REAPER'S KISS Page 4

  (ava)

  *NOW*

  I pulled my hair back and looked at myself in the mirror. I was tired and I felt beat up. Sleep came and went and morning came too soon. Dad’s coffee was expired and bitter. His milk had chunks in it so I had to drink the coffee black. I took two sips and called it quits. Dad woke up and rushed to the bathroom. In between getting ill he swore to me it was something he ate. His face was bruised and more puffy, all because of getting beat up.

  There was nothing I could say to Dad. I brought him coffee and toast in the bathroom. I grabbed a washcloth and wiped up his face the best I could.

  “Sit, Ava,” he said to me.

  I grabbed a kitchen chair and sat outside the bathroom.

  “What are you going to do?” he asked me.

  “I don’t know, Dad,” I said. “I wish you would stop keeping secrets from me.”

  “All I’ve ever done is protect you,” he said. “I’ll keep doing that. Even if I have to let you go. You need to go to the outlaws. Trust them. Let Jace take you in. Tell him everything you know. I don’t care.”

  “Tell what I know? I don’t know anything.”

  “That’s fine. Let them dig. Let them do what they need to do.”

  “And if that means they hurt you?” I asked.

  Dad leaned forward, hanging over the toilet.

  I couldn’t watch.

  I stood up and left. I left the apartment and went down to the store. I went to the back room where everything had gone down. I saw the blood stains on the concrete and didn’t know whose blood it was.

  It made me shiver.

  I walked to the front of the store and stood there. That’s when I broke down into tears again. My mother used to be in the store, whistling, working, loving it. There was music playing all the time. It was clean and inviting. She worked long hours and never complained once.

  I didn’t know where in the store she was murdered. Sometimes I felt like it was better not to know. Then again, to me, the entire store was the murder scene.

  A door squeaked from behind me.

  Dad was there, a little more cleaned up. He was in fresh clothes and had splashed a lot of aftershave on his face. He walked with a limp toward me.

  “You better get moving,” he said.

  “Why?”

  “You know…”

  “Not about Jace. About Mom. The store. The truth.”

  Dad shook his head. “Ava, the truth doesn’t always set someone free. Sometimes, the truth is a prison. A terrible prison. Understand me?”

  “No, I don’t.”

  I took a step and Dad reached for me. “Please tell me you don’t hate me.” He reached into the breast pocket of his shirt and took out a piece of paper. He forced me to take it.

  “I don’t think I could ever hate you. You’re my father. I just don’t understand any of this. I’m let down. I’m hurt. This isn’t the life I asked.”

  Dad nodded.

  He reached into his back pocket and took out a flask.

  “Are you serious?” I asked.

  “The demons are loud,” he whispered as he threw the flask back.

  That was all I could handle.

  I left the store with a lump in my throat and fresh tears in my eyes. I got into my car and stuck the key in the ignition and had a sudden sense of fear. That the car was going to explode. I looked in the mirror and saw Dad standing at the store, holding the door open.

  Everything was wrong.

  I shut my eyes and started the car.

  It didn’t blow up.

  I drove away, unfolding the piece of paper he gave me. It had an address scribbled with his bad handwriting.

  What choice did I have?

  I had to go to the address. I felt safe nowhere else… but in the arms of a stranger. An outlaw stranger. A man with a bad past and a dark present.

  Far from the fairy tale dream I once had about a man saving me, taking care of me, and giving me a life that was nothing but happiness. I was on the other side of that equation. I was with the bad guys.

  With the bad guys to be safe?

  I parked my car and climbed out. The house looked too normal to be owned by an outlaw. That’s when I feared my father had set me up yet again. Maybe I was being given up to Uncle Frank.

  Uncle Frank. The things he wanted to do. The things he would do.

  I hesitated but then I saw the motorcycle in the driveway. The second I saw it my heart started to race. I touched my chest and collected myself. I had no idea what to do when Jace answered the door. What to say. How to play this off.

  I was suddenly a pawn in a game that I didn’t know a thing about.

  If Jace was my only hope at staying alive then I’d do whatever it would take to stay alive.

  I walked to the door and knocked.

  There was no answer.

  I made a fist and pounded.

  I waited.

  Still no answer.

  From the corner of my eye I saw a car turn on the street. It was a long, black car. Super sleek. The windows nice and dark. It was going way too slow. My heart started to race even faster.

  The car kept coming.

  Slower… and slower…

  It almost came to a complete stop. I slammed my hand on the door, over and over. I grabbed the handle and tried to open the door but it was locked. Panic set in.

  The window on the car started to go down.

  That’s when the door opened.

  I lunged forward, throwing my hands to whoever answered the door.

  I looked back and saw the car quickly speed away.

  I regained my senses and looked forward. Staring at a tattooed and muscular chest, my hands shaking.

  I looked up and my eyes locked to Jace’s.

  “Well,” he said in a tired voice, “good fucking morning to me…”

  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 l
ittle 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 w
hen 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.