Echoes & Ink: Raven by Emily Rose
Chapter Ten
SLOAN
If looks could kill, I would indeed be dead right now. Raven is glaring at me so hard I’m kind of glad the MC guys cleared out of here. One of them would probably hand her the gun to shoot my ass, but I know nothing short of me butting in is going to get this tight-ass out of here.
Ms. Liscumb stares at me, recognition clear on her face. Slowly her eyes narrow, and then she looks at Raven, who’s schooled her features to utter calm. “You’re dating Sloan Lincoln?” she asks Raven, tone clearly disbelieving.
“Yes,” Raven answers, and I feel the anxiety in my belly loosen. “It’s relatively new. Only about a month or so.”
“And how do you know each other?”
“Through my sister, Ash Lincoln,” I answer. “Raven and I have known each other for a little over a year now. None of our family or friends know yet. Wanted to keep things quiet until we knew if we would work out.”
She still looks like she’s ready to call me on my bullshit, but has no reason to yet. “And will you be moving in here as well, Mr. Lincoln?” she asks.
I shake my head. “Raven and I aren’t at that stage yet, and we don’t want to confuse Falcon. The kid’s been through enough, don’t you think?”
“And do you always give your girlfriends access to million dollar condos?” she asks dryly.
“No actually. My building manager Bob can tell you that,” I say, looking at Bob.
Bob nods. “I’ve been working here for a long time, Miss,” he answers, his Irish accent thick and rolling, “and he’s never done this before. But I figure if he has, this one must be special. And if I may say, part of the agreement is that Ms. Dixon is to pay rent. ll transactions must go through myself and Mr. Lincoln is kept separate. He cannot evict her, even if their budding romance burns out before it starts raging, if you get my meaning.”
Ms. Liscumb looks like she still wants to argue, but knows it’s a losing battle. She looks back at Raven and says stiffly, “I suppose then I have no choice but to reserve judgement. I’ll be back to see you, Ms. Dixon. That will include random spot checks. If at any point I feel Falcon is not in the best possible care, or you prove to be unfit for this position, I will not hesitate to take him from you. Are we clear?”
“Crystal,” Raven answers, smile as sharp as the knife she’s probably thinking about reaching for. “Now if you’ll excuse us, I have boxes to unpack before I pick Falcon up from school. You can let yourself out.”
Ms. Liscumb’s lips purse at the obvious dismissal, but she turns and stalks out, the door shutting hard behind her.
The door is barely closed before Raven bares her teeth at me. “You better start talking, Lincoln, or I’m going to kick your ass.”
“You can be pissed at me all you like,” I return, “but I just saved your ass and made her reconsider taking Falcon away from you.”
“You made me look like some gold-digging whore,” she seethes, dark eyes bright with her anger. “This fucking condo is worth millions and you’re just going to give it to your new girlfriend for pennies?”
Yeah, I wish she hadn’t mentioned that, but it's too late now. “She doesn’t think that,” I scoff. “The story is one hundred percent believable. Besides, we can play this up until she stops with her visits, we do a quick break-up, and everyone’s all good.”
Raven doesn’t look the least bit convinced. “Oh is that all?” she sneers. “Why didn’t you say so? Not like we now have to lie to a government official and hope she doesn’t find out, because once she does, she’ll yank Falcon out of here so damn fast it’ll make your head spin.”
“She won’t find out,” I reiterate firmly. “I’m not going to tell her, you’re not going to tell her, and Bob here won’t tell her if he values his job, so how else is she going to find out?”
“And your family? What are they going to say about this? Because you know that the first thing she’s going to do is see if your family knows about us.”
“They don’t know about us,” I remind her impatiently. Didn’t she hear a single word I said?
“And what about Falcon? She’ll be grilling him plenty about the two of us. That’s what these assholes do.”
I shrug. “So we tell him the truth and let him know this is a farce and only so the social worker will get off your back.”
“Oh sure, just tell a thirteen year old boy to lie and everything will be fine,” Raven barks sarcastically, running a hand through her hair in frustration. “I swear your mother dropped you on your head as a kid. It would explain so much.”
“If anyone was dropped, it was Asa,” I retort. “Look, don’t panic, alright. We’ll figure this out. We’ll put together a story, and it’ll be fine.”
Raven looks past me to Bob, who has been quiet and observing us and says, “What do you think, Bob? Is your boss as loony as I’m saying?”
“I see both points,” Bob says diplomatically.
Raven skewers him with a look, and I have to bite back a grin when Bob flinches. Yeah, she might be tiny, but she’s scarier than some of those bikers who just left. She looks back at me and says, “I can’t deal with this today. I have other shit to worry about.”
“Fine,” I say, more than happy to let it drop. The woman just needs to chill and everything will be fine. I’m not an idiot to say that out loud, though. “Bob has the paperwork for you to go over and sign.”
Raven nods. Bob clears his throat and moves to set the paperwork on the countertop of the island and launches into his normal spiel about the details. Raven listens intently, and I move further into the room.
It’s half-full of boxes and her ugly sofa, but this place already feels more homey. I don’t know what it is about seeing Raven’s things here, but I’m immensely glad she is the one to move in and not someone else who won’t appreciate it.
I look out the windows and think of how nice a view this is. Falcon will enjoy it, and from what Wolf’s told me, the kid has an eye for art. Maybe he’ll sketch the city skyline, I muse. Though, knowing his sister, it might be a sketch of her throwing me off the balcony and him seeing my body flying through the air.
I don’t know what possessed me to open my mouth and jump in like that, but I’m already regretting it. I’ve set myself up to deal with not only the wrath of a woman crazy enough to murder me in my sleep, but also my sister and the rest of their friends if they think I’m screwing her over. Hell, once my brothers hear about this, they’ll be laughing their asses off.
Mom hasn’t been subtle, since Knox was born, about wanting me to settle down and start producing more grandchildren, but I’m nowhere near ready for that. I still have too much to do with the company, and even as attractive as Raven is, she isn’t the type to settle down. Hell, she barely tolerates me most of the time. Probably why I enjoy goading her so much.
Though the idea of pretending to be her boyfriend for this little charade isn’t putting me in a state of panic. I mean, it’s not like we have to actually pretend to be in love or any of that shit. I just have to show up when the social worker is around, throw her off the scent, and then we’ll call it good.
Helping out my baby sister’s friend. This can be my good deed for the year.
Pleased with that, I turn and look back at Raven who’s leaning on the countertop opposite Bob, an intense look on her face. Her long black hair is hanging down over her shoulders, but she’s got it tucked behind her ears to keep it out of her face as her dark eyes scan the paper in front of her. It’s like a waterfall of silk, and my fingers itch to see if it feels as soft as it looks.
No, Sloan, you idiot, just because you’re pretending to be her boyfriend doesn’t mean you can start looking at her like that. She’s your sister’s friend. That’s just asking for her to go after your balls. After Raven rams them so far up your throat for even thinking about it.
Instead, I force myself to tune back into the conversation.
“Rent, like I said, is due on the first of every month. You can do checks or we can take it directly out of your account. Don’t matter to me. The rules of the building are to keep the noise down as much as possible. Being on the top floor, you shouldn’t have to worry about the people across from you, since that space is empty, but the people below you might be able to hear you.”
“No ragers, got it,” Raven says with a teasing smile.
Bob, not really one for jokes, gives her a stern look. “That’s exactly right, missy. You do, and I’ll be coming up here. I got a three strike policy. Third one and you’re out on your pretty ass. Don’t care if you are banging the boss.” Raven chokes and glares at him even as I bite back a laugh. Maybe Bob does have jokes after all. “Now, I still have your background check to review, but Mr. Lincoln doesn’t seem to think it will be an issue so that’s merely a formality.”
Oh fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
All the air in the room immediately goes cold. Raven’s entire body goes rigid and her head turns like the fucking horror movie doll. So slow and deliberate that a chill runs through me, and I’m pretty sure my dick just tried to crawl inside me and out of slashing range. The absolute rage, and worse, betrayal, in her eyes is enough to have me glaring at Bob.
Bob looks confused but I ignore him. I don’t dare keep my eyes off the woman who’s about to kill me after all.
“You motherfucking asshole,” Raven hisses, turning the rest of her body away from Bob and slowly making her way towards me. “You had someone look into my background? You wanted to make sure you got all the dirt on my life before you let me move in here? And you thought you could do it on the down low so I wouldn’t find out?”
“No, that wasn’t it,” I swear.
“Don’t,” she snarls. “How dare you think that it’s alright for you to pry into my life like you have any kind of right. My life is mine, and if I had known it was a requirement for this place, I would never have stepped foot inside.”
“I planned on telling you, but I never looked at it,” I snap at her, frustrated. Fucking Bob and his big mouth. “It’s standard procedure for any apartment. I never planned on looking at it, and I never planned on letting Bob look at it either.”
“Oh, so you were just going to hold on to it, and then look at it when I didn’t answer if you asked me questions. Just some insurance if I’m not good enough to breathe the same air as you and your family, right? You want to know the skeletons in my closet and what can come back to bite you in the ass? Just like you did to Nix, right?”
Her voice is like a whip and I have to fight not to shuffle my feet and back away. I glance around quickly to make sure there’s nothing within her reach to throw or stab me with. “I wouldn’t do that.I’m an asshole, sure, but I’m not a douche.”
“Could have fooled me. You think it’s alright to pry into people's lives to make yourself feel better, Sloan,” she tells me, tone lowering to an icy edge. “You’re so concerned about protecting yourself and your company that you forget about the people you’re stepping on in the process. As long as it makes you look like the hero, you don’t give a damn. Screw the rest of us.”
“You don’t know shit,” I yell at her, my temper roaring to life. “I will always protect my family. You wouldn’t be this pissed if you didn’t have something to hide.”
Her eyes glitter dangerously. “I have plenty I want to hide. My life is my own, and my past is mine. You don’t get to rifle through it for your own twisted version of heroism. You better not have done a background check on Falcon either.”
“No, I didn’t,” I say tightly.
“If you’re lying, I will make sure you regret it, Sloan Lincoln. You don’t know shit about the life I lead. You and your perfect family, with your big house, Ivy league schools, and so much money you could swim in it like Scrooge McDuck. You wouldn’t know poverty if it slapped you in the face. You sit in your ivory tower, read a piece of paper, and assume you know everything when really you’re a fool like the rest of the high society assholes. Then, you think that you can swoop in and save me by pulling the stunt with the social worker, and I’ll just thank you for it. You couldn’t be more wrong. Good thing you told her we are new, because we’re over before we even started.”
She looks at Bob, who’s a bit pale now that he’s realized just what can of worms he’s opened with his words, and says, “I’ll sign the papers and then I want you both out. This is my apartment, and unless you’re coming here to check on repairs or ask for the rent, I want you gone.”
Bob mutely hands her the pen, watching as she signs her name slowly and deliberately.
I want to rage and argue with her, but I know nothing I say is going to get through to her. I’m not going to apologize to her for doing my job. She’ll get over it and we’ll move past it.
I make my way to the door with Bob, and stop when I reach the doorway. I look over my shoulder and see Raven watching me. Her face is still a mask of cold fury, but that’s not what guts me. It’s the betrayal shining from her eyes; betrayal that’s mixed with grief and shame.
Fuck. I’ve messed up bad, and I don’t know what I can do to fix it, if anything.