REAPER'S KISS (4 page)

chapter ten

(jace)

*THEN*

I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I
definitely had some broken ribs. I rolled to my right and saw my motorcycle. It
was fucking trashed. I reached for it, wanting to scream but I had no breath to
do so.

“Which one is it?” a voice asked.

A hand grabbed my shoulder and
forced me to my back. A foot stepped on my chest. Then a bright light shined
down on my face, blinding me for a few seconds. I could see along the outer rim
of the white light. But it was just blackness. Some silhouettes but nothing I
could identify.

“Ah, fuck, I don’t think this will
do,” a voice said.

“It’s a message,” another voice
said. “Hey, asshole, you hear me? This is a clear message to your club. Spread
the fucking word.”

The foot left my chest.

The guys tried to leave but I wasn’t
going down without a fight. I turned and grabbed for them. My hand clamped to
the back of a pant leg. Hot pain shot through my ribs and my release let go. I
tried to grab again but the man had turned.

“Hey, he’s got some fight left in
him,” a voice said.

“Hurry up. We’ve got about two
minutes. Then we’ve got to get to the store. I have to take care of that bitch.”

“Okay, Glen, just let me…”

There was a scuffle.

“What the fuck did I say? No names!
No fucking names!”

“Shit. Right. Sorry. Fuck. Fuck me.
I fucked up.”

I started to inch to the left. I
forced my left hand to move and I felt for my cell. Somewhere between hitting
the road, sliding, rolling, and almost facing death, I had managed to press a
few buttons on the phone. Sid once told me if I was ever in real trouble to
just give a call. Shit, maybe it was just a bad motorcycle accident and maybe I
would take shit from the guys for it. But this was more than that.

I looked at the screen and saw it
had been five minutes since the call was placed.

Chances were, the guys weren’t
going to get there in time to sneak up on these pricks and figure out what the
hell was going on.

I rolled to my back, to my front,
to my back again. I put a little distance between myself and the two men.
Ahead, my motorcycle was nothing but twisted pieces of metal. I had a gun on
the motorcycle. A little tiny ass handgun, but it would do the trick. It could
easily take these two down.

Imagine the hero I’d be then?

I took a chance and propped myself
up on my elbows and started to army crawl. Every time I moved I felt fire in my
chest, back, and sides. I was able to move my right leg, but not my left. For a
second I thought I had no left leg.

When I looked back to check on my
leg I saw the two guys approaching me.

“Where the fuck are you going?” one
asked.

I got a good look at the other one
-
Glen.
I studied his face. All his features. Anything that popped out
against the darkness. There wasn’t much though.

“You really fucked this up, Arnie,”
Glen said.

“I thought you said no names!” Arnie
squealed like a big lug.

“Doesn’t matter now, does it?”

“No?”

Glen shoved Arnie in the shoulder. “I’ll
be in the SUV. We have to move fast. You know what to do.”

“I do?” Arnie asked.

I kept crawling. I was feet away
form the shattered remains of my motorcycle. My fingertips ached to find my gun
and get revenge.

Glen walked up to me and put a foot
to my back and pressed hard. He twisted the tip of his shoe to my ribs. I
screamed in pain but that only made it hurt worse.

“You chose this,” Glen said.

Then his foot moved from me.

I had a split second chance to make
a dash.

But it was quickly stolen.

“Now what?” Arnie asked.

“Kill him
…”

chapter eleven

(jace)

*NOW*

I woke up from a shitty dream to
the sound of someone pounding on my door, trying to get into my house. I
grabbed my gun and made a line for the door. When I opened it, Ava jumped at
me, her hands touching my bare chest. The look on her face was sheer fucking
terror.

“Well, good fucking morning to me,”
I said.

Ava jumped away from me before I
could get my hand around her and pull her close.

“Someone was out there!” she
yelled.

I walked out on the porch and
looked left to right.

There wasn’t a person or a car in
sight.

I went inside and shut the door.

Ava stood in the living room,
biting on her nails.

“Who was out there?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t know what’s
going on, Jace.”

“So let me ask the next obvious
question,” I said.

“Why am I here?” she asked.

I grinned. “No. Do you want some
coffee?”

That got a little smile out of her.

“Sure,” she said.

Yeah, I wanted to know why the fuck
she was at my house. I’d get those answers soon enough. The key right then was
to keep her there and keep her as calm as I could.

My mind raced as I walked to the
kitchen. I set up some coffee and then turned, leaning against the sink. Ava
had helped herself to sitting on a barstool at the island.

She was looking around, assessing
the place.

“What is it?” I asked.

“You’re a bad guy.”

“Says who?”

“The law.”

“Fair enough,” I said.

“And you live in a normal house.”

“Maybe I’m really good at saving my
stolen money.”

Ava swallowed hard. “Or maybe
something else.”

“Maybe my great aunt had the house
and passed away. Maybe I was the only one left in the family to help her out
and make arrangements for her. Maybe as a thank you she left me the house in
her will. And maybe, just fucking maybe, I took the house and made it my own.”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“Sorry,” Ava said. “I shouldn
’
t judge. I’m far from
perfect myself, right? Look at my family.”

That
’s right, sweetie,
lead yourself into it
…

“So I find it funny that I saved
your ass and now you’re in my kitchen. I’m not going to play a cat and mouse
game, sweetie. I go forward, full force, whether I’m in the kitchen or in the
bedroom.”

I loved adding that little snippet
at the end because it made Ava’s face blush.

“My father is scared,” Ava said. “He
wants you to protect me.”

I laughed. “For what? A favor?”

“I don’t know…”

“So here’s the way I’m looking at
this thing. I look at you and you’re fucking beautiful. After I pick my jaw up
off the floor, I realize you’re working at a shit hole grocery store. A store
that has no business of being open. Then I find out your old man is running
something out of the back room. He’s got a guy in a suit beating on him as he’s
offering cash. You’re telling me you know nothing about that?”

Before Ava could answer, the
coffeepot gurgled.

“Think about it for a second,” I
said.

I turned and grabbed two coffee
mugs. I filled them and then walked to the fridge. I grabbed the milk and slid
it across the island. Then I got Ava some sugar. I stood with my coffee, black,
and blew into the mug.

“Thanks,” she whispered as she
prepared her coffee.

I studied how she made it.

Why the hell did that matter?

She sipped the coffee and let out a
sigh. “Much better than my father’s.”

“You live with him?”

“No. But I stayed there last night.
He was really drunk. And he had me scared.”

“Because of Frank?”

“Uncle Frank, yeah.”

“Uncle?”

“I don’t really think he’s my
uncle,” Ava said.

“I know about that guy,” I said. “I
can help you if you help me.”

Ava sipped her coffee some more. “Look,
Jace, I’m not sure what to believe right now. I was just helping at the store.”

“That’s your story?” I asked.

“That’s the truth,” she shot back
at me.

I drank my coffee and stared her
down. I put my mug on the counter and stepped toward the island.

“And you expect me just to protect
you? For what?”

“You protect the town, right?”

I grinned. “I thought we were bad
guys?”

“You are. But that’s not always a
bad thing I guess.”

“So what do you want me to say?
Offer you some food? A shower? A bed? Put my life on the line for someone I don’t
know?”

“When you say it like that…”

I made fists and put them on the
island. “Let me be very clear, sweetie. The only reason I saved your ass
yesterday was because it benefited my club. You want a shower here? I’ll be
right behind you, fucking your sweet pussy until you come. You want a bed? You’ll
be in my bed, under my command.”

“Is that your offer?” Ava asked. “If
I sleep with you I can stay here?”

I gritted my teeth. She was
definitely bold. And her beauty just poured off her. I could tell her hair was
pulled back quick. No make up on. Her dark eyes oozing with fear. I normally
didn’t look at a woman like that, you know?

“I don’t make offers,” I said. “I
make orders.”

“Then make an order,” Ava challenged.

I walked around the island. Ava
started to lift the coffee mug but I put my hand to her wrist and stopped her.
I then put my hands to her waist and forced her to stand. She was nervous but
going with me as I walked her to a wall. I pinned her against it, staring down
into her eyes again.

“You’re a fucking liar,” I
whispered.  I brought my lips down to hers, gently brushing against them. “Want
to know what I do with liars?”

Her bottom lip shook. “What?”

“I kill them.
”

chapter twelve

(ava)

*NOW*

My blood had been boiling as Jace
touched me. A surge of wetness crept between my thighs when his lips touched
mine. But then he spoke and I went cold. Frigid cold.

His grip tightened on my waist.

I grabbed his arms.

He was thick with muscle and tattoo.
His eyes were a dangerous green color.

He meant what he said.

“Who said I’m lying to you?” I
asked.

“I did,” he said. “You’re a fucking
liar, sweetie.”

“How?”

“You really want to play this game?”

“I’m not playing…”

Jace broke away from me. He grabbed
me by the hand and started to walk. I ran with him, flying through the house
and down a hallway. When Jace turned and kicked open a door, he swung his arm,
tossing me forward, right toward a bed. The sheets were messy and smelled of
outlaw and sleep.

I caught myself with my hands on
the bed and quickly turned.

Jace grabbed his jeans and opened
them, showing me that the lines of sexy stomach muscle cut down into a V shape.
I saw the hair trail from under his belly button down to his pubes. I swore for
a second I caught sight of where his cock began. A thick root.

I was wet.

I shivered though.

I had never been so scared and
turned on at the same time.

“Now,” Jace ordered. “Take those
pants off, sweetie. Turn the fuck around. Bend over. You want to stay here?
Show me how desperate you are.”

His eyes were on fire -
green
fire
- as he stood there so beautifully defiant. I wasn’t the kind of
person to just sleep around. I definitely wasn’t the kind of person to be in
the bedroom of an outlaw taking his orders to strip and bend over.

But if this is what he wanted from
me… and I’d get protection…

I touched my jeans. I slowly opened
the button.

“Jace…”

“Shut up, sweetie,” he said. “You
know what I want. I know what you want. So we meet halfway. Right now.”

Christ, I hadn
’t even
been in his house for thirty minutes yet
…

I opened my jeans and started to
push them down. I stopped when they were at my knees. I eased my fingers up and
touched my panties. My middle fingers traced the lines up and down and then I
slipped them into the front. I started to push, feeling dirty.

Jace then quickly buttoned and
zipped up his jeans. He stepped at me and grabbed my hands.

“Stop,” he growled. “Are you
fucking serious right now?”

“What?” I asked. “You want this.”

“You’re that desperate? You’re that
scared?”

“Yes.”

“Shit,” he said.

“My mother was killed, Jace. Right
there in the store.”

“What?”

“When I was little. She was killed.
So my father did what he had to do to save the store and raise me. He’s not
perfect but neither are you. Or your entire group of outlaws. I’m not perfect
either. I’m just trying…”

Jace grabbed a t-shirt and put it
on. He then grabbed his leather cut and put that on.

He pointed at me, his lip curled. “You’re
lying to me, sweetie. I know it. Right now, you should be on your ass. Or dead.
But I can’t stomach the thought of that fucking creep guy touching you. It
fills me with rage. So you’re going to stay right here. You get one chance. You
even think about leaving then you’re done. I’ll have the MC on your ass. After
your father. And your family’s business will be destroyed.”

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“To church,” Jace growled.

“You’re lying.”

“How does it feel, sweetie?” he
threw back without even looking back at me.

I stood in complete shock as I listened
to Jace leave the house.

I heard him start his motorcycle
and the rumbling thunder cruised away until it was a distant sound before it
finally died away.

And I was just there… in the outlaw’s
bedroom.

I slowly sat down on the corner of
the bed.

The outlaw
’s bed.

The bad guy
’s bed.

I put my hand to the sheets.

In my mind I had a vision of Jace
all over me. His muscular body smothering me, pleasuring me until I couldn’t
take anymore. Until I screamed his name as I came so hard I lost feeling in the
lower half of my body.

It was all fantasy…

Little did I know, it would
become reality sooner than I could have ever imagined.