by Simone Elise
“Please, you’re the trigger-happy one.” She arched her eyebrows at me, and we laughed again. Yeah, it was hard to think that not that long ago I was trigger-happy.
How time changes things.
I spotted Reaper and smiled down at him. God, he looked handsome tonight. Built like a tank, muscles out, tattoos out, and that vest covered in patches. But it was the grin on his face that had me smiling.
I wrapped my arms around his neck.
“You’ve been a busy girl. Been gone a few minutes and you’re already causing trouble.”
I smirked. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
Looks like Kaylee had gone and told him about my little threat. Not that it was little. I meant every word. If she crossed my path again, it would be the last time. Nothing was getting in the way of Reaper and me.
Chapter 33
Abby
I was sitting on Reaper’s lap. He had an arm wrapped around me with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other. He was laughing at something Brad was saying while I was shooting glares across the room at Kaylee as she rubbed herself against one of my dad's members.
Whore.
“Hey, do you want another one?” I half yelled in his ear and nodded to his beer.
“Yeah, babe, but you don’t have to get it.” He leaned up and kissed my cheek.
“But I want to.” I took the beer from his hand and got up. Everyone was drunk and men were everywhere. I was swallowed by the crowd and made my way to the bar. I leaned over and grabbed two beers. Just then, all hell broke out.
Men were throwing punches left and right. Great, just what we needed. One member had another by the neck and from the looks of it, it looked like it was charter against charter.
I had to get back to Reaper. I took one step forward and somehow I got swallowed into the fight, getting pushed and shoved. The screaming and swearing were deafening. I dropped the beers, and they shattered at my feet. I was trying to push my way out but just before I could, a man’s elbow came back and went straight into my eye. Cursing, my hand immediately covered my eye, which I now couldn’t see from.
Feeling my way backward, my heels slipped on the spilled beer and I fell to the ground.
My hands went out, and I pushed myself, trying to get up, only to have my hand stepped on. Oh my god, this wasn’t my night. With one hand covering my eye and the other now aching, I got up to my knees.
“REAPER!!” I couldn’t see him, but I hoped he could hear me. I was on my knees about to get up again when a boot came flying back and kicked me hard in the stomach.
It took my breath away.
Clenching my stomach, I cowered on the ground. The pain was intense.
“REAPER!!!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.
Why wasn’t he coming? But how could he hear me over all this noise? The men were getting rougher and the sound of glasses breaking brought fear to me. God, they were too drunk to know what they were doing. They were fueled by a short temper and alcohol.
“REAPER!”
I stumbled up, only to be shoved back down.
My head smacked the wooden floor, and for a few moments, I was completely dizzy.
“ABBY!”
Finally.
I felt his arms wrap around me and pull me off the ground.
“Oh my god Reaper, I can’t see, my eye is all bloodshot.” I was still cupping it as he shouldered our way through the crowd.
“Of course you would be in the middle of it.” He gripped me tighter and then placed me down on a stool. “Stay here.”
With a dizzy head, an aching stomach, and a bruised eye, I wasn’t going anywhere.
Reaper
“I’m telling you man, this ride to Kelly will be sweet. You have nothing to worry about.” Brad took a sip of his beer. “Really. I’ve got the boys under control.”
Just as he said that, I saw Bear throw a punch out of the corner of my eye. Next second I knew, there was a brawl and the boys were throwing punches left and right.
“Fuck me.” I got up, stomping on my cigarette. “Brad, help me break it up!” I got in there and pulled on Bear to let the other fucking guy go but like always, he wasn’t giving up easily.
Now it wasn’t the case of splitting up two guys but half the bar. More and more of my boys were jumping in, throwing punches at the MC.
Great. Where the fuck was Roach?
“REAPER!”
I turned my head. Where the fuck did that come from? I pulled Bear off the dude and pushed him backward. “WALK IT OFF!” I shouted and then went to the next pair to break them up.
But the boys were getting worse. The shouting was ear-deafening; empty threats were being sprayed from every direction. One fucker took a swing at me and my fist connected with his face first.
“Stupid fuck.”
“REAPER!!”
Abby? I scanned the crowd and couldn’t see her. Then blonde hair caught my attention. Sure enough, her body was lying in the middle of the crowd.
Fuck me.
I shoved my way through.
“ABBY!”
She didn’t move, and I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her up from the ground.
“Oh my god Reaper, I can’t see, my eye is all bloodshot.” She was cupping her right eye.
“Of course you would be in the middle of it.” I gripped her tighter and pushed our way out of the crowd and finally when we were free, I placed her on a stool. “Stay here.”
She nodded her head, and I reached behind me, pulling out my gun. I sent a few rounds into the ceiling, and the fighting members dropped to the ground.
“IF ANY FUCKER THROWS ONE MORE PUNCH, THE NEXT ONE WILL BE THROUGH THEIR HEAD!”
Everyone went silent, and the music was all you could hear.
Slowly, the guys got up and taking my threat seriously, they didn’t start the fight back up.
Turning back to Abby, she looked to be crying.
“Reaper, take me home, please.” She tugged on my vest and I nodded my head.
“Come on babe, we can crash in my room here.”
She shook her head. “No, I want to go home.”
Sighing, I ran a hand through my hair. Fine, we would go home. Though I didn’t know how I was going to get my bike out of the yard.
“How’s the eye?” I asked her, and she lowered her hand. It was already bruising. She blinked and her eye was bloodshot.
“Sore.”
“We’ll ice it when we get home.” I brushed her blonde hair behind her ear and helped her off the stool.
The rage I felt knowing that these fuckers had done this to her was uncontrollable.
“Brad, I’m heading home. Call me about Kelly tomorrow.” I slapped him on the back on the way out, and he nodded his head.
“Night, guys.”
Abby curled into my side, now cupping her eye again. “It’s going to look like you beat me up!” she moaned.
“Hun, anyone with a brain would know I wouldn’t lay a finger on you. You’re the trigger-happy one, remember?” I smirked, and she poked me in the ribs.
“I hope that hurt,” she huffed. It didn’t, but if it made her happy, I’d go along with it.
Abby
It was the early hours of the morning. Reaper had managed to get his bike out after a lot of difficulty. Talk about being parked in.
But he had gotten it out. I think the only reason he did it was for me. Kind of loved him a bit more for that.
After all, he would have settled for staying at the clubhouse. It was me who wanted to go home.
We pulled up our driveway, and I gripped his shoulder as I climbed off. He kicked out the kickstand and lowered the bike to its side.
The sensor light came on, and I shivered in the night air. God, it was cold now.
Reaper threw an arm around me and we walked to the front door.
“That wasn’t a bad sendoff for our little one.” Reaper unlocked the front door.
“Yeah, it was ni
ce how everyone got behind us.”
“He’s family and a member from birth. How could they not get behind us?”
“I think it’s thanks to his father we had the club’s support.”
Reaper shook his head at me. “Trust me, babe, it was all the mother’s doing.”
I fiddled with my clutch and looked down. “Reaper I’ve never said this, but if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be here today. You coming home when you did, it saved my life.”
He lifted my chin up. “And if I had come home earlier, Matthew would still be with us. Don’t think that shit doesn’t haunt me, because it does.”
A grim smile captured my lips. “It’s not your fault. Anyway, it was my decision to not call the ambulance until I was bleeding, and even then it was too late, I was out of it. You’re my hero, Reaper, and never think anything else.” I leaned up and kissed him on the lips then opened the front door.
It was way too late to be having such a serious conversation.
“God, it’s cold in here!” I pulled my heels off in the foyer.
“I’ll turn the heater on.”
I grabbed his arm. “Don’t bother. I think body heat will do me just fine.”
He smirked down at me and shook his head but didn’t protest as we walked up the stairs.
I pushed open our bedroom door and walked to the bed. Reaching around, I found my zipper. The next thing I felt was his cool hand on mine.
“Not so fast. I’ve wanted to take this off you all night.”
His warm breath sent shivers down my neck. I pulled my hand back and slowly felt him undo the zipper until my strapless dress fell to the floor and I stepped out of it.
“Was that all you imagined it to be?” I turned to smile at him, only to be met by this intense stare.
I cocked an eyebrow at him “What’s wrong?”
“You are.” His eyes met mine. “You’re too darn beautiful for the likes of me.”
I smiled, shaking my head and putting my hands on my hips. “You are pretty darn handsome yourself, and I’m not pretty or beautiful. You must simply have blurred vision.” As if on cue, my eye ached and I ran my finger under it.
“How is your eye?” Reaper stepped forward and tilted my head up.
“Sore still. But my vision is better.”
“We should really ice it.” He frowned down at me.
“We should really go to bed.” I took his hand and pulled him in the direction of the bed. “It's freezing, and I really want to cuddle up to my future husband.”
“It will bruise.”
“It’s already bruised.”
I pulled the sheets back and got into bed.
Reaper was painfully slow. I watched him take his vest off, tee shirt, pants. Then he took his rings off and sat them on the bedside table. Finally, he had a smoke and just as I was starting to drift off to sleep, he climbed into bed.
He pushed his arm under my head and pulled me along with my pillow toward him till my back was firm against his chest.
“Sweet dreams, baby.” He kissed my forehead, and I reached for his free hand and pulled it over, kissing the back of it before placing it on my chest.
“Love you Kade.” And just like that, I went to sleep in his arms.
Chapter 34
Abby
I was trying to sleep, but the continually ringing of Reaper’s phone woke me up and was keeping me awake.
“Kade, your phone is ringing.”
Nothing.
“Kade, your phone is ringing.”
Nothing. I could hear him sleeping behind me.
“REAPER, YOUR PHONE IS RINGING!” I squeezed my eyes shut and groaned. Still nothing.
Twisting in his arms, I whacked him in the chest, and his eyes sprung open.
“Phone!”
He grunted and rolled over, feeling for it on the ground. Finally, he just threw the blankets back and got out of bed, searching his pants pockets for the noise machine.
“What!?”
Finally, he answered it. I rolled back over and closed my eyes.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, tell them I said for them to get their asses moving.”
Silence.
He groaned. “Fine, I’ll be there in an hour.”
He dropped the phone on the bed, and I rolled over just in time to watch him run two hands through his hair.
“What is it?” I put a hand on his back.
“The boys aren’t listening to Brad after last night. They’re still half drunk and pissed off. Brad thinks it’s better if I lead them to Kelly. They’ll stay in line for me.”
I sat bolt right up in bed. “Kelly? Are you kidding me? That’s forty hours away!”
I knew they had a gun ride, but I also thought that was why there was a Vice President, so the actual president didn’t have to go on long rides like this.
“I know. It’s a four- to five-day ride. Then we stay to recover for a few days and then ride back.”
“Can’t Brad just threaten them,” I muttered while watching Reaper get up.
“No. For some reason, they only listen to their President.” Reaper gave me a pointed look and I sighed.
“So this means I won’t see you for weeks.”
“Come on, babe, you know this can happen.” He gently cupped my cheek. “You’ll be fine.”
I didn’t see weeks without him as ok or fine. I sighed and took his hand and got up.
“When are you leaving?”
“As soon as I ride in.”
“So you really meant an hour on the phone then?”
“Yep.” He tucked my hair behind my ear. “I’ll pack and leave.”
So I was going to face weeks without Reaper. It really didn’t sit well with me.
“Ok, on one condition.” I linked my fingers with his.
“And what’s that?”
“You do me before you go,” I smirked evilly up at him and then fell back down on the bed.
He shook his head. “You’re unbelievable, but I can do that.”
“Good, cause I wasn’t really giving you a choice.” I opened my legs up and he lowered himself over me, and next thing I heard was the ripping of my underwear. Just like always, Reaper doesn’t like to wait.
***
Reaper’s hands were wrapped around my eyes, and I was blindly walking in front of him as he guided my steps.
“Seriously, shouldn’t you be leaving?” I giggled, not understanding what the surprise was or why I had to walk from the bedroom downstairs blind.
“Yeah, I will be after this.” His words tickled my neck. I heard him flick on the lights. “Now step down.”
Carefully I stepped down, and my bare feet were cold instantly. Where were we?
He removed his hands, and I felt them on my hips.
“Ok, open your eyes.”
Opening my eyes, my mouth dropped.
“Kade, you didn’t!”
“It’s been in here awhile. I was going to give it to you when we first got here, but you know things got complicated and you never come into the garage, so it just stayed here.”
The large red sedan sparkled in the middle of the garage. Reaper was right; I never come in here. He held the keys out in front of me, and I took them, grinning.
“Thank you.” I wrapped my arms around his neck.
“Couldn’t have you walking everywhere now.”
“Well, normally I’m on the back of a bike.” I arched an eyebrow and smirked. “But the safety of the car has its points.”
He grunted. “Nothing is safer than the back of my bike.”
I pecked his lips. “Thank you again.” I ran my hand down the side of his face. “Seeing as I have already made you late. I guess I should let you get going.”
My heart tightened at the thought of saying good-bye to him. I could do this. I would do this. I wouldn’t make it harder than need be. I knew he hated leaving me.
“I’m riding out with the whole charter, so I can’t
say I’ll have a man on you to watch you.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“If you get into trouble, you’re going to have to go to the cops, and you know how much it hurts me to say that.”
“I’ll be fine.”
He groaned and wrapped an arm around me, pulling me tight. “I hate the thought of you by yourself.”
“Like I’ve said a million times. I’ll be fine! Seriously, I have a new car to drive and a whole town I haven’t explored and an art room! I promise I’ll keep myself out of trouble.”
“Oh, that reminds me.” He let go of me and pulled out his wallet, handing me a bank card. “This is yours. About time we shared a bank account. While I’m gone, I want you to burn a hole in it. Understand?”
“But how can it be our money when really it is all YOUR money?”
“Babe, when are you gonna realize what is mine is yours. This house. My money. Fuck, when it comes down to it, you own half my bike too.” He kissed my forehead. “Now you gonna be a good girl and spend some money?”
I pursed my lips at him. He might see it that way, but that’s easy to say when you are the one doing all the giving. All I had to give was myself. And when it came down to it, he completely owned that.
“Fine.” I swiped the card from his hand. “I’ll spend your money like there is no tomorrow.”
“Good. The pin is 0312.”
“Funny number.”
“It’s the date I met you.”
I stared at him blankly. This was coming from a man that says he was not romantic whatsoever.
“That’s the sweetest thing I’ve heard,” I mumbled.
He shook his head, waving it off like it wasn’t a big deal. “Come on, Abby, it’s just a number. One you have to remember if you want to burn through my cash. Now I really got to go.”
I pouted. “Do you have to?”
He reached out, wrapping his arm around me and lifting me off the ground while planting kisses down my cheek and neck. Which tickled. Laughing, I slapped his back playfully.
“Ok, ok, put me down.”
“Wrap your legs around me.”
Like always, he was direct. So I did as I was told and wrapped my legs around him. He held me up with one hand on my butt. I put my arms around his neck, and he pulled the garage door closed with his free hand.