Chapter Two
Raya St Claire

My foot barely touched the rug we had in the living room when everyone, and I mean everyone, jumped out from their hiding spots behind the couch yelling ‘surprise’ in unison; it was no surprise that Bear’s yelling was the loudest. He was always fond of birthdays even though it wasn’t even his.

I look at all of them. If only they knew that I already knew what they planned, thanks to Bear who dropped the bomb on me in the bathroom.

It also would have been a surprise if I didn’t expect it, but the NC do this every single year and every year I have the same reaction written on my face; annoyance.

All the guys had a big grin on their face, including the twins who barely smiled.

I scan everyone’s hands and see black and dark purple balloons in them, and Storm had a decorated purple cake in his one hand and a balloon in the other.

“Wow! A surprise party. You shouldn’t have.” I say with as much enthusiasm I can possibly muster, but I failed miserably; the annoyance was clear in my tone.

They were fussing.

I knew they were going to fuss even though I threatened them not to.

Bear smiles apologetically when my eye catches his. “It’s your birthday, Ray.” He says. “It’s the only day we can actually fuss over you, so live a little.”

I shoot him a glare. It must have been the third one today. “I told you guys not to fuss over me.” I cross my arms over my chest. “It’s just another day for me and you guys know it.”

Bear throws his hand up in surrender and starts to walk toward me. “Tell us to not do something and we’ll do it just to spite you, Ray, and you know that.” 

“Please tell me that is not a gift.” I eye his right arm hidden behind his back.

Bear winks at me and takes out the hand that was hidden behind his back to reveal a small gift wrapped in black and purple wrapping paper.

Well, there goes my wish of owning my own sniper rifle.

Bear extends his hand before dropping the gift into my hand. “Just open it. You’ll like it, I promise.”

I sigh before I start to tear the gift paper. After a few tears, I finally take it off and throw it to the ground with the rest of the shredded gift wrapping paper.

I stare at the photograph in my hands, biting back a smile seeing all of the boys standing behind me like they were my personal body guards.

I, being the shortest one in the NC, was being towered by all of them.

The boys in the NC might be taller than me but I can still take them all down if I wanted to—even with my height.

Storm learned that part the hard way a few weeks after I joined the gang. I think he still has that small scar on his neck from my pocket knife when he tried to pull away from the knife, but he only ended up cutting himself in the process.

My gaze shifts from their faces on the photograph and I chuckle when it landed on Bear’s goofy face. He has always managed to make any photo memorable.

All of us looked so happy in the photograph, but I wasn’t happy that day although I tried so hard to be, and it had nothing to do with the fact that the club we were standing in front of got tore down by another gang a few weeks later.

“This is so sweet.” I look at all of them, including Bear in front of me. “Thank you all so much.” I say before placing the photograph down on the coffee table.

I couldn’t help the smile that suddenly appeared on my lips, but the gift was so close to my heart already that I just couldn’t hide the love I had for them all. I might not always show the affection most of them show me most of the time, but they knew how much they all meant to me and that was enough for them.

“Is our little Ray smiling? What do they call it? A little ray of sunshine, get it?” Storm teases and I shake my head at him.

Hell, the smile surprised me too.

The guys burst out laughing at Storm’s joke and I started to laugh too.

Bear was right; it was a day to be happy, but with my thoughts and nightmares haunting me every single day, I haven’t felt happy in a very long time because I felt guilty. I was celebrating my twenty third birthday while I wished that I could have celebrated my little brother’s sixteenth instead; his birthday would have been a week right after mine, but he can’t even celebrate his birthday.

“You’re welcome, Raya.” Archie says, smiling at me when I glanced at him. “Now, let’s eat some cake, shall we? I’ve been dying to taste what Storm’s been brewing in the kitchen the entire morning. Get it?”

Another set of laughs erupted all around and I found myself laughing with them.

I make my way towards the guys who lead the way to the dining room through the living room. The mansion was open-planned; the only thing separating the kitchen and the living room was an open archway and a small hall.

When we entered the dining room, the guys started to take their seats. Archie was at the head dining chair while I plop myself down right next to him. Bear always sits next to me, and the twins, along with Storm and Rossi, sat down across from us.

Once everyone was seated, Storm grabs a knife from the table and cuts into the cake. Seven slices of cake for each of us, with mine being a little bigger than the rest seeing that it was my birthday.

I thank Storm when he pushed the plate towards me.

I wasn’t going to lie, though, chocolate cake was my favourite. And to top it all off, it was decorated with the gang’s symbols: a skull with a spider resting on a web on top of the skull.

“Thank you.” I say again, this time looking between every single one of them. “I know I said that I didn’t like being fussed over, but this is just so kind and—” I couldn’t finish my sentence; I suddenly felt very emotional.

The NC became my family after mine was murdered, and even though I put up a front every time I’m in front of them to conceal my emotions, I would die for every single one of them; including Bear even though I hate him sometimes.

“It’s okay, Ray.” Archie says. He squeezes my arm and smiles at me. “Let’s just eat some cake before all of us start to cry.”

I nod, grabbing a fork from Bear’s extended hand.

I smile thankfully at Archie and dig into the delicious chocolate cake.

• • •

Everyone pushes their plates away from them and Storm rubs his stomach in circles, blowing out a huge breath out of his mouth. “I love cake,” he says, “but right now, the thought of eating cake ever again makes me sick to the stomach.”

The rest of the boys, including Archie, nods.

I get up from the dining chair and look at Storm. “Thank you, Storm.” I tell him with a sincere smile. “The cake was delicious, but I’m with you. I don’t want cake ever again.”

Storm flashes me a white-teethed smile. “You’re welcome, Ray.” He says and starts to gather all the plates and the cutlery before piling them onto each other.

Archie groans before he got up from his chair too.

“The jacket you’re wearing looks a little too tight on you, Arch.” I tease him.

Archie nudges me and chuckles.

I make my way to the living room and plop down on one of the two L-shaped couches, forming a near-perfect rectangle in the living room. I was seated so that the TV was in my peripheral vision and my feet were resting on the couch.

Bear enters the living room too and plops down onto the couch beside me. He lifts up my feet and places it on his lap. He then starts to rub my feet, massaging them to a point where my eyes started to roll back into my head at how good it felt. “I told you that today wasn’t going to be so bad.” He says, smiling at me.

“Yeah,” I say with my eyes closed as I enjoyed the foot massage, “it was nice.”

I open my eyes when he stopped massaging my feet and see that a grin was spread across his mouth.

“If you say anything about me being nice, I will pull out the gun I have stashed inside the cushions and shoot you in the leg.” I warn, seeing the grin he had on his face disappear in a matter of seconds, and his eyes spread wide like saucers.

“I always did wonder why the couch was uncomfortable some days.” He laughs.

“Where is everyone?” I ask, noticing that the house was very quiet. It was odd when the house was quiet when you were living with six guys; and usually there would be a fight somewhere and even an argument, but the house dead silent.

“Archie said he wanted to take care of something with Storm and the twins went to their rooms to finish that game they started last week. Rossi is probably asleep.” Bear says and I nod.

“It’s barely twelve and Rossi’s already tired.” I laugh.

“We both know that he loves his beauty sleep.”

Bear’s brown hair falls to his face.

I run my fingers through his hair, seeing his eyes dilate at the gesture. I think he was surprised that I did something like that after I threatened him like three times today already.

“I’m really glad you enjoyed today—” Bear’s words die in his throat when the sound of a door opening and closing echoed through the entire mansion.

Bear and I look at each other in unison.

We rarely had visitors, and if we did, they had the decency to at least knock.

Bear frowns and I quickly grab the gun I had stashed inside the cushions into my hand. Bear gets up from the couch after I did and takes the lead even though I was the one with the gun.

I had the gun but Bear still led the way.

We hide behind the wall separating the front of the mansion and the living room and hear the footsteps coming closer to where we were standing.

When the intruder passed through the archway, I press a gun to his head. The intruder stops dead in his tracks and lifts his hands up in surrender, very slowly.

“Who are you?” I ask, taking the time to observe the intruder.

He had black hair that was styled into a comb over, black pair of jeans with a leather jacket over a white tank top. His outfit was completed with thick-soled boots dirty from walking in the dirt. By the looks of his chiselled cheekbones, tattooed hands and tanned skin, I could tell that the intruder was in his twenties. He also had a duffel bag in his other hand, but I think he was too scared to put it down otherwise he would’ve already placed it on the floor.

“I’m the new—”

“Raya!” Archie’s voice booms behind me and I turn slightly to look at him. Bear backs down and started to walk on the opposite side of the intruder, ready to take him on if he tried something. “That’s no way to treat the new recruit.”

My breath hitches inside my throat but no one noticed it at least. “I’m sorry, what?” I ask, pressing the gun against the intruder’s head even harder.

“We don’t have a new recruit.”  Bear says, looking at Archie with confusion.

“We do now.” Archie says.