grab my purse. “My car is over here,” I tell him, leading him around the building to where my old Honda Civic sits. He doesn’t say a word, just follows me.

As we drive to the apartment, neither of us speaks. My mind is in utter turmoil over everything, and I don’t know what the hell to do. I mean, I don’t know what to do with a kid. Thank fuck he’s not a baby, because that would be even worse. But he’s a teenager and just got dropped off with a total stranger; I’d be terrified if I were him.

When we reach my apartment, I realize we’re going to have another dilemma. My place only has one bedroom, which means I have nowhere for him to sleep. No, I can’t borrow trouble right now. First things first, I need to find out all the information I can about him and plan from there. I’m sure we can make something work temporarily with the sleeping arrangements.

I lead him up to my apartment, open the door, and usher him inside. “Put your stuff anywhere,” I tell him, frowning when he doesn’t answer me or move, just looks around. I brush it off and move into the kitchen. Maybe he’s just not a talkative kid.

Slowly, he makes his way into the room, before turning and looking at me warily. I can see the distrust there, and I can’t blame him. Deciding that it’s best to get it all out in the open and go from there, I ask, “What’s your name?” He stares at me blankly, not speaking. I try to tamp down my impatience. “Kid, what’s your name?” I repeat. Still nothing. I scowl at him. “Fuck,” I hiss. “Look, we can’t get to know each other if you’re not going to talk.”

Still nothing. I want to scream in frustration, but stop when I see him reach for his backpack. I say nothing when he takes out a pad of paper and pen. He writes something on it and I frown. What is he doing?

When he stops and holds out the notepad to me, I walk over and grab it.

I can’t hear you. I’m deaf.

I look at him in shock. I go to ask him a question, but quickly close my mouth. He can’t hear you, stupid, I chide myself. I point to his pen and take it when he slowly hands it to me.

Me: Can you read lips?

We do a lot of back and forth over the next few minutes.

Him: Sometimes.

Me: What’s your name?

Him: Falcon

I want to snort at the name, but manage to stop myself. My mother is nothing if not predictable. She’s always had a thing for birds, and apparently that didn’t go away when she had my brother.

Me: I’m Raven. How old are you?

Falcon: 13. My birthday was four months ago.

It’s like a kick in the gut, but I push it away. I’ll think about what that means later.

Me: Why were you with Nero?

Falcon frowns hard at my question, and I get the feeling that I’m not going to like the answer.

Falcon: Parents got thrown in jail so the state sent me to live with him. Said I didn’t have any other family.

I have to push down the guilt at his revelation. I need more information before I can let myself think about what all this means.

Me: How long have you been deaf?

Falcon: Born this way.

Me: Do you know ASL?

Falcon shrugs.

Falcon: A little bit. But only what I could teach myself and what I learned at school.

I mentally make a plan to figure out what it will take to learn it, and if there’s someone around here who could teach us. It’ll save us on pens and paper in the long run.

Me: We’ll figure something out.

He takes the paper back and pauses. Then he writes on the paper and turns it towards me.

The words I read make me want to cry and scream all at once.

Falcon: Mom said that you left because you were too good for us. That you blamed me and never wanted to see me again. Is that true?