Reaper Unleashed

by Michelle Woods

  “That every woman, no matter what she tells you, wants you to fight for her.”

  Sarah couldn’t help it, she started laughing so hard she got tears in her eyes because that was true. She knew that it was true even when she had demanded that he give her time. She’d wanted him to fight for her. The poor man sounded so confused by this enlightened advice he’d receive from Candy that she laughed harder.

  “I didn’t think it was that funny,” he told her, grinning as he kissed her forehead, enjoying the laughter after they had both been so miserable all week. He had missed this, the times they were together and had just made love. That was when they talked about the day and he enjoyed her view on things because it always entertained him.

  “But it is, because it’s so illogical but true. So very, very true.” Sarah finally stopped laughing when he kissed it off her lips.

  After the kiss she met his eyes with her solemn amber ones. “I won’t be with you if you sleep around on me, Reaper. I can’t be. I need you to be mine like I’m yours.”

  “I know, baby. I promise I won’t allow another woman to touch me. If I do, feel free to kill her. I’ll be killing any man with his hands on you, after all,” Reaper told her seriously before kissing her deeply.

  “I mean it, Reaper. I won’t take you back if you do it.”

  “Baby, you’re the only woman I want. I don’t even notice anyone else. I walk around with a perpetual hard-on for you though,” Reaper told her, grinning, his arms around her tightly pulling her into his chest to hold her. “I was miserable thinking you were moving out and I wouldn’t get to hold you every night anymore.”

  “It’s been a week already. I’m sure you would have survived it, Reaper,” Sarah said, rolling her eyes at his ridiculous statement.

  “You think it’s been a week, but baby, I held you every night. I had to,” Reaper whispered against her temple, a smile caressing her.

  “What?” she asked, pushing up to look at him, wondering what the hell he was talking about. She would have remembered him holding her.

  “I came in every night when I got home and held you while you slept.” He laughed ruefully at his own words.

  Sarah looked at him in surprise. “You did?” she asked, a little bit awed that he’d come in here just to hold her while she slept each night.

  “I couldn’t help myself. I need you like my heart needs to beat. I can’t seem to get you out of my soul. It’s like you’ve taken me over and I can’t bear to part from you. Even when it scares me more than anything ever has in my life, baby,” Reaper whispered against her lips and then he was kissing her with every bit of passion inside him and Sarah almost couldn’t bear the ache.

  He finally let her up for air, his hands buried in her hair not letting her pull back. His lips rested against hers as she whispered into his next kiss, “I love you, Reaper.”

  Chapter 22

  The next morning Sarah was surprised to find rose petals spread across the bed with her patch in the center of Reaper’s pillow. She laughed when she lifted the soft leather to her cheek, smiling like a fool, but she couldn’t help it she was happy. Getting up, she got dressed and went to the kitchen, where she found Reaper and Josh having breakfast. Reaper looked up, smiling at her in his property patch. Grabbing her around the waist, he pulled her into his lap kissing her neck and nipping her ear.

  “You look so good in my patch, baby,” Reaper told her as she struggled to get up and get some coffee. He let her after another kiss or two.

  “Hah, you only like it because it warns other men off. I think maybe I should get you a patch that say’s ‘Sarah’s man’ so the women leave you alone,” Sarah muttered, grabbing a cup and getting some coffee.

  She sat down beside Josh, giving him a kiss when he demanded one on his applesauce-covered cheek. Reaper leaned over and kissed the applesauce off her lips. His eyes darkened with passion before he stood.

  “I need to go into the club. I have to meet with Lock and Death about some club business. Not sure if I will be home for lunch. I’ll call and let you know, okay.” He kissed her and then Josh before leaving.

  She looked at Josh smiling. “Well, I guess we have to unpack, don’t we? Of course, he ran off when there was unpacking to do. Just like a man, but you’ll help mommy won’t you, little man?” Josh climbed down from his chair and took off. Sarah laughed; yep, that was about right. She sighed before heading into the living room after him. He’d dumped out the toys and was already playing with a dinosaur that Iron had given him.

  She’d gotten about six boxes unpacked when she realized it was lunchtime. Josh had fallen asleep on the floor near where he’d been playing and she didn’t want to move him because he might wake up. Heading into the kitchen, she began making some stir-fry wondering if Reaper would make it home for lunch. She heard someone behind her and spun to see a man in the door of the kitchen.

  He was in his late twenties with sandy-brown hair and bright blue eyes. His face was covered in half-healed bruises and he had a cut over one eye. She screamed and grabbed the gun in the top drawer next to her. Since the night of the break-in she’d kept one there because Josh wasn’t tall enough to reach the drawer.

  “Who the fuck are you?” she demanded of the sandy haired man standing between the kitchen and the living room, realizing a better question was how the hell had he gotten inside the house.

  “Whoa, calm down, beautiful. I’m a friend of Reaper’s. If you just call him, he can tell you not to shoot me. He would be mad if you did,” he said, holding his hands up in the air.

  “I don’t think Reaper has any friends with those colors,” she said, indicating his Headhunter cut. He looked down at the leather cut she indicated and grimaced.

  “Well, not many, just one, me. Call him. Tell him to come home, sweetness,” he told her, his hands still in the air. He didn’t move so she refrained from shooting him for the moment.

  “I’m not calling him here so you can ambush him. I should just shoot you and let Reaper figure it out,” Sarah told him, still holding the gun on him.

  “Would you take that off the burner first? Because I’m starving and you’re burning it,” he said, pointing to the pan. She held the gun on him as she turned, keeping him in the corner of her eye. She lifted the pan off the burner setting it down on the potholder. He moved and she pulled off a shot hitting the wall just above his head without even looking.

  “Are you insane? You could have shot me!” he cried, glaring at her.

  “That’s the only warning you get. Next one goes in your head.” She motioned him to the table. She dumped the stir-fry on a plate and handed him a fork. Then she caught Josh when he came barreling into the room, lifting him up in her arms.

  “You can put the gun down. I’m not going to hurt you,” he said, glaring at her as he shoveled the food into his mouth as if he was actually starving.

  “Let’s just say I will call Reaper and discuss your ‘friendship’ and see what he says.” Sarah told him, pulling out her phone.

  Reaper picked up after two rings. “What’s up, baby?” he asked.

  “There’s a man here in a Headhunters cut.”

  “Fuck, baby, lock it down and we’ll be there. Just let the shutters down and don’t try any heroics. They can’t get inside without the code.”

  “No, Reaper, he’s in the house at the table eating your lunch,” Sarah told him, holding Josh on her hip with the gun still on the man, who was still eating.

  “How the fuck did he get in?” he demanded.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Get out, baby. Go to the safe. I had a tunnel installed th…”

  “Tell him you don’t need the tunnel. You’re safe with me,” the man said, looking at her as he placed more stir-fry on his plate. She lowered the gun, laying it on the counter. She was pretty sure that he wasn’t going to hurt her, but she wasn’t willing to bet their lives on it and stayed within reach of the gun. There was something she trusted about him but there was
also a hard edge to him too. It was as if he’d been around the wrong element for too long and had lost some part of himself.

  “He knows about the tunnel and says we don’t need it.” Reaper was cussing loudly and she was sure he was pacing.

  “How the fuck could he know about that? I just had that damned tunnel installed. Baby, shoot him, just don’t do it in front of Josh,” Reaper told her.

  “No, I think you need to come home. I don’t know. Something is off about him but at the same time I find myself not threatened by him,” she whispered into the phone.

  “Oh, tell Reaper I found his mole,” the man said between bites, his hair falling across his eyes, and Sarah raised a brow.

  “He says he found your mole?” She heard Reaper cuss again before he said in a relieved voice, “Tell that fucker not to pull bullshit like this again. He has no idea how lucky he is that you didn’t shoot his ass. But even if he annoys you, please don’t shoot him, Sarah. He’s like my little brother even though he’s a pain in the fucking ass. I’ll be there in twenty.”

  Sarah hung up the phone then looked at the sandy haired man at her kitchen table. “He’s on his way. Josh, cover your ears, baby.” She waited till he complied then she lifted the gun and aimed it at the wall, pulling the trigger a second time.

  “That one will hit one inch below the first one. You startle me and we’re going to have problems. I’ll shoot then sort it out later. Understand?” She was looking the man in the eye the entire time. His mouth was hanging open as he stared at the second hole she’d just put in the wall. Then he looked at her and started laughing.

  It was a little chuckle at first. It sounded rusty and like he hadn’t laughed in a while and somehow had forgotten how. The he was laughing loudly. When he finally stopped laughing, he said, “I can’t believe that he actually found a woman as deadly as he is. Only Reaper would find a woman who’s a better shot than him. Damn, it’s been a long time since I felt like laughing. Thank you.” He smiled, his eyes filled with dark shadows of something that seemed to haunt him.

  “Mama, no more loud,” Josh said, shaking his tiny head. “Want appiesauce.”

  Sarah started to pull his chair to the far side of the table but the man stood up so she backed away, her hand on the gun. He only moved the chair for her, placing it at the far side of the table before returning to his plate and moving away another spot. She got the applesauce and some of the stir-fry she’d cut up earlier, setting it on the table before setting Josh down.

  “Burner, by the way,” he told her as she let Josh eat and set the gun on the counter beside her.

  “Sarah,” she told him.

  “And the little guy?” he asked, smiling at Josh.

  “Josh,” she said, and Josh turned to look at her with applesauce on his hands, grinning as he shoved them into his mouth.

  “Messy eater, huh,” Burner said chuckling.

  “Yes,” Sarah said, watching them eat, one shoveling food in as if he hadn’t eaten in days and the other getting it all over his face and arms. They were a pair, she thought, smiling a bit. Burner was an odd contradiction; he seemed like a good man but the Headhunter cut worried her. She heard the sound of the garage and realized that Reaper was home.

  Reaper entered the house, moving to her at the counter and kissing her long and hard with his back to Josh and Burner. Sarah wasn’t sure why but Reaper trusted the man. She knew that he never would have turned his back to him otherwise.

  “Burner, how the hell did you get in here?” he demanded, his arm around her waist as he turned, looking at the other man.

  “Well, I tried the code. It didn’t work. I see why now but then I was hiding in the back and noticed the tunnel and thought it might lead to the gunroom. So I crawled through it and used the code to get in. I was a little surprised to find her in here at the stove.” He pointed to Sarah. “The kid was even more shocking. I’m assuming he’s not yours because I’ve never seen her before and I’ve only been gone a year and a half.”

  “He is mine, but I’m not the sperm donor,” Reaper said, kissing Sarah and hugging her to his chest. “I missed you, baby,” he told her before kissing her again.

  Sarah laughed; Reaper was acting as if it had been days since he’d seen her but it had only been a few hours.

  “You just saw me this morning, Reaper,” she told him, shaking her head at his silliness.

  “A minute is too long when I’m staving for you, baby,” Reaper told her, his lips against her ear. They heard a throat clear behind them.

  “Can we talk about the mole because I’d like to get some sleep now that I’ve eaten. That was damned good by the way, Sarah,” Burner told her.

  She smiled at him. “Thank you.”

  “Okay, talk,” Reaper said, sitting down at the table.

  “Umm, shouldn’t we go in the other room?” Burner asked, his brows raised.

  “She isn’t going to tell anyone. Besides in less than an hour it wouldn’t matter anyway. She’s not one to run her mouth though. Are you baby?” he asked, his arm pulling her down on his lap.

  “No,” Sarah said

  “Dada, tree,” Josh said, pointing to a shape he had drawn in his applesauce and wanting Reaper to look.

  “Wow, buddy, that’s an awesome tree,” he said, absently rubbing his hand up and down Sarah’s arm as he looked over at Josh. The he stilled. “Did he just call me dada?” he asked, still stiff. Sarah worried that he was going to tell Josh not to call him that. She tried to pull away but he tightened his arms.

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  He seemed to lose all tension then and squeezed her tight before saying, “Okay then.” He leaned over and kissed Josh on the forehead.

  “You’re a family,” Burner said, staring in shock at the three of them. “And you like it,” he said, his last words sounding accusing but he chuckled. Sarah wondered how Reaper would react to the comment. If it had been a week ago, Reaper would have roared out a denial and refused to talk to her for the rest of the day, but today he only nodded and squeezed her tighter.

  “Yeah, I do. They make me happy,” Reaper said

  “Well I’ll be damned. I never would have pegged you a family man. Congrats. You have no idea how lucky you are, man,” Burner said, his eyes getting that sad haunted gleam again.

  “I do know. I want to catch up but for now let’s get to the mole,” Reaper said, his body stiff beneath her again.

  “It’s Buck.”

  “I knew it! See, I told you I didn’t like him and that something was off with him,” Sarah exclaimed because she’d talked to him about it after he’d grabbed her in the cellar.

  “Motherfucker,” Reaper said as he lifted Sarah off his lap to stand. He dug out his phone and called Lock. He answered on the fourth ring. “It’s Buck. Don’t let him leave. I’ll be there in a half hour.”

  “Let me just grab Josh’s bag and we will head over to the club,” Sarah said, standing up and walking towards the door of the kitchen.

  “What? You’re not going with us, Sarah,” Reaper said, his eyes narrowed on her.

  Sarah turned back towards him, her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face. “I am going, Reaper. If you’re smart, you won’t argue with me. He attacked me. He also sent men into my home to kill my son. You think I’m not going to go with you to make sure that he pays for that, you’ve lost your fucking mind!” Sarah turned, storming to the door of the kitchen at a clipped angry pace. She stopped in the doorway looking back at them.

  “You leave without me and I will follow you. When I get there I will be livid and you might end up with a hole somewhere in an unimportant area of your body.” She turned then storming out.

  Reaper watched her like a starved man because she was a fine looking woman when she was angry. He hadn’t had nearly enough of her last night to make up for the week he hadn’t been able to touch her.

  “She’s a firecracker, isn’t she?” Burner asked quietly.

  “Yeah, she is,”
Reaper replied.

  “You are letting her go with us to handle this?” Burner asked, sounding curious.

  “Ha, if you saw how well she shoots you wouldn’t argue with her about it either. Trust me, that woman doesn’t bluff. Ever. She would shoot me.” He laughed ruefully, his heart jumping in his chest because she was perfect. Just fucking perfect.

  “I did see. She almost shot me in the head,” he told Reaper, who shook his head meeting Burner’s eyes.

  “No, she warned you. If she wanted to shoot you, she would have. I took her to the gun range after the men broke in here. Iron, Lock, Bull and Rebel came with us. It was horrifying. Not only is she a better shot than every one of us but she can also aim with only a two second lag. She’s like one of those gunslingers in those really old holo vids. I don’t know if it’s because she started training with a gun when she was young or if she’s just that good. She doesn’t even have to look where she’s shooting to hit the target perfectly. Every one of them wanted to start taking her on runs with us. I, of course, put my fucking foot down on that one. No fucking way is my old lady going on runs,” Reaper laughed wearily.

  “Right, well I knew when she shot the wall a second time that she was deadly. She looked at me the whole time and says that one is an inch below the first one. I nearly shit my pants when it hit the wall exactly where she said.” Burner grinned.

  “Why are you still in that cut?” Reaper asked suddenly. He reached out with a napkin, wiping Josh’s face and his hands.

  “I just I don’t know. I feel that people need a warning. Reaper, I did things while I was with them. Things I can’t talk about and that I’m not proud of.” Reaper looked at the man he thought of as his brother. He was different, harder and yet broken. His face was still bruised from the beating he’d received a few months ago but they were almost gone. He had a scar above his right eye that hadn’t been there when he left.

  “We’ve all done things that we regret. I asked you to go into that viper’s nest and deal with those bastards. I knew you’d have to do stuff to keep from blowing your cover. I still asked you to do it.”