Canary by Tijan
Ash
The sounds of screaming, grunts, and sobbing filled the air.
The smell of blood, sweat, piss, and I didn’t want to know what else filled the room.
And in me, I was nauseated but also annoyed.
Raize would ask a question. The guy wouldn’t answer.
One of the guys would hurt him. Then the guy would answer.
I’d be asked if he was telling the truth, and after the tenth time of his lies being found out, the guy directed his threats and glares toward me.
Bad move.
That only pissed off Raize more. But also Jake and Cavers didn’t take kindly to that so when the guy refused to answer, the guys got harsher in their punishment.
It was an hour into it, twenty minutes after I stopped watching what the guys did to him when he finally gave up. He confessed everything.
He’d been notified by someone in Marco’s command to watch the highway on a small chance we got through. ‘We’ consisted of whoever had kidnapped Marco Estrada’s sister. She was known as the Golden Goose to them, which Abram didn’t like when the guy started to explain the reason she was called the Golden Goose. I didn’t know what Abram did. This was at the time when I’d stopped watching, but I heard a tearing sound and then an animalistic scream ripped from the guy. It sounded especially worse than the other screams, which said a lot.
The guy went on to explain he hadn’t known it was The Scooper who’d kidnapped her. He babbled on saying, “If I’d known, I never would’ve taken the job. No one wants to tangle with The Scoope—”
“Shut up,” Raize growled.
A pause.
Then, from Jake, “How’d you know where to find us?”
He’d heard our location on the police scanner. “They were talking about a missing girl and they were on the lookout for your truck. I thought it was Estrada’s hermana, but it wasn’t. Wrong girl.”
Jesus. Lucky break for him. Or not, considering his circumstances.
“What were your instructions if you found us?”
“I was supposed to call it in.”
“Did you?”
He didn’t answer, which was a wrong answer.
Thud!
I tensed. Please stop lying.
He started moaning, but choked out, “I did, but man, we’re long gone. Estrada will never send men this far north.”
There was silence after that. A long silence.
The guy asked, “What are you going to do with me?”
Raize came over and touched my arm. “You can go inside.”
I nodded, suddenly exhausted. He brushed some of my hair back from my forehead and leaned in. I felt him give me a soft kiss to the forehead. “I’m sorry.”
I didn’t respond. I knew what he was apologizing for, and without responding, I left the garage.
It was dark when I stepped outside.
I realized I didn’t know when we’d arrived here, what time it was now, or even what day it was anymore.
Then, I stopped wondering. It didn’t matter in this life.
Going back into the house, the aroma of food was like culture shock after what I just left.
“I didn’t know how long everyone would be out there.”
More culture shock.
Raize’s sister was standing in the kitchen, an apron tied around her waist, her hair pulled up into a bun, and she was looking normal. She was speaking normal, too. No sobs. No hysterics. No nothing. Her eyes were so big, so dark. They were Raize’s eyes.
I blinked, jerking myself out of what dazed spell I was in and walked farther inside.
I stilled.
The table was set for six people.
Gus was laying on the floor, on his back, and his tail going back and forth. His tummy was exposed, his feet in the air.
I was guessing Verónica had just been rubbing his belly.
She smoothed a hand over her apron. “I—uh—I found some food in the cupboards. And that other man had brought some food from a gas station.” She waved to the coffee machine. “And that, too. I noticed you all enjoy drinking your coffee, or most of you. The big guy doesn’t as much. Clay doesn’t either, not that much.”
“Clay?”
She frowned at me. “Raize. You guys call him Raize.”
In the span of an hour, I knew of two other names Raize went by. His first name and The Scooper.
I didn’t know what to do with that information.
“Do you want to sit? I put it all together in a soup. There were crackers in the cupboard.”
Soup?
I couldn’t remember the last time I had soup, but I sat and she poured me a bowl, bringing it over to me. There were already crackers set out.
She poured herself a bowl, coming to sit across and down a few spaces from me. Her back wasn’t totally toward the doorway this way and she kept looking over her shoulder.
“They’ll be a while.”
Man. I had soup and a guy was being tortured thirty yards from here.
I didn’t know what to do with that information.
She moved to tuck some hair behind her ear, but it was all pulled up so her fingers finished the motion anyways before falling back to her bowl. She hunched over it, her head down.
“You’re fluent?”
She looked up. “I went to boarding school. Private tutors, too. And then when Raize came, he and I practiced both languages. He knew Spanish, but it was choppy. He got a lot better fast. I like to think I helped him.”
Right. The time he went down in search for his mother.
“I’m sorry about your mother.”
She didn’t look up, and she didn’t respond. She stirred her soup.
I stirred mine, too.
Then, fuck it. My stomach growled and I decided then and there not to let what happened in the garage get in the way of me eating. I needed to eat. Raize would be pissed if I didn’t so I forced that out of my mind, the smells, the sounds and I focused on where I was. Right here.
In this kitchen. Which was lovely smelling.
With Raize’s sister. Who had cooked for everyone and was so shy, I was having a hard time knowing how to react around her.
I tasted the soup. It was made of beans and vegetables. I was guessing both came out of cans since there’s no way there would’ve been fresh vegetables here or that the guys considered picking any up. It was delicious.
My stomach growled even louder.
Verónica heard and she looked up. “You guys eat a lot of fast food.”
“This is a novelty. Gracias.”
She gave me another shy smile. “De nada.”
We both ate in silence for a bit longer.
“You and my brother are close.” She lifted her head a bit higher, sitting up, and added, “I’ve never seen him like this.”
“Like what?”
I was suddenly desperate for anything she had to say about how her brother was when she knew him. I knew he wasn’t the same, but it was like a thirst was just teased and I realized I was dying for it now. My mouth was almost watering.
“He was,” she looked down again, but kept speaking, “hard. He talked to me, but that was it. He stayed away from our mother. He was quiet. He did his job, but I could tell that the other men didn’t want him there. They feared him. When Marco found out who Clay was, I’d never seen my brother like that. He killed everyone.”
My mouth dried.
I didn’t think she was talking about Marco.
“I missed him when he left, then I heard that he was alive. I was happy.”
“When they brought you from Mexico, you acted like you hated your brother. What changed?”
Her eyes jerked to mine, and she stared at me. “I love Marco, but I’ve always been scared of him. He’s never done anything to me except keep me away from everyone. Abraham was kind to me when he was around but then Marco started sending him away and for longer times. I’d lost hope until I heard the men talking about The Scooper and Abraham was sent off again. I knew something had changed. I didn’t know what. No one would tell me and one of the maids came up to me with a phone yesterday. She gave it to me and it was Abraham. He told me what happened, with my father, my mother. I knew it was Marco who killed them, and then Abram told me that Clay was coming for me. It wasn’t hate that I felt for Clay. It was guilt because I know that the maid who handed me that phone will die. Her entire family might die because she helped me.” She lowered her face again, her voice coming out in a whisper. “I cannot even think of her name right now because it tears at me.”
“I didn’t know about the girl,” a low, masculine voice from the doorway.
Raize stood there, a towel wrapped around one of his hands.
Verónica jumped up, scooting back her chair. She went to the kitchen. “Would you like a bowl of soup?”
His eyes went to me, but he shook his head to his sister. “I’m not hungry. Thank you, though.”
She nodded, her head going back down. She stepped back from the counter, one of her hands covering the other, hanging low.
“Where are the others?”
He answered me, “They’re coming in.” He said to his sister, “They’ll be starving, V. They’ll appreciate the food.”
Her eyes lifted and she gave him a small smile. It was a small beam, but it was something.
He went back to watching her in silence. And she was doing the same, but looking at the ground. She’d peek a look every now and then.
And yep, this was a family thing. I was seeing it now, but I also knew my man by now. I knew what he was covering under that towel, and I knew he needed me. So knowing all of that, I finished my soup, stood, gave it to Verónica with a thank you and a smile. She returned with another one of those beams I was quickly learning were hers.
I took Raize’s other hand.
“Come on,” I murmured, taking him upstairs and to the farthest bathroom.
Once inside, he saw that I had our bags brought up here. I say that like I had anything to do with it. I didn’t. But I’d walked through the hallway earlier and saw someone had brought our bags to this room, so this was ours. We weren’t on the main floor, but we had a patio and our own bathroom.
I wasn’t complaining.
The patio would give Raize his needed exit, but judging by the slump of his shoulders, I was guessing he wasn’t expecting anything to go down.
“The guy?”
He drew up short, giving me a look.
Right.
I wouldn’t ask anymore about him, so I went into the bathroom and turned the shower on.
Coming back, letting it warm, I took the towel off of his hand and winced. “These are fresh?”
“He tried to make a run for it.” Raize’s head lowered to my shoulder, resting his forehead there. “He went for Abram’s gun. I fought him.”
I pressed a hand to his forehead, lifting his head up so I could gaze directly into his eyes. “I’m sorry.”
He blinked. “For what?”
“For this being your family reunion.”
He touched my hip, pulling me closer to him. He started to pull me down onto him, but I held back.
“I was thinking of taking a shower?”
“I’m too tired for a shower.”
I stepped back, tugging at his hand. “Come on.” I pulled him up and he followed me inside. The steam was filling the room and there was no fan. I shouldn’t have, but I didn’t care that night. I shut the door, locking it, and then Raize’s lips were on mine.
Tired or not, we needed each other.
RAIZE
This woman.
I couldn’t get enough of her.
I was pumping into her from behind, holding her up against the shower wall and she was like ecstasy to me. One taste and I was hooked. I needed more, just more.
Just. Fucking. More.
She gasped, her neck arching. She reached back for me, one hand grabbed onto my shoulder. Her other hand was against the wall.
I sank right back inside, knowing that was home to me.
So tight. So greedy.
Mine.
“Raize!”
Her hands clamped down harder, her fingers sinking in. I’d feel her nails scraping soon.
I didn’t stop.
Jesus.
This feeling.
Being inside her.
It was the closest experience to heaven I’d ever get.
I moved my thumb down, rubbing her and needing her to come.
She always fought, wanting to come with me. No way.
Her first. Always.
But damn, I was close.
“Babe, you gotta come.”
She started to lift herself up.
I clamped down on her hips, holding her and I just moved with her, thrusting even deeper.
A low guttural moan came from her, and she froze for a second. “Holy—Raize!”
I moved my thumb over her clit, pushing, rubbing, caressing.
“Now.”
She was fighting it.
“Now.”
She exploded in my arms, and I held her through the waves until she had stopped trembling. After that, it was all me. Taking her from the shower, I moved her to the bathroom counter. Her legs were positioned. “Arms up.”
She snapped forward, pressing her palms against the mirror, and then I lined up.
I sank in, and bent over her, claiming her with every goddamn stroke inside of her.
I wanted her to feel me for the next month.
She started tensing again, and as I continued sliding in and out, she moaned again. “Raize.” Her eyes were closed and she was panting.
I repositioned, pulling her up. I wrapped one hand around her chest, anchoring her to me, and continued moving up into her as I slid my hand down her front and back to her clit.
She fell back, her head and entire body resting against me as I worked her over once more, and as she climaxed, I was shooting myself into her.
We got her on birth control, during a stop and I was thankful.
Bare was the only way I wanted her from now on. We both collapsed and I waited until my legs could move again before carrying her into the bedroom and lowering her down onto the bed.
“You okay?”
She groaned, stretching out and smiled up at me.
The best satiated smile I’d seen on her face.
She whispered, “Yeah. I’m good.”
I chuckled, but checked my phone.
The text stopped everything.
Unknown: We can meet now.
Unknown. Here. 2:30 am.
Unknown: image
“Raize?” Ash sat up, frowning. “What’s wrong?”
I checked the time.
1:34 am.
They sent a map of where to meet. We had a fifty-minute drive ahead of us.
I said, “We have to go.”
