Reaper Unleashed (23 page)

Sarah stood next to the boxes she’d been packing for the past two hours. At first she’d told Reaper that she was only taking the things she and Josh had brought with them but he had gone all stone man on her and insisted that these were their things and they would be taking them. Knowing that he would just have them delivered to the new apartment, she’d stopped arguing.  

Sarah hated the idea of leaving the loft but she knew she couldn’t stay and watch him with other women. The day he had Iron watch Josh and she had cried in his arms seemed to change something for him. Likely he didn’t like weepy goodbyes, she snorted, grabbing another outfit and folding it into the box she was packing.

When she woke up that afternoon, Josh was back and Reaper had told her they were going to Ink Bandits, the Blue Bandit’s tattoo parlor. She had told him she didn’t need a tattoo, wondering if he had lost his mind. His response had been a glare before he told her that she was going to be working there now.

It had pleasantly surprised her that he still wanted her to work for him. It really shouldn’t have, she supposed, because she knew how much the man hated dealing with the supplies. The fact that he was a good man and he felt responsible for her and Josh played into him letting her continue as his employee too.

That day he had driven them to Ink Bandits in her car, where she’d met the four men who worked there. Animal, she was surprised to learn, was one of them. Knowing him from the night at Spangles, she had been a bit embarrassed to see him again. Her cheeks had turned bright pink but he’d been nice despite the roaring bitch she’d been that night.

The other three men she hadn’t known. They were all part of the Blue Bandits MC. Flame, a blond with more piercings than a pincushion, was quiet, had only nodded when they were introduced. Stitch, a dark haired Lothario, Reaper had knocked on his ass for flirting with her. The last one had surprised her the most. His name, Pansy, was odd even among the bikers. He was six foot four if he was an inch and he was solid muscle, so how he had gotten that name was a total mystery.

Even though they were a strangely motley crew, she had liked them. They hadn’t glared at her nor had they tried to flirt with Reaper like the strippers had, so it was an improvement over the last group she’d worked with at the strip club. Not that she would have to worry about seeing Reaper. That thought depressed her and she wanted to cry all over again.

Reaper had shown her to the office before they’d left and shown her what to do if there was trouble. He had given her the code to the safe, which held a Glock and two clips, and then shown her how to engage the security locks on the office door. He had also shown her where the panic button was and told her that it would alert him at the club if there was trouble. The next day Reaper had disappeared.

She was a little hurt that Reaper seemed to be cutting her from his life. He was rarely at the house except at night and he no longer showed for dinner. She had cried herself to sleep the first time it happened, her heart aching as she felt the walls crashing down on her. It was hard to realize that although to her he was everything, to him she was just another woman. One he cared about, sure, but he would make it without her. She wasn’t so sure about herself.

Sammy had helped her find an apartment about two blocks from the loft that Reaper had finally agreed to allow her to move into. Of course, that was after he’d taken care of what he considered necessary security upgrades. He had rejected two other apartments, one because it had too many windows and the other because it was just ugly. That was what he’d said.

At first she had thought he was trying to make her stay with him longer but that bubble had burst when he’d approved the third place yesterday. He really wasn’t going to bother to fight this out with her and it broke her heart all over again. She supposed she should have expected it to end this way. She had known from the beginning that Reaper wasn’t a man you got to keep for very long. He was too wild.

Hearing a knock on the door, she walked towards it. Sammy was finally here. She’d taken long enough getting her ass here but when Sarah opened the door it wasn’t Sammy. It was Candy. Fuck, if Reaper had told Candy to meet him here, she was going to fucking shoot him, she just was.

“Hi,” Candy said, standing on the threshold looking at her.

“He’s not here,” Sarah barked, not bothering to be nice to her. She had taunted Sarah about Reaper’s return to his old ways and she didn’t want anything to do with her now.

“I know. I just left the club and he was there. Can I come in?” Candy asked, her face twisted into a wary expression.

“No,” Sarah flatly replied, intending to slam the door in the other woman’s face but she put her foot in the door.

“Please, just for a moment. I want to talk to you,” Candy said.

“Look, I am not in the mood for you to rub in the fact that you are sleeping with Reaper. I get it, you won. That’s fucking fantastic, now go the hell away!” Sarah bellowed at the woman, again trying to slam the door, her heart squeezing at just having to admit that fact out loud.

Candy’s hand caught the door. “I’m not sleeping with Reaper!” Candy yelled back at her. “Please, I just want to talk for a minute and then I’ll go, okay.”

Sarah eyed her suspiciously for a moment before letting go of the door and storming into the kitchen. She really wasn’t in the mood for this and she wished that she had moved the gun she kept locked in the kitchen drawer because she was afraid that if the woman pushed her too far, she was going to shoot her.

Candy followed her inside. Sarah grabbed the coffee pot, pouring a cup.

“Can I have a cup?” Candy asked her when she sat down at the table.

“Help yourself.” Candy winced at Sarah’s rude reply but she didn’t give a shit. They weren’t friends, she didn’t want to talk to her and she sure as hell wasn’t going to wait on her.

“Thanks.” Candy got a cup and sat down across from her in silence for a moment. “I know that I wasn’t very nice to you, Sarah. I came here to tell you I’m sorry for that.”

Sarah just stared at her. This wasn’t really Candy’s fault but she had taken every chance she’d had to tell Sarah that she wouldn’t last and it had been true. Sarah hated it and it had hurt her. Candy sitting across from her apologizing wasn’t really something she wanted to hear.

“I was jealous. There really isn’t any other excuse for my behavior,” Candy told her, looking pained. “I’m not in love with Reaper or anything like that, I just didn’t want things to change. I wanted them to be the same, but over the last week I realized something that I didn’t before.” She was watching Sarah with her head tilted and a half smile on her face.

“What’s that?” she asked rudely, because she really didn’t care.

“That you make him happy,” Candy said, “I’d never met a happy Reaper until you showed up. All I saw was the way you’d caused fights in the club and the anger between Lock and Reaper. I didn’t see that he was actually really happy for the first time since I’ve known him.”

“Well, it’s too late now. I can’t be with a man who runs around with other women so it’s really a moot point, isn’t it,” Sarah told her with a raised brow.

“It doesn’t have to be, Sarah. I know men and I can tell you this. I have never seen a man less interested in other women than Reaper, Sarah.”

Sarah snorted; did the woman think she was stupid? Or had Reaper put her up to this? Her eyes narrowed as she watched the other woman.

“You sure as hell could have fooled me. When you where stripping for him he was so ready to get back to it he was a prick to me,” she told her, laughing without humor. She wasn’t buying this bullshit that the woman was selling. If Reaper cared about her then he would at least protest her leaving or come up with some reason she had to stay.

“No, he was desperate to prove that he wasn’t wrapped up in you. That’s all it was, Sarah, and when he realized you might leave him, he didn’t give a fuck anymore.”

“Candy, if he put you up to this you’re wasting your time.”

“He didn’t ask me to come here, Sarah. Shit, if he knew he’d likely fucking kill me.” She shook her head before leaning forward, meeting Sarah’s eyes with her own. “He was staring at my shoes the whole time. I have never seen a man less interested in a strip tease than he was. He barely sees any woman but you, Sarah. The man sits in his booth and drinks whiskey all night while ignoring everyone until you walk in. Then it’s like you lit a fire under him. He doesn’t want another woman, he wants you. I think he might be in love with you,” Candy told her.

“What? That’s crazy,” Sarah told her, even as her treacherous heart pounded in her chest before it sank like a lead balloon, because it wasn’t true no matter how much she wished it was.

“He sits there every night and the girls offer to give him sex and he refuses. He doesn’t want them, Sarah, or me.” Candy looked so convinced that she wanted to believe her but she knew better than that.

“Why are you telling me this, Candy? You don’t even like me,” Sarah asked her, watching her face to gauge if she was telling the truth or not.

“Because I once loved a man and I ran away because I was scared. It was the worst mistake of my life. He ended up married to a wonderful woman and I ended up alone. Reaper and the club took me in three years ago when I hit rock bottom and because of that I am fiercely loyal to him and the Bandits. That’s why I tried to drive a wedge between you two, because I thought you were bad for him and the club. Only this week I realized that he was colder than I have ever seen him. He needs you and Josh, Sarah.”

Sarah could see in Candy’s face that she thought she knew what she was talking about but Sarah wasn’t so sure. If he was letting her go so easily without a fight, how could he love her? Her heart bled when the hope Candy had stirred up inside her died under the crushing knowledge that he couldn’t.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s already over and I can’t help him now. Thanks for apologizing and all, but I really need to finish packing if you don’t mind.”

Candy stood, placing her empty cup in the sink before looking at her. “Don’t let pride stop you from being happy, Sarah. Give him another chance,” she said, looking at her for a long moment.

“He doesn’t want another chance, Candy. If he did, he wouldn’t have let me go so easily.” Sarah turned and walked back into the other room, allowing Candy to see herself out.

Reaper puffed on the cigar, his head pounding. He wasn’t sleeping. He went home every night and climbed into bed with Sarah in the guest room and just held her. He didn’t fall asleep because he knew that if she woke to find him in the bed with her she’d never give him another chance. He would return to his room hours later and lay awake. He couldn’t give up those few hours of holding her; it was the only moment when he was at peace. For those hours when she was in his arms and his son slept nearby, he was able to feel the pain in his head slip away.

Tomorrow she was moving to the apartment a few minutes from the loft and he was going to lose those hours and he didn’t know if he could bear it. Even knowing that she needed the time, he wasn’t sure that he’d be able to let her go. He puffed out a ring, staring at the ceiling. He heard someone sit down across from him in the booth and looked down to see Candy there.

“Feeling sorry for yourself again?” she asked.

“Not tonight, Candy,” Reaper growled. “I won’t be fucking you.”

“I already know that, idiot. Why haven’t you gone after the woman you do want to fuck, Reaper? This sulking isn’t like you,” Candy demanded, pissing him off.

“You don’t get to talk to me about this. You are part of the problem,” Reaper told her.

“Because you were an idiot and decided to watch me strip to save your reputation with the club? Now, suddenly, I’m the bad guy?” she asked, watching him.

“Go away, Candy.”

“No, you are acting like a damned fool, Reaper,” Candy told him, leaning forward, her eyes burning with anger.

“I fucked up. I know that, but your taunting her at every turn didn’t help.”

Candy blushed a bit. “You knew about that?”

“I watch her like a hawk watches a mouse. Of course I knew about it,” Reaper told her, anger burning inside him at the way she had treated Sarah.

“Fine, then I’ll say this. I have only one excuse. I was content with the way things were. You were a good lover and I didn’t want things to change here. I didn’t want you to fight with the boys. Now, I see she was good for you in ways I didn’t realize. In ways you don’t even realize. Reaper, don’t make the mistake I did. Don’t let her walk away because you’re scared. I can promise you that you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.” She looked so sad and lost in that moment he felt sorry for her.

“Jack?” he asked, knowing that she’d been broken when she’d walked in here three years ago. Reaper knew what it was like to be broken. He understood it more than he did the happiness that had been his so briefly before he had acted like an idiot.

“Yes, he’s happy with Tammy and I don’t begrudge him that, but I regret every day that I left him. He was the love of my life and I walked away like he didn’t matter.” Candy’s eyes were filled with such a heavy pain that he felt his own chest tighten. “Don’t let her leave, Reaper. Sarah makes you happy. I don’t know if you love her or not but I can tell that she’s the one for you. If she leaves and you don’t even try to make her stay, you’ve already lost her.”

Reaper’s whole being tightened in denial of losing Sarah forever. That wasn’t what was happening. He wasn’t going to allow that to happen. She was his and he’d get her back because that was the only outcome he could stand to imagine.

“I’m not letting her go, Candy. I’m letting her have the space she says she needs to get over what I did,” Reaper told her.

Candy’s eyes were suddenly haunted when she finally looked at him and muttered, “I’m going to give you the advice I wish someone had given me four years ago. If you don’t start fighting for her now, she’s never going to believe that you care. She already thinks it’s over. If she moves out, it’s a done deal for her and no matter what you do after that, you’ve already lost her, Reaper. Don’t let that happen.” Candy stood and began walking away.

“How? She asked me not to fight her on this and I didn’t. She doesn’t want me to fight for her,” he called after her, an agonized feeling in his chest. She turned, walking back the few steps to cup his cheeks as she smiled a deadly feminine smile he was sure had brought many a man to his knees.

“Oh, sweetie. Every woman wants you to fight for her as if she were your last breath. Never forget that.” She patted his cheeks and turned to leave again.

“But she asked me not to?” he asked, confused because women didn’t make a damned bit of sense.

“Of course she did. That only means she wants you to fight harder, hon. Don’t be a fool. Go get her.” Candy laughed a wicked laugh as she left the club.

  Reaper thought about what she had said and then he wondered why he was listening to a woman who had been against him being with Sarah from the beginning. Was she trying to get him to fuck up or was she telling him the truth? The look on her face when she told him that this was advice she wished someone had given her had been genuine.

He remembered something else she’d said and honestly that more than anything had him on his feet. She had asked if he was still sulking and that wasn’t like him. He didn’t sulk, he handled things.

Enough was enough, he was going home and he was going to make her listen to him because there wasn’t a way in hell he could live without her and if what Candy said was even a little bit true, then he wasn’t going to chance losing her. Getting up, he motioned to Iron who came over. “What’s up boss?”

“I’m going home. I won’t be back tonight,” Reaper told him.

“ ’Bout damned time. Thought you were going to sulk till the end of time, which isn’t really like you. You’re an action man, not a fucking pansy ass. Go get her, brother,” Iron said, patting him on the shoulder.

If he wasn’t so ticked, he’d laugh at Iron’s assessment because he was right. He flicked him off and headed to his bike. He had a woman to get home to and he was now damned glad that Josh was staying with Mrs. Black tonight so Sarah could pack. 

Sarah was startled when the door to the bedroom burst open and Reaper strode in about an hour after Candy had left. She was packing her clothing and glanced up, startled.

“What’s wrong?” Sarah asked, alarmed by his appearance as much as the way he’d rushed into the room. His hair was wild and his eyes looked crazed.

“This! This is what’s wrong, Sarah,” he growled, grabbing the box she’d been packing and dumping it on the bed.

“Reaper, what the hell? Have you lost your mind?” Sarah demanded, even as her heart beat an erratic dance.

“No, no, I finally found it. I have been acting like a fucking pussy! Enough. This ends tonight!”

She was trying to gather the clothes into the box again. He would grab things as they went into the box and throw them back out. Sighing in exasperation, she glared at him. “I don’t know what the heck you’re talking about but I’m trying to get this done. This isn’t helping.”

“Good. Because
you aren’t leaving
,” Reaper roared right in her face, his hands holding her arms as he bellowed at her.

“I’m confused. We agreed and this is a crazy time for you to decide that I can’t move. You added a ton of security to the building and don’t think I don’t know that you bought it so that you could make the rent low, Reaper.”

“I don’t fucking care! I said you’re not leaving.” Sarah jerked in his arms, trying to pull away. He held tight and didn’t allow her to pull away.

“You’re mine, Sarah! You have always been mine from the moment I first laid eyes on you. Nothing is ever going to change that,” Reaper told her, his grey eyes burning with a love so strong she almost couldn’t bear it.

“You don’t get to decide that. Not anymore,” she told him, still angry. She could already feel her heart aching for her to fall into his arms. He loved her and she could almost feel it when he looked at her. He was fighting for them. She’d thought she didn’t mean anything to him but that look in his eyes was too powerful for her to ignore.

“That’s where you’re wrong, baby. My patch says I do and even though you think you gave it back, that’s not how this works. You and Josh are mine and you had better get used to it.” Reaper’s lips came crashing down on hers then. She had been starved for his touch all week and she couldn’t resist him.

His hands were in her hair holding her head for his invasion. He growled against her lips, nipping at them. She moaned and pressed into him, unable to contain that need she had for his touch. He was suddenly ripping at her clothes, tearing her shirt off over her head and jerking on his cut. He tossed it on the table beside the bed, pushing her back on the bed. He knocked the box off, jerking her back into his arms.

“Mine. Just fucking
mine
, Sarah. I can’t go slow, baby, I need you too bad.” His hands were cupping her breasts, roughly palming her nipples as he jerked at his shirt. It was off and on the floor, as were her shorts and his jeans. He settled between her legs with a groan of relief.

“So good, baby. You feel so good against me. I’ve missed you, so much,” Reaper muttered, his hands running over her from her breasts to her stomach and finally resting over her hot wetness for a moment before sliding back up.

“I missed you too,” Sarah moaned, pressing into his hard rough hands. He was everything she needed and right now she wasn’t hurting like she had been an hour ago. She loved him and she was starting to think that maybe he loved her too. He might not ever admit it but she was beginning to see he was saying it in other ways.

He kissed her again, his hard cock resting against her wet opening. He pushed forward and entered her with a smooth hard stroke of his cock that made them both gasp. Then he began to move and the only sounds in the room were their bodies meeting and the cries of pleasure they both released. She felt as if her whole world centered on that moment when she felt his smooth strokes in and out of her. His hands possessively cupped her hips as gasps were exchanged in heated abandon. When the explosion finally came, she felt owned by him. His own cries of pleasure were just as shattered as her own had been.