Reaper

by Lena North

  “What?” I asked when neither of the men said a word.

  “We’re going to Johns for a beer,” Olly clarified and raised his chin stubbornly to add, “You made me clean the house, I’m making you have a beer.”

  Oh. I guessed that Sven hadn't been to any kind of establishment since his wife died.

  “Mill’s gonna be there?” Sven asked.

  “Guess so.”

  “Okay. Want him to take a look at someone.”

  Miller was one of the vets in Norton, so it made sense, and Olly had caught sight of the dog, sitting patiently outside the door.

  “Whose dog is this?”

  “Annie's,” Sven said.

  “Huh?”

  “She found him by the pond. He needs food and a bath.”

  “I can see that.”

  Sven made a small gesture with his hand, and the man and the dog passed us. Olly watched them disappear into the kitchen and turned to me.

  “Your dog?”

  “Yeah,” I chirped. “Except it’s totally his dog.”

  Sven was putting canned tuna in a bowl when we got into the kitchen, and we watched in stunned silence as he added some stale bread, an egg, and some milk.

  “What the –”

  “He’s hungry,” Sven said calmly. “I'll pick up some proper chow for him tonight, but he needs food now, so this is what he gets.”

  “Are you keeping him here?” I asked.

  I wanted him to but hadn't dared to raise the topic.

  “Keeping him for you,” he clarified, and when he looked at me, I knew what he meant.

  He was keeping him in Norton for me. For when Olly and I would come there.

  “Sven…” I said because my future residence was pretty uncertain, and I didn’t want him to think anything else.

  “I know,” he said calmly and put the plate on the floor. “Come here, Toby.”

  The dog, whose name apparently now was Toby, took a careful step toward the food.

  “I think someone hurt him when he tried to get food,” I whispered.

  “Oh, buddy,” Sven sighed. Then he took some food in his hand and stretched it out. “Here. Come and eat now.”

  When the dog licked his hand cautiously, he moved it until it was in the bowl and Toby started eating. Sven put a hand gently on the dog’s dirty head, which made him flinch and crouch down a little. He kept eating, though, and I wondered how long he’d gone without food.

  “Toby?” Olly said.

  Sven got up to wash his hands without answering.

  “He could be chipped, Da. It could be someone else’s dog.”

  “No,” Sven stated.

  “Da,” Olly tried to protest, but he was cut off immediately.

  “Someone kicked that dog in the ribs and the head. That makes him not their dog anymore. No one will come here and take my dog.”

  Sven looked stubborn, and more than a little bit angry. He also looked more alive than the stunned man we’d seen in the kitchen that morning, and Olly’s face softened.

  “I thought it was Annie’s dog?” he asked calmly, but there was a faint tremor in his voice, and his tee moved a little, so I suspected he was laughing silently.

  “Son. Are you deliberately being a smartass?”

  “Yes, Sven. I think he is,” I said when they kept staring at each other, and they turned to look at me so I added, “With some skill, I might add.”

  Olly pressed his lips together slightly, and Sven sighed, although it looked like there was humor in his eyes.

  “Come on,” he said and walked outside with Toby in tow. “Bath time.”

  When we walked into Johns, I was nervous. I didn't think anyone would recognize me, and I was sure it would be one of the safest places I could be in, but the bar was surprisingly full of people, and there was a brief lull in the conversation when we walked through the door. Olly had told me that he'd asked them to not make a big deal out of Sven showing up, though, and they didn't. A few men nodded, and someone called out a greeting, but they immediately went on with their conversations and beer drinking.

  We sat down in a corner, and I looked around to see if I could recognize who was there. Then the door slammed open, and Miller walked in. He marched through the bar to stop next to Hawker, leaned down and said something which made Hawker's face split up into a huge grin. Miller kept talking, and I had no clue how it all came about, but suddenly the two of them were on the floor. Fighting.

  What the heck?

  “I'll get some beer and find out what it's about this time,” Olly murmured and walked away.

  “This time?” I asked, brows raised.

  “They're idiots,” Sven muttered, but it didn't sound unfriendly. “Fight over just about anything.”

  Someone cheered when Hawker managed to roll them around in a way that put him on top, and I stared wide-eyed at the two men on the floor.

  “Miller’s gonna be a daddy,” Olly said and placed three bottles of beer on our table.

  “That was fast,” Sven said and took a swig of beer.

  I knew Miller’s wife Mary had given birth to twins in the spring and that there had been complications but I’d read her medical files and it had seemed to me that nothing prevented another pregnancy.

  “He’s not happy?” I asked.

  “He’s super happy, Annie,” Olly said. “And scared shitless, so he’s blowing off some steam.”

  I turned to look at the men, and when I analyzed their punches, it became quite clear that Olly was right. It wasn’t a real fight.

  “You can’t know that it’ll be fine and I never wanted more kids,” Miller roared suddenly.

  I felt my brows go up in surprise.

  “Isn’t he a vet?” I asked.

  “Well, yeah,” Olly said.

  “Then he should know better,” I murmured and kept watching the fight. Neither of the men at my table responded, so I explained. “If he didn't want more kids, then some sort of contraceptive would have been appropriate, or else a simple snip-snip would have taken care of that.” There was still no reply, so I concluded, “He must have done it on loads of animals himself so he would know exactly how the procedure should be done. Could probably assist the doc if need be.”

  “A simple what?” Olly asked in a strangled voice, and I turned.

  “A snip-sn –”

  They were both watching the hand I'd raised to illustrate my comment with, and the identical impressions on their faces made me close my mouth.

  “Annie…” Olly said, sounding very sweet.

  Then he barked out a short laugh, and Sven chuckled.

  The whole bar went completely silent, and all heads turned toward us.

  “Shit,” I murmured when my surprised gaze met Hawker Johns’.

  He got to his feet and walked over to us. The bar slowly filled with sounds again but I could tell that people were watching.

  “Sven,” Hawker said. “Good to see you here.”

  “Hawk,” Sven said and took a swig of beer.

  “Who are you?” Hawker asked me curtly, in a way I found rather rude.

  The dog which had been resting quietly at Sven’s feet apparently agreed with my assessment because he suddenly sat up and a low growl rumbled in his belly. Hawker looked down and, to my complete astonishment, he narrowed his brows, raised his upper lip a little, and growled back at the dog.

  What? Did he think he was a frigging werewolf or something?

  I clamped my jaws together to hold back laughter and looked down on Toby who had opened his big mouth. His tongue was hanging out on one side, and it looked like he was grinning.

  “Sven,” Hawker said sourly. “Why is your dog laughing at me?”

  “Probably because you were ridiculous,” Sven said calmly and leaned back. “And it’s Annie’s dog.”

  All desire to giggle disappeared when Hawker turned to me.

  “Annie,” he drawled, slo
wly and somehow unfriendly. Then he repeated his question from before “And who are you?”

  He was trying to intimidate me, and I was about to say something to ease the tension when Sven slowly stood, and rumbled, “She’s the one who made me take a shower for the first time in three weeks, Hawk, so you need to ease off on the scowling.”

  “What the –”

  Sven was apparently not done because he interrupted Hawker again.

  “Appreciate that you cleaned my bathroom, bud, but I'll crush you if you don't back the hell down.”

  There was a long uncomfortable silence, and they kept glaring at each other. I sighed a little, partly because they were ridiculous, although mostly because it was so unbelievably familiar. I’d seen my grandfather and almost any man who set foot on our land posture in the same way. I got to my feet and poked Sven in the back.

  “Um, Sven,” I said quietly.

  He didn’t move.

  “Sven,” I said, a lot louder.

  He turned and looked impatiently at me.

  “Three weeks?” I asked.

  “Huh?”

  “Seriously?” He didn’t answer my question, which wasn’t a question anyway, and I went on, “You can’t do that again. The dog’s nose will fall off.”

  “The dog’s nose will –”

  “Totally,” I said calmly. “He'll get a fungal infection, and it will fall clean off.”

  “Annie,” Olly murmured although I could tell that he was laughing at me.

  Sven's face softened, and I turned to Hawker Johns.

  “Hello,” I said. “I’m so sorry the dog laughed at your attempt to growl.”

  “Attem –”

  “I’m Annie Walker,” I said and stretched out a hand. “I work for your daughter.”

  “Wilder?” he asked, and I blinked.

  “Do you have other daughters?”

  “Well, no.”

  “Okay,” I nodded. “Then yes, that’s the daughter I work for.”

  “Hey there, Annie,” Miller interrupted us. “I’m Miller.”

  Since Hawker seemed stunned, I ignored him and turned toward the laughing man next to him.

  “Aha. The vet,” I said sweetly. “We found a dog.”

  Toby yipped once to confirm that he had indeed been found, and Miller looked down. His amused look changed to something between a scowl and a frown.

  “He’s too skinny,” he murmured and crouched down. “Got a cut on his head.”

  When he stretched out a hand, Toby immediately pressed himself into Sven’s side. Miller looked up and grinned crookedly.

  “Annie’s dog? Really?”

  “I’ll take care of him for her,” Sven said and got down on his knees.

  They murmured something back and forth as Miller looked the dog over, but I didn’t listen. I’d turned my attention back to Hawker.

  “I work in the stables at Double H,” I said quietly. “Andy Farnham hired me.”

  I knew he was close with the ranch manager and hoped he would trust Andy’s judgment.

  “Okay,” Hawker said and gave me a sharp look before leaning down to talk to the men on the floor.

  “You good, babe?” Olly murmured in my ear, and I smiled as I tilted my head back to look up at him.

  “Sure,” I said. “You?”

  “Totally,” he muttered.

  I giggled at the unexpected word, and his face softened. I felt his hand slide gently over my hip and remembered his words about the curve just there.

  “You’re going back with me tomorrow?” I asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “You're going back tomorrow?” Hawker asked, and I jumped.

  He’d straightened and was watching us, but I couldn't interpret the look on his face. I wondered if he’d seen Olly’s hand.

  “Yup,” Olly said, but he looked at his father. “Unless you need me here?”

  “I'm good, son,” Sven said, put a hand on Toby's head, and added, “Wouldn't mind a visit now and then, though.”

  “Ski season starts soon,” Hawker cut in. “Do you ski, Annie?”

  I wondered why he’d care, but answered honestly, “Sure.”

  “Really?” he said. “Where did you learn?”

  “In the mountains,” I answered.

  “Really?” he said again, which was kind of stupid because where else would I learn?

  I knew he'd ask more questions, but I had a set of answers prepared for just this kind of situation, so I smiled sweetly at him and waited.

  “We should go,” Sven stated. “Need to pick up food for Toby, and I’m hungry.”

  Then he nodded at Hawker and simply walked out of the bar.

  “Alrighty,” I murmured as the door slammed shut behind him. “We should probably leave too,” I informed Olly.

  “Yeah,” he said, did the same nod toward Hawker and put a hand on my back to push me in front of him.

  I didn't move, and he took a small sidestep to avoid walking straight into me.

  “It was nice meeting you,” I said politely to Hawker, and turned to Miller. “Thank you for looking Toby over. I know Sven would appreciate if you could write a 246:b report on the abuse and put it on file with Norton PD, as well as with either the animal control or the mayor's office.” His brows went up a little, so I clarified, “In case the owner turns up. It’ll help Sven keep his dog.”

  “I know that,” he said slowly. “Have you worked in an animal shelter?”

  Crap. I'd forgotten that ordinary people didn't know about stuff like the form I’d just asked him to fill in. I wasn’t usually that careless.

  “Something like it,” I evaded and smiled at the men again. “It was nice meeting you,” I repeated and moved toward the door.

  I went up to the guest room directly after dinner, telling them I was tired and we'd leave the next day again, so I needed to sleep. It had been a long day, so it was mostly true, but I also thought they'd need some time together, without me hanging around.

  I expected to fall asleep immediately because I hadn't lied, it had been a long day. Instead, I ended up tossing and turning and had decided to sneak down to make some hot chocolate when I heard steps outside my door. Sven slept in the big bedroom downstairs, so I assumed it was Olly, although I’d thought his room was on the other side of the house.

  “Where are you going?” Sven's deep voice rumbled.

  Oh. Oh shit. Olly had apparently been on his way to me.

  “Well,” Olly started.

  “Not under my roof,” Sven said.

  “Da –”

  Olly didn't whine exactly, but it did sound as if he wanted to protest and Sven interrupted immediately, although he didn't seem upset.

  “I know, son, I ain’t dumb. Your ma raised you better, though.”

  There was a long silence, and then Olly whispered, “I miss her so much, Da.”

  “Me too,” Sven murmured.

  There was another long silence, and I suddenly heard a deep chuckle.

  “She would have laughed at you right now,” Sven said.

  “Yeah,” Olly agreed, and he had laughter in his voice too.

  I tried to swallow the thick lump that formed in my throat when I heard them. They finally said something that actually meant something to each other, and it wasn't much, but it was a step forward.

  “How about we go downstairs, sit on the porch for a while?” Sven rumbled.

  “Yeah,” Olly repeated.

  “Whisky?” Sven asked, and I heard them walking down the hall.

  “That’d be good,” Olly said, but then he stopped. “You go on, Da. I’ll just say goodnight to Annie.”

  “Sure,” Sven said. “I’ll let Toby out so no need to rush.”

  I swallowed, made my mouth form a smile, and turned toward the door as it opened.

  “You’re awake?”

  “Totally,” I said. “That must have been fun.”


  “Hilarious,” he muttered and walked over to sit next to me. “It’ll be good to be back at Double H.”

  I moved to the side and leaned into the hand he put on my cheek.

  “You made quite an impression on some pretty nosy people earlier,” he mumbled.

  “Really?” I asked, guessing he meant Hawker.

  “They’ll all come down on us like locusts,” he said, tightened the grip a little around my jaw, and added, “I ain’t gonna lie to them about us.”

  “Never asked you too,” I said.

  He was silent for a little while, and then he said, “You actually did, Annie.”

  “Not telling is not the same as lying,” I informed him.

  “If you’re six,” he said immediately. “I think we need to talk about shit.”

  “Yes,” I said. “Tomorrow.”

  “Yeah,” he said. “We’ll stop somewhere on the way back.”

  Then he leaned down to kiss me goodnight, and since his father wasn't in the room, his hands didn't stay entirely over the covers. I really wanted to be back in the barn we shared at Double H.

  As I lay there listening to the soft rumble of their voices outside, I tried to convince myself I’d be able to explain the things I hadn’t told him, without messing everything up.

  Chapter Seven

  You killed my bike

  I’m sure Sven didn’t expect me to hug him before we left, or at least not the way I did it, stepping in close and holding him tight.

  “I’ll miss you,” I murmured after a while.

  “Are you coming or what?” Olly muttered. “Jesus, it's like we're going off to war or something.”

  “Olly,” I snapped, but my anger melted away when I saw his grin.

  “I’ll miss you too,” Sven said, although I heard humor in his voice so he’d also seen the grin.

  “Told you we’ll be back next time Annie has a couple of days off,” Olly murmured.

  He had what?

  “You didn’t tell me that,” I said.

  “Babe, you’re wrapped around Da like an octopus. Didn’t think you’d mind.”

  This was true. And I didn’t mind, so I leaned back and smiled up at the tall man holding me so gently.

  “You know what to do,” I said, and he nodded, once. “You know where we are, and what –”