Reaper

by B E Kelly

  “You do and it’s pretty fucking loud. I’m wondering how anyone can stand to be in the same room as you when you sleep.” Beth knew he was picking at her, trying to get a fight out of her, but she would give him none. She didn’t want to give the cocky guard any reason to shackle her back to the wall.

  “They told me you’re with Reaper—the boss’s business partner.” Beth was wondering if he was asking a question or stating a fact. Either way, she wasn’t going to answer him. Her relationship status was none of his business.

  He chuckled and turned off his phone, tossing it onto the table that sat next to her makeshift cell. He looked in at her, gripping the bars as if he wanted to pull them down to get to her. “I’m a betting man and I’d put money on Reap not coming after you,” he taunted. From the way he used Reaper’s nickname, Beth could tell the guy probably knew her husband.

  “You know Reaper then?” she questioned.

  “Yeah,” he admitted. “We’ve met and I can tell you that guys like that never settle down with pretty little things like yourself. He’ll play around with you until he gets his fill and then he’ll leave you for the next woman who walks into that bar he seems to loves so much.”

  Beth wanted to laugh at just how wrong the poor guy was. Not only did Reaper fall for her, but he married her—not that she’d share that bit of information with the guard. The less he knew about her or her situation, the better.

  “So, what do you say?” He looked her up and down and she knew exactly what he was asking.

  “About?” she asked, playing dumb.

  “About you and me? Reaper’s not coming for you and I can show you a good time. Hell, I can show you the best time of your life,” he boasted. She smiled at him, and he seemed to take that as her agreement, but it was nothing close to her agreeing to his disgusting offer.

  He quickly opened the cell door and crowded in against her. “Woah there, buddy,” she said, backing up from his persistent stance.

  “What the hell?” he growled. “You looked like you were saying yes. You even smiled at me.”

  “Nope,” she said. “I was smiling because I know something you don’t,” she teased. Beth pointed to where Reaper and Gunner stood just outside her makeshift cage, guns pointed at the asshole guard standing next to her.

  “Hands where I can see them,” Gunner barked. The guard cursed and raised his hands over his head.

  “Carefully take his gun out of its holster and come here, honey,” Reaper ordered. She did as he asked, even giving the guard a little wink as she passed by him.

  Reaper took the gun from her and gave it to Gunner. “Shackle this asshole to the wall, like he did my wife.”

  “Your wife?” the guard spat.

  “Yeah,” Reaper said. “Lizzy is my wife, asshole and you’re damn lucky that I’m not in the mood to take you apart for trying what you did with her. The only reason you get to keep your arms today is because you didn’t lay a finger on her—right honey?” Reaper pulled her into his body and gave her a quick kiss. When she didn’t answer his question right away the guard started to protest.

  “Oh come on—you know I didn’t touch you,” he shouted as Gunner chained him to the wall.

  “What’s it gonna be, Lizzy?” Reaper asked, cocking an eyebrow at her.

  “He can keep his arms,” she confirmed. “I missed you, Reaper,” she whispered.

  “Same, baby,” he said back.

  “We don’t have time for any of your mushy shit,” Gunner insisted. He shut the cell door and locked it, caging the guard. “We don’t know how long we have before all hell breaks loose and we need to be as far away from this place as humanly possible.”

  “He’s right, baby. Tank and the guys are holding down things upstairs but we need to get a move on. I gave Dave your message and things are about to get messy,” Reaper said.

  She followed Gunner and her husband out of the basement and out into the bright sunlight of the day. “Thanks for coming to get me, Reaper,” she said as he wrapped a protective arm around her body.

  “I’ll always come for you, baby. You’re my girl,” he said.

  “I believe the term is Old Lady,” she teased. “I’m more than that now, Reaper. I’m your ride or die and I’ll always have your back,” Beth promised.

  “Same, baby girl,” he agreed. He gently kissed her lips and Beth knew she had finally found her missing piece—her home and now she was complete. “My Lizzy,” Reaper whispered against her lips and that was exactly who she was—who she always had been—Reaper’s Lizzy.

  Epilogue

  One Month Later

  Reaper waited by the phone for news about Anthony Sr.’s sentencing. Dave had promised to call with any news as soon as court had let out. His ex-business partner/boss had somehow convinced the judge to clear the courtroom for the proceedings and he hated not being front row center when that asshole got what was coming to him.

  Lizzy and he had worked tirelessly to get the textile business his father had left him up and running again. With Anthony Sr. in prison now, his shares fell to his son, Ringer but he didn’t want anything to do with the business. He signed his part of the company over to Reaper for a fair price and left town again—this time without Sophie. He had to admit, he liked having his little sister back around and she was helping with the company, but something was different about her, something he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

  Sophie and Lizzy were quickly becoming friends and all the worry about the two women he loved most in this world not getting along just faded away. Honestly, he didn’t know why he worried in the first place.

  He and Lizzy bought a little cabin outside of town and it was damn near perfect for the two of them. Sophie rented Lizzy’s old house so she didn’t have to sell it and he gave up his apartment, but kept the room above Reckoning, at Lizzy’s insistence. She loved that little room, saying it was where their story began. Reaper liked to remind her that their story began when she first started dreaming about him but he loved having his apartment above the bar almost as much as she did.

  “You just going to sit there and will your phone to ring or give me a hand?” Lizzy asked carrying two arm loads of groceries in.

  “Sorry,” he said, taking the bags from her. “You should have yelled for me.”

  “A lot of good that would have done me. You’re in another world today,” she said. “I take it there’s no news about the trial yet?”

  “No, and it’s driving me crazy. Dave said he’d call when it’s all over, but it has to be done now, right?” Reaper put the bags on the kitchen counter and started to unpack them.

  Lizzy shrugged, “I have no idea, but the good news is that after today this whole mess will be behind us.”

  “Here’s hoping,” he said. He stopped unloading the groceries and pulled Lizzy against his body. “I have a little surprise for you,” he said.

  “You know I love surprises,” she squealed, making him laugh. She did love a good surprise. Reaper was quickly learning his new wife’s likes and dislikes but they were still so new to each other.

  “I booked us a honeymoon,” he said. Lizzy squealed again, jumping up and down and clapping like a loon.

  “Where are we going?” she asked. He was a little worried about telling her this next part. She had only been on his bike a handful of times and this might be a bit overwhelming for her.

  “We are biking across the country,” he said.

  “As in you and me on your bike?” she asked.

  “You hate it?” Reaper questioned.

  “Are we camping?” He knew his wife loved to camp and he had planned a good number of nights out under the stars for her.

  “Some,” he said. “I thought we could hit all of the National landmarks,” he said. “Mount Rushmore, Grand Canyon, Old Faithful—you know tour America. We can’t leave for a couple months, until the weather breaks, but what do you think?”

  “I think it sounds just about perfect and completely like us,”
she said. “Thank you, Reaper.” His cell rang and he tugged it out of his pocket and answered it, hoping the unknown number belonged to Dave.

  “Hello,” he said.

  “He got twenty-five years,” Dave said.

  “Fuck,” Reaper growled. “Only twenty-five?” The federal prosecutor in charge of the case was hoping for a life sentence.

  “He cut a deal,” Dave said. “He had information that the U.S. Government found useful and they made him a deal.”

  “What information?” Reaper asked. The day of the raid, when Anthony Sr. was taken into custody, he vowed to get back at Reaper for all the trouble he caused. He threatened to spill Lizzy’s secret and there was really no way to stop him. Lizzy wasn’t too worried about it, saying that when she usually told people, they didn’t believe her anyway. She said no one would believe the desperate ramblings of a criminal but he wasn’t so sure

  “I’m not at liberty to discuss the deal, Reaper. Listen, I just wanted to let you know about the sentencing,” Dave said.

  “Yeah, thanks for that. And, thanks for everything you did to help me out, Dave. I really appreciate it,” Reaper said.

  “No problem. I do have one question though. How did you know Elizabeth wasn’t at the warehouse? You had to know I’d find out about your club’s little raid at Anthony Sr.’s house, right? How did you know she’d be there?” Dave’s question had every one of his warning bells ringing and he wasn’t sure how to answer him.

  “Let’s just call it gut instinct,” Reaper said. “And, leave it at that.”

  “Okay, I’ll let you have your secrets, for now,” Dave said. “I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again, Reaper.” He ended the call and Lizzy looked at him and he hated the worry in her eyes.

  “He knows,” she said. “Lyra said she saw a man in a brown suit carrying a briefcase and he told her he was coming for us—both of us.”

  “I’m sure it’s nothing,” Reaper said, but he wasn’t sure. He knew with Lizzy’s abilities they might always be looking over their shoulders, worrying about what was going to come at them next, but they would do that together.

  “Whatever happens, we face it together,” he promised.

  “Deal,” Lizzy agreed. “Together.”

  Tank

  Tank was woken up by the banging on the bar’s front door and the dream he was having about sexy, little Lyra Sibyl all but disappeared from his head. He stumbled around his dark room and found his jeans, pulling them up over his erection and carefully zipped them up.

  “This better be fucking good,” he grumbled, finding his way down the stairs to the front entrance of his bar. “Like someone’s dead or dying good,” he added. Tank unlocked the dead bolt and threw the door open to find the woman he had just been dreaming about, shaking from what he assumed to be the cold blustery wind that whipped its way into the bar.

  “Fuck, Lyra,” he growled and pulled her into his body. “You have to be freezing out there. What the hell are you doing out in this storm anyway?” Tank knew that most of the roads in town had to be closed and the national weather service was calling this storm the worst one of the century. Honestly, he didn’t see what all the fuss was about, but this was New Orleans and even the few inches that were expected was enough to cripple the city. Growing up in Michigan, Tank knew firsthand what a real snowstorm looked like and he had to admit, he missed the snow up there. But, down here, in NOLA, he had his MC family and they were enough to keep him grounded to the area—well, his club and his bar.

  “I—I think I need help,” she stuttered. Tank tightened his arms around her waist, sharing his body heat with her. She was wearing a thin sweater and jeans and he knew she had to be cold to the bone.

  “Tell me what’s going on, honey,” he said. Tank knew he had no right to call her that or any other terms of affection. He saw the damn hope in her eyes after he kissed her a month ago. He was supposed to be keeping her safe; watching over her and her daughter, Delilah but instead he had pushed her down onto her sofa and devoured her mouth like a starving man. When it came to Lyra, he found he had no control and nothing standing in his way but himself. He could tell she wanted him just from the way she responded to that scorching kiss, but he wasn’t good for her. Hell, he wasn’t good for any woman and he needed to remember that.

  “I dropped Lil off at her dad’s house for the week and when I got home, the front door was wide open and it looked like someone had kicked it in. I peeked into my house and everything was in a shambles, so I got back in my car and came here. I didn’t know who else to turn to. Elizabeth and Reaper are finally taking their honeymoon and I couldn’t call them. My sister deserves some happiness after all the shit she’s been through,” Lyra sobbed and God, it tore him apart to hear her so upset. He knew they still had a mole in the club and he worried that not rooting him out when the trouble started with Reaper, was a mistake. He hated that leaving that trouble unchecked might add up to Lyra or Lil being hurt.

  “Baby,” he soothed, stroking his big hand up and down her back. She was so tiny compared to him but then again, most everyone was. He knew that people liked to compare him to a hulk; it’s even how he got his nickname—Tank. Well, his size and his time in the Army, driving tanks. At six-seven, he was usually the biggest guy in the room. He stroked his hand down her long hair. Lyra had it pulled up in a sleek ponytail, but a few strands had escaped and he gently pushed them back from her beautiful face. She looked up at him and damn it if he didn’t see that same fucking hope again, shining back at him in her soulful brown eyes. He knew he was playing with fire, but he just didn’t give a fuck anymore.

  Tank had spent the last few months dreaming of Lyra and night after night, he’d wake up hard as a rock with no way to ease his suffering. Sure, he could pick up one of the biker chick wanna- be’s that hung out at his bar, hoping to find a biker of their own. But, that would mean having to settle for a woman who wasn’t Lyra and he didn’t like trolling for second best. He wanted her and from the way she was leaning into his big body, watching him, she wanted him too.

  He leaned down, towering over her and he could hear her breath hitch. Lyra’s heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest and he had his green light. Tank just needed to stop being a fucking coward and step on the gas.

  “Lyra,” he said, more as a plea than warning. “I’m going to kiss you,” he said. She nodded and closed her eyes and that was about all Tank could handle. His self-imposed restraints were off and he was going to taste her again.

  At first, he was unsure of himself and that was so unlike him. He gently brushed his lips over hers and she wrapped her arms around his neck. He knew that holding back with Lyra wouldn’t work. She would demand everything from him—he learned that about her from their time together a few months back. He was going to give her what she wanted this time though and to hell with the consequences. He was finally going to have what he wanted and Tank wanted Lyra Sibyl.

  Lyra

  Lyra wasn’t sure why she had driven all the way to Tank’s bar, Reckoning, but she had. There was no turning back either since she had barely made it in one piece to his place. Due to the slick road conditions, she had ended up in a ditch twice, but she wouldn’t tell Tank that. He was so protective of her and the last thing she wanted from him tonight was a fight. In fact, she wanted the exact opposite from the sexy tattooed giant and from the way he was kissing her, he was completely on board with her plans for the evening.

  When she got back to her house, after dropping Lil off at Zane’s house, she knew something was up before she even got to her front door. Her whole body tingled, as if in warning and she knew that leaving was her best bet at staying safe. Dealing with unsafe driving conditions was better than facing what possibly still waited for her in her home. She was just thankful she didn’t have Lil with her because she wouldn’t want her daughter to be afraid in her own house.

  Turning to Tank for help felt natural after the few weeks they had spent together, after he was task
ed with keeping her and Lil safe during the scare with her sister’s abduction. God, that was such an awful time, but she had Tank by her side and knew that he would never let anyone touch her or Delilah. When it was over and Beth came home safely, Tank took off and she didn’t see him for months. He left her with the memory of that fiery kiss they shared and that was it—no calls or texts, nothing. She’d ask Beth and Reaper about how Tank was doing, but they never gave her a straight answer and she was beginning to wonder if she had made the whole kiss up in her overly active imagination. Hell, maybe she had made Tank up because the only place she saw him was in her dreams. Night after night, he appeared and was so gentle and loving that every morning she woke up feeling completely broken-hearted that it was all just a dream. But she at least had her dreams of Tank and for a while, she thought that was enough for her. Lil kept her busy and she had her work at the doctor’s office as a medical technician. She had a good life and really couldn’t complain, except for the fact that it was completely boring.

  Tank broke their kiss, leaving her panting and needy and he smiled down at her. Lyra worried that he was going to push her away again but he didn’t, instead he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his big body. Lyra felt safe and content for the first time in months. Being held by Tank felt like coming home and she wasn’t sure she’d ever survive him pushing her out of his life again.

  “Tank—I,” she started. He covered her mouth with his big hand, effectively stopping her next words.

  “No, Lyra. No promises or excuses this time. First, I’m going to call some of my brothers and have them check out your place. They’ll find out what happened and who ransacked your house. Then, I’m going to have one watch Lil. I know she’s with Zane but I want to make sure she’s safe. Your ex will never know that my guy is watching them.” She nodded her agreement, his hand still covering her mouth. Lyra took his hand into hers and gently kissed his palm. He stilled, watching her and she wondered if he was finished talking.