“We got a mole up in here,” he opened, clearly hoping for a telling reaction from me.
I was too tired, too angry to give him anything but a straight shot of sass. “No shit.”
His eyebrows jumped. “You know it?”
I shrugged. “Grease just sneered it into my face before he tried to get in there with me.”
“It’s Lion.”
I shrugged again. “Not close with him, don’t know enough to give you my opinion.”
“Yeah,” he said nodding, clicking the safety on his gun on and off with an audible click, click, click. “Thing is your mum told me she recognized him a while back, but couldn’t put her finger on how. Was only when she met him ’fore the fight she realized she knew him as a fuckin’ pig back in Entrance. So, I’m thinking, Harleigh Rose Garro, there’s no way you coulda forgot that either, is there?”
My heart was hammering, my palms so slick that they slid off the arms of the chair and into my lap. “Like I said, not close to him, can’t say I gave him much notice.”
“Fuckin’ bullshit,” he roared, standing so abruptly his chair flew back and then he was leaning over the desk, his Glock aimed at my forehead. “You knew. Why the fuck would you know and not tell me, huh? ’Less you’re here for your fuckin’ father.”
“I’m not,” I rushed to say. “I thought I recognized him, but I didn’t remember from where. I must have been a kid when he was a cop there, and I was a biker’s kid, what did I know about cops?”
He hesitated, breathing heavy, his dark eyes sinister. “Hard to believe you girl, ’specially when you wouldn’t let yourself have Grease. How am I gonna trust ya?”
“You can,” I said with a small smile as if being held at gunpoint was no big deal because I wasn’t guilty. “What do you want me to do to prove it?”
His grin was wicked sharp like the edge of a blade. “Wanna make it clear ’fore you say no to this. Got a man watchin’ your family, ’specially that sweet piece Garro’s got pregnant with his seed. You don’t prove to me that you’ve renounced The Fallen by doin’ what I’m now gonna ask you to do, I’m gonna have my man gut her, pull those babies outta her while she’s still livin’ then put a bullet in all three’a their heads. You feel me?”
I’d never been so frightened in my life.
Fuck the gun pointed at my forehead.
I’d rather have him blast that bullet in my brain than even think about doing something so grotesque to someone so goddamn beautiful.
“I’ll do it, Reaper,” I said, my voice surprisingly steady. “I’ll do it, just tell me what the fuck it is.”
Reaper studied me, scouring me for sincerity, then finding what he needed in my desperate eyes, he clicked the safety back on his gun and settled into his chair with a placid smile.
“You’re gonna kill Lion for me, princess. And you’re gonna do it tonight.”
The house was surprisingly calm when I walked through the door, “Die For You” by The Weeknd playing through the speakers as Danner chopped vegetables at the counter, Hero curled up by his feet until he heard me and came running to my side.
I dropped to my knees to give him an ear scratch but kept my eyes on my man. He didn’t say anything and even his eyes were indecipherable as I gave the dog a kiss on the head and made my way over to him.
He’d had a shower, clean from gunk and gore, and he smelled so good that I almost burst into tears.
God, I’d miss the smell of him.
“You okay?” I asked, proud that my voice didn’t wobble.
“Better question, are you?” he said, lunging forward to grab my hand when I hesitated to go to him so that he could tug me into his arms.
“Yeah,” I mumbled against his chest. “Thanks for saving me. Again.”
“Anytime, Rosie,” he said, and there was a hidden wealth of meaning in it.
I leaned back in his embrace to study the strong angles of his face, finding a deepening bruise at his jaw and a swollen cut above his eyebrow that he’d already pulled closed with medical tape.
“I would have cleaned you up, I’m a nurse now, you know?”
It was a lame tease, but he smiled at me. “Didn’t want you to worry about it when you got back. The shower and tending also gave me time to get my shit under control. You were gone a while, what happened after I left?”
I chewed my lip then forced myself to stop before I gave anything away. “Wrath got in trouble, Reaper reamed me out for not being a team player a.k.a team slut. Nothin’ too serious.”
“Good,” he said before kissing me firmly, turning me around and slapping my ass. “Take a seat, I’m makin’ you my one and only dinner specialty.”
“You mean you can make more than cereal?” I said with a faux gasp so he would smile.
He did.
I wanted to collect all his smiles and put them in a jar to take out and look at later when this was all over, and I never saw him again.
“Yes, brat, I happen to make the best fuckin’ sausage mac n’ cheese this side of the border,” he told me proudly.
“You’re in a good mood, which I totally wasn’t expecting given that you just got excommunicated from the club you’ve been trying to take down for three years.”
He resumed chopping, the huge butcher’s knife gleaming in the overhead lights. “Yeah, that’d be because I have a badass woman at my table who’s gonna keep me on my toes all night until I decide to bend her over and turn her into my good girl while she takes my cock. I’m makin’ my kickass dinner and my dog is at my feet. Things are good.”
“Again, I’ll mention that three years of your life’s work just went down the drain… do I need to check you for a concussion?”
He smirked, playfully like only I could make him do.
I saved that one in my jar too.
“Wanted them gone, still want them gone. Don’t care that they’re bikers, I care that they’re horrible people doin’ horrible things to civilians who haven’t bought that. I hope the RCMP finds a way to do that and I think in my three years of service, I got them way fucking closer than they were before. Already called it in and got a meeting with the Sergeant tomorrow. I’ll probably be reassigned. Sucks I couldn’t finish that job, but that meant letting someone rape you, so got to admit, Rosie, most of me is fucking thrilled we’re out of there.”
“We?” I asked softly.
He froze, that stillness he could affect that was artic, the room gone solid with him. “You’re not with me?”
“I’m with you, I just need to see this through,” I whispered, my heart failing like a sick thing in my chest.
“Even if I could get back in with Reaper, it’s too fucking risky,” he said, his arms crossed and feet parted, ready to do battle with me over this.
“I know I can do it.”
He didn’t notice that I wasn’t using a universal ‘we.’ He stalked around the counter to stare down into my eyes. I tried to memorize the way he looked gazing down on me like that, gorgeous and righteous like the angel Gabriel come down from heaven to slay all my demons.