Darken (Siege #1) Page 2

  “I’ll back off on Lela, but Sinclair is another matter. You know the night terrors are his calling card.”

  There was little Gavin could do to forget the lingering effects of Dr. Sinclair and his sick experiments. Over the last fourteen years, there were moments he almost forgot what he and his brothers went through during their time locked in the SIEGE labs. Nothing, though, ever erased the horrific memories seared into his brain. Reality eventually returned along with the realization he’d never be normal.

  The night terrors were simply one way he was reminded. While they all suffered each in their own ways, the terrors were his alone. Sporadically since his release from the labs, they hit him. At first, he brushed them off, but then he began to recognize them as a warning that Sinclair was nearby.

  Sinclair and the SIEGE Corporation did so much shit to them, Gavin wouldn’t be surprised if they’d implanted something in his brain to drive him crazy.

  Gavin was aware of Noah’s narrowed eyes following him as he moved across the room, but his brother didn’t press.

  “Fine, I’ll leave it alone.” Noah shook his head. “I’m heading out. I’ve got a meeting with the rep from the packing plant. We’re hoping to sign on as a team sponsor for their baseball team.”

  “What, no training?”

  “Cora’s gonna set you up, show you where stuff is. She’ll be here until the end of your shift. I should be back by then.”

  “Cora.” The name sunk deep into Gavin’s belly and he fought the urge to puke.

  “She’s been working here the past couple of months. Day shift and morning clean up on Sundays. She’s in charge when Logan and I aren’t on site,” Noah said as he pulled off the towel slung over his shoulder.

  “As in Coraline Evans?”

  “Only Cora I know, and you can thank her for the job. She convinced me hiring you would be good for business. Something about your ugly mug bringing the ladies in a bit earlier, possibly convince them to stay a little longer.”

  It had been two years since Gavin last saw Coraline. She’d been in the hospital covered in blood and bruises with a half-dozen broken ribs from the accident. She’d also been comatose, but she’d been alive. That was more than he could say about her passenger.

  “This gonna be a problem?” Noah asked when Gavin didn’t respond to the ribbing.

  “No.” Gavin knew Noah wanted more reassurance, but it was all he could manage.

  “Good.” Noah looked down at his watch, and then grabbed up a ball of black material from the end of the counter. He threw it at Gavin who shook it out. It was a black shirt with neon orange lettering across the back spelling out Porter’s Pub. “Check in with me before your shift is done. I still need you to fill out some paperwork.”

  Gavin stared at the double doors long after they closed behind Noah. He heard Cora come in from the kitchen, aware that she waited for him to acknowledge her, but he wasn’t ready.

  Shit. If he’d known she worked here, he never would’ve taken the job. He could still bail. Living with his folks wouldn’t be as torturous as seeing her every day.

  “Gavin?”

  He cranked his head from side to side, producing satisfying cracking noises from his neck. She wasn’t going to disappear no matter how long he ignored her. He pivoted to glare at her.

  She looked different. Still tiny, but she’d ditched the short hair that once gave her a pixie appearance. Curly strands of blond hair fluttered against her cheeks, making her softer, more angelic. She’d always been pretty, but now she was hot in a way that begged him to fuck her.

  He mentally kicked his ass. It was Cora; one of Lela’s closest friends.

  “Why are you here, Coraline?”

  “I work here.” She gave a tight smile that vanished as he continued glaring.

  “Why are you here?” he repeated.

  “I needed a job, and your brothers were hiring.”

  “I suppose I should thank you for convincing Noah to give me the job.”

  “He would have given it to you anyway. One of the joys of nepotism, right?”

  “I thought you were working at some fancy art museum,” he said.

  “Yeah, well, life doesn’t always go the way you plan, right?”

  Gavin understood better than anyone the truth of that life lesson. A muscle in his jaw ticked as he glared at her.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so scruffy.” She gestured to her cheek.

  “I guess that’s what happens when you stop giving a shit about life.”

  “Gavin—”

  He slashed a hand through the air, cutting off whatever she was about to say.

  “Don’t try to justify what happened, Cora. You’re a pathetic drunk who should be rotting in prison for what you did. I’ll never forget you’re the reason Lela’s dead.”

  There was an awkward silence, and with each second passing by, he saw the guilt and sorrow move across her face. For a moment, he regretted laying the blame solely on her.

  Her face hardened, wiping away the effects of his spite-filled words. She flung a dishtowel at his head, smacking him right in the face, and he snatched it away, glaring daggers at her.

  “You need to grab the kegs and a CO2 canister from the store room. Then meet me in the kitchen and we’ll go over your daily prep work.” She spun on her heel and marched back through the swinging door to the staff area.

  Watching Cora stomp away, Gavin almost forgot why he hated her and let himself enjoy the way her cutoff shorts danced along the edge of her ass. Her long blond ponytail swung in time with her hips. When had cute little Cora turned into a walking wet dream?

  “You planning on doing any work today, stud, or are you gonna follow her in there and tap that ass?”

  Gavin’s head jerked around to glare at Keeley, a waitress and the bane of his brother Logan’s existence or, at least, the guy’s sex life.

  “Work,” he grunted. He tugged off his shirt and pulled on the one Noah gave him.

  “Damn, Cora was right,” she said. “You keep flashing that six pack of yours and the whole place will be flooded with the ladies all day. You’re gonna be so good for my bank account.”

  He snorted, and she laughed at his unimpressed expression.

  “Unless you plan on giving me a strip show and going full frontal, you may want to use the locker room.”

  She sauntered across the room leaving Gavin again wondering what the hell he’d gotten himself into. Between Keeley and Cora, he was destined to be in constant upheaval.

  Shaking his head, he went to the staff locker room, waving to the cook, Mateo, as he passed through the kitchen.

  Noah kept talking about dividing the change room to create two separate rooms, but that wouldn’t happen until the club started raking in some serious cash. It hadn’t been a problem until they’d hired the girls to work the floor. The complaints got loud enough that Logan put in folding dividers to split the space up.

  The locker room was empty and Gavin sank onto the short bench, rolling his shoulders. He’d only been on the clock ten minutes and already he felt done.

  How had he gotten so desperate he was slumming it bartending for his brothers?

  There was nothing wrong with bartending, but at twenty-five with a Ph.D. in computer engineering, he always thought he’d be doing something more important with his life.

  For a long time, he managed to do something good with the curse Sinclair made of his life, and then Lela died. He held himself together for a while, at least on the surface. As the months wore on, reality sucked away at the semblance of a life he’d built and making it to work day in and day out didn’t seem important as he accepted Lela was never coming back.

  The door swung open, and in walked Logan. Of his six siblings, he was closest to Logan or had been until the accident.

  “He’s alive,” Logan announced with over-the-top drama. Gavin glared, but before he could respond, Logan held up a hand. “Please spare me the obligatory ‘fuck you’.”r />
  “And miss out on the highlight of my day?”

  “I take it you talked to Cora.”

  Gavin turned and opened the only locker without a lock. He threw in his shirt and slammed it shut.

  “Fine,” Logan said. “Why don’t you tell me what the hell you’re doing here?”

  “I have a shift. Haven’t you heard? I’m your newest employee.”

  Logan grunted. “You know that’s not what I meant. You have a frigging Ph.D. and the mind of a genius. You should be using them for something other than mixing drinks. You should be working at some high-tech firm with Caleb.”

  “Says the guy who could make a killing in the octagon,” Gavin said, ignoring the reference to his only biological brother.

  “The difference is I might kill someone in a fight. You could be doing something good with what you’ve got.” Logan leaned against the door frame, crossing his arms.

  Neither of them wanted to discuss their unusual skills; why they scored off the IQ charts, why they thrived on three hours of sleep, or the heightened senses that for years left Noah struggling to function outside of the lab. Only Dean, their youngest brother, appeared to be normal.

  Neither of them wanted to face the fact that these were the least of what made them anything but normal. There were monsters hidden within them, creatures that craved the darkness Sinclair brought with him.

  “Dude? You still with me?” Logan snapped his fingers in front of Gavin’s face.

  “Screw off.” Gavin batted his brother’s hand away. “I’m not here for a heart to heart or a trip down memory lane.”

  “Great. Get your ass is gear. Your shift started ten minutes ago and you’re still in here sulking about Cora.”

  Gavin bit his tongue, barely containing the urge to lash out. He grabbed one of the bar aprons from the hook on the back of the door and stomped out to the storeroom.

  As if he wasn’t fucked up enough having to deal with Coraline, now they wanted him to think about Sinclair? What the fuck was he supposed to do about the guy anyways?

  As lead science officer for SIEGE Corporation, Sinclair had run the Posthuman Project. To the public, the SIEGE-controlled project conducted government-sanctioned experiments on humans seeking to create bio-enhanced soldiers. Whether Sinclair’s decision to use children as test subjects was also approved was debatable.

  Then shit hit the fan, and the Posthuman Project imploded. The threat of exposing national security secrets kept Sinclair and the others from being prosecuted, and everyone from the top down denied knowing about Sinclair’s use of Gavin and the five other boys as lab rats.

  SIEGE Corporation funneled millions into damage control and reparations, even ensuring they were adopted into the same family. Yet normal life with the Walkers did nothing to repair the genetic mutations left by the experiments, and as much as Gavin wanted to brush off the nightmares haunting him, he knew better.

  Putting Sinclair in the past wouldn’t be possible until the man was dead and to make that happen they had to find him first.

  Sinclair was out there and he was close.

  Chapter Two

  CORA PUSHED THROUGH THE door hard enough it smashed against the interior wall before rushing back toward her. She slipped through the narrowing gap with a little sashay to the side. Mateo glanced at her when she drew in a shuddering breath.

  “You okay, Cora?” Mateo paused in the midst of flipping a burger patty.

  “Yeah,” she managed to say around what almost became a sob. Lips pressed together, she turned from his curious eyes and placed her hands on the stainless steel counter, head hung.

  Her mind echoed with Gavin’s question. What was she doing here?

  The question didn’t surprise Cora. Noah and Logan asked the same thing when she came begging for a job, and in all honesty, she wasn’t sure. She didn’t belong in a place like this. This was not how she thought her life would turn out.

  Growing up, she dreamed of living in Paris or Athens where she’d spend her days painting in the garden of her gorgeous estate. The older she got, the more realistic her dreams became, and working in the restoration department of a Denver museum was enough.

  Up until six months ago, she’d been busy helping prep for a new exhibit. Now, she was waitressing in a slightly less than reputable bar in the middle of Montana surrounded by constant reminders of Gavin. Serving platters of nachos and beer wasn’t just a step back, it was a complete fail in life.

  Yet, she couldn’t be sorry that she was there. She needed to be there.

  Her brother accused her of having a martyr complex. Darren was convinced her willingness to take any and all punishments regardless of if she deserved them stemmed from years under their parents' thumbs. It was an explanation she couldn’t help but give a slight bit of credence to.

  She knew what coming to Thompson Creek and facing Gavin would be like. She saw it in his brown eyes, the way they drilled into her as if he saw every dark secret she hid. Along with that knowledge was the accusation. It’s what had kept her from her best friend’s funeral and ended her fragile friendship with Gavin. Logically, Cora understood he blamed her because he needed someone to blame, yet she also couldn’t deny it.

  If she hadn’t flipped off the guy who nearly rammed them, he might not have flown into a rage. He might not have followed them and forced them off the bridge into the river.

  When shit hit the fan, she’d been too drunk to save Lela. If she hadn’t downed that one last shot, Lela might still be alive.

  Taking a long deep breath, she steadied her resolution. Gavin was right. Lela died because of her, but if he thought she’d bail on her job, he was in for a massive surprise.

  No way could she tell him the real reason she took the job at the pub; he’d never believe her if she did. She wasn’t even sure she believed it herself.

  Gavin passed through the kitchen, and she let her eyes follow him. He took powerful strides with his long legs, and his shirt clung to his muscular chest. Gavin was no longer the boy she met back in high school.

  Forcing herself to concentrate on what needed to be done, she loaded cutlery into a bin and placed a pile of napkins on top. She carried it out to Keeley, dropping the bin on the counter beside the till where the other woman stood counting the float.

  “Someone piss in your porridge?” Keeley arched a brow.

  “I think you mean cornflakes.” The corner of Cora’s lips turned up.

  “Whatever.” Keeley shrugged. “So, what’s your problem?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Uh huh, and does nothing stand over six feet tall with an ass begging you to test its thrusting power?”

  “Oh, my God. No!” Cora swatted Keeley’s arm, blood rushing to her cheeks as her friend laughed. “Now, can we talk about something other than Gavin?”

  “Girl, I was talking about Logan but now we know where your head is at. I’m not gonna need to put a leash on you to hold you back, am I? Though, I don’t think that would help much; I get the impression the Walker boys are all into that kind of thing.”

  She started to protest but clamped her lips shut. Anything she said would only feed into Keeley’s wickedly-dirty sense of humor.

  A wise decision, since Gavin chose that moment to strut back into the bar, a soda canister and keg slung over each shoulder. She studied him as he placed the containers on the ground and started hooking them up. He was so different than when they first met ten years before.

  Physically, he’d filled out, transforming from a tall, lanky teen to an Adonis. Lean muscles, a solid scruffy jaw and yes, nice ass, made it impossible to mistake him for anything but a man.

  Yet the sorrow he carried in his eyes marked the greatest change as it dimmed the intensity that once drew her to him. He’d always thrown himself so completely into the aspects of his life he considered important. When Lela died, he crumbled.

  “Cora.”

  She jumped at Logan’s voice behind her and fumbled with the forks she held,
hoping he hadn’t noticed her watching Gavin.

  “Hey, what’s up?”

  “Just checking in.” Though he spoke to her, his gaze followed Keeley as she walked over to unlock the front door, then he shook his head and glanced at Cora.

  “We’re expecting a big group from TanTech at happy hour. I told Merrick we’d hold the two end tables.”

  “That’s Keeley’s section.”

  “Well, pass the message,” he said even as Keeley made her way back to them. “I’ll see you tonight.”

  He disappeared into the staff area, nodding curtly at the flirty smile Keeley gave him.

  “Tonight?” Keeley looked at Cora. “Are you poaching?”

  “No,” Cora denied, rolling her eyes. “He’s training me to do receiving and purchase orders.”

  “Well, good,” she said and cracked a smile. “I’m meeting Sky for dinner, want to join us?”

  Sky was the only Walker sister. Cora got along with her but they never really hung out, mainly due to the five-year age gap.

  “Yeah, sure.”

  She finished the cutlery, pushing aside the bin, and then went back to the fridge to grab a bowl of lemons for drink garnish. Gavin was clearing the spray nozzle when she came back, carrying the bowl along with a cutting board and knife. She dropped the items on the workspace beside him and pulled a lemon from the bowl, tossing the fruit in the air for him to catch.

  “Cut,” she ordered.

  “Can’t Mateo do this?” Gavin called after her as she headed toward the staff area.

  “He could.” She glanced over her shoulder at him. “Except it’s not his job to prep your bar. Start cutting. Celery and limes are coming next.”

  His eyes narrowed, and her chin lifted in challenge. Backing down would only fuel his belief he controlled things between them.

  “Fine,” he said. “My bar, my job. I’ll get it.”

  Cora trailed him through the kitchen to the walk-in fridge and watched as he searched the shelves for celery. Eventually, he gave up and looked at her.