Reaper Unleashed (12 page)

“You’re not as smooth as you think, slick. We’ll stay for now, but I promise that we won’t be staying longer than it will take me to save up for a place that’s safe for me and Josh. That’s the only reason we’re staying here for now because I know that where we were wasn’t safe. So don’t think you’ve won,” she told him as she stomped out of the kitchen and set Josh on the blanket she’d spread out for him.

He watched her from where he stood in the doorway of the kitchen, his eyes drawn to the shorts that clung to her tight little ass like a second skin. He wanted to follow after her and bite that sweet curve of flesh before he took her savagely against the nearest hard surface, the kid be damned, but he refrained. He was content for the moment that she’d agreed to stay. He knew she thought she’d be leaving in short order, but he wasn’t going to let that happen. She was his now.

His eyes took in the way she sat on the floor with Josh. She laughed as the kid took her face in his hands and blew a raspberry on her cheek. Yep, they were his now and he’d make damned sure that they had what they needed from now on, starting with a damned bed for the boy. He was too old to be sleeping in that playpen.

That highchair had to go too, damned thing was rickety. This morning when he’d tried to unfold it he thought he’d break it. Kid needed a proper chair, not that damned faulty piece of plastic. Those thoughts swirling in his head, he began to plan what they would need. He went to grab his guns before heading to the club, his mind already listing things that the boys needed to pick up for Sarah and Josh.

Sarah scanned her palm and punched in the code to enter Reaper’s house. They’d been staying with him for over a week now and she was beginning to feel comfortable with the arrangement. Josh tugged on her jeans with his sticky hands. They’d gone out with Sammy today and gotten lunch and ice cream cones.

His hands were sticky because Auntie Sam had given him a lollipop to eat on the way home and he managed to get it all over himself. She stopped on the way home to get some groceries and the bags were the reason she hadn’t washed his hands yet. She pushed the door open and Josh rushed inside.

“Eper…Eper,” he called looking around the room for ‘Eper.’ Sarah grinned. Reaper scowled for the first few days that Josh had called him that. Now, it didn’t even make him blink, he just responded.

“Sweetie, he’s not here,” she told him, knowing that Reaper had already headed to the club. He came back around seven when she had dinner finished but he always left at four to go to the club. It was four thirty so he wasn’t here. She set the bags on the kitchen counter and grabbed a wipe, chasing Josh down and cleaning his hands.

Reaper ate dinner with them every night and hung out for a bit, then headed back to the club till two.

She was surprised to learn that he liked to schedule everything down to the last minute and didn’t like when things got rearranged. He would get that little frown line between his brows and scowl fiercely at whoever had messed with his schedule.

It was kind of cute that he was actually as bothered by changes in his routine as Josh was and it made him just as cranky. The funny thing was it happened often because there was always some club business or another that seemed to drag him kicking and screaming out of his routine.

“No Eper?” Josh said, his little face twisting into a scowl that suddenly reminded her of Reaper.

Her baby had been becoming more and more like his favorite new friend over the last week, which was odd. Reaper didn’t seem to mind that her son followed him around and tried to do everything he did. When Reaper sat down at night on the couch to read or watch holo vids on the large screen attached to the wall, Josh would pull himself up into his lap and drive his car over the man like he was a race track. Reaper just ignored it and didn’t say a word.

It was strange that such a tough no nonsense man like Reaper didn’t seem bothered by Josh hanging on him like he was a jungle gym. She’d worried the first few days about the art, but Reaper had only moved the risqué art and any pieces that he’d decided could hurt Josh. He had even taken down the three paintings in his bedroom. Sarah had told him that it wasn’t necessary to remove those, but he’d just shrugged and replied ‘No need to educate the boy on accident’. Sarah however suspected he had done it because when she had first seen them she had blushed bright red every time she saw him that first day. He’d had them stored at the club.

The bronze tree that fascinated Josh almost as much as real ones did had stayed. It had been moved up a bit so that he couldn’t reach the thinner branches that Reaper had decided could hurt him. She suggested that they remove it completely and he’d just said no then walked away.

She was sure that Josh would try to play with it and told him so, to which he’d replied ‘your point? The kid likes it. Leave it alone, Sarah.’ She decided after that to ‘leave it alone’ because how could she resist a man who didn’t care about something expensive getting broken because her son liked it.

Sarah went back into the kitchen and began putting the groceries away. She kept one eye on Josh and one on her task, having propped the door open in the kitchen so she could see him. He played with the racetrack that had appeared yesterday morning. She had woken to find Josh not in his playpen again yesterday and had entered the living room to find him playing with his new toy.

Reaper had a habit of making things just appear when she wasn’t looking. The racetrack yesterday, the new clothes for her and Josh the day before that and the car that had replaced the clunker she’d been driving. She would have refused that one if her car hadn’t disappeared at the same time. When she’d demanded he get it back he’d stared at her in silence as if he didn’t know what she was going on about.

After yelling for over forty minutes without a response and no idea where her car was, she’d had little choice but to drive the sleek blue four-door sedan. She shook her head at the way the man had learned to maneuver her. She’d tried to put her foot down but he’d just wait until she wasn’t paying attention and suddenly things were just replaced. She finished with the groceries and turned to find another replacement. She shook her head as she walked over to the table.

Josh’s highchair was gone and in its place was what looked to be a hand carved wooden chair with a built in stair leading up to a raised seat with a belt. It would be easy for Josh to climb into the chair by himself and it looked as if it had several sliding boards that could be removed as he got older to lower it. She felt tears sting her eyes. Reaper was so sweet. He’d done this not to impress her she knew but because he was a good man. He got mad when she thanked him for things that he’d deemed she and Josh needed and even madder when she’d told him to stop buying them things.

“Trees, mama, trees,” Josh said, pulling on her hand.

“What baby?” she asked, allowing him to tug her into the living room. He pulled her toward the bedroom they shared and she laughed.

“Trees!” Josh said, tugging harder.

She followed him expecting to be shown the trees outside but then she stopped, her breath catching. The room had been transformed into a forest. Trees were painted on one of the walls and a bed rested against it that had hundreds of trees carved into the wood. It was also low to the ground and covered in a woven blanket that had racecars on it. She would have to put a stop to this she realized; Reaper was doing too much. She’d have to pay him back for this, it had to have cost a fortune. She’d already decided that she’d have to save enough to pay for the car and now this too. It had to stop.

Josh was jumping up and down on the bed caressing the trees. “Stop jumping on the bed, sweetie,” she told him, tugging on his arm.

“Trees,” Josh told her as she dragged him off the bed.

“Yes, trees,” she told him.

Josh seemed to lose interest in the trees and zoomed out of the bedroom into the living room. Sarah followed him to see him racing his car around the track. Shaking her head at the short attention span of a two-year-old, she went to prepare dinner. She needed to think about how to approach the subject of her paying Reaper back for the bed and the car.

Sarah set the casserole on the table and grabbed the biscuits off the tray, sliding them into the basket she’d bought today. Josh was driving his car around and around her feet making zooming noises when he suddenly stood and ran into the living room.

“Eper, Eper,” she heard him say and smiled when a rich baritone answered. She couldn’t make out what they were saying but knew it was likely a silly conversation about Josh’s day. Josh had attacked Reaper every night when he got home and talked his ear off. Reaper tolerated it and when Josh would tell him all about the trees he’d seen that day, Reaper would ask him questions.  Her favorite had been yesterday when he’d asked ‘uh-huh, and did the trees talk?’

It always thrilled Josh and made him giggle and chatter like a magpie. Sarah grabbed a couple of glasses from the shelf and set them on the table next to the freshly made lemonade. Reaper appeared in the door of the kitchen with Josh on his shoulders.

“Looks good,” he told her, only he wasn’t staring at the table, he was staring at her. Sarah blushed.

“Thank you.” He walked over to Josh’s new chair, sitting him in the seat and buckling him in before taking the seat across from her. Josh grabbed the spoon in front of him and began to eat the casserole she’d dished out earlier to cool for him. Sarah scrutinized Reaper.

“What?” he barked.

“You can’t keep buying us things, Reaper.”

“Not this again. I just got the kid a bed and a chair that isn’t going to fall apart,” Reaper muttered, scooping beef casserole onto his plate.

“A bed that looks handmade and a chair that likely cost three of my paychecks, Reaper!” Sarah told him, exasperated with him.

“The bed and the chair didn’t cost that much, Sarah.” Reaper lied through his teeth because it had been a lot more than three paychecks for the bed alone. It was a hand carved ‘Tiny’ original and that meant it wasn’t inexpensive, but it did mean it wasn’t going to break if the kid got rough with it. He also worked into the contract that it had to be able to grow with the kid. That meant in a few years when he was older and taller he could have three inches added to the height to make it more comfortable for him.

He knew he should be worried that everything he’d done since she’d moved in spoke of him keeping both her and Josh, but he wasn’t. He knew that he was keeping them, he was just a little surprised that he wasn’t thinking for right now, he was thinking of a lot longer. At first he’d fought it, trying to set an end date, thinking after he’d had her a few dozen times he would let her go. Only when he’d think of letting her go something inside him went unnaturally still and became savage.

They were his and she damned well better get used to it. He hadn’t told her yet that she wasn’t going anywhere, ever, but she’d eventually figure it out. He took a bite and sighed in pleasure. Eating her food was almost as good as having her close enough to touch when he wanted to. Taking another bite, he watched her. He’d been forcing himself not to touch her all week. He didn’t want her to run. Now though he was almost burning up with the need he felt for her.

She had insisted that she wasn’t going to be his whore and he wanted her to know that wasn’t how he viewed her. Only he was being eaten alive with the desire for her every damned day. He woke to the sight of her every morning and came home to eat with her every night. He also found himself standing in the doorway of their room watching her and Josh sleep. It made him feel like some kind of creepy stalker but he couldn’t seem to stop himself from assuring himself that they were close.

He thought in plural now. It wasn’t just about Sarah anymore, somehow Josh and his joyful innocence and lack of the annoying characteristics that most children possessed had captured him just as much as his mother had. Although the kid’s fascination with trees was just odd.

His gaze was drawn back to Sarah, who lifted a fork to her mouth and closed her eyes in bliss before she swallowed, making his dick throb. This was what he suffered every night. Everything about her was seductive; somehow even while she ate she seduced him. He didn’t know what it was about her that caught his attention so starkly. She wasn’t a great beauty and her rack was moderate at best, but somehow he couldn’t seem to think of any other woman but her.

He’d turned down three of the girls’ offers over the last two weeks and it was starting to become apparent even to the men that he was fascinated with her. Reaper wondered what it would take to break him out of this need he felt for her. He didn’t want an attachment to her or the kid. He knew that down that road lay despair and destruction. He’d lived it and swore it would never happen again.

He felt a vibration in his pocket and dug out his phone. “Yeah?” he answered it.

“We found the place they are keeping four girls. Topper and Deck are watching the place. You’re closer,” Death Rider told him, his voice grim.

“All right, let me lock things down here and then we’ll ride out.” Reaper looked across the table seeing Sarah’s frown. She didn’t like when he took calls during dinner, but she’d have to get used to it. The problem with being a club’s vice was that he had to be ready to ride at a minute’s notice, like tonight. He thought about having some prospects watch his place, but decided against it because he could lock the loft down and she and Josh would be safe.

“The boys will meet you at the Diner on the way out of town in thirty. I want to know when this is wrapped up. This shit has to stop. Do we have any word on the mole?” he asked

“No, damn it. It’s starting to piss me off too. We can talk about this later. I need to get ready. You riding over to chat with our new friends tonight?” Reaper asked, scooping the last mouthful of casserole into his mouth.

“Yep, I’ll be there by ten. Have them ready to go. I’ve had enough of this shit and I’m sure you have too. Topper says these girls are young and I am fucking tired of this bullshit happening in our territory.” Death sounded like he was already in a rage over this and Reaper couldn’t blame him. He wasn’t too freaking happy about it either.

“Sounds good, see you in a few hours.”

“Ride hard,” Death told him before hanging up. Reaper slipped his phone back into his pocket.

“I have to go. Club business,” he told Sarah, peering at her while he stood, lifting the plate that was now empty off the table. He walked it to the sink, dropping it inside.

“I heard,” she clipped out and he figured she wasn’t too happy about him leaving. He grinned at the wall in front of the sink at that. She liked having him around whether she admitted it or not. She was pissed that he had to leave and he loved it.

“You need to lock the loft down tonight. I won’t be back till morning. Don’t bring the shutters up once they’re engaged.” He moved back towards the table.

“Okay, be safe,” she whispered.

He moved to her side. Leaning down, his kissed the top of her head, pulling her face into his stomach in an awkward hug. She leaned into him, her arms wrapping around his waist.

“I’ll be back, baby, don’t worry,” he whispered against her hair.

“You’d better be,” she told him looking up at him, her eyes bright with worry. Leaning down, he brought his lips to hers in a soft caress. His tongue slipped inside to embrace hers and they warred for a moment before Josh tugged on his pants leg hard. He looked down at the boy, surprised he’d managed to get out of the belt he’d put on him.

Josh scowled at him and demanded, “Mama, kiss,” while making a smacking motion with his lips, which made Reaper laugh. The kid was jealous. Sarah lifted him into her lap and peppered his face with kisses and Reaper hugged them both, something inside him easing a bit at the joy on their faces.

“Eper, kiss,” Josh demanded, pointing to his cheek and Reaper leaned down, putting a kiss on the boy’s cheek as he’d demanded.

“I have to go.” he finally said after another few minutes of soaking up the moment.

“I know.”

“Lock up behind me and engage the security doors,” Reaper told her.

“I don’t think they are really necessary. We will be fine. Go take care of whatever it is you need to,” Sarah told him, still holding Josh on her lap.

“No, you engage the shutters and don’t argue with me. The Headhunters aren’t anyone to play around with, Sarah. I want to be sure you and Josh are safe and if I’m worried about the two of you I’ll be distracted.” He brushed a hand through his hair looking at her with a dark glower.

“Fine, but you’re being paranoid. We aren’t even on their radar, I’m sure,” she huffed.

“You’re living with me and that makes you both a target, Sarah, don’t forget that,” he told her, his hand running down her cheek in a light caress before moving into the living room, headed to his bedroom to grab his guns.

“Is that why those two prospects keep following Josh and me around?” she asked innocently. He stopped, his hand on the door to push it open, and almost swallowed his tongue. Those idiots. They must have followed too closely and she’d noticed, when he had told them not to be seen. He should have put Iron or even Bull on her instead; at least they wouldn’t have slipped up and gotten caught.

“Yes, that’s why.”

“Well that’s good because that was one of the other things I wanted to talk to you about. I thought you were having me watched to be sure that I didn’t leave. That wouldn’t have gone over well, Reaper.” Sarah’s amber eyes had narrowed when he glanced back at her over his shoulder. He held his tongue about that being the other reason they were following her. Although, from the raised brow and the way she was gazing at him, he wasn’t sure she didn’t already know that.

“I have to go, baby,” he finally managed to get out and turned, hurrying into his room to get his guns. He grabbed two Glocks and a pocket-size magnum from the safe and two extra magazines for the Glocks. He locked the safe back up before grabbing his knife and his brass knuckles from the locked cabinet in his closet.

He was nearly out the door when he decided that he didn’t need the magnum. Checking his watch, he realized he didn’t have time to lock it in the safe so he went over to his nightstand, shoving it inside. He wasn’t sure why he’d even gotten the damned thing out. He rarely carried it. He would tell Sarah not to let the kid come in here tonight. Not that Josh normally tried but Reaper didn’t want him getting hurt because he was in a hurry.

“Baby, I’m leaving, but don’t let Josh in my room tonight. I left a gun in the nightstand and I don’t want him hurt, okay,” he said, entering the kitchen to find her cleaning up the dishes.

“I don’t normally let him in your room, Reaper,” she told him as she dried the last dish and set it into the cabinet.

“I know, but I wanted to be sure that he didn’t get away from you and get hurt because I don’t have time to lock it up.”

She nodded before lifting the boy up. “He’s going to bed soon anyway and I’ll lock our door tonight to be sure he doesn’t get out.”

“Thanks, baby. Engage the locks as soon as I leave. I’ll wait till the shutters are in place before I leave, so don’t take too long.”

Rolling her eyes, Sarah shooed him out the door. Once in the garage, he waited for the clicks that let him know that she’d locked them safely inside before climbing on his bike and heading out to meet the boys.