by Simone Elise
“There is no point, Reaper. I’m useless.”
“Lower the gun,” Reaper said. Everyone in the background said he was wasting his time. I huffed and started to glare at them, but his hand went under my chin and redirected my head toward the bottles. “Don’t listen to them.”
“Easy for you to say.” He didn’t have everyone laughing at him!
“Alright. It is set up. Now breathe and shoot.” He stepped away.
He made it sound easy.
“Come on, Kim,” he said behind me.
For some reason, he hadn’t given up on me yet. OK. The bottle was lined up. I pulled the trigger. And the bottle broke. That had to be beginner’s luck. I aimed up a second one. I watched it splinter and the contents spill over the truck. Again, it must have been chance. I lined up the third one. A smile spread across my face.
I had never felt so much satisfaction as I did seeing those bottles explode. I turned to Reaper. OK, maybe he wasn’t a bad teacher. I was so excited I jumped toward him.
“Did you see that I totally did it?!” I yelled and he caught me.
“Good girl.” He held me with one arm.
“I’m competition now,” I smirked at him.
He opened his mouth to say something, but someone else’s voice interrupted us.
“Try doing that not set up by Reaper and with a man coming at you. Oh, wait. You couldn’t.”
I turned in time to see Trigger coming toward us, looking more furious than normal. Why was he glaring at me? I was mad with him last time I checked.
“She won’t have to because I’ll be doing it for her.” Reaper put me on the ground. “Where have you been, Trigger?”
Reaper being protective of me just pissed off Trigger more. I think Reaper did it on purpose. Yeah, by the wink he just gave me, he did it on purpose.
“Off the grid.” Trigger shrugged his shoulders. “Kim, can I talk to you?”
“No.” I handed Reaper back his gun and gave him a smile.
“Come on, Kim.” Trigger followed me as I headed toward Tyson.
“Not interested.” I grinned at Tyson and put my arms out for him. “Did you see your aunty make those shots.?” I lowered to my knees in front of Tyson.
“Please, Kim.”
Why was he bothering with me? I picked Tyson up and twirled around, right into Trigger. “God, back off.” I sheltered Tyson from the blow. “Why are you up in my face? Did you not see I can shoot now?”
“Please, can I speak to you?” Trigger looked at me pleadingly. He pushed his sunglasses up and looked at me seriously. “Please. Don’t make me beg.” He looked over his shoulder. “In front of everyone...”
This wasn’t like Trigger. He didn’t do public. I tilted my head, studying him. What was so important that he had to speak to me now?
“Tyson needs his bottle.” I moved around him.
“You alright, Kim?” Reaper asked as I walked past, giving me a look to say he would make Trigger go away if I wanted him to. Reaper had been waiting for a reason to lay into Trigger since he hit me. Trigger was following me. I might have told him no, but he wasn’t listening.
Was I alright? “Yep. Tyson and I’ll be inside.”
He nodded his head but his eyes were on Trigger, who was being my shadow.
I ignored him and dodged Trent’s eyes. I picked up my pace. What was Trigger’s problem?
I pushed open the clubhouse door and didn’t hold it open for him. But that didn’t stop him from following.
“You know, I’m not going to stop following you.”
I walked through the bar and out the back, into the kitchen. Ignoring him. I turned on the kettle. I didn’t realize he was so close till I felt his chest against my back.
“Look at me.”
Why? Why was he even talking to me?
“Kim?”
I slowly turned around. “What? What do you want?”
He gently lifted my chin and ran a finger across my cheek. A frown appeared on his face.
“It’s still bruised.”
“Barely.” At first, I had tried makeup. But that didn’t really cover it. So I just gave up and let it be bruised. It had faded now and was basically gone.
“Never heard you call me Lucas before.” The corners of his lips twitched up.
“Yeah, well you never hit me before.” The kettle boiled.
“Here, give me Tyson.”
He was being nice. Trigger didn’t do nice. Only when he wanted something. But if he thought he would get laid just for holding Tyson while I made a bottle, he was wrong. I handed Tyson to him.
“Make sure you support his head.” I handed Tyson into Trigger’s open arms.
“I have held him before, Kim.” He rolled his eyes at me.
“Yeah, well, you have been gone for a while, haven’t you?” I turned back to make the bottle, grabbing the formula.
“I expected you to call.” His words were tinged with hurt.
I scoffed and kept making the formula. “That would mean I care.” I added the boiling hot water to the bottle.
Trigger went quiet. Good, ’cause I was sick of him and his fake words.
“I fucked up, Kim.”
I turned on the filtered tap and added cold water. I checked the temperature. Ouch. Too hot. I swear by now I should be better at this.
“Did you hear me?”
“I’m busy.” I added more cold water.
“I fucked up, Kim, and I want you back.”
“You never had me.”
I turned around. Why was he looking at me like that?
“You were mine,” he shifted Tyson and reached for me, holding Tyson in one of his big arms, “and I fucked up.”
Why was he doing this? I might have waited for him. I might have been hooked on him for years. But he never cared. He used me and left me. I was good for one thing in his books. I knew that. Still I waited for years. I watched him with other women, and then as soon as he called my name, I would come.
Pathetic.
“I was yours, but you never wanted me. So now we are over. Well, I’m getting over you. Like I said, we aren’t friends. We aren’t lovers. So you should go find someone else to talk to. Now give me Tyson.”
He wouldn’t hand me Tyson. He muttered something under his breath. I swore it was something along the lines of how stupid he was.
He took a noticeable step closer to me and lifted my head to look up at him. “I want you. Hear me, Kim. I want you.”
“Well bully bully for you! You want me, so what? I should just go back to sleeping with you whenever you feel like it? Fuck off.” I was not desperate. I had learned my lesson.
“Nah, I don’t want you like that, sweetheart.” His hand cupped my face and he stepped in even closer to me.
Why did he have to get so close?
“I want you, all of you. Not just in my bed. I want you on my lap at every club party and I want to touch you whenever I feel like it and darn it, Kim, I want you to tell me your every problem and I want to fix it.”
I took a slow breath and chewed my bottom lip. “You’re just saying this because you have been on a bender.”
“I wasn’t on a bender.”
“Right, you were ‘off the grid.’”
“Yeah, thinking about you.”
I slapped his hand off my cheek. “I’m not going to believe that you went off the grid just to think about me. Now, give me Tyson. I have a shitload to get done today, Trigger.”
The softness in his eyes hardened. “You had time to play with Reaper.”
Jealousy. I swore that was the only emotion he knew. “Tyson, please?”
“You two have seemed to have gotten even closer since I was gone.”
I groaned. “The bottle is getting cold. And I don’t know what you are talking about!”
“You basically jumped him, like he was your boyfriend.”
Trigger’s disgust with t
he situation was being heard loud and clear. “Reaper is family. You, on the other hand, are nothing. So fuck off and give me my nephew!”
“Not till you agree to giving us a shot.”
Well, that wasn’t going to happen. “Here, you give him the bottle.” I shoved it at him. He smiled, like that was what he wanted.
“You had something to eat?”
“Why do you care?” I was hungry, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.
“’Cause I’m making you my number one priority.”
“Yep, sure, you.” I nodded my head. “Till you see a pretty brunette tonight and decide, fuck it, I wouldn’t mind having a piece of her.”
I knew him too well. I knew his behavior. I knew what he was like. He couldn’t fool me.
He looked at me determinedly and his thumb ran over my bottom lip. He looked at my lips as if he was dying to kiss me, as if he had never had kissed me before.
“I’m not touching another girl.” His hot breath swirled around my face. It didn’t smell of liquor and cigarettes. No, it was minty and fresh, welcoming. “All I want is you.”
He was saying what I had always wanted a guy to say to me. No, not any guy to say to me. Him. All I ever wanted from him. To want me.
I didn’t know if he was serious. There was only one way to find out. “Fine. Prove it.”
“I will. But you have to promise me something.”
Typical. He wanted something from me. “What?”
“Stay the fuck away from Trent.”
“Why? Cause he actually treats me like I’m worth something?”
“No, because you’re mine, whether you want to admit it or not. But I won’t have him touching something that belongs to me.”
“I’ll do what I want.”
“Fine then. Every time he so much as looks at you, expect my fists to get involved.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. Was he serious? Would he really get in a punch out because of that? The look on his face told me he was dead serious.
“I won’t let you make me wait for you,” I blew out.
“Just give me a chance to prove it to you.” His hand ran down my bare arm and he dipped his head to look me in the eye. “Please.”
Why the hell did I still want him? I gritted my teeth. I was stupid. So fucking stupid. But I couldn’t stop myself. “OK. But as soon as you touch another girl, and I know you will, the deal is off. You have a week.”
A grin spread across his face. “That’s all I need.” He handed me the empty bottle. “I’m not leaving your side this week.”
“Well, you are in for a boring week then because I have a shitload of errands to get done.” I cursed. “Shit, I was meant to pay the boys last week. Surprised no one has pulled me up on it.” Why hadn’t Reaper mentioned it?
Usually, the treasurer made the payments but Reaper hadn’t chosen one yet. So it sort of just became a job I did. But I was sure if Abby were here, she’d be doing it.
“I can do that. What else?” Trigger offered. Right, Trigger used to be treasurer when he was the VP.
Should I take his help? I knew he would let me down and I’d get upset. I was setting myself up for disappointment. Yet here I was, about to repeat all my mistakes.
“Thanks. And just other shit from washing to groceries.”
“The club girls do the washing, don’t they?” He frowned at me.
A smile spread across my lips. He most likely thought his clothes got magically washed. “Who do you think runs the club girls?”
“President.“
“Usually the old lady does. But...” My smile dried up. Abby wasn’t here to do it. Trigger must have seen it on my face. I quickly looked the other way. “Anyway, I do it. Now give me Tyson.”
“Kim, I’m heading out. Trent is going to watch you.” Reaper walked in, talking, and stopped when he saw Trigger with Tyson.
“I don’t need anyone to watch me.” I narrowed my eyes at him. I didn’t need a babysitter. “I don’t need a babysitter. So Trent can go with you.”
“Not leavings you alone, Kim.” Reaper gave me a look and I knew I was a fool to argue with him but I wasn’t not going to.
“She won’t be alone, Prez. I’ve got her.” Trigger handed me Tyson.
“Thought you hated watching her?” Reaper crossed his arms and walked more into the kitchen. He wasn’t happy, or accepting Trigger’s offer. “You will fuck off and then Kim will be by herself.”
“I’m not leaving.”
“Again, I say I don’t need anyone!” I stomped my foot. Why weren’t they listening to me? They both looked at me, giving me a look to say I was going to lose this argument.
“It’s alright, Prez. I’ve got it.” Trigger walked toward him. “I’m not fucking off.”
Reaper looked over Trigger’s shoulder at me. “You OK with this, Kim?”
Was I OK with Trigger watching me again? Trigger or Trent. Decide, Kim. “I, um…” I stared at Trigger’s back. I promised him a week. One week wasn’t long. Normally he would screw up before the day ended. “Sure.” Trigger would have a new girl under his arm tonight. “For today,” I added.
Reaper nodded his head. “Fine. But if I come back to you two fighting, you’ll be meeting my fist again, Trigger.”
“Where are you going, anyway?” I asked, walking toward him with Tyson. “You said you raided all the houses.”
“Found out the name of one of the guys who’s at Jake’s right hand. An Andrew Matthews. We just got an address for him.”
I knew what this meant. Reaper was going out to reap.
“Well, at least ice your knuckles when you get back,” I said, knowing him too well. He wouldn’t be letting someone else do the beating.
“Will do. See you three later.” He turned and left.
He was leaving me with Trigger. God, this was going to be interesting. I promised myself I would not open my heart up to him. He had destroyed it too many times. But at the same time, I wanted him to do something to prove he was worth the risk.
I just didn’t know what he could do to make me trust him again.
***
I flipped the meat on the BBQ. Where were the guys? I expected them back by now.
“You cooked a lot.”
I looked over my shoulder. Trigger hadn’t left me all day. He had kept his word to Reaper.
“Normal amount.” I turned back to the BBQ. All I was missing was the men.
“Tyson is still asleep.”
“He’ll wake when his dad gets here.” I reached for my cider. The only ones around were the girls. Trigger still hadn’t claimed one for the night, but I should give him time.
“Sounds like that is now,” Trigger said, taking a steak off the BBQ. I listened more closely and could hear the dull roar of the bikes. The roar got louder.
I started dumping the meat onto plates and the girls started taking them out to the tables. It was a warm evening.
The bikes started to roar in. Men got off, the noise of the bikes slowly dying. Jeez, how many members did Reaper take with him? It looked like the whole mother charter. I then noticed the bikes lining up on the road. And it looked like other charters.
I still wasn’t used to so many men.
The men flocked to the tables. I was guessing Reaper didn’t let them have lunch by the way they were laying into the food.
The lot was backed up but the men parted. Then I saw Reaper taking his temper out on the bike he was riding, kicking it over and swearing.
What was wrong with him?
I watched him storm toward us with Brad following him. He looked furious.
I founde it very unlikely that Reaper, as angry as he was, would have taken his anger out on his bike. The sooner Brad got it back on the road the better.
“Kim, whatever you do, just keep your mouth shut,” Trigger said, standing next to me.
I looked at him in disbelief. “No way.” I dropped the tongs a
nd met Reaper at the club door. “What’s wrong?”
His nostrils were flaring. His fists were clenched at his sides.
“Move, Kim,” he gritted out. He looked like he was barely keeping control of his temper to talk to me, and really just wanted to push past me.
“No. What’s wrong?” I looked at his knuckles. They weren’t bloody. I arched my eyebrows at him. “Something didn’t go to plan.”
“The house was guarded. Couldn’t get closer than a block without being shot at.”
“What, the house Abby’s at?” My eyes widened. Hope. Hope filled me.
“No. Andrew’s house.”
My hope was shattered. “So, what, you couldn’t get to him?” I was sure Reaper would find another way to get to him.
“Not with this fucking lot providing cover,” Reaper yelled over his shoulder. I felt sorry for the boys. They were dealing with Reaper’s stress.
“Did you at least get the message out?” Trigger asked. “Does Jake know you want to speak with him?”
“You want to talk to Jake?” I frowned. “Why?”
“Everybody fucking knows I want to speak to him. Even citizens,” Reaper scoffed and ran a hand through his hair. “Still he fucking hasn’t reached out.”
“Maybe Abby killed him,” Trigger said. As soon as the words left his mouth, I threw an arm into his stomach.
“Shut up.”
“What? She’s good with a gun.” Trigger looked at me as if wanting me to fight him on it.
“He wouldn’t be handing her a gun, now, would he?” Reaper muttered. “Move, Kim.”
“Nope.” I crossed my arms. “You need food.”
“Not hungry.”
“You haven’t been eating.” I noticed that the other night. He was avoiding food as if it was making him sick. He wasn’t drinking liquor and wasn’t eating. He would only get grumpier. He was living on cigarettes.
“So?”
I stepped out of his way and started dishing food up randomly onto a plate. And then I shoved it in his hand.
“Eat.” I heard Tyson cry. I pointed a finger at Reaper. “I mean it. If you don’t eat, I’ll have you on lockdown.”
Tyson crying had my attention. So I turned around and headed inside. The air conditioning was welcoming after standing in front of that hot BBQ. “Coming, Tyson.” I picked up my pace.
