I Remember Love

Over the next few days Rayven kept her distance from Hunter. It was hard but it was necessary. She knew better than Hunter that it was necessary for all ties from her old life to die. Otherwise it would be too easy to trace her, the chance of Hunter so easily replacing the woman those men had seen her with wasn't a likelihood at all. It was too suspicious. There was no way he would just pick up another woman so soon after his disappeared. At least not in her mind. It was better to just lay low.

There was also the matter of Charlie. She hadn't seen him since her abduction. He was the only other person who knew that Luke was just another one of her aliases. She would have to avoid him as well. This narrowed her friendships down to one person, Cage. It made sense. He was taught to train her, he knew her altered identity and he wasn't someone who had been overtly close to Luke or Lia, in fact neither of them had really spoken outside training. So it made sense that she would veer toward him, he would keep Hunter updated and at the same time keep Hunter and Charlie out of the line of fire. It was a risky gamble, and would put him in the cross hairs, but she had to do it.

He was the only one that made sense, a high profile assassin like Rayven wouldn't waste her time on the lowlifes in the club. They hadn't been worthy of Luke, how could they possibly measure up to Rayven.

In the meantime, while she avoided Hunter and Charlie, she began to gradually gravitate toward Cage. She just hoped Hunter wouldn't hate her for it.

It was one of these days while she was hanging out over by the office, Cage at her side that she noticed Charlie walked in. Silently, she thanked god for her make up, underneath that tan she had turned white. Calming herself she nodded in his direction, whispering to Cage with a mildly contained sense of aversion as she did, "Whose this punk? What's his problem?"

Cage looked over at her and couldn't help but hide his sense of pride in her acting, she was right into her role and smirked. "That is Charlie, he used to be friends with that punk we got rid of last week. One of his casualties."

Rayven smirked, the expression cold and aloof, "What kind of man allows himself to get caught up in something like that? He made himself a target if you ask me.." She intentionally allowed the sentence to fall off as Charlie climbed the stairs to Hunter's office. Judging by the look on his face, this would not be good.

Charlie took one glance at the new girl and shook his head. The Soldiers were allowing anyone in it seemed. He completely ignored her until he seen Cage at her side and lifted a brow. Since when did Cage have a woman?

Rayven smirked noticing Charlie's line of sight and reached over so that her chin was resting on Cage's shoulder. "Isn't that cute. The little one is jealous I think Cage" she taunted. Cage narrowed his eyes a little but shrugged it off. He would talk to her about this display later. His biggest worry was that Hunter would see, Charlie was a small fry in comparison.

Charlie shook his head and stormed into Hunter's office, slamming the door behind him.

"Hunter!!" he yelled, loud enough that it drew the attention of everyone in the club, in spite of the closed door. "Just what the actual f*ck did you do! Where the f*ck is Luke, you better tell me now!"

Hunter stood there sizing the man up as he did. He had two options he could tell him the truth, or he could tell him the lie. He opted instead for the grey area, the middle between the two options. Pretending to ignore the question he pulled out a folder and cleared his throat. The pretext was obvious, anyone watching would assume he was being given an assignment. In the meantime, he flipped the folder back to him and merely said "I did what I had to do, to protect the club". On the paper in front him Luke could clearly read three words 'She is safe'. It was all Charlie needed to know, and while Luke stared blankly at the paper Hunter rose from his seat and carried on the charade.

"Luke was a loose cannon. He endangered your life, and he endangered members of the club. He challenged my authority and was drawing too much attention. So I took care of him, you got a problem with that?"

Charlie wasn't dumb. Lia had pretended to be Luke to avoid suspicion. She had been caught. Using the paper and Hunter's words he put two and two together and did the only thing he could do, he played along. In the meantime, he could only hope that he would be able to see her again once all the shit blew over.

"What do you mean you did what you had to do!! What did you do Hunter you better tell me, right f*cking now!!" Charlie began to vent his anger and frustration on Hunter and knocked the papers to the floor in a fit of rage. "Luke was my kid brother, you had no right! He was my family!!"

Hunter immediately rose from his desk and shoved Charlie hard against the door. Towering over him. As he did, he could see out of the corner of his eye, Rayven, who stood a little too closely to Cage and suddenly his anger was real. "What the f*ck did you want me to do? He was a liability. You know better than anyone else how dangerous he was. He almost got you killed!" and with that he stormed back to his desk and dropped into his seat. "You have your assignment. Get it done and report back to me!"

With that the documents which had been on his desk for Charlie to see were ripped into pieces. Charlie shook off his anger and with an air of frustration punched the wall in Hunters office as he left.

Moments after Charlie left Hunter dropped the papers into his trash bin and lit a match. Originally he had wanted to leave Charlie in the dark, but it was just too cruel. At least now he wouldn't fly off the handle and start looking for her, at least he hoped not. While the papers in the basket burned down to nothing Hunter watched, warring with himself inside before finally summoning Cage into his office.

Having heard his name called Cage blanched, looking at his companion with a sigh. "Give us a few eh?" he mumbled before heading into the warzone that was slowly becoming Hunter's office. He had known Hunter for years, and he knew that tone. Hunter was pissed, and not just a little bit.

"Boss?" he queried as he pulled the door shut behind him. "Whats up?"

Hunter glared at the man across from him, it hurt to hold him under suspicion but he had to know. "What are you doing? She's a babysitting assignment not a booty call! What do you think Ren would say knowing that you are cozying up to his favored hitman?" He glared at him. It was a pretext, but only in part. She had been blowing him off for weeks now and then without warning she seemed to be warming up to his best friend. A part of him knew was an act, it had to be, but another part of him couldn't help but resent it. Even if it was an act, he had to admit he was jealous. She was his woman, it made his stomach flip just thinking of another man touching her, let alone his best friend.

Cage was watching the tension coil up inside Hunter with a sigh. Clearing his throat he spoke quietly, almost timidly, as he really hated being held under suspicion by his best friend. "It's not what you think. We're just comrades, nothing more." Cage was doing his best to keep his tone level, truth be told he had no idea what that little mischief maker was thinking, but if he knew her, which was absolutely sure he did, she had a valid reason for it. He didn't dare say anything more than that.

Hunter narrowed his eyes, staring him down. "Yeah?! Does she know that? Relations are absolutely not permitted. It gets in the way of business you know that better than anyone!!" The words were a barely concealed threat in spite of the pretext, in fact you had to be an idiot not to miss it.

In spite of himself, Cage couldn't help but find the humor in this. He had never before in all their years in or outside of service together seen Hunter become so upset over a girl. He pinched the space between his brows to hide the twitch of his lips. The message was clear and he couldn't help if Hunter himself had noticed it. He was staking a claim. Lia was his, no matter what her identity or appearance.

"I hear ya" he said, "loud and clear!" with that, he turned and left. Once outside he couldn;t help but spare a glance at the purple haired beauty to his left, for the first time in his many years since knowing Hunter, he was tempted to mess with him. Especially if it would help disguise their new obtained rookie, smirking to himself silently he left the club.

Things were about to get interesting.