See You Smile (Reapers MC: Pema Chapter Book 3)

by Bijou Hunter

“You found your one.”

  “Yes, and I became a better person for Sam. For Nadine, I bet you can do just about anything, Cav.”

  When my brother hugs me, I don’t squirm free. Though I’ve spent my life running from awkward situations, I’m ready to face what I’d rather avoid.

  And if that means joining forces with the Bliss Triad to help my little brother win the woman of his dreams, I’ll be back in Ellsberg this summer.

  And considering Nadine’s a trained assassin who’ll be suffering from postpartum hormonal insanity, poor Cavalry will need all the help he can get.

  A FINAL WORD FROM THE CRACKERJACK

  Little by little, Idyllwild submits. The new preacher helps by being the most milquetoast motherfucker to ever live. He is handsome, dumb, and obedient. The Reapers and the Cosgrove family couldn’t be happier with our new pet.

  Yet, occasionally, a local will push back against the Reapers or start trouble. A rude bitch at the store leads to her losing three cars in a row. A guy shows up to start shit at Whiskey Kirk’s, so I kick his ass and get him arrested for disorderly conduct.

  But usually, we respond in more subtle ways. Like when Caesar and Raimi come to bat during their baseball games, and the other parents and onlookers refuse to cheer. Even when he helps the team win with a home run, the oozing-wart locals sit on their hands.

  Of course, my immediate urge is to burn down all their houses. “It’s what my mom would do for us,” I tell Sam that night.

  “Let’s call that Plan B.”

  Before I can complain, he flashes his irresistible smile and explains Plan A.

  During the next few games, every member of the local Reapers, their women, and their kids show up. Some have to stand while others bring their own chairs. When Caesar and Raimi come up to bat, our crew roars with approval. The parents finally catch on to how they need to behave if they hope to cut down on the number of tatted people at their games.

  Most of my days aren’t filled with fighting Idyllwild scum. That spring, we fall into a casual routine. On the weekends, Sam, Caesar, Raimi, and I start our days with tai chi and omelets. When it warms up, we enjoy the pool or spend time with family.

  Raimi loves swimming, and Caesar gets hardcore into video games with Sam. Keeping with a Majors family tradition, we enjoy bowling night with my siblings every few weeks.

  At least once a month, my parents come up to see their grand-angels. They always stop by to check on Caesar and Raimi. The kids get to calling them “Grampa” and “Gramma” like their cousins.

  On schooldays, Sam and I drop off the kids before running errands together. Next year, with Caesar in junior high, we’ll need to split up the duties. Raimi wants me to take her to school. Caesar always does better with dad time to start his day.

  After the kids are in school, Sam and I spend much of our time together. If I need to go to Whiskey Kirk’s, he comes along. Often, we explore Idyllwild, checking on things. Sometimes, I ride bitch. Other times, I take out my own bike.

  Our goal is to know every restaurant in Idyllwild and Pema, both for fun and to understand our territory. The more we’re seen, the less our enemy feels safe plotting.

  When we’re alone at home, we’re usually naked. Those last warm weeks before summer break, he and I take part in a whole bunch of pool fucking.

  Besides naked time, Sam and I enjoy hobbies we can do together. Sam practices his Spanish by teaching me. Whenever we’re alone, we stick to speaking the foreign language. This rule makes our sex talk awkward since I forget most Spanish words when I’m horny.

  Once a month, we meet Maverick, Colton, and Kiefer at the shooting range. I love having a partner interested in training. Sam and I practice karate, too. We regularly stop by the Reapers’ gym for boxing. I even convince him to try yoga.

  Back in Ellsberg, I did my own thing. But in Pema, I’m more willing to step up for my family or the Reapers. Like, when Savannah has her latest—and final—crotch goblin, and I offer to run errands for her while Avery handles the gooey baby stuff.

  My nephews and nieces regularly end up at my house. Mostly, the twins bring them around to practice swimming. Raimi likes playing with the little ones. Caesar is smarter and hides in his room whenever small humans arrive in mass.

  Before summer, Alyn organizes therapy plans for both kids. She acts as their counselor, too. With Alyn knowing enough about the Reapers, the kids can freely share their feelings over Teigh’s death and Sam’s job.

  My frenemy also offers pep talks to ensure I don’t step back and let Sam handle things alone. She suggests I try to casually mention Teigh in conversation to keep her alive in the kids’ minds and let them know they don’t have to censor themselves around me.

  We also celebrate Teigh’s birthday with her favorite foods and shows. On the anniversary of her death, we add a plant around the fountain section of the yard I designated for her memorial. Raimi often goes out there to talk to her mom. The dogs will sit with her while she shares her day.

  For our first Christmas together, I’m inspired by the portrait Avery had painted for Kiefer. That’s why I ask my uncle Aaron to immortalize the characters that inspired Teigh’s names for the kids. He paints portraits of Caesar and Reimi from “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.” The kids hang the canvases in their rooms to remind them how their mom was a complex, interesting person.

  Despite loving Raimi and Caesar, motherhood doesn’t come easily to me. When they flip out on occasion, my first impulse remains to back away. Though I missed the diapers and more disgusting phases of their childhoods, I’m right there for the hormonal insanity of adolescence. More than once, I get the “you’re not my mom.” A few times when pissed, they’ll claim I don’t love them, or I stole their dad away from their mom.

  Their accusatory words never hurt my feelings. After all, several times, Sylvie threatened to murder my pets. I know attention-seeking bluster when I hear it.

  Of course, punching my sister is always an option. With the kids, I stare blank-faced until they accept their tactics are a dead end. I feel almost sorry for Caesar and Raimi. They want to lose their shit like all teenagers do. Unfortunately, I’m cold to drama, Sam is eternally calm, and their grandparents only seem confused about the fussing.

  On the first anniversary of our autumn wedding down in Ellsberg, Fred and Pricilla move into our house. They’re reluctant to give up the home where they raised their son and grandkids. But the trilevel is too much work. Living in our ranch allows them to enjoy their days more.

  And their longtime home doesn’t go to strangers. Alyn buys the house only blocks from mine and moves in with Capri and Exene.

  Raimi’s thrilled to have her new bestie live closer. Exene is a good influence, too. She gives zero fucks about the uppity Idyllwild kids throwing attitude at school. The more sensitive Raimi soon learns to ignore them. The girls are always at each other’s houses. When they hit puberty, they whisper a lot about boys. I hear a whole lot of bluster, reminding me of Sylvie’s phase when she loved cock but only from afar.

  Like his sister, Caesar struggles to make friends with local kids. Of course, they don’t have the balls to mess with him, and plenty of girls start taking notice. But Caesar can’t really be himself around them. Sam worries his boy won’t have any solid friends his own age.

  Then, during a Reapers’ picnic, Caesar meets fourteen-year-old Fione. Beckett’s tomboy granddaughter nearly gets suspended from school after punching a few chicks in the face during her first month.

  Caesar’s calmer, more organized nature works well with her wilder one. They become fast friends, playing sports, riding bikes, and talking shit about just about everyone.

  Back when I first arrived in Pema, locals were pushing back against the Reapers and my family specifically. The Idyllwild fucks harassed Violet, attacked the twins in a park, and even tried to kill Avery.

  During that time, I helped clear out threats. Maverick needed someone he trusted, and he and Colton weren’t tight yet.
I honestly didn’t know if I’d ever feel right in Pema like I did in Ellsberg.

  Now, after five years of pressure, assassinations, and two dead preachers, Idyllwild and Pema feel comfortable. My kids have friends. My bestie lives nearby. The twins have completed their families. Maverick and Violet welcomed their sweet daughter. They claim there might be more, but I sense they’re done with Rogue. Meanwhile, Colton and Stella seem hell-bent on populating Pema with their offspring.

  Whiskey Kirk’s is an established restaurant with elderly regulars for lunch and wilder patrons showing up in the evenings. I’m proud of how I helped transform Pema. The twins did it with The Solar. People often still talk about Maverick’s firehouse-turned-duplex. Once a stagnant town, Pema enjoyed a rebirth thanks to my brother’s big ideas along with Colton’s bigger personality.

  I fled Ellsberg, unable to face my failures. The old me was a bit of a twat, for sure. But her refusal to face facts is why I met Sam when I did. I have no doubt we’d have run into each other eventually at some Reapers’ function. And I have even less doubt we’d hook up fast and furious. Sam and I were created to meet and fall in love. Our coupling could be delayed but never prevented.

  After Yulia, I feared I couldn’t enjoy what my parents shared. Even worse, I worried what I saw with Vaughn and Raven was a childish lie I created. What if there was no such thing as a “one and only,” and I’d need to settle for “the best I could find”?

  But one look at Handsome Sam Donner put such fears to rest.

  A FINAL WORD FROM THE CHARMER

  Pema changed a lot after the Reapers showed up. Stayed rough, sure, but the new blood helped keep the club going. For years, Heidi and Gunnar did their best without a president.

  The town and my club got a shot of purpose when Colton and Maverick arrived. Not only did they bring a vision, but the latter came with three sisters. One of them transformed my life, for sure.

  The Reapers ride strong these days. Ten years after I walked into Whiskey Kirk’s for the first time, I live in a different kind of town from the one I knew for the majority of my life.

  Pema and Idyllwild are long since tamed. The chapter is going on thirty members. Many of them are shacked up in the new subdivision.

  These days, the Cosgrove family makes their money and keeps their influence. Yet, they’ll bend a knee to the Reapers without hesitation. The club’s power also extends to Louisville now. The state of Kentucky currently lives and breathes the Reapers.

  My own family lives a much quieter life than my loud motorcycle might suggest. Fred and Pricilla spend their final days puttering around in the backyard or enjoying the hot tub Nev bought years ago. For short trips to Ellsberg, they’ll come along.

  I know I don’t have much time left with them, but that’s how life works. I can’t say I regret a single moment I shared with my parents. We were always close, open, and supportive. Even when my life made no sense to them, they wore their smiles. I wouldn’t be me without them being them.

  After Teigh’s death, Raimi struggled, unable to process her feelings and unsure how to ask for help. Over time, she gets healthier, stronger, and reverts to the carefree girl I knew before Teigh died.

  My daughter is no longer little, but she’s all Donner. Her good-natured, curious demeanor reminds me so much of her grandfather. Even as a teenager, she still wears a locket with her mama’s picture. She owns a dozen with different styles and various photos of Teigh. If Raimi’s suffering from a tough day, she’ll go out in the backyard and talk to her mama’s memorial.

  Despite my girl’s soft heart, she loves the rough play of roller derby. She joins the Cuntthroats as a teenager, never minding her team’s losing streaks. One of my favorite sights is watching her and Nev skating in the rink together.

  Once Raimi finishes high school, she plans to open up a Pema daycare center. Nev’s been teaching her bookkeeping and managerial skills. The Reapers plan to bankroll her business. As for fellas, well, Raimi’s got her eye on Heidi’s boy. Though the studious Axe isn’t quite ready to make his move, I can imagine those two having a ball in the future.

  Caesar shares more of Teigh’s worse qualities than his sister does. He gets in his head too much and needs a little push to speak up. Fortunately, he never suffers from his mama’s self-destructive tendencies. Teigh spent a good part of her life lost and unloved. Yet, Caesar always knows he has people who will listen, lend a hand, and help him back up when he fails.

  The Majors and Donner families are different in plenty of ways, but our love is never conditional. With our support, Caesar steps into adulthood with a clear head on his wide shoulders. People can’t help saying how much he looks like his old man. Those comments get more frequent after he starts riding with the Reapers. As a teenager, Caesar gets lucky when Maverick takes keen notice of the boy’s quiet, watchful ways. His uncle chooses to mentor him, seeing a future leader in my son.

  Unlike me, Caesar doesn’t take half a lifetime to find his one and only gal. Caesar and Fione are in their late teens when the two friends realize they share the magic I enjoy with Nev.

  And it really is otherworldly how much I love my gal. Even after all our years together, Nev still looks at me as if I’m the sexiest, most impressive person she’s seen. I feel the same damn way about her.

  Nev and I never stop growing as people—improving ourselves and finding fresh goals. We travel, learn new languages, cook different foods, and discover everything there is to know about each other.

  But no matter where we go or what we do, growing apart remains impossible. The magic we share is like super glue, keeping us forever in each other’s hearts.

  THE END

  “STRAIGHT UP BADASS” SNEAK PEEK

  Coming Late Autumn 2021

  Nadine Ramsey is a no-nonsense security special. You know, an assassin. Working for her father offered her a chance to travel the world. But now she’s ready to settle down. She has a new home and job waiting for her. All she needs to do is survive a summer trip to Ellsberg.

  Cavalry Majors has loved Nadine since he was a teenager. Now, he’s all grownup, but she still views him a clueless kid. While he loves his life in Ellsberg, the lovestruck Cavalry will do anything to win the badass babe’s heart. This summer is his big chance.

  Can opposites attract? Will the other two members of the “Bliss Triad” help or hurt Cavalry’s chances? Are a few hot weeks enough time to erase years of missed opportunities? The answers to these questions and more in Straight Up Badass.

  BIJOU READING ORDER

  Note: These books are written to be read as standalones, but the list below is the preferred order regarding character introductions.

  Books related to the Damaged series

  ❖ Damaged 1-7 (Sunday Morning is a prequel while In the Wind takes place a decade after book 7)

  ❖ Ramsey Security 1-3 (book 3 links the most to the other series and introduces Angus Hayes)

  ❖ Junkyard Dog

  ❖ Serrated Brotherhood MC 1-3

  ❖ Rawkfist MC 1-3

  ❖ Right Amount of Wrong (second generation Damaged novel)

  ❖ White Horse 2-4 (second generation)

  ❖ Reapers MC: Ellsberg Chapter 1-3 (second generation)

  ❖ Reapers MC: Conroe Chapter 1-3 (second generation) (bks 1 & 2 take place before Ellsberg bk3)

  ❖ Reapers MC: Shasta Chapter 1-3 (second generation) (bks 1 takes place before Ellsberg bk1)

  ❖ Elko Executioners MC (EEMC) 1-3 (bk1 takes place after Shasta Chapter bk3)

  ❖ Reapers MC: Pema Chapter 1-3 (second generation) (bk1 takes place after Shasta Chapter bk3 and Ellsberg Chapter bk3)

  Books related to the Little Memphis series

  ❖ Little Memphis & Broken Memphis

  ❖ Rawlins Heretics MC 1-3

  Books related to the Spent Shells series

  ❖ Gator

  ❖ Badlands & Shellshock

  ABOUT BIJOU

  Living in Indiana with my three sweet sons,
three wacky cats, and one super mom, I love horror movies, Call of Duty, Ryan George, and sitcoms canceled before their time.

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  Bijou Hunter is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.