Reapers and Bastards: A Reapers MC Anthology (12 page)

“So let’s talk,” I told her, forcing myself to stay patient. Marie swallowed, then reached for the cup of tea sitting on the block in front of her, taking a nervous sip.

“Okay, so here goes,” she said quietly, refusing to look at me. “We’ve got some big changes ahead of us. You need to remember
that it just happened, babe. It’s not like I did it on purpose. Please remember that.”

She shot me another quick look, her face full of dread. Put that together with the puffy eyes and I realized we were in the shit. Deep shit. Had she cheated on me? Rage roared through my soul, drowning out my ability to think.

Whoever the fuck the guy was, I wouldn’t just kill him. I’d kill him slow. Wasn’t sure what I’d do to Marie. Jesus. Never saw it coming, not even for a minute. I’d thought my wife was happy.

“Tell me,” I ordered her, my voice cold. I forced the feelings down, burying them deep under a layer of ice.
Hold it together, don’t do anything stupid ’til you hear her out
.

“Okay, so while you were gone I—”

A piercing howl tore through the kitchen from behind the house, followed by a series of agonized, terrifying yelps.

Marie’s eyes widened and she jumped to her feet. “That was Ariel!”

Another howl tore through the air. Sure as shit, she was right—that was definitely our dog. Good God, of all the fucking times for the mutt to go apeshit. Marie was halfway to the door when I caught her, instinctively jerking her behind my body as I pulled out my gun.

“Stay inside,” I told her. “Could be anything.”

Full of dark purpose, I reached for the door handle—irony, anyone? Here I was, ready to do anything to protect this woman, even though she’d probably cheated on me.
Fuck it
. Opening the door, I looked outside cautiously.

The smell hit me first.

Jesus.

Christ.

Skunk.
Fucking dog had found a skunk
. The harsh reality sank in as Marie moaned behind me.

“That is the worst smell on earth,” she said. There was a rustling
in the bushes, and then Ariel burst out into the open, racing toward us.

“Down!” I shouted at him, because the dog was about two seconds from jumping me and then I’d reek, too. Ariel fell back cowering, whining up at us even as waves of stench radiated off of his body.

The stink was strong.
Seriously
strong. My eyes started burning and I felt the tiny hairs inside my nose standing straight up. I opened my mouth, hoping that bypassing my nose might do some good. This only made things worse because now I could taste it.

“I think I’m gonna puke,” Marie whispered behind me. “Shit, what should we do? Have you ever had to clean skunk off him before?”

I shook my head, frustration mixing with the anger that still filled me. “No, I remember my mom cleaning off a dog when I was a kid, but I’ve been lucky out here. I’ve smelled skunks but never had one get too close to the house. Fuck, I got no idea what we should do. Hose him off?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Let me look it up, see what I can find.”

“We could just shoot him,” I grunted, glancing down at my gun. “Of course, we’d still have to deal with a skunked dog corpse.”

“Please tell me you aren’t serious.”

I glanced back to find her holding a hand over her mouth. There was a distinctly green tinge to her skin, and as I watched, she gagged.

“Just go look it up,” I said, the words short. “I’ll stay out here, keep him calm.”

She stepped back into the house, and I blinked, eyes still watering. It wasn’t just a smell. No. This was a tangible, evil presence wafting around my body like something out of a horror movie.

After what felt like hours, Marie stuck her head out the door
again.

“I found a recipe.”

“Tomato juice?” I asked. “Or is that just an urban legend?”

“They say tomato juice does nothing. But we can blot him with paper towels, and then wash him with a mixture of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and detergent—there’s lots of sources saying that it works.”

“Do we have the stuff?” I said, frowning at the dog. How long would it take to wear off? Probably weeks . . .
Fuck
.

“Yeah, we have everything except rubber gloves,” she said. “I could go to town and get them, but apparently there’s about a ten minute window. At that point, the smell will set in and then we’ll be screwed. We’re supposed to start by blotting off the oils.”

I closed my eyes, a condemned man.

“Give me the paper towels.”

“Wait.”

“What?”

“Take off your club colors first,” she said softly. “Otherwise you’ll get skunk on them.”

Shit—that’d go over just great at the clubhouse. I turned toward her, tucking the gun back into my pants. Then I pulled off my leather vest with my Reapers MC patches on it. Folding it carefully, I started to hand it to her, then hesitated. Marie waited, frowning at me, and I thought about what she’d said earlier. Had she cheated on me?

The dog had distracted me for a minute, but now the anger came flooding back.

“What were you going to tell me?” I asked her bluntly.

“Let’s take care of the dog first,” she replied, eyes dropping. “We’ve only got a few minutes, Horse. The stink is already working its way down into his fur. We need more time for this discussion, okay?”

No, it wasn’t okay. Ariel whined, and the unholy smell grew
stronger as he crept forward to lean heavily against my leg. Marie gagged again, eyes blinking rapidly from the fumes.

Fumes or guilt?

“Tell me the fucking truth. Did you—”

Marie’s face twisted and then she turned away and started retching. I reached for her hair, planning to hold it back or something, but then I remembered I was pissed at her so I stood back. Ariel whined again, flopping to his back and showing his stomach.

Frustration burned through me, and suddenly I couldn’t keep still.

“Goddammit!” I shouted, kicking the side of the concrete steps. The dog cringed harder as a wave of intense pain radiated up my leg. Fucking hell, had I just broken my toe? Sure as shit felt like it. Marie heaved again, then managed to stand up, wiping off her mouth with the bottom of her shirt.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, but I’d had enough.

“Get me the fucking paper towels,” I yelled. “And make up the cleaning shit!”

She ran into the house, returning less than a minute later with a roll of paper towels. I shoved my cut at her, snatching the towels and plastic garbage bag out of her hands in an awkward shuffle. Marie disappeared back inside, still gagging.

Leaning down, I started blotting the dog. You’d think my sense of smell would have deadened by now. No such luck. The towels soaked up the oily spray, which seemed to have hit the dog square in the face, transferring it to my fingers in the process. My eyes watered and I wondered how well the stupid mixture Marie was fixing would actually work.

This fucking sucked.

“Here’s the cleaner,” Marie said, stepping back outside. She carried a large glass measuring bowl that had a handle and spout. A milky, watery mixture sloshed inside, along with two kitchen
sponges.

“Bring it here,” I snapped, wondering if I’d ever get the taste of skunk out of my mouth. Marie set it on the ground next to me, kneeling as she grabbed a sponge and raised it to Ariel’s sad face.

“The article said to be careful of his eyes,” she told me, starting on his nose. I picked up the other sponge and started working on his ear. This wasn’t exactly made easier by him slithering around on his back, as if our attempts to clean him were the cruelest torture in history.

“I’m being careful,” I replied through gritted teeth, squeezing the sponge. The mix squirted out of it, straight toward his eye. Marie glared at me, reaching for a paper towel to dab around the area. The dog blinked, but thankfully he seemed to have closed his eyes in time. Marie gagged again.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I demanded. “It’s a fucking skunk, deal with it.”

“It’s making me feel sick,” she said, narrowing her eyes at me. Great, now
she
was getting pissy? I was the victim here. “It smells bad, okay? I can’t help it.”

“You don’t see me puking,” I snarled. Ariel moaned.

“You’re scaring the dog!”

Oh, fuck her.

“I come home to find you cheated on me, and now you’re giving me a lecture?”

Marie’s mouth dropped.

“
Excuse me?
” she asked, her voice a dangerously low whisper.

“You heard what I said.”

“You fucking asshole,” she sneered, shaking her head slowly. “I didn’t cheat on you, Horse. Although maybe I
should
, since you obviously don’t trust me for shit. Of course, attracting another guy might be a little difficult, seeing as I’m currently
carrying your child
.”

The bottom dropped out of my stomach. Marie nodded slowly, a
nasty smile twisting her mouth. “Yeah, you heard me right. I’m the pregnant one and you’re the asshole. So, far as I know, neither of us is a cheater, although I find it a little unnerving that that’s the first place your mind went. It’s been a weird day, Horse. I took the test about half an hour before you got home—after puking my guts out for the last ten hours. It’s a bit of a mind fuck, and I was trying to figure out the best way to tell you, since we’d agreed that we would wait a couple more years. Surprise, Horse. You’re gonna be a daddy.”

Then she flipped me off and I had to concede the point.

I was a total asshole.

“You’re seriously pregnant?” I asked slowly, sitting back on my heels. The anger had disappeared, but the adrenaline still swirled around me, making it impossible to think.

“Yes,” Marie said, rinsing out her sponge as she started working down Ariel’s side carefully. “Can you help me get him up? We have to get his back, and I’m worried he’ll grind the oils in if he keeps doing this.”

I stared at her blankly. “We need to talk.”

Marie rolled her eyes.

“No shit. I think I mentioned something about that, remember?”

I winced, thinking about what I’d said to her.

“I’m sorry.”

“And I’m cleaning a dog covered in skunk oils that have another two or three minutes before they set in,” she replied pointedly. “You know,
your
dog? Stop just sitting there and help clean Ariel.”

“He’s your dog, too,” I protested, then shut my eyes, wondering what the hell was wrong with me. I couldn’t
think
. There was a baby inside Marie. My baby. Holy fuck, there was gonna be a baby coming out of her and it would be my kid.

Mine
.

I pictured her holding a little pink infant, nursing it in the living room while I stood over them protectively. The thought of it was
enough to cut through the fog, and I had a sudden, magnificent realization.

“Your tits are gonna get huge,” I blurted out.

Marie sat back, blinking at me.

“You accuse me of cheating while we’re scrubbing skunk off the dog, I tell you you’re going to be a father, and all you can think about are my tits?”

I shook my head at her slowly. “Marie, babe . . . you know I think about your tits all the time.”

Ariel snorted and the stench rose thick between us. Marie shook her head slowly, and for long seconds I thought I was screwed. Then I caught the first hint of a smile. A real smile.

“You’re hopeless,” she said quietly.

“I know what I like,” I countered, grinning back at her. “You’re gorgeous, you know—it fucks with my head, and I’m kind of a moron to begin with. How far along are you?”

“I think about ten weeks, although I’m not totally sure. I had my last two periods, but they were really light. Spotting, more than anything. That threw me off.”

“This is amazing,” I said, feeling my stupid smile getting bigger. My baby. I wondered if the kid would be a boy or girl. Fuck, did it matter? “Christ, I love you.”

Leaning forward over the dog, I tried to kiss her. Panic crossed her face, and then she was turning again, gagging and heaving.

“You have morning sickness,” I realized. She ignored me, and Ariel whined, staring at us with big, sad eyes. I needed to get moving. If we didn’t get the dog clean, the smell would stick around for weeks—Marie couldn’t handle that.

Not with morning sickness.

“Go inside,” I told her. “Just strip off your clothes out here and I’ll take care of them. Clean up and go to bed—you need rest.”

She pushed herself up and rolled her eyes, weak but determined.

“No, I want to help you,” she said. “Despite you being a dumbass, we’re in this together. If you smell, I smell.”

“You’re crazy,” I said bluntly. “No sane person chooses skunk over bed, so get those clothes off and go inside. My baby hates skunk smell. Don’t fuck it up for him.”

Marie laughed.

“And how would you know that?” she asked, raising a brow.

“
Everyone
hates skunk smell. Just go . . . be pregnant somewhere. Wherever it smells the least.”

Marie rolled her eyes.

“Horse?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s not even nine p.m. yet,” she pointed out gently. “I’m knocked up, not a hundred years old. And you need help—we’re running out of time.”

Fuck. I looked down at the dog, whose mouth lolled open in a grin. Then his tongue caught a taste of the skunk-cleanser mix, and suddenly he was twisting his head around, smacking his lips, trying to get rid of it.

“I’m killing you when we’re done here,” I told him.

Ariel gave me an anxious whine.

Marie laughed, grabbing her sponge as she started scrubbing again. I wanted to push the point with her, but she was right—we were out of time—so I grabbed my own sponge. I lifted it to the dog’s side, watching as it bubbled up through his fur, hopefully taking the stink out with it. My mind was still racing, though.

Marie was pregnant.

I’d been a jealous asshole.

Babies were scary.

Marie’s tits were gonna get
huge
.

“You’re thinking about my boobs again, aren’t you?” she asked.

I looked up at her, busted. “No.”

She raised a brow, and I shrugged because of course I was
thinking about her boobs, and we both knew it.