Page 8 of Gambling with Time

She nodded. "They might know what happened to our memories."

"Okay. How do we get there?"

"We need Bellamy." I pulled out my phone. At least he still had his. I sent a quick text that he read immediately but didn't respond. "He was going to get Lex."

At his name, Samantha seemed to hold her breath. I wasn't sure if she had any memories of him yet. She could since she was in his club, and she came here on her own all the time, even before us. And if being in places you knew brought back lost memories, this was a mind field for her.

I glanced back down at my phone, and the bubbles popped up and disappeared as he replied. "He said he'll be here soon. The mage went out, so no one was watching them. But Lex doesn't seem to remember anything."

"Once we are together, he will," Samantha replied. She moved forward and tugged Raiden with her. Picking up my drink, she took a sip. "Just soda."

"Yeah," I replied. "Drinking right now would probably be a bad idea."

She smiled. "True."

Raiden crowded behind her, his hands going around her waist as he dropped his head to her neck, nuzzling her. Driven by his beast, most likely. I typed out a quick text, hurry. If they took too long, our dragon would be preoccupied.

"Rai, you seriously don't remember me?" Tyler asked, and his friend looked up at him with hooded eyes. He was almost lost to his primal needs.

"Pieces are there. I don't know why, but I feel like we are around a lot of fire."

"Yeah, firefighters. Speaking of, the boss man is pissed. You will have some serious explaining to do if you are keeping your job."

Raiden lifted his shoulders in a half-shrug, dragging Samantha's shirt up over her stomach. His darker fingers splayed wide on her bare skin, and I could tell she welcomed the advances. But as her eyes met mine, some sort of emotion flashed in their depths, and she stepped away from him. Toward me. She ran her fingers over my cheek, like before.

"Thank you, Alastor. Us remembering wouldn't have happened without your help."

I pressed my hand over hers, holding her touch to me. It felt platonic, and it made my chest constrict. What if once she remembered, she didn't want me? What if none of them did? They would know I ran. I curled my fingers over hers and squeezed them gently. She moved forward, her other hand laid on my chest. Then she brushed her whole body against me as she went up on her tippy toes and pressed her lips to mine. Not even Raiden's warning growl could pull me away from her, and I gathered her up in my arms, deepening the kiss.

It was like before, the zip of awareness, the building of pressure in my heart. We belonged together. All of us. I wouldn't worry about what would happen once they all remembered. I would do this for us.

"Alastor, Rai looks kinda pissed, and there is smoke coming from his nose," Tyler said, breaking us apart.

Samantha turned in my arms to look at Raiden. Her back to my front, she beckoned the dragon closer. "Rai, I know you have memories of sharing because I have them."

"I also have memories of not sharing," he growled as he crowded her against me. His gaze met mine for a moment before he crashed his lips to hers. "I don't think I'm the type to share," he added, as he ended the kiss as abruptly as it began.

CHAPTER 6

Samantha

It was all foreign to me, but everything felt real. Contradictory thoughts pulled me in each direction, but with them, giving in to what I wanted felt right. It wasn't like my hook-ups; the underlying emotion each time I touched Alastor or Raiden was irrefutable.

So, I was going to chase this until the end. There weren't a lot of things in life that were worth grabbing hold of and not letting go, but if I had allowed myself to fall in love not once, or twice, but four times, that meant a huge part of my memories were missing. And I needed them all back.

Detaching myself from Rai's arms, I excused myself. As if on autopilot, I headed for the bar, I could picture the room empty, only myself and one other person here. His reddish hair and tidy beard had shone beneath the lights around the bar as he cut up lemons and limes. It felt comfortable, the memory like he was an accepted part of my life. My fingers absently ran over the wooden surface as the clubgoers partied around me. Then a bartender that wasn't him stopped in front of me. The man was beautiful in his own way. His braids hung to his shoulders, and his dark skin gleamed in the low light, and his dark eyes were soulful, but he did nothing to my stomach. No butterflies or anything.

"Sam, what can I get you?" He quirked his eyebrow as if it wasn't the first time he had asked.

"Uh, the usual?" my voice trailed off in question, and he chuckled.

"One Coke with Grenadine coming up." He flipped a tall glass over and poured soda into it, followed by the cherry syrup and a sword stabbed cherry on top. He slid it across the surface to me with a wink. "I'll put it on the tab."

"I have a tab?"

"Only the one called Lex will have my ass if I charge his girl for a drink."

"Lex is my boyfriend and the boss." It came out like a statement, but it was a question.

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