by Simone Elise
I had run through how this was going to turn out a few times and each time it didn’t end well, and so far Reaper’s reaction was leaning me towards that becoming a reality.
“About that,” I said overly sweetly.
His eyebrows shot up. “Don’t fucking downplay it, Abby. I nearly didn’t leave that boardroom with my head attached.”
“Oh, don’t be a drama queen. I highly doubt Dad was swinging an ax in there.”
“You know what I fucking mean.”
“Stop cursing.” I crossed my arms and huffed. “I thought you would be relieved that you didn’t have to pull the trigger on the problem.”
“Pull the trigger? Pull the fucking trigger! That is exactly what you did, but you pointed that gun in my face.”
“Fine then. What did Dad threaten? Come on, spit it out, what has you running so scared?”
If he couldn’t handle Dad, then there was no way we would ever work, and I was beginning to think maybe I was just fun to him and he didn’t want serious.
“I’m not running.”
“Fine. What has you so...” I gestured a hand at him, not even knowing how to explain his reaction, “overreacting.”
He glanced up the hall then back at me before running a hand through his hair. He grabbed my hand, letting go of my arm, and pulled me along the hall till we reached his room and he opened the door for me. One would think he was a gentleman; if only he wasn’t dragging me in behind him.
“Kade, would you just tell me what Dad said?” I huffed, closing the door after us. “If you are having second thoughts about being serious, you should have told me earlier.”
“I told you that I would handle it,” he said. “I told you that.”
“Yes, and I was more than happy for that to happen until Dad dragged me into his boardroom and made me explain what was going on.”
“He gave it to me; then he backed off.” Kade collapsed on the edge of the bed. “He told me that your safety was in my hands now. He basically handed me you.”
I shifted awkwardly from foot to foot in front of him. Wasn’t that a good thing? Or was it not? Then it hit me; no, it smashed into me hard. What if Reaper didn’t want me? What if it was the chase he wanted and now… well, now he caught me.
“You don’t want that.” My stomach twisted immediately.
“I can’t keep a fucking pet fish alive. How the hell am I meant to be able to protect you and keep you safe?”
“I’m not a fish or a child.” I snapped. How dare he! “I can and do look after myself.”
Now I knew what Dad had done. Dad didn’t punch Reaper; he did something scarier than that. He gave Reaper responsibility.
“You either want me, or you don’t. You either love me, or you don’t. It’s crystal clear cut, Reaper.” I stormed across the room. “Let me know when you’ve made your mind up.”
For me, it wasn’t a hard decision. While for him, well, who the fuck knows?
***
“You’re in an extra pissy mood,” Kim noted the obvious as we left our last class together.
Reaper hadn’t got back to me last night. He hadn’t even bothered to check to see if I was ok. He was a typical selfish biker, and right now I hated his guts.
“Don’t want to talk about it.”
“Doesn’t have anything to do with what happened with Reaper chasing you down the hallway last night?”
Pursing my lips, I didn’t give her an answer. She would only find it hilarious.
We had reached our lockers when my bad mood just clicked to completely furious.
“Again with spray painting the lockers,” I spat angrily, seeing the word ‘whore’ sprayed across our lockers.
I stuffed my handbag and textbooks in the locker and slapped it shut. “Fuck this. I’m over it.” I was over Vivien’s little childish pranks.
“Abby, where are you going?” Kim was hot on my heels as I stormed down the hall, and I wasn’t planning on stopping till I was face to face with Vivien fucking Westbrook.
***
I slapped the can out of her hand to get her attention. Of course I would find her in the canteen. But the mood I was in, I didn’t care about the attention we were about to get.
“You got something to say to me?” I got up in her face.
I had taken her by surprise, so it took her a moment to understand what was happening.
“I thought I sprayed it clearly.” Her eyes narrowed, and she was willing to take me on. “Can’t read?”
It was one comment. That was all I needed, then I let my right hook free, straight into her face.
Chapter 59
Kim
I didn’t usually feel bad for my sister, but right now I felt that and kind of guilty as Dad screamed down the walls at her.
Everyone was silent in the bar, all listening to the booming voice of my dad yelling at Abby. I had captured a few pieces of sentences such as ‘club image, suspension, and disappointment’ as well as a lot of cursing.
Abby had gotten three good punches in, taking Vivien to the ground. Vivien hadn’t even laid one on Abby. I had never seen my sister so red raw with anger. It took two teachers to pull Abby off Vivien, and she didn’t need my help to take down the bitch.
I cringed, hearing Dad roar at her.
Even the boys in the bar were sheepish. My eyes flickered over to Reaper, who was staring directly at Dad’s office door. Actually, his eyes hadn’t left it since he found out who was in there.
I wondered again what happened between the two of them last night. Whatever it was, I think it had something to do with why my sister was in such a pissed-off mood this morning.
“So your sister punched someone up?” Trigger dragged a stool and sat in front of me while I cleaned glasses.
“Yeah, something like that.” I glanced at Trigger’s bloody knuckles. “Looks like Abby isn’t the only one punching things or people.”
Trigger weakly grinned at me. “What can I say, self-defense?”
“I doubt it.”
“How was your day?”
“I spent the day with a hormonal motherfucker.” He glanced over his shoulder at Reaper. “Swear that man only has anger inside him.”
“Sounds close to my day. Only Abby doesn’t normally punch first.”
“Yeah, that’s your job, isn’t it?” He smirked at me.
I cracked him a beer and handed it to him. “Yeah, meant to be.”
This was the new Trigger and me, trying to be friends. It was hard to be friends with someone you felt something stronger for.
Dad’s office door burst open and out walked a very pissed-off looking blonde.
“Excuse me,” I said, putting the glasses down and walking around the bar.
“Kim, you ready to go out?” Abby pretty much shouted across the room.
“I didn’t know we were going out.” I looked her up and down; I had never seen her so furious.
“Well, I don’t want to damage the club’s image,” she shouted over her shoulder and in the direction of the open door.
She then did one thing I never expected to ever see my sister do.
She took off her leather jacket and ripped off the white tee she was wearing that had the club logo on it and tossed it in the direction of Dad’s office door.
Standing there in a bright pink lacy bra, it was nothing compared to the ‘I don’t give a fuck’ look on her face.
She threaded her arms through her jacket, then her fiery filled eyes landed on me. “Are you ready Kim or not?”
“Yep. Good to go.” Who knew where we were going?
Reaper stepped up and stood in her way, and automatically her arms shot up.
“Don’t touch me,” she hissed, then stepped around him and made a beeline for the exit. When I heard the thumping of Dad’s boots, I scrambled for the car keys.
“I’ll see you later,” Trigger said as I walked past him.
“DON’T YOU GO OUT THERE AND MAKE MORE FUCKING TROUBLE!” Dad roared f
rom his office door
“Oh fuck off.” Abby spun on her heel and fired at him. It was me who was quick to block her and push her out the door.
“God, do you want to go another round with Dad?” I hissed at her while she stomped across the lot towards my car.
“Where are we going anyway?” I asked.
She shrugged her shoulders. “Somewhere where there is liquor and men.”
“So basically here then.”
She glared over her shoulder at me. “Real fucking funny.”
Chapter 60
Abby
There are times in life when you wish that you could just fast forward through them. You wish that you could just escape the pain and headache that is sure to be brought on.
I thought getting drunk would help.
I thought escaping the clubhouse for the night would help me.
But it hadn’t.
Now I stared up at my ceiling, feeling dizzy and lightheaded. Kim had managed to get us out for the night, and I smashed the drinks back quickly. She literally had to hold my body weight as we came home in the early morning hours.
And now, well, now my body was paying me back for it.
I rolled onto my side, the room still spinning. A sharp knock on my bedroom door caused me to groan. Any noise seemed to be ripping through my ears with blades at the moment.
“Come in,” I answered. There was no way I was getting out of bed to answer that door. My head was spinning badly enough without adding movement to it.
I heard the door close and when the person stepped into my line of sight, I regretted letting him in.
“What do you want, Reaper?” I was feeling too sick to even bother putting emotion in my voice. I was weak and exhausted; I didn’t have time for a fight with him.
“To see you.” He crossed his tattooed arms and let out a long sigh. “You really did a good job last night, didn’t you?”
“Fuck off Reaper, I’m not in the mood.” I was also more aware of how little clothing I was currently wearing while lying on top of the bed.
“What was last night about?” He pressed me with more questions.
“Why would you care?” I slowly sat up, “That would mean responsibility and caring, and we both know how much you hate both.”
His hollow eyes locked with mine. “Abby, you know there is more to it than that.”
“Whatever. I don’t care.”
I did care. I cared a fucking lot. I wanted to be his girl, and he ran away scared of being responsible.
He pulled a bottle out of his pocket and placed it on the bedside table. “Take some, it will help with nausea.”
“I’m always nauseous around you.” I snapped at him. “Now fuck off.”
“You're more of a bitch than normal.”
I gave him a mocking expression. “Well, it’s not like I got my heart squeezed till it exploded and now I am forced to pretend like nothing ever happened.”
“You know it’s not like that.” His voice was firm. “I love you, Abby, but you being with me puts a fucking target on you.”
“Oh, don’t give me that crap. I was brought up with a target on my back being a President's daughter. So why don’t you just admit it, Dad scared you off by making you responsible for my safety.”
“Your Dad just laid out the facts.”
I scoffed loudly. “How kind of him. I thought we were on the same side. Clearly, a talking to from my father is enough to scare you off.”
“Just take the tablets and sleep it off, Abby.” His voice lingered with a warning.
“Fine. I’ll get over it. But you had your chance, and you didn’t want to be with me. So from now on, we are nothing. Not friends, not enemies, nothing, got it?” I couldn’t stand to be his friend. It was going to be hard enough seeing him with other women.
“How about we talk about this when you don’t smell like you drank the bar dry.”
“How about we just never talk again.”
“You're fucking childish.”
“Me. ME!” I scoffed loudly. “I was the one ready to have a relationship with you, and you are the one acting like a child by backing out of it.”
“There is more to it than that.”
“Well guess what, I don’t want to hear it.”
He ran his hand through his hair and groaned. “I wish I didn’t fucking care about you; this would make it all a whole lot fucking easier.”
“Oh yes, poor you for once in your life, you’re experiencing an emotion.”
“I heard you decked a girl at the university yesterday.”
Way to change the subject.
“I punched her. I didn’t deck her.”
“The story is being told differently.”
“Well, I don’t care what others think.”
“Yeah you do, Abby.”
I felt my stomach beginning to boil with rage. “If I was that self-centered, I wouldn’t have put my heart on the line for you.” I wiped a tear away. “Can you just leave, please? You’re just making me feel worse.”
He shifted his weight from side to side before he did something I wasn’t expecting; he sat next to me on the bed.
“Do you know why I am called the Reaper?” He made sure to lock his eyes with mine.
“Because you’re Dad’s right hand. You clean up dirty business.”
“Dirty business,” he muttered more to himself then shook his head. “I kill people, Abby. I’m the Reaper of death. I can’t count how many bodies I’ve put in the ground. The worst thing is, I don’t care. I can put a bullet through anyone, and I wouldn’t feel an inch of guilt. So tell me how a girl like you, perfect, pretty, and drop dead fucking gorgeous wants to be with a soulless beast like me?”
He still didn’t see it. He still didn’t understand.
“You don’t get to choose who you fall in love with, your heart does, and mine has always belonged to yours, ever since you saved me in that alleyway.” I placed a hand on his. “But you don’t feel the same, because if you did, you wouldn’t be looking for an excuse to get out of loving me.”
Maybe that was he was trying to scare me off. Maybe the love that he thought he felt wasn’t love at all.
He stayed silent.
I lifted my hand off his. “You should go.”
He let out a long sigh before standing up. “I didn’t want this to turn out like this.” Regret covered his words. “I’ll let you sleep.”
I watched him get up, and just when I thought he was leaving, he turned back around to face me.
“This, you and I, we aren’t over.”
“We are if you can’t move forward.”
He left. Just like that, he walked out of my room, leaving our relationship in the air. Heck, who was I kidding? It was over, and I just didn’t want to accept it.
Chapter 61
Abby
Reaper disappeared, literally. Dad had sent him out on a run. Not seeing him was worse than not seeing him at all. Call it stupid, but I thought we would just make up and things would go back to semi-normal, but that can’t happen when he wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
“So you ready for university?” Kim poked her head in my room. “Your suspension ends today, right?”
“Yeah, it does.” I finished applying my makeup and turned to face her. “But I’m not going back just yet.”
She frowned, “Why?”
Because university sucked.
“I made plans for today.”
She crossed her arms. “Abby, do I have to give you another lecture about hanging out with him?”
“Brad is fine. It isn’t a big deal.”
“Where you two planning on going?”
“Picking up a motor in Linton. See, told you it was nothing serious. We’re just hanging out, friends. I promise that is it.”
“I’m your twin, dipshit. I can tell when you’re lying,” she scoffed and stepped into my room, closing the door behind her. Just what I didn’t want, her poking her large nose into my busines
s. What I did in my free time has nothing to do with her.
She really needs to back off.
“Making Reaper jealous is just going to cause drama. Do I have to tell you this again?”
“How can I be making him jealous when he isn’t even here? Brad is a good guy.”
“Not one man here is a good guy Abby.” She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. “You are just stirring the pot and when Reaper comes back, what do you think is going to happen when he finds out that you are making a move on one of his brothers?”
“Well, seeing I have no plans of ever telling him, I wouldn’t know.”
“Childish.”
“Worrywart.”
“Fine, go then, but don’t come crying to me when this backfires in your face.”
“Wasn’t planning on it,” I said just before she slammed my door close.
Brad and I had been hanging out a lot lately because he was the only one around. That and he is funny, like he comes off as a bad type of guy but has a good heart. I wasn’t stupid. I knew he was dangerous, but if I could handle the Reaper as a lover, I’m pretty sure I can handle a badass as a friend.
This had nothing to do with Reaper; at least, that was what I was telling myself.
***
“No, I am telling you that guy was scared shitless.” I laughed across at Brad as he drove the van.
“Got the price down, that is all that matters.” Brad shrugged off his scary behavior from before.
I couldn’t believe he had the ability to turn that on and off so quickly. To be honest, when he was arguing the price with the salesman, I was slightly scared of him for a minute.
“God, I hope you never do that to me.” I exhaled sharply and crossed my legs.
He took his eyes off the road for a minute to look at me. “I’d never do that to you.”
“Why, because I’m Roach’s daughter?” I joked.
“No, because you’re you. I would never treat you like that.”
I smiled slightly at his kindness, “You know Brad, I don’t know why people are scared of you.”
“Got two sides, darling.” He winked at me.