by Simone Elise
Kim giggled as I led her outside. “Gee, Abby, talk about an overreaction.”
“Well, you accused me of something I don’t do.”
“Why, because you are above the sexy kitten stare down?” She couldn’t hold back the laughter. “Gee, what happened last night?”
“Nothing.”
“Lying again!” She pointed a finger at me. “You are on a roll this morning.”
“We had sex, ok!” I blurted it out and slapped a hand over my mouth. Why the hell did I just say that to her!
Her expression went from amused to serious in a moment. “Abby, please tell me you are joking.”
Okay, I wasn’t expecting that reaction.
“No, I’m not.” I crossed my arms, feeling defensive. “You can’t lecture me, ok? It’s not like you haven’t done a bad guy before.”
“I wasn’t going to say that, but come on, Abby. This is Reaper.”
“And you’re hot for Trigger.”
“Yeah, I am.” Regret captured her face. “And you have no idea what I would do for him not to have this pull on me. All I’m going to say is, think about it before you get in any deeper. Men like them, like Dad, they live on this shit, you know. Pulling women in and making them theirs.”
“Reaper’s not like that.”
“Really? Because from what I heard, he stalked you to the point of moving in with his brother.”
How the hell did she know that! “Did Dad tell you that?”
“I may have been listening to your conversation with Dad.”
Of course she was.
“Well, then you know why he did it. He did it for Dad.”
“Yeah, that’s my point. He was willing to listen to his president and break your privacy.”
“Kim. Drop it.” I wasn’t getting into this with her. I wasn’t about to justify my actions.
I could see that she didn’t want to. It was clear she had more to say. Instead, she nodded her head and sighed.
“I guess we are all free to make our own mistakes, right?” She reached into her pocket, pulling out her phone. “I’ve got to go, but I’ll see you later and Abby, if you want to talk about it, I’m here.”
I don’t remember a time in my life that I had heard Kim say that, and it was somewhat sad how much safer I felt hearing it.
“I’ll see you later.” I opened the pub door and headed back inside.
I suppose the moral of this story is I needed to be more careful when it came to Reaper. I couldn’t be gawking at him. Though it was so hard to not admire his beautifully crafted body, especially in that black tank top. It was cruel seeing all that ink and muscle on display.
“Abby.” Dad gestured for me to come to him.
The boys had been eating a late breakfast, or early lunch, for an hour. I was sure all the hot food was cold, and all the cold food was warm by now. I hadn’t been listening to what was being said. I knew that it wasn’t my place.
“Yes, Dad?” I made a point to not look over at Reaper, who had his arm draped over the back of a free chair.
“How long are you and Kim staying?”
My eyes slightly widened. How funny that he would be asking me the same question Reaper kept asking me last night. “I don’t know.” I gave him the same answer I had given Reaper. Because I really didn’t know. We hadn’t planned on staying longer than the weekend. But things were changing, I knew that, so did that mean I was ready to come back home?
“Well, I need to know.” Dad reached for his beer and finished it. “Need to get shit in order.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “And what possibly needs to be ordered?”
“Yours and your sister’s stuff has to be moved back down here, and I’ve got a few men riding up that way next week. They could take a van and load your shit up, bringing it back on the way through.”
“I do not think so. I’m not having anyone just throw my stuff in a box.” I wasn’t letting anyone go through my things.
“Fine, I can get your Aunty to do it.”
I didn’t really like that idea either. I wonder if whore can stain things.
“Why does it have to be done now?” I crossed my arms, feeling cornered. “I don’t see what the rush is. Kim and I might just be staying for a while here and then heading back up.”
“Well, are you?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t spoken to her about it.”
“Since when did you only do what she did?” Dad gave me a pointed look. “What’s keeping you there, Abby? I thought you hated the place.”
I hated being made to move there, yes, but I didn’t hate it there anymore. I had friends and somewhat of a job.
But Dad was right, what was keeping me there? I guess he had the same answer as I did. Nothing.
“I thought you didn’t want me back here?” I threw that question at him because that was the clear impression I got last night when he was going on about me following Reaper here.
“You’re my daughter; of course I want you here.” He seemed almost hurt at the suggestion. “Just didn’t want you coming back for the wrong reasons.”
I didn’t like having a double-sided conversation in front of this many people. But it was Dad. He didn’t care who was listening.
“I guess you can tell Aunt Mandy to pack my things up then.” I cringed at the thought of her touching my stuff. “But tell her to wear gloves.”
“Abby, that isn’t nice.”
Shrugging my shoulders, I reached for the empty glasses on the table. My eyes caught Reaper’s for a moment as I took the glass in front of him.
“Tell Kim I’m getting her to pack her shit up, too,” Dad told me as I walked away and I paused, turning back around.
“Just because I am staying doesn’t mean she is.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Trigger shift in his seat. “Kim has a guy there, Dad. She might not be ready to walk away from that.”
Call me a troublemaker, but I knew Kim would do the same for me. The only way to know if Trigger was interested in her was to see if he got jealous. She could thank me later.
“It’s Kim. She will move on to another soon enough.” Dad didn’t look up from his phone as he scrolled through numbers.
“Come on, Dad. Do you really think Trent is like all the others? She’s really taken with him. When you meet him, you’ll know what I mean.”
I didn’t need to be a mind reader to see the jealousy building up in Trigger.
“That nerdy kid.” He scrunched his nose up. “You don’t think she actually likes him?”
Dad’s outrage was so clear that it made me smile. The thought of a nerdy son-in-law was equal to having his own eyes poked out.
I shrugged my shoulders. “He’s the only guy she has ever changed for, and you saw them, Dad. They are sort of cute together.”
Trent and Kim just made my skin crawl. The dude was as boring as a wallflower. But he was serving a purpose.
“Fine. I’ll ask your sister before packing her shit up, but I’m telling you right now, no way is that boy marrying her.” Dad pointed a finger at me as if he were laying down the law.
“Well, I think that works out well because she just plans on screwing his brains out,” I smirked, watching Dad’s face roll in disgust, and headed towards the kitchen with the empty cups in hand.
My work there was done. Trigger thought he had competition now, and I knew that would make him pull his act together.
Placing the dishes in the sink, I nearly jumped through the roof when I felt a pair of hands grab my hips.
“So you’re staying then?” Reaper’s hot breath crept across my ear, causing every sensation in my body to come alight.
I pressed back into him. “I guess so.” I slowly turned my head to the side to meet his eyes. “You ok with that?”
The corner of his lip twitched into half a smile. “Never wanted you to leave, babe.” His hand slowly crept under my tee shirt.
My pulse began to race as his cold fingers grazed my stomach.
“I wasn’t even!” I huffed. My eyes have never done nor will never do ‘sexy kitten’ or ‘sexy fuck me’ eyes.
Hearing footsteps coming down the passage, we jumped aside just in time for Brad to enter the kitchen.
“So do you want me to organize your car to be towed down?” Reaper faked a bored tone in his voice.
I thought about it for a moment. “Um, no actually. Would you be able to organize Drake to sell it?” I dried my hands on the towel.
“What, you’re going to sell your beast?” Brad joined the conversation, getting a beer out the fridge.
“Yeah, time for a change, you know.” I shrugged my shoulders, crossing my arms and leaning back against the sink. “Plus, I think I want to get a convertible.”
They both cracked a grin.
“Women.” Reaper shook his head.
“What’s wrong with a convertible? They are sexy and have the added bonus of having no roof when you want it that way,” I defended my choice.
“They leak, always have problems with the roof not going down right, and if you kill someone, there is no boot space.” Brad listed the reasons on his fingers.
I scoffed. “This is coming from a man that owns a motorcycle.”
Brad shot me a wink, striding out of the kitchen, leaving Reaper and me alone again.
Reaper pushed himself up off the table, and I took a step closer to him. It wasn’t fair for a man to be as attractive as him.
“So you really don’t like the idea of a convertible?”
He shrugged his shoulders and brushed the hair from the side of my face. “Just didn’t see you as the convertible type of girl. But you can get whatever you want.”
I ran a hand down his arm. “Means I won’t have room for a dead body.” I joked.
A smirk captured his lips, and he dropped his mouth down to my ear. “If you have to kill someone babe, it means I’m not doing my job right, and I’m never planning on that happening.”
Tingles spread across my body and before I could say anything, he slapped my arse and gave me a wink before walking out of the kitchen, leaving me speechless. Oh god, what have I gotten myself into?
Chapter 30
Abby
“So you’re moving back here?” Kim stood in my doorway, arms crossed with a very unimpressed look on her face.
“Yeah, I am.”
“Didn’t think of telling me that this morning?”
“Does it matter?” I didn’t really see how it would affect her. “I told Dad just because I’m coming back doesn’t mean you are.”
Rolling her eyes, she closed the door behind her. “Yes, it does.”
“Kim, I’m a big girl. I can look after myself.”
“I don’t doubt that but…” She looked torn as if she knew what she was about to say was going to offend me. “I don’t want to leave you here with no one to talk to. Especially when I’m the one who convinced you to come back here.”
Was she feeling guilty? I chewed on my bottom lip, stopping myself from smiling.
“Kim.” I gripped her shoulders, looking her straight in the eye. “You don’t have to feel responsible for me. If you want to stay, stay. If you want to go, go. But before you make your decision, I need to tell you something.”
She frowned, “Ok. What?”
“It’s about Trigger.”
She rolled her eyes and sighed. “What about him?”
“I may have made it sound like you and Trent were still dating.”
She scrunched her nose up. “Why on earth would you do that?”
“To see if he was jealous, and he was.”
She moved to go sit on my bed. “Trust me, he isn’t jealous. Jealousy would be the last emotion he would feel when it came to me. He might have shown some interest, but I doubt it was jealousy.”
“Ok, what makes you say that?” Clearly, she knew more about this situation than I did. I thought I had read pure jealousy on Trigger’s face. Had I read it wrong? No. Not possible.
“He’s dating someone.”
“What, a club whore?” I laughed at the thought, “Come on, Kim. Screwing isn’t dating; you know that.”
“No. She’s a real woman, has no connection to the club.” The disappointment in her voice was noticeable. “I thought he was lying about her, but this morning I went and checked her out for myself. She’s real.”
That couldn’t be possible. Trigger dating a good girl? I just didn’t see it.
“Who is she?”
“Some chick that works down at the council. I thought maybe he was with her for the club, you know, but she works the desk. She wouldn’t have any influence.”
I couldn’t help but frown. “So what was with his reaction last night? He was clearly into you, Kim. Maybe this girlfriend of his is just to make you jealous.”
“His reaction last night was because he didn’t want me here.” She looked up from her hands. “He told me. He said that I could ruin everything.”
“Please, you couldn’t ruin anything when it comes to him. He is more than able to do that on his own.”
“Still. He doesn’t want me here.”
“Since when did you do what Trigger wants?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. She was willing to back down because she didn’t want to hurt him, or worse, ruin his relationship.
“I don’t want him to hate me.” She smiled sadly at me. “I know this sounds stupid, but I would rather be his friend than nothing, you know?”
“Then be his friend.” I went to sit beside her. “Stay, and then at the very least you can show him what he is missing out on.”
Trigger wasn’t a clear-cut type of guy. Which made me think that this ‘relationship’ of his wasn’t clear-cut either.
Kim sighed, looking around the room. “You so have to redecorate this room if you are staying here.”
“Funny, I was thinking the same thing.” I grinned at her, “So are you going to stay?”
“I wouldn’t be a good sister if I left you here by yourself with Reaper, would I?”
Laughing at her, I couldn’t help but think about how much I had changed since I left this room. I just hoped I didn’t fall back into old habits.
***
“You going out in that?” Dad’s eyes widened slightly, his nostrils flared. “It’s a bloody bra, Abby. Put a top on.”
“It’s a sports bra, Dad, and I’m going for a run. Not like I’m heading down the street.” I felt highly annoyed at him. All I wanted to do was go for a run, and he had to be hovering around the gate.
“What are those? Underwear!” He pointed at my shorts.
“They are Loren Jane, Dad. Hardly underwear!” I snickered at his overreaction. While I knew a few of the guys were giving me a once over, there was only one pair of eyes I wanted on me, and he wasn’t here. In fact, I hadn’t seen him since morning.
“Can I go now?” I huffed at him while clicking my phone into my armband.
“Not till you get changed.”
“Dad. Back off.” I wasn’t letting him stomp all over me again. “I’m going for a run. I have my phone. Call me if you need me.”
I turned my back sharply and headed out the gates. After all, what could he do? Stop me? Doubtful.
Putting my headphones in, I started to quicken my pace. Time to have some me time, and I really needed it.
***
I was sweaty, I was hot, and I really needed a drink. Bursting into the clubhouse, I headed straight to the bar, reaching over for a scoop of ice and some water.
I gulped it down at an incredible rate while still listening to my music. I was in such a rush to get a drink I hadn’t even stretched or taken my headphones out. Which I suppose led me to a humiliating moment when I finished my drink only to realize that the end of the bar was full.
My chest heaved and I still hadn’t managed to get control over
my breathing, taking out my headphones, then Trigger decided he wanted to be a smart arse.
“Lose your top, Abby?” He made a point to stare at my chest for a few moments.
I slapped my glass down on the bar and ignored him.
“You know, babe, I could get you a sweater if you want.” Some greasy, dirty man on a bar stool smirked at me.
I walked past them, not bothering to give them a response. It was when he slapped my arse that I got mad. Spinning on my heel, I slapped the man’s hand away.
“Don’t touch me,” I snarled.
“Come on, darling; that’s no way to talk to a bloke.”
Who was this man? Usually, the guys had respect for Kim and I. Clearly this guy didn’t know who I was or more importantly, who my dad was.
Trigger leaned back against the bar, looking amused and not seeming to want to step in.
The man reached out for me again, and I was quick to push him away. “I said leave me alone!” I picked up his half empty beer and threw the contents in his face.
In hindsight, it was a stupid move. So I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised that the man went from flirting to furious in a second.
“Apologize, bitch!” He grabbed my wrist, twisting it tightly.
“Let go of me!”
Trigger must have thought he better step in, as I saw him move out of the corner of my eye.
“I think you need to be taught a lesson,” he snarled in my ear and pulled me forcefully into his chest. I was sure my wrist was inches from snapping in half. Then just at the man went to unzip his jeans, his grip on my hand was ripped away.
I thought it had been Trigger; I was wrong. Reaper sent one punch into the guy’s jaw and another into his stomach, causing him to hunch over. Gasping, I took a few steps back, trying to get out of the way before I ended up in the way of one of his swings.
Reaper didn’t look furious. He was controlled, which for some reason was more terrifying.
I cradled my wrist in one hand while tears threatened to spill. It was throbbing, and it was a sinister type of pain. I didn’t want them to see me cry, so I turned quickly and ran out while cradling my wrist. I was wiping away tears when I ran into Brad at the top of the stairs.
