Free Vengeance Borne by Amanda Bonilla Page A

weren’t busy—and set the cup and his change in front of him.
    “When do you get off?” he asked.
    For the first time since she’d met him, Jacquelyn smiled.

Chapter 7
    THE THREE OF them whispered in his ear. Prodding him for weeks, urging him to take action against those who’d wronged him. At first, he was certain he’d gone crazy. His great uncle had been crazy, you know. Wandered around, muttering to himself, claiming to see things that weren’t there. His grandma called him “touched,” but that was just a polite way to say someone had lost their mind. As the voices became clearer, their presence more and more real, he knew that he wasn’t touched like his uncle. No, he was blessed. They spoke as one. Always as one. Which wasn’t nearly as strange as the fact that he couldn’t see them. But he felt their touch. A constant, sweet balm on his skin. Their hands never left him.
    “We can give you pleasure,” they murmured. “We can make you the object of her obsession. We can give you anything you crave if you unleash us. All you have to do is ask.”
    “No. You’ll hurt her.”
    “Why would we do that?” they cajoled. “If she is not your enemy, she is safe from our wrath.”
    “I—I don’t know.” They made him nervous. He didn’t know if he could trust something he wasn’t able to see. “I don’t think this is a very good idea.”
    The hands pulled away, and their hissing voices raised the hairs on his neck. “You want what is just beyond your reach. You crave what we can give you. We are the vengeance borne.”
    “No. I want you to leave. I want you to go away.”
    Their laughter came as through dusty-dry throats. “It’s too late for that. You called to us and we are yours until you give us purpose.”
    “If I do it… If I—give you purpose—then you’ll leave me?”
    “Of course,” the three replied. “Once we’ve tasted the flesh of your enemies.”
    He shut his eyes, the tighter the better. But he couldn’t banish the sensation of their invisible hands caressing him from head to toe, tousling his hair. An invisible hand stroked the inside of his thigh and he shuddered. He wished he were dead. The suspicion over the past weeks that he’d lost his grip on reality wore him down. If he told anyone, he’d be put away for sure. But they were as real to him as anything. The fact that he couldn’t see them didn’t matter. He could hear them just fine. And his body knew their lover’s touch. A blessing, yes, but a blessing he didn’t want for long. He was willing to do anything. Anything to get rid of them.
    Tears squeezed out from his tightly shut lids. “Fine. Do it. Take revenge for me. Give me what I want and then leave me alone.”
    Invisible lips took turns kissing his mouth. “Your enemies will taste our fury. Who is first?”
    He knew who he wanted it to be. But just to be safe he’d try it out, on someone less important. He whispered the name, barely audible, but they heard him and for the first time in months, left his side.

    Micah couldn’t take his eyes off her. He sat across from her in a booth at a local burger joint busy enough for him to assume it was a town favorite. To be honest, he didn’t even know the name, he’d been too wrapped up in his own thoughts when he arrived after Jax’s shift ended at seven. He was sure he looked like a dumbstruck idiot, but he just couldn’t help himself. She had a cute nose, a button nose. Her delicate features were small, but her strange pale eyes stood out like glistening emerald pools in the moonlight. He couldn’t help but laugh at his own foolishness.
    “What?”
    She watched him with a wary expression, like a coyote caught in a snare. He didn’t think it would take much for her to bare her teeth and attack if she felt truly threatened. And talk about direct…her question, it just hung in the air, almost an accusation and so lacking in trust. She was afraid of him. He could feel it somehow, just a trace of