Reaper: Devil's Mayhem MC Romance

by Mary Potter

  I sigh gustily. What the hell has Kyra done now?

  “Emma, it’s fine,” I try. “Mandy is with the two of you, and she’ll protect your mother.”

  “Oh.” Emma is silent for a moment. “I guess that’s okay, then. I just thought it was weird that she and Mom would leave.”

  Wait. What?

  “Leave?” I demand. “They left?”

  “Mom said she was going somewhere with Mandy, and I saw them leave on a bike like yours,” Emma reports. “She said she’d be back soon, but it’s been half an hour now. She’s okay, right?”

  “I’m sure she is,” I reply automatically. “Go back to what you were doing. I’ll figure out where she’s gone.”

  “Thanks, Reaper!”

  I listen to the dial tone beeping in my ear for a moment, looking sightlessly at the half-finished message I typed to Viper. Then I clear it and call him again.

  “Reaper?” Viper asks in confusion, picking up on the first ring.

  “Fury’s fucking sister took Kyra out of the house,” I growl.

  “What? Fury! Your sister is an idiot!”

  I hear yelling in the background. No doubt, Fury is offended at the assessment. I don’t care. It’s fair. I don’t know why the hell Mandy took Kyra from the house, but I’m going to have words with her when we catch up with them.

  “Where do you think they went?” Viper asks.

  That was easy. There was only one place Kyra would want to go.

  “Night Pleasures,” I growl. “Kyra will be trying to figure out what happened to Jessica last night.”

  Viper curses. I know the feeling. I should have known she would pull something shitty like this.

  “You have to keep planning,” I command. “I’m going to go and drag her back. Both of them.”

  Viper laughs. “Keep us informed,” he replies and hangs up.

  I tighten my grip on my phone, glaring at the wall. Both Kyra and Mandy are in deep shit when I catch up to them.

  Chapter Sixteen: Reaper

  By the time I reach Night Pleasures, only some of my anger has abated. I’m furious at Mandy, in particular, who was supposed to keep Kyra and her family safe, not aid her in doing something stupid. And I’m angry at Kyra. She has to know that she’s putting herself in danger.

  I skid to a stop outside the club and lock the bike. Then I stalk toward the door. It’s still light out, which means it’s far too early for many of the regulars to be here. All the police cars from the night before are gone, too, though there’s a handful of officers still hanging around.

  They do nothing more than shoot me a glance as I make my way to the building. One of the officers takes a long look at my jacket before looking away. Devil’s Mayhem members don’t have a bad reputation with the police right now, so there’s no reason for any of them to do anything.

  The club is quiet when I enter. None of the girls are around, music is playing softly from the speakers, and there are only two customers drowning their sorrows at the bar. The bartender, unfortunately, isn’t someone I recognize, but I still make my way toward him.

  “What can I do for you?” he asks as I approach.

  He’s taller and broader than Rick, looking more like a bouncer than anything else. The glasses look fragile in his huge hands. He’s almost as tall as I am, and he looks me in the eye, unintimidated by my rough appearance.

  “I’m looking for Kyra,” I reply bluntly. “She should have come by.”

  “What the hell do you want with her?” the man asks. His eyes narrow, and he pauses his cleaning the glass in his hand.

  “She’s in danger, and I’ve been protecting her,” I scoff. “But the idiot is trying to investigate on her own. We were here last night. Rick warned us away from Jessica.”

  Something in the man’s expression changes. He carefully puts the glass down and glances at the two customers. They both have a full drink, and neither seems inclined to pay attention to anything outside of their own musings.

  “Come back here,” he says abruptly, pulling up a gate for me to step through.

  It seems like the bartenders in this place know a lot more than anyone gave them credit for. I step forward, confident in my ability to defend myself if anything happens, and follow him into a back room. It’s small and cozy, though it smells slightly on cigarette ash.

  “I’m Simon,” the bartender says, making his way to the small bar in the corner and taking out two bottles. “Want one?”

  “Just one,” I reply, taking it. “Thanks.”

  Simon leans against the wall, looking at me intently.

  “Jessica was bad news,” he declares suddenly. “She was no friend of any of the workers here. She weeded out those that made the most money and excused them every time they went missing. Sometimes it was the truth. Other times, she was setting them up to be taken.”

  “How do you know this?” I ask suspiciously.

  “In my line of work, you hear things,” Simon snorts. “Rick was trying his best to help, and I did my part by warning some of them, but there was only so much we could do if we didn’t want to end up like Jessica.” He pauses. “I have a three-year-old. I know what will happen if I talk.”

  I feel a stab of pity for the man. When he got this job, he was only looking to make money to support his family. Instead, he’s ended up in the middle of something far bigger than any of us.

  “Do you know where the girls were taken?” I ask.

  “There were rumors,” Simon replies, shaking his head. “No one knew for sure. We all thought someone on the outside was running the show.”

  “Chains,” I guess.

  “No.” That’s a surprise. Seeing my confusion at his abrupt dismissal, Simon shrugs. “Chains is an idiot. He doesn’t have the brains to cook up something like this. He isn’t the real bad guy here.”

  Something filters through into my mind, something Kyra had told me.

  “He was there the night I got kidnapped. I couldn’t remember his name earlier, but when you said it, I recognized it. He’s the one that decided I needed to use my talents somewhere else. From what they were saying, he and Chains have been working together, and Chains provides the resources for Griffin to do whatever he’s doing.”

  I hadn’t forgotten, but to be honest, I’ve been focusing so much on Chains that I’d put all thoughts of Griffin on the backburner. I wish I hadn’t. If I’d had these suspicions before now, I would have smashed his teeth in when I was face to face with him.

  “Richard Griffin,” I say softly.

  “Bingo.” Simon grimaces. “Well, yes, and no.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Simon takes a long drag of his drink.

  “There’s a team,” he finally continues slowly. “Griffin and Chains are part of it. So was Jessica. But there weren’t many within the club that were part of it. This is a big operation; more people had to be involved in it. I know Chains had a few on his side. Old color companions, he called them. Not that I know what that means.”

  I freeze because I do know what that means. Flying with colors means to be under the same flag as everyone else, such as everyone currently in Devil's Mayhem. If what Chains had said is true, then that means he had someone connected to me helping him with this. It explains a lot. After all, no one had been surprised to see me last night, which means they already knew I was involved. Someone told them.

  This is going from bad to worse. I don’t have time to weed out those who have betrayed me. There’s too much going on.

  “On top of that, there was a woman that liked to hang around,” Simon continues, oblivious to my crisis. “She showed up, making friends with the girls. She was really friendly, helping them out, laughing with them. She always wore a hood, but the girls didn’t seem to care. But…” He hesitates. “I saw her take one of them one night. Chains asked her when she was ditching the color to run with him.”

  I feel sick. One of the old ladies or perhaps one of the women that any of the other members
were married to or dating was involved in this.

  “Fuck,” I curse, running a hand through my hair.

  How has this happened behind my back? I should have been more aware than this. I knew there would be problems. I just hadn’t thought it would be so large. Suddenly, though, it occurs to me that Simon never answered the very first question I asked when I entered.

  “Where is Kyra, anyway?” I ask suspiciously.

  Simon shrugs.

  “No idea,” he snorts. “She hasn’t been here.”

  Something clenches in my stomach.

  “Right,” I say. “Look, it’d be best if you and everyone else clears out of here. We’re taking this place down.”

  “Good,” Simon replies, eyes burning.

  I give the man my number, just in case there is an emergency while he is getting everyone out, and head back to my bike. There’s only one officer around now, and he’s sitting on his phone, oblivious to the rest of the world. I open my own phone.

  “Fury,” I say when it picks up. “Where is your fucking sister?”

  “How the hell should I know?” Fury demands. “I thought Viper said you were going to meet them at the club.”

  “That was the plan,” I grit out. “Except they aren’t here.”

  There’s silence for a moment.

  “Fuck,” Fury replies. “I’m on it, man. I’ll try to call her.”

  He hangs up. As soon as he’s gone, I dial another number.

  “Hello?” Carla’s voice makes my gut clench. It wasn’t long ago that I promised her and Emma that Kyra would be safe. I’ve failed already.

  “It’s me,” I reply. “I need to speak to Emma.”

  “She said you’d call,” Carla sighs. “Here she is.”

  “Reaper?” Emma pipes up when the phone exchanges hands.

  “Kid, we need to talk about something serious,” I say to her, trying to sound as gentle as possible. “Why were you worried about your mom when you called me?”

  “Um, she’s not supposed to leave the house, right?” Emma asks. “Because there are bad guys out there.”

  “Yes.” I draw in a deep breath, trying to maintain patience. “Yes, she is. But you sounded very worried. Did something else happen?”

  I hear her shifting. Bullseye.

  “If something happened, I need to know,” I continue, trying to sound stern. “So that I can find your mom.”

  “Oh,” Emma replies in a small voice. “Um, well, I didn’t mean to, but I listened to Mandy on the phone.”

  I frown. Mandy? What does this have to do with her?

  “It was before she and Mom went to talk in the kitchen,” Emma added. “She said she and Mom would be there soon.”

  I’m starting to feel uneasy. The pieces are all right there, but I don’t want to put them together.

  “Be where?” I ask.

  “To meet somewhere out of town,” Emma says. “She said she was going to go west with Mom. That’s why I was worried. Mom said she was just going out with Mandy for a little while. That’s weird, right?”

  “A little,” I agree.

  My head is spinning. I know what this means, but I have to hold it together. I can’t freak out while I’m talking to a ten-year-old, especially one that is already frightened for her mother’s safety.

  “Thank you for telling me,” I add after I take a deep breath. “Can I talk to Carla again?”

  Emma agrees readily and passes the phone over.

  “Is everyone alright?” Carla asks warily.

  “No,” I say bluntly. “Make sure you and Emma don’t go anywhere. Check that all the doors are locked, and don’t let anyone other than me inside, even if they tell you that I sent them. If Mandy returns, call me immediately. She’s taken Kyra somewhere. I think I’ve made a mistake trusting her.”

  There’s a sharp intake of breath.

  “Right,” Carla replies, her voice wobbly. “We’ll do that. Let us know what happens, please.”

  “I will.”

  I hang up.

  I’ve been betrayed. Mandy, the last person that I thought would be against us, has betrayed me, the Devil's Mayhem, and her brother. Fury is going to be devastated when he finds out. But that’s not the issue right now. The issue is that Mandy has taken Kyra to the fucking desert for some unknown purpose.

  Shit. This has just gone from bad to worse. At least I know the number of Fury’s bike, which Mandy appears to have taken. I throw my leg over my own bike and let it roar to life beneath me. If we move quickly, I can get Thor to track Mandy.

  Hopefully, we aren’t too late.

  Chapter Seventeen: Kyra

  When we stop, I look around, frowning.

  “Where are we going?” I ask.

  “Some of the girls want to help out,” Mandy explains. “We’ve decided on a meeting place so that we can storm Night Pleasures and figure out what happened. It had to be far away, where Reaper can’t find us.”

  I feel another pang at Reaper’s name. Some of my anger has passed now, leaving me feeling tired and guilty. I don’t know Reaper, but I also don’t know Mandy. It wasn’t right to believe her outright because I was sour about being left out.

  Now I’ve ended up at a tiny gas station. The only thing preventing me from calling a cab to take me back to Emma is that Reaper at least trusts Mandy with my safety. She might be a bitch, but she’s trying to help.

  “Look, Mandy. Maybe this isn’t a good idea,” I tell her with a sigh. “It sounded great before, but shouldn’t we all work together on this?”

  “Fine,” Mandy snorts, rolling her eyes. “You go tell Reaper that. See what he says about it.”

  I scowl. We both know what he’ll say. There’s a reason he tried to push me away from the investigation, after all.

  “Look, I get that you’re worried,” Mandy continues. “But this is bigger than any of us. If Reaper can’t get his head out of his ass to ignore his pride and ask you for help, then that’s his problem. You know more about this than anyone. You’re not some fainting daisy. You should be right at the front of it all.”

  I feel a flush of pride. At the same time, though, there’s an odd familiarity in the words, which makes me frown. I look closely at her.

  “Have we met before?” I ask.

  “Not as far as I know,” Mandy replies, looking at me oddly. “Why?”

  “You just reminded me of someone, that’s all,” I say with a shrug.

  Something passes across Mandy’s face, too quick to catch. “Yeah, I get that a lot,” she laughs after a moment.

  It seems like an odd thing to say, but I shrug it off. None of this matters. I’m just making small talk while I try and figure out what to do next.

  Unbidden, my mind goes to Emma. I promised her that I wouldn’t be gone long. I had assumed we’d go straight to Night Pleasures, and Mandy hadn’t told me anything different before we left. Guilt suffuses me. I hadn’t meant to lie to my daughter.

  I fish my phone out of my pocket. There is no reception out here, so I can’t even call Emma to tell her I’m okay. I know her. She’s probably stressing about all of this. All of this is too large for a ten-year-old to deal with. I feel like a terrible mother. I’ve barely thought about the effect all this is having on her, emotionally. I’m too caught up in my own plans and ideas about what we need to do next.

  I hadn’t completely forgotten her, of course. One of the reasons this is so important to me is that I can’t bear to see Emma grow up in a world where things like this can happen. I don’t want her to face this one day. What if she, too, lands in a bad job and runs across unsavory characters like Chains and Griffin?

  I got lucky. That doesn’t mean she will.

  I close my eyes and take a deep breath to calm the panic that instantly rolls to the surface at the very thought. My daughter is safe, and that’s a distant future that I, hopefully, won’t have to worry about. She’s okay.

  Me, I’m not so sure about.

  I pull out my phone a
gain. Still no service. I wish I could tell Emma where I am and remind her that I’ll be home soon. A small part of me wishes that I could tell Reaper that, as well.

  My fingers move almost before I think about it, bringing up a text message. I hesitate before I type, though. It won’t go through. But, if I feel guilty about Emma, then I feel absolutely terrible about Reaper.

  Mandy had played easily on all my insecurities to convince me to leave the house. Now that I’ve calmed down a little, I know how stupid that was, especially while we’re out here. Reaper might not be the man I thought he was, but he had put himself on the line to help me, regardless of why. He opened his home to me. He protected Emma.

  I sigh and type out a message. It might not get through, but it makes me feel a little better.

  “Sorry for leaving. We’ll be back soon.”

  Short and simple. I click send before I can second-guess, getting a notification that it will send when there’s reception. I sigh and run a hand down my face, wishing I could get rid of the roiling dread and guilt within me.

  I open my eyes and glance toward Mandy, who is whistling as she fills her tank, looking cheerful. She doesn’t seem guilty in the slightest. Even if she managed to talk me into doing something that I shouldn’t have done, she’s been kind to me today, and I can’t thank her enough for helping to protect Emma when I wasn’t able to.

  But…

  Now that some sort of familiarity about her has struck, I can’t really get the thought out of my head. I know that I haven’t seen her before, but there’s something about the intonation of her words and the way she laughs that makes me feel like I’ve definitely spoken to her before.

  “Come on, darling. You’re the star of the show.”

  I frown. Some months ago, Jessica had informed all the performers that she had hired someone to help us. Not another woman to perform, but someone to help us backstage, to talk to us and maybe keep us from breaking down as the disappearances of our friends began to increase.

  Mandy, I slowly realize, reminds me of that woman.