Raw: The Ultimate Mc Collection Read Online Free PDF Page B

to the door and nodding as he opened it for me.
    “Of course, of course,” he said.  “Feel free to take a shower, if you’d like.  There’re fresh towels and everything in there.  Let me know if I can get you anything.”
    “Yes, okay, thank you, Ryder,” I said, smiling at him as best I could muster.
    I closed the door behind me and came to face to face with myself in the mirror.  Just like with my hands, and my body, it was familiar like only your own face can be, but it was covered in bruises.  My left eye was puffy, and I had a scratch on my right cheek and one on my neck.  But still, I could not put a name on the person standing in front of me.
    I knew what I looked like.  I could have drawn a picture of myself before I had looked in the mirror.  But why couldn’t I remember anything?  This was absurd, and I felt the panic begin to rise in me again.  
    Quickly, I peed, my mind racing.
    Something awful had happened to me, but what?  Was someone out there looking for me?  Did I have a family?  Who would want to beat me?  And why?  Luckily, there was no pain when I went to the bathroom, so hopefully I wasn’t raped.  I was thankful for that.  I felt okay, except for the slight pain around my eyes, and a whole lot of sore muscles, but by looking at me, you wouldn’t really even know anything was wrong.
    I looked like anybody.  And yet, somehow, I was nobody.
    Ryder’s words flowed through my head.  He was trying to comfort me, I knew that.  He seemed so kind and thoughtful, even if he looked a little intimidating.  I was thankful he had saved me from who knows what.  There’s no telling if I would even be alive if he hadn’t come along. 
    But that bit about everything being okay?  
    I wasn’t so sure about that.  I might not remember what happened, but something certainly didn’t feel right.  
    Whatever it was that I had forgotten, it was really bad.

    CHAPTER NINE
    Ryder

    When she came out of the bathroom, I was pacing the room like an angry lion, trying to come up with a solution, a way, any way, to figure out who she was.
    “Listen, I have a few ideas…” I said, as she slowly wandered around the room.  It was a bit of a shock seeing her upright, seeing her move around.  She had showered, her face scrubbed of the remnants of the makeup she had been wearing.  Her long, blonde hair hung in wet strands down her back. She looked fresh, young, healthy.  And so fucking beautiful, it almost hurt to look at her.
    I swallowed hard, and I realized I was having a hard time staring straight into those pale green eyes, and I wasn’t sure why.  Something about her unnerved me, and that never, ever happened to me.  I had nerves of steel, and I had ever since…well, since Julie.
    I had shut down afterwards - it was the only way I could survive the pain of it all.  And by shutting down, that meant nobody got under my skin.  Nobody.
    And yet, here she was.  This stranger that I had killed for.  This knock-out of a woman that had stumbled into my life and was now presenting me with the great mystery of all.  Who was she?
    “Yes?” she asked, her huge green eyes blinking at me.  Why did she trust me?  Why wasn't she running her perfect ass out the door?  Instead, she was looking at me like I must have all the answers.  But in reality, all I had was a long-shot.
    “I should have done this already, I guess.  But I never dreamed you’d be unconscious for so long, and then I certainly never imagined you wouldn’t know who you were when you woke up.  So, anyway…one of my brothers, his name is Riot, well, he’s got a knack for computer stuff, so I’m going to have him do some searching for missing persons, see if you show up at all, okay?  Unless you have a better idea?”
    “Riot?” she asked, that eyebrow arched again, and once again she winced in pain.
    “Yes. He’s a real gentleman, I think you’ll like him,” I replied, winking at her.
    “Oh, sure, okay. That’s