Chaz (Reapers MC Book 14)

by Elizabeth Knox

  “It appears Cheyenne’s brother isn’t exactly happy she’s working with the Reapers, considering she didn’t want anything to do with the Corrupt Kings and all.”

  I shut my eyes for a moment, not able to push back the worry I’m feeling for her . . . but it comes in waves. Though, at the end of the day I know she can handle her brother, because Chey’ is the type of woman who can handle any man who steps in her path.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  A queen will always turn pain into power

  ~ @Visual.Sin

  Crina

  “I heard they’re having a party tonight, so, you sure you wanna stay overnight?” Rebel asks from beside me. I once again asked her to bring me over to the club, preferring her company over an Uber driver.

  “A party? They celebrating something?” I question, a bit curious. Rebel has told me about the notorious biker parties she took part in her early twenties, but I’ve never had the pleasure of being at one myself.

  “Rumor has it, Sakura and Mouser are engaged, though, I don’t have confirmation.”

  “Well, how do you know that?”

  “One of the bunnies told me,” Rebel says, making a right on the road that leads up to the club’s driveway. The bunnies are what we call the girls that work at the Bad Bunnies brothel, which is owned by the club. It’s probably one of the only legal forms of income the club has to be honest. I don’t know about their other business practices, but I know better than to ask. “Who. What the hell?” Rebel’s sudden tone of voice change causes me to stop looking at my phone, and as I glance up, I see a group with metal posts and chain link fencing.

  As we get closer, I see it’s the prospects and not the full patches. “I’m not shocked in the least bit it’s the prospects doing that.” Though, I’m unable to hold back my laughter.

  “Damn straight. None of the others would be out here busting their asses.” Rebel giggles alongside me and flies past them.

  She drives right up to the clubhouse and parks her monster of an SUV. “Will you need a ride tomorrow, or is Chaz going to drop you back off?” Rebel asks as she opens the door. I slide out of the passenger side and walk around the other side of the vehicle.

  “I think he’ll drop me off. Things have been a bit better between us since he cam—”

  “The food incident. Oh, I heard.” Rebel smirks.

  I for one didn’t tell her a thing about it. “Uh, what the hell? Who told you?”

  “Widow. Guess Chaz came back here and told the guys about it.” Rebel starts walking over to the club door and it comes open almost on its own, but then we spot Indra behind it. She’s Dixon’s ol’ lady, and the sweetest woman part of this club. She even teaches yoga and meditation to some of us. I took a class a few days ago and it was amazing.

  “Hey! You coming to class on Saturday morning?” Indra chuckles.

  “Morning? How early we talking?” I question.

  “Ten or so.” Indra replies, then looks to Rebel. “You know, you should come too. It would be great for that little one.”

  “I’ll think about it.” Rebel replies while venturing further inside the club. She came out here to pick up Zoe since Widow and Tania have had her for a couple days.

  “Do me a favor and talk her into it. She’ll be grateful when labor comes if she starts doing this now. Yoga helped me so much when it came to Khloe’s birth.” Indra tells me, placing a hand on my shoulder as she walks by.

  I call back to her, “I make no promises!”

  She laughs lightly and I decide to go into the club until I realize I left my laptop back in the car. So, I rush back over and open the passenger door, yanking out my tan laptop bag and sling it over my shoulder. It has my wallet in the inside pocket incase I need it.

  I get back in the club and go to my usual red-leather loveseat. It’s kind of my zone, or my favorite writing chair. I’m not sure which, but lately I’ve gotten more words written here than I have at the apartment. I’m starting to think it’s because I’m in the element of my book and being here helps inspire me.

  I open my laptop and instantly open up my word document. I’ve been writing so fast I can hardly believe it. In the bottom left hand corner, it tells me I’m at 104 pages with almost forty-thousand words. Man, that does a lot to motivate a girl.

  Taking my blue screen glasses from my laptop, I slide them on and read the last bit of what I’d written early this morning.

  He climbed on top of her, staring right into her evergreen eyes and cupped her face in his hands. “When will you get this through your thick head? I will do anything for you, Katrina. I’ll climb every mountain, slaughter anyone who tries to harm you, I’ll do anything to prove how much I care about you.”

  Katrina knew Tiny had these feelings for her but given her past there were things that haunted her far greater than he could ever understand. “Trevor.” She used his legal name to show the seriousness in her tone. “You deserve someone better than me. Some woman who isn’t damaged. I’m . . . I’m no good for you.”

  Tiny slammed his fist through the wall in one foul swoop, angered by how Katrina always seemed to search for an excuse. He placed his forehead against hers and stared into her eyes, breathing deeply, slightly shaking his head. “No. I’m not going to give up on this. I’m not going to give up on us, ‘cause I know we can be something great.”

  His words made Katrina’s heart swell ten times the size, although at the same time she felt like she was being ripped apart. She wanted Trevor, but she was terrified to commit to him. She felt like all the demons from her past would come running in and he’d regret making these claims of adoration.

  “Trevor, this would never work. You and I are from two different lives. For fuck’s sake, we hated each other.”

  He nodded his head in agreement, “Yeah, we did hate each other . . . but we don’t now. Fuck!” Tiny slammed his lips onto Katrina’s out of nowhere and while she tried to fight it, she ultimately gave in, welcoming the feeling of his lips against hers.

  “Hey. I didn’t see you sneak in here,” Chaz says, causing me to jump. I end up tossing my laptop and he catches it, plasters a sinful smile on his face and turns it around. “Damn, what’re you hiding on this?”

  He turns his body away from mine and pure fear strikes through me. I stand up and try to paw at the laptop, but he turns his body the alternate direction so I can’t grab it. “Chaz, please, give me that.”

  “No way. I wanna see what freaked you out so ba—. Whoa. Wait a second. Didn’t you name this one dude after me?” Chaz finally turns around, but he’s sporting a shit eating grin. “This is me, isn’t it?”

  He licks his bottom lip and I don’t say a word. ‘Cause he already knows. Fuck.

  Chaz takes a step closer to me, plops my laptop on the loveseat and looks down into my eyes. “You have something to tell me, Crina?”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  She never cared for the crown. She preferred the sword.

  ~ R.H. Sin

  Chaz

  The moment I ask her, her cheeks flush with a bright cherry red. She starts shuffling her feet and tries to speak in a weak tone, barely getting a word out. “I . . . um . . . I just . . . it’s just a book.”

  Scoffing lightly, I think it’s adorable how she’s trying to pass this off as just being her work. Since she shoved that Romanian dessert in my face, we’ve gotten along better than we ever have. Maybe it was the climax we both needed to see we weren’t bad people, just strong willed and bullheaded.

  “Crina, don’t lie to me.” I can’t hide how much I’m enjoying this. For the first time since Cheyenne has been gone, I felt amazing. Actually, if I’m being honest it happened at the food fight. I was torn into the present and had no time to think about the past. Just like I am right now.

  She lowers her eyes and takes a gulp, desperately trying to figure out how she can get out of this. “I don’t know what you’re thinking, Chaz, but I can assure you it’s not what you think.”

&nb
sp; I glance down for a split second and see her nipples peeking through her thin white t-shirt. Taking a step forward, I back her into the wall and bring my hand up, skirting it across her hardened nipples. “What’s this, then?” I speak in a whisper, telling her in my tone how I know what game she’s playing.

  Her cheeks flush even brighter. Bingo. I’m right. She has a fucking crush on me.

  “I don’t want to mix things, not when we got off on the wrong foot and we’re just starting to get along. Sex could complicate things. And that’s the last thing I want. We’ve had enough complications, don’t you think?” She finally brings her eyes up to look at me and I smirk, brushing a stray hair behind her ear.

  “Crina, you and I are always going to be complicated. There’s no doubt about it in my mind. But fine, I’ll back off . . . for now.”

  “For now?” She draws her brows together, giving me a confused look.

  “Yep. Tonight, you can see how we party, and you can ask more questions if you have any.” I tell her. Backing away I head over to the loveseat and put her laptop in the bag. “No more writing tonight. Tonight, is for having fun.”

  “You’re not my boss.” She obviously points out.

  “No, I’m not . . . but if I’m not mistaken, you’re incredibly ahead of schedule. Plus, if you want to write about a club party then you need to be present. I’ll go put your laptop up in my trailer. In the meantime, get a drink and loosen up a bit.”

  I leave with her shit before she can so much as try and fight me on it. One thing I’ve started to realize about Crina is how she isn’t the type who ever backs down. She will fight tooth and nail for what she wants or desires, and it’s one of the few traits I admire about her.

  As I walk out of the club with her bag, I think about the day I got my ass chewed out by Damon and how Dixon told me Crina and I might be good fuck buddies or whatever. I thought about it for a bit, and yeah, we’d probably be fucking amazing fuck buddies . . . but I’ve never been that type of dude. I’m typically a hit it and quit it type of guy. The only exception was Amara, but for a minute I thought her and I were gonna start dating. It didn’t happen, but hey, we were both satisfied so no harm done.

  I paid attention to what Dixon was really saying, poking at the fact Crina and I are similar. As far as our personalities go at least. I’d never met a woman like that, the female version of myself that is. It makes me curious, even to this day. I hadn’t acted on anything as of yet, but given what I found on her laptop, she’s fucked.

  Literally and metaphorically.

  I’ll be ramming my cock into her heat tonight, and that’s a fact.

  Darting up the stairs, I push open my door and take her laptop back to my bedroom, setting it right at the bottom of the bed, directly beside my dresser. This way if anyone does have the balls to wander in here tonight, they won’t be able to find it easily.

  I turn and head out of the trailer, making my way back to the club. When I get there, I spot Crina chatting with Izzy, Cobra’s girlfriend. She’s Cobra’s girlfriend. I’m pretty sure he made her his ol’ lady, but Izzy keeps givin’ him shit about not having her own cut like some of the other biker clubs do. She stirred up so much of a ruckus, Cobra went to Damon to get cuts made for the women who are ol’ ladys . . . but we ended up getting them for the girlfriends too. I mean, that shit really doesn’t matter around here. If one of us is dating someone, you sure as fuck better treat that woman like she’s a brother’s ol’ lady. Otherwise, your body might get buried in the middle of the desert.

  This is why I invited Crina to the club tonight, ‘cause I wanted her to see this shit, to see what ol’ men do for their women. If she’s gonna keep up this writing stuff, she sure as fuck better have it be accurate.

  It’s a bit past eight and I just saw Rebel take Zoe out, which means we can really get rowdy now. Mirage and Cirque are doing the moms here a favor and watching the kiddos so the women could have a night to decompress. If you ask me, they don’t get enough of it.

  “Who’s ready for a damn good time?!” Widow belts, chuckling like the damn devil. Now this guy is someone who can stir up some shit when he’s drunk. One time, Hawk and I had to tear his ass off a mechanical bull when we went on a run to Texas. Funniest shit of my life.

  Damon’s sitting in the corner with Kat on his lap, and she’s smiling more than she has in a while. She’d been through some serious shit all those years ago but being with Damon and having Luna has really turned her life around. It makes me happy for them. I figure we’re gonna have to wait a while for everything to go down, so I walk up to Crina and wrap my arm around her waist.

  I can feel her eyes bearing into me, but I won’t let it bother me. ‘Cause lord knows she needs to get used to it. Once I see something I like, I hardly give up easily.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  All she wanted was the effort she gave

  ~ R.H. Sin

  Crina

  It’s well past ten now according to the clock on the club wall. Then again, who knows when the last time the batteries were changed. Upon first glance I don’t see any of these guys as the fixer upper type. Sure, they could help you with your car, bike, or scooter . . . but changing a lightbulb? Eh, I don’t think so.

  I’ve already had three grape wine coolers at this point, and I’m ready for another. Warmth pools in my belly and all my worries have faded away. Just as it should be.

  “If you have anymore questions to ask, you’d better do it now before we’re both fucked up.” Chaz chuckles from beside me, his hand still on my hip.

  I peer up and smile at him from where we stand in the club. We’re off by ourselves after Cobra took Izzy away to go dance to Midnight Sky by Miley Cyrus. We’d chatted with Indra and Dixon for a while after that but now we find ourselves alone. Raven and Hawk came over to say hi, but they’ve been really quiet the past couple days. I’m not sure what’s going on with those two, but I don’t dig unless people want to tell me.

  “Fine, but I’m only asking because you told me to, and I’ve read some books where this is the case.” Immediately, Chaz raises an eyebrow in curiosity. “Is there some sort of trauma, or traumatic events that lead people to this lifestyle?”

  He removes his hand from around my waist and crosses his arms in front of his chest. “What do you mean? Like shit we’ve been through in life? The tough shit?”

  I nod, then shrug. “Yeah, I think so. Like, has there been anything super difficult for anyone here?”

  “I’m not gonna go around talking about other people’s business, but I can tell you the club saved my life when I was going through some . . . hard times. I don’t talk about it much, not hardly ever, but it’s ‘cause it’s not light shit. Seeing as you were honest with me about your identity, I’m going to tell you, and I’m going to do it before I change my mind.”

  I start to speak but Chaz puts his hand up to silence me and I notice something I’ve never really paid attention to before. He has scars, lines going up and down, and even across. God. How did he get scars like that? “Crina, don’t. Seeing that shit on your laptop earlier made it evident we sorta dig each other, so, I’m gonna tell you this now and hope it won’t hurt as much as it does while I’m sober. My wife killed herself. It happened almost ten years ago now, but I got her pregnant when we were teenagers. Instead of aborting, we decided to keep it. It was picture perfect for a while, until we were around twenty-something weeks. Went in for a regular ultrasound and our little boy didn’t have a heartbeat anymore. Eli.” Chaz smiles, pausing for a moment before he continues.

  “We found out on the fourth floor of the hospital. That’s where her OBGYN was. After we found out, she said she needed some air. So, she went out onto this rooftop area. I gave her ten minutes to breathe, give her the time she needed by herself, without me hovering . . . but when I went outside, she was on the ledge.” His eyes begin to well with water and I’ve already put the puzzle together at this point.

  “A nurse was on the roof tryin
g to talk her down, but it didn’t work. I watched my wife dive down to the pavement. At eighteen years old I was barely an adult but decided to do right by her and get married considering Eli was on the way. Even then, I never thought I’d see something like that. It made me grow up so fucking fast, but I guess shit does that to you.”

  “I am so sorry,” I murmur, knowing there’s nothing I can say. Even though I didn’t know her I can’t help but have tears welling behind my eyes. How he made it through that sort of tragedy . . . I have no idea.

  “Thank you,” His voice is quiet, and I didn’t hear him. Thank goodness I can read lips most of the time. I turn around after the bass is getting so loud it’s making the walls vibrate.

  “Do you wanna go somewhere quiet so we can talk?” I ask, hollering, or at least trying to holler over the sound of the music.

  Chaz nods his head and takes ahold of my hand as we weave in and out through the people, finally making it to the clubhouse door, he pushes it open and we get outside, where we can actually hear each other. “Give Izzy liquor and she becomes a DJ.” Chaz chuckles, trying to lighten the mood.

  “She’s one of those women with many talents and whatnot,” I laugh, getting a smile in response from him. He tugs slightly on my hand and I realize they’re still interlaced. I pull his hand closer to the light and see the scars closer up. They must’ve healed well because you can’t see much unless you’re looking for them. Only a few of them are a bright pink, while most look like the ink they use for white tattoos.

  “I was on a run with the club and we got jumped. Fucker tied us up and hurt us all. Shattered my hands,” Chaz fills in the details, moving them around so I can see both sides.