Octavia's War by Tracy Cooper-Posey Read Free Book Online Page B

us about how we felt about this trinity thing. You didn’t like that we didn’t resent it as you did. Is that because…well…you’re….”
    “What Ángel is trying to say with surprisingly delicacy is do you resent this because you’re the one female, between two men.” Remmy didn’t look back.
    Octavia hitched her backpack into a better position. “I hadn’t even thought of that,” she admitted. “It doesn’t bother me.” Quite the opposite , she mentally whispered.
    “What I was trying to say,” Ángel said heavily, “is that I understand why Remmy has no major objections to this—”
    “You do?” Octavia said, surprised. “Remmy, is that true? You don’t mind being bonded for life to two people you don’t know all that well, just because you kinda like both of them?”
    Remmy didn’t look around. “Your version of ‘for life’ is not the same as mine.”
    “And that’s something I didn’t think of,” Ángel muttered. “Even if we both live to a hundred, that’s still only about seventy-five years for you to wait us out. That’s probably nothing to you, right?”
    “I know some vampires who have lived for thousands of years,” Remmy said. “For them, seventy-five years is nothing. For me, it is still an investment in time, for which I have not yet lost my perspective. Why are you even discussing this? The trinity is inevitable.”
    “I want to know why Octavia resents it so,” Ángel said. “I would not take her unwillingly, not after the way my brother treated her.”
    Octavia sighed. “It’s not the same,” she said. “Your brother…no offense, Ángel…he was just the job. It happened to involve sex and not a lot of it. Your brother gets his jollies in other ways.”
    “You’re still unwilling,” Ángel pointed out.
    Not about the sex. She held her teeth together, stopping the words from escaping.
    “Ángel does have a point there,” Remmy said. For the first time he halted and turned back to look at them both. He wasn’t sweating. He didn’t look as though he was exerting himself at all. “It would ease my mind if you’d share the reasons for your resentment. I think I might already know, only confirm it for me and put Ángel out of his misery.”
    “You couldn’t possibly know,” Octavia told him. “No one knows.”
    “You think the FBI doesn’t know why you wanted to join the DEA?” Remmy said, his tone gentle.
    Octavia swallowed. “They told you?”
    “I asked.” Remmy gave her an apologetic smile. “Not until Severo took an interest in you and it became clear that you would have to play a sexual role with him. I wanted to know how strong your commitment was, you see. I wanted to know if you could handle the pressure of having to…perform. Otherwise, I would have gotten you the hell out of Mexico.”
    “Even though I could get real, verifiable information about the cartel? You still would have pulled me out?”
    “If you had one inch less backbone than you do, yes, I would have,” Remmy said flatly. “It was the Garcia cartel we were trying to bring down. They don’t kid around.” He glanced at Ángel. “I’m sorry, Ángel. This must be very surreal for you.”
    Ángel shrugged. “They stopped being my family years ago. I only wish I’d had the escape hatch you could have given Octavia. It would have saved me many years of…well, many years I will never get back.”
    Remmy was back to looking at Octavia. “Your sister, yes?”
    Octavia realized she was playing with the crucifix lying against her chest. “Yes.” Her throat had closed up and she could barely speak the word.
    “Sister?” Ángel said curiously.
    Octavia sighed. “My little sister. We live…we lived in New Mexico and she got in with the wrong people.”
    “Heroin, crystal meth and cocaine, if I remember correctly,” Remmy added.
    Octavia nodded. “Then, when she couldn’t keep up her job, she ran out of money and started running up debts with the gangs for her smack.