REAPER'S KISS(9)

Dad hung his head. When I heard the first sob echo out of his mouth, I gasped. I hadn’t seen Dad breakdown and cry since Mom’s funeral. Since then he had been a rock to all of us. Now he was losing it.

As Dad cried, I inched forward. I stealthily put my hand to the whiskey bottle and slid it away. I crouched down in front of my father. He was a broken man right in that moment. He looked at me, tears in his eyes.

“I owe Frank a lot of money,” he whispered. “He’s going to keep cashing in on me until he gets to you, Ava. That’s what he wants. You have to be safe.”

I swallowed hard. I was scared. Really scared.

“Me…?”

Dad shook his head. “I just can’t. It’s just… you have to get protection. You have to go to Jace. Be with him. Make sure he keeps saving you. No matter what.”

His eyes went wide. They were bloodshot. Drunk with tears and whiskey.

“I don’t follow…”

“If Frank comes after me again, he’ll probably kill me. Then he’ll go for you. But if you’re with those outlaws… yes. It can work, Ava. This is your only chance.”

“Tell me what’s really going on.”

“I can’t,” Dad said. He reached for the bottle. I hadn’t pushed it away far enough. “I just can’t. I miss your mother. I miss her hugs. I miss her smile. I miss her ways… she could hold it all together. Not me.”

Dad drank more whiskey and kept crying.

I wanted to leave so badly but I was afraid to go home.

I would have to spend the night at Dad’s. But I wouldn’t sleep peacefully. Not a chance in hell.

Unless…

“Come on,” I whispered. “You need to get to sleep right now, Dad. You’re hurt and confused. Sleep all of this off.”

I got Dad to his feet.

He looked me dead in the eyes. “You’re going to listen to me, Ava. I’m giving you to the outlaw. I’m offering you as a thank you for what he did. If you don’t listen, I can’t help you. Frank will kill you. You’ll find out all the secrets… let the outlaw save you again. And again. Do what he says. Become his.”

Maybe Dad grew in a world where women were dealt out as prizes or whatever. And maybe he grew up in a world where women slaved themselves to their man.

That wasn’t my world.

No way in hell.

Even still… later that night… I was wide awake, my face blushing, imagining the badass outlaw Jace telling me everything he wanted me to do to him…





chapter eight


(ava)



THEN



I was pretending to sleep when I heard the door softly open. My mother used to come in to the room. She would shuffle to the bed and kiss my cheek. She would touch my hair and whisper something in my ear.

But she couldn’t do that now. Unless ghosts were real. I didn’t want to believe in ghosts. If I did, and I got scared, I’d cuddle with my mother. But I couldn’t do that.

“This is why,” I heard a voice whisper.

It was Dad.

“I know, Jake,” another voice said. “I know. It’s tough. It’s going to be tough. She’ll grow up into a beautiful woman. I know it. I can feel it in my heart.”

“I just have to keep everything going. That’s all I can do. She can’t know anything, Frank. It all has to be quiet. I have to move on and be a father now.”

“The store won’t survive that.”

“I know,” Dad said. “I know. I’ll deal with that later. But just take a second and understand that it’s my only daughter at stake now.”

“Go have a drink, Jake. I’ll be there in a second.”

I gripped my covers tighter. I felt someone approaching the bed. Then a hand touched my shoulder. It wasn’t my mother. It wasn’t my father.

I felt breath on my cheek.

“Sleep tight, Ava. Uncle Frank is going to make everything okay for you.”

His breath was gross, like the smell of throw up. I was shivering under the covers and sweating at the same time. I told myself do not open my eyes. Do not open your eyes. Do not open your eyes. Do. Not. Open. Your. Eyes.

His hand slid down my arm to my hand. I felt his thick and clammy fingers touch my hand. He interlocked his fingers into mine.

“Someday, we’ll be so happy,” he whispered. “You’ll know all the truth. You’ll need me.”

I pulled my hand away and grabbed for a stuffed animal.

He let out a little laugh.

“Sweet innocence. Too bad it won’t last forever.”

He then finally left the room, shutting the door behind him.

My head spun with a million and one thoughts. I missed my mother. I wanted to know who the heck Uncle Frank was. And I wanted to know what my dad meant about secrets.

I fell asleep easily… because of the innocence I still had.

My innocence would be taken away long before I learned the truth of the secrets.





chapter nine


(jace)



NOW



Sid’s fist was like a brick as it came across my jaw. I saw him coming from a mile away, fist cocked back, ready to strike. See, the thing was this - you could either take your hits like a man or you could f*cking run and talk your way out of it. Last time I checked, I had a big, fat cock between my legs. I was a man. I was an outlaw. I could take a beating.