“Shit, put it back on! Now, Sarah. He comes in here and sees you not wearing it and he is going to go fucking apeshit!” Iron looked panicked now instead of angry. His expression would have made her laugh if she wasn’t so pissed.
“No. He doesn’t get to decide my life. I’m my own person and I will not fucking deal with his bullshit anymore! I’ve had enough.” Sarah wanted to take the patch he kept trying to shove at her but she wasn’t going to allow him or Reaper to treat her like a plaything. She just wasn’t.
She turned and moved to Sammy who’d been staring wide eyed at them the whole time they’d been yelling. Iron followed her.
“Please, Sarah, you need to put this on before he gets here.”
“I said no,” Sarah snapped at him over her shoulder. She wasn’t surprised when the man grabbed her arm and tried to force the leather onto her arm.
“You have to put it back on, Sarah. You don’t know how mad he’s going to be when he comes in here. He will go nuts and trust me when I say that isn’t something you want. He didn’t get his name for nothing, Sarah. He’ll be angry and when he’s angry he starts killing. Now, put this back on, please.”
Sarah rolled her eyes. Reaper had all these people convinced he was a ticking time bomb. She knew that the men he’d killed in the last month had been bad news and that was why they were dead. He might beat the fuck out of someone who pissed him off but he didn’t kill people for annoying him. Although, he’d gotten a little crazy the other night when George had put his hands on her.
Shaking her head, she turned back, ignoring Iron but looking up when she heard a commotion at the door. Three bouncers were on the floor and Reaper stood in the doorway with his eyes burning and his chest heaving as his eyes locked on her. Damn, he’d gotten here fast.
“Fuck, he’s here. Take this, I’ll get your friend and do me a favor, Sarah, don’t piss him off more by telling him you are not his. At least not till you get him out of here,” Iron whispered, shoving her cut into the crook of her arm.
Reaper moved towards her, but another bouncer came forward to stop him and landed on his ass like the other three had. Sarah almost felt sorry for the men. It was her fault that they’d likely be sore tomorrow. She cringed a little as he neared her, his blazing eyes boring into her.
She glared back, but she was frozen in place as he came towards her. She felt like she was being stalked, his every movement clipped and predatory. When he stood before her, he didn’t speak, he just grabbed her around the waist and jerked her to him.
“Mine,” he said before his mouth slammed down on hers in the middle of the dance floor. His hands at her waist were possessive and he didn’t allow her to pull away. Sarah tried to jerk back to get away from him but he wasn’t allowing it. Livid with his high handedness, she bit down hard on his lower lip tasting blood. He growled but he didn’t pull back. He just thrust his hand into her hair pulling hard and kissed her harder.
He lifted her, carrying her outside to where he’d parked the bike. She finally managed to jerk away from him when he set her down. She slammed her patch into his stomach hard making him grunt. She glared at him, her hands clenched at her sides. She noted that his lip was still bleeding. It served him right, the asshole.
“I don’t belong to you anymore, jackass! You want to fuck around, fine. But do not expect me to be around while you do it! I am not your plaything nor am I your possession. Now I am going back in there to collect my friend and you’re going to allow it. You’re also going to allow Josh and me to move out tonight. You can tell the club whatever the fuck you want, but I will not put up with you fucking around on me with that whore!” She knew she was screaming but she didn’t give a fuck.
“You are my old lady and I will not let you move out.”
“I’m not your fucking old lady anymore. I gave you your damned patch back because I don’t want it if it doesn’t give me the same rights to you as it gives you to me, damn it! I refuse to be treated like this!” Sarah roared.
“You’re not moving out, Sarah!”
“The fuck I’m not, asshat! You want to play with your toy whores, fine, but count me out. I will not deal with that. I will stay until I find another place, but after that you’ll have to find someone else dumb enough to allow you to use them because I am not that fucking woman!” Sara shrieked. Reaper stared at her standing with her hands on her hips and her breath coming in quick pants, looking good enough to eat. He could tell she wasn’t going to allow him to touch her tonight. She was convinced he was turned on by Candy’s strip tease when in reality it was her defiance that made his cock throb with need.
He’d have to play this right. He needed her to think she’d won in order to get her to let down her guard, then he’d be able to show her that she wasn’t getting away from him. Not ever.
“Fine, but you don’t leave until I make sure the place you’re staying is safe. Can’t have my old lady and my kid somewhere dangerous. You also ride home with me,” he demanded.
“I’m not your old lady! And Josh isn’t yours. I’m also not riding anywhere with you! I can either ride with Iron or Animal or I can get Sammy to drive me but I won’t be riding with you.” She glared at him, her eyes alight with amber fire.
“You are not riding on anyone else’s bike so go get your friend,” he growled. He didn’t argue about her being his old lady or about his son. She’d find out soon enough that becoming his old lady was one decision she couldn’t take back. She was his and that was a fact.
“Whatever.” She turned on her heel and he watched as she stormed back toward the club, the heels on her boots clacking, her skirt swaying and her hair bouncing in time to her clipped pace making his back teeth ache.
He felt his cock jump and adjusted it because there wouldn’t be any relief for it tonight, she was too angry. He’d have to wait her out and then he’d show her what it meant to be owned.
Chapter 20
Sarah had Sammy drive her to Mrs. Black’s house to get Josh. She got out of the car and ignored Reaper, who sat on his idling bike waiting while she walked up to the door. Sammy had been really upset when she’d come back into the club to get her. She had wanted to get Josh and run because she was convinced that Reaper was going to try to murder her. Sarah had not been able to help the laugh that had escaped her at the suggestion. Sammy had looked at her like she’d lost her mind when she’d told her that her assumption was crazy. Reaper would never hurt her or Josh.
Sarah exited Mrs. Black’s to find Reaper leaning on the wall waiting. His bike was back in the garage and she was sure that Animal or Iron was responsible for that. Sammy wasn’t waiting at the curb.
“Where’s Sammy?” Sarah demanded. She knew that Sammy wouldn’t have left without telling her goodbye.
“Animal took her home.”
“You’d better not have frightened her, Reaper,” Sarah told him with narrowed eyes as Josh began to wiggle.
“Eper, Mama.” He tried to go to Reaper and she wanted to be mad that he even had her son wrapped around his finger but she couldn’t begrudge her son the only male role model he’d ever had. Her heart ached at the thought of separating them.
“I’ll carry him,” Reaper said, taking Josh from her. Sarah wanted to protest but Reaper was part of Josh’s routine now and that made her even madder because she knew that the split between her and Reaper was going to hurt her baby too. This was why she shouldn’t have allowed him to talk her into staying for the last five weeks. She should have refused and found a place close by so that he couldn’t complain.
Sarah followed Reaper back over to the loft. When they were inside, she told Josh to give Reaper a hug and kiss goodnight. She was sleeping in the guest bedroom with him tonight. Waiting while he planted kisses over Reaper’s face, she then lifted him and carried him into the room she’d once shared with him and stopped short, staring at the room in utter fury.
The man was diabolical. That was all there was to it because while she’d gone back inside
Spangles to get Sammy, he must have made a call to one of his goons. The guest bed that was normally in the room was gone and Josh’s twin sized one was all that the room contained. She gritted her teeth because the man had not won. She was still sleeping in here even if she ended up on the floor. It wasn’t that she couldn’t fit in the bed with Josh; she could, but he kicked like a mule when he slept. It was never pleasant to wake at two o’clock in the morning to a foot trying to take out your spleen.
She ignored the fact that the bed was missing because knowing Reaper, he was waiting on a reaction and she wasn’t giving him one. She’d just sleep on the floor. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d had to do it, after all. She got Josh ready for bed and into his pajamas. She read him one of the stories that Reaper had bought for him over a month ago. When he was finally out, she went and grabbed a pillow and blanket that was folded in the closet and made it into a makeshift sleeping bag. Curling up, she cried herself to sleep.
Reaper paced back and forth in their room. He’d expected her to come in over an hour ago and still she was in Josh’s room. She must be trying to sleep in the boy’s bed. He wasn’t allowing that, he needed her to sleep where she belonged. He moved quietly into the room expecting Sarah to be in the bed but instead found her on the floor fast asleep. Her face was red and swollen and he felt like an asshole.
Not only was she on the floor but she looked as if she had cried herself to sleep. He lifted her gently into his arms, carrying her into their room and laying her in their bed where she should be. He had thought having the bed removed from the other room would force her to sleep in here with him. He should have known that she was too stubborn for that.
He grinned as he crawled into the bed and wrapped around her inhaling her sweet scent. He held her to his chest and kissed her head. He wasn’t sure what the hell he was going to do about this mess. He only knew one thing. He wasn’t ever letting her go. No matter what she thought, she and Josh were his and they where staying where they belonged.
Sarah woke to the feeling of warmth surrounding her and at first she was confused. She remembered falling asleep on the floor in the guest room. She tried to sit up to discover a heavy arm was around her. She knew who it was. Reaper must have brought her into his bed, the son of a bitch! She let her elbow fly back into the idiot’s stomach. He grunted but he didn’t release her.
“No need for violence, baby,” Reaper told her, his chin resting on her head.
“How dare you bring me in here, Reaper. I don’t want anything to do with you and I am not going to allow you to act as if the rules of decency don’t apply to you,” Sarah told him, trying to turn in his arms to escape the hold he had on her even as she knew there was no escaping the hold he had on her heart.
“Too bad. I let you think you’d gotten your way last night, Sarah, but I am not letting you go so you might as well get over it.” Reaper’s arm wouldn’t release her even when she tried to move off the bed. After a brief struggle, she glanced at him through dark lashes, her eyes narrowed with anger.
“I need to go get Josh some breakfast. He’ll be up soon,” Sarah finally told him, thinking it was the only way he’d let her go.
“Iron came and picked him up an hour ago. He’s taking care of him today while we work this out,” Reaper informed her.
“What?” Sarah asked, shocked at his behavior. He’d had someone come to take care of her son without her consent?
“We need to talk and Josh needs to be taken care of,” Reaper said calmly, shrugging. Then he somehow managed to shift her without releasing her so that she was laying across his chest.
“So let me get this straight,” she growled, her teeth gritted. “You had someone come here and take my son without consulting me first?”
“Yes, I had a friend come and take our son to give us a chance to talk,” Reaper said in that same infuriatingly calm voice. Sarah was resting on her elbows on his chest and she couldn’t believe that he’d just claimed Josh. He’d lost that right when he’d gone into that room with Candy and his ‘brothers’ last night.
“I think you had better call Iron and have him bring Josh back here now, Reaper. I am not going to allow you to run our lives anymore. I shouldn’t have allowed it in the first place.” Sarah felt a tear slip from the corner of her eye. She couldn’t seem to stop them. She was so mad at him for doing this to them. He’d hurt her and he wouldn’t even allow her some space.
“Baby,” he whispered, his face twisting in empathy. “What happened––” She placed her hand over his mouth stopping the words. She didn’t want to hear the words he said to her last night again. One thing she knew about the man, he was honest when he spoke and he didn’t sugarcoat anything, ever.
“No, Reaper. Just don’t,” she murmured, the ache inside her almost crushing her soul. She wanted so badly for them to work out. She had finally been happy here with Reaper and it tore her to shreds that he didn’t feel as strongly about her as she did about him.
“Please, you need to let us go.” Sarah let a soft sob escape her and buried her head into the covers, trying to move off his chest. Reaper held her close, not allowing her to put distance between them.
“Sarah, baby. Don’t cry,” he whispered, his heart contracting because her soft sobs were his fault. He had wanted to distance himself from her and he had certainly done that, he realized. He royally fucked up this time and a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach made him realize that fixing it wasn’t going to be as easy as he’d thought.
“Just hold me and don’t force me to stay here. I can’t take it,” Sarah whispered, tearing his chest open with those words. Damn, that had hit home. Wrapping his arms around her, he held her close while she sobbed her heart out. It took almost a half hour for her to stop crying. Reaper was nearly out of his mind by the time she was finally worn out and fell into a fitful sleep.
He got out of the bed, pacing back and forth, watching her. He needed a plan. One that didn’t mean he would have to give her up because that just wasn’t happening. He couldn’t imagine his life without her and Josh in it. He needed a plan that would keep her close so that he could work on fixing this mess.
His hands gripped his hair as he wore a hole in the carpet pacing, his mind turning over what he could do. She wanted to move out and he would have to allow it for a short time. Everything inside him roared in protest at the mere thought of them not being here where they belonged. He needed to play this right and if that meant for a short time he had to be miserable, then so be it.
Sarah stood next to the boxes she’d been packing for the past two hours. At first she’d told Reaper that she was only taking the things she and Josh had brought with them but he had gone all stone man on her and insisted that these were their things and they would be taking them. Knowing that he would just have them delivered to the new apartment, she’d stopped arguing.
Sarah hated the idea of leaving the loft but she knew she couldn’t stay and watch him with other women. The day he had Iron watch Josh and she had cried in his arms seemed to change something for him. Likely he didn’t like weepy goodbyes, she snorted, grabbing another outfit and folding it into the box she was packing.
When she woke up that afternoon, Josh was back and Reaper had told her they were going to Ink Bandits, the Blue Bandit’s tattoo parlor. She had told him she didn’t need a tattoo, wondering if he had lost his mind. His response had been a glare before he told her that she was going to be working there now.
It had pleasantly surprised her that he still wanted her to work for him. It really shouldn’t have, she supposed, because she knew how much the man hated dealing with the supplies. The fact that he was a good man and he felt responsible for her and Josh played into him letting her continue as his employee too.
That day he had driven them to Ink Bandits in her car, where she’d met the four men who worked there. Animal, she was surprised to learn, was one of them. Knowing him from the night at Spangles, she had been a bit embarrassed to see him a
gain. Her cheeks had turned bright pink but he’d been nice despite the roaring bitch she’d been that night.
The other three men she hadn’t known. They were all part of the Blue Bandits MC. Flame, a blond with more piercings than a pincushion, was quiet, had only nodded when they were introduced. Stitch, a dark haired Lothario, Reaper had knocked on his ass for flirting with her. The last one had surprised her the most. His name, Pansy, was odd even among the bikers. He was six foot four if he was an inch and he was solid muscle, so how he had gotten that name was a total mystery.
Even though they were a strangely motley crew, she had liked them. They hadn’t glared at her nor had they tried to flirt with Reaper like the strippers had, so it was an improvement over the last group she’d worked with at the strip club. Not that she would have to worry about seeing Reaper. That thought depressed her and she wanted to cry all over again.
Reaper had shown her to the office before they’d left and shown her what to do if there was trouble. He had given her the code to the safe, which held a Glock and two clips, and then shown her how to engage the security locks on the office door. He had also shown her where the panic button was and told her that it would alert him at the club if there was trouble. The next day Reaper had disappeared.
She was a little hurt that Reaper seemed to be cutting her from his life. He was rarely at the house except at night and he no longer showed for dinner. She had cried herself to sleep the first time it happened, her heart aching as she felt the walls crashing down on her. It was hard to realize that although to her he was everything, to him she was just another woman. One he cared about, sure, but he would make it without her. She wasn’t so sure about herself.
Sammy had helped her find an apartment about two blocks from the loft that Reaper had finally agreed to allow her to move into. Of course, that was after he’d taken care of what he considered necessary security upgrades. He had rejected two other apartments, one because it had too many windows and the other because it was just ugly. That was what he’d said.
Reaper Unleashed Page 20
