Page 66 of Raven

I am slightly annoyed that I just caved in for the kid. But sending aid to a bunch of kids doesn’t hurt, right?

I tell Sonny that I will let him know what happens. I am about to pull away when he steps in front of my bike, twisting his little hands.

“Can I watch that camera?” he asks.

“I will show you what happens.”

“’S in the morning, right? The boat leaves with first light?”

Again, the kid is too smart for his own good.

“Yes,” I say curtly.

“Can I come to your house and watch it?”

No. I don’t need this kid stalking me at my own home.

“Or I can come to the cave where you go. By the beach.”

Seriously, he’s going to be a spy when he grows up.

“I’ll let you know,” I say and drive away before he asks me a hundred more questions.

He is another liability but also someone who knows way too many ways around this resort and the town. Naturally, I need to keep it under control.

I call my IT guy at the Center and connect Sonny’s Ayana bracelet to the tracker on my phone. The sensor in it registers heartbeat and goes into emergency mode when there is none—in case the shithead decides to be smart and leave the bracelet at home and then venture into another trip outside the resort. I check his bracelet activity history. He has limited credits loaded onto it. And he maxed out twice. I go through his shopping list, and it’s a no-brainer he is going over the top. All it takes is a swipe of the bracelet to purchase anything he wants anywhere he wants at Ayana. He purchased a dozen burgers on four different occasions. Now I know where that went. He purchased a bunch of T-shirts and the smallest sizes in shoes. I’m sure that went to his friends in town. And there is an ungodly amount of candy bought.

Clever, I have to admit. Besides food, he smuggles clothes to his friends. I want to be angry, but all I feel is empathy for the little dude who tries to help his friends in the most basic way he can.

My mood sinks. We thought we were doing a good thing by saving Sonny from the streets. Now we find out there are dozens like him, and as much as he is happy and smiling, he is silently hurting as he watches his friends struggle and tries to figure out with his kid’s mind how to spread the goodness.

I veer my bike past the medical center. It feels good to drive by, knowing she is inside. But something catches my attention.

I see Maddy with two guys, that big Eastsider, Guff, and fucking QiShan again. They stand by the medical center entrance. Guff has his arm around her shoulders and kisses her cheek as she happily laughs like she never does in front of me.

That’s when my mood goes from depressed to angry in two-point-five seconds.

This just won’t fucking do.

26

RAVEN

Anger is boiling inside me like tar. At the way she laughs with everyone and smiles at QiShan. The way Guff calls her, “Our Maddy,” and wraps his arms around her shoulders. And she leans into him, publicly, whereas she barely spares me a nod when I’m around. Like I’m her dirty little secret.

Right. We are a secret.

But I want to steal her from them. For the first time, I want something just for myself and so badly that I fantasize locking her up in my house and having my way with her.

I grit my teeth, considering violence. For a moment, I just stand there, rubbing my left thumb over my fingertips and the missing phalanges. I could “work” that guy QiShan and tell him that if I ever see him an inch too close to her, his body will wash ashore during the next tide. Guff is harmless, but I can make sure he doesn’t have fingers to touch Maddy the way he does.

But I need something else.

I need her to understand that there can’t be anyone but me.

And when the two guys leave and she goes back to the medical center, I park my Yamaha at the entrance and stomp inside.

The front desk girl opens her mouth in question, but I dismiss her with a flicker of my fingers and turn into the corridor and follow Maddy, who walks toward the end of it and turns into the bathroom right next to the guest lounge.

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