REAPER'S KISS(35)

“Get down!” Jace screamed at me.

His words were super slow.

I skidded to a halt and buckled my knees.

I heard guns go off and I shut my eyes.

I didn’t want to see the reaction on Jace’s face as I took my last breath…





chapter twenty-nine


(ava)



THEN



“Do you really have to go now?” I asked my mother.

“I do,” she said. She touched my hair and kissed me. “If that water keeps getting into the store we’re going to have a big problem. It’ll be okay. Everything is closed. I’ll just sing some songs and clean up the store.”

“Why can’t Dad do it?”

“You know him,” Mom said. “He took his heart medicine. He’s sleeping.”

“Let me come and help you then.”

“No, Ava. You rest. You have school. Don’t worry about me.”

“I love you though.”

“I love you too. All I want is for you to be happy.”

“I’m trying hard in school, Mom.”

“That’s good. But school, money, a house, that’s not happiness. You’ll know it when you find it. I want you to find it. Embrace it. Never let it go.”

I had no idea what she was talking about. But I loved when Mom talked to me like I was a grown up.

She kissed my forehead twice, then a kiss on each cheek. That’s how she always kissed me. In front of friends, it was totally not cool. But alone, it was the greatest feeling in the world. Knowing she truly loved me.

“I’ll be back before you know it,” she said. “I’ll make pancakes in the morning. Brain food.”

She ran her fingers through my hair and smiled big.

I hated that she worked so hard at the store. I hated that she had to go there alone to clean up water because of the roof. I wished Dad would have done more to give her more.

Mom stood up from the bed.

I don’t know why but I grabbed her wrist. My eyes filled with tears.

“What’s wrong?” Mom asked me.

“I don’t know. I just… I just love you so much.”

Mom sat back down on the bed. She hugged me. I think she cried too but I didn’t see the tears. She never showed me her tears. She was always the tough one.

She rocked me, yes, I was a teenager, and she hummed.

Slowly, I drifted off to sleep.

The last thing I remembered was her kissing my cheek and whispering that she loved me and that everything would be okay.

I never got to see my mother, feeling her hugs, or hear her voice ever again.





chapter thirty


(jace)



NOW



Sid stood there and held out a mug of beer. “To Jace. To Ava. To helping tie up a loose end for the MC.”

The entire clubhouse erupted in cheers. Clanks of mugs echoed around and everyone had a nice cold drink. That included me and Ava.

My right shoulder was f*cked up and I probably still needed another surgery if the muscles didn’t heal right. Ava was unscathed. That was most important to me.

The variable I threw in was calling up Jeff. If I had shot Glen it would have started a new war. The store was on fire. Glen was brandishing a gun. Everything was spiraling. I needed Ava to stay hidden because Jeff was coming. She jumped out just as Jeff showed up.

Jeff shot Glen twice in the back.

That made the entire situation easy for the club.

Jeff had all the paperwork to show a case of illegal gambling. With Glen setting the store on fire and shooting me, it justified everything. All I had to do was explain that I was cruising along with Ava to go visit her father in the hospital. We spotted smoke from the store and went to check it out. Ava had a key. We called the fire department. We saw Glen and he shot me. He tried to hold us hostage. Jeff heard the call for the fire department and decided to check it out.

It was all set up to simply make Jeff as a hero.

Fair enough.

Our payment for asking such a big task was that Jeff took the bag of money and could do whatever the f*ck he wanted to do with it.

The store burned to the ground. That may or may not have happened as another favor. That was up to Sid.

Ava’s father got out of the hospital and got a nice fat insurance check for the store. A portion of that check was kicked back to the club.

Good call, Jake.

Now I sat on a barstool with Ava in my arms, the club cheering.

I looked at Ava and smiled. We kissed and then finished our drink.

The rest of the guys were there for the night to pound beer, whiskey, and *. Good for them. I wasn’t going to be one of them tonight. I had a different plan in mind.

After finishing my beer, I went to see Sid.

“Prez.”

Sid hugged me. Pain shot through my shoulder. “Fuck…”

“How’s the ride?” he asked.

“I hate anything with four wheels.”

Sid laughed and slapped my cheek. “It’s a big ass pickup truck though. You have to like that.”

“It’s not bad. I could get used to it.”

“Don’t get too used to it,” he said. “You only have so much time… if you can’t ride, you can’t wear the cut.”