Reaper's Property (Reapers MC, #1)(48)

She gave a little laugh then shook her head.

“Sounds like you’re right—you bruised his precious little man feelings. But he can’t just acknowledge that, they never do.”

I smiled back at her, but it died as I thought about Jeff.

“What about my brother?” I asked. “Got any insight into that one?”

She sobered and shook her head.

“He’s in deep shit. Wish I could tell you something else, but the Reapers don’t f*ck around when it comes to their rep. They lose that, we’re all at war. Lotta clubs just waiting to step in and take over this territory.”

“That’s what Horse said.”

“Here’s a piece of advice, whether you want it or not. Your brother’s a dead man unless he makes things right with the club. Horse can’t change that and you can’t either. Sounds like you’re buying him some time, but don’t think for a minute that they won’t follow through if he doesn’t pay them. So remember—it’s not your fault if things don’t go well for him.”

“But it is,” I replied. “I’m the only reason he’s still alive. Horse told me I can leave any time, but if I do, that’s it for Jeff.”

“So don’t leave,” she replied. “But don’t fool yourself either. This isn’t about you. Now we’re going back out, so put on your game face. Horse brought you for a reason, probably to scare the crap out of every guy here who’s got a sister. They see you, they won’t think Jeff is getting off easy. I know Horse well enough to know this isn’t his usual thing. I doubt you’ll get dragged out like this again unless your brother tries to make trouble. Think he will?”

“He’s a smart guy, but he wasn’t smart enough not to steal from the Reapers,” I said, shrugging. “I guess it could go either way. Something’s gone really wrong with him.”

Someone pounded on the door again. Darcy walked over, opened it wide and glared at the drunken girl standing outside. She leaned over and vomited on the floor.

“Fuckin’ hate parties like this,” Darcy muttered, grabbing my arm and carefully stepping over the puddle. I hopped along with her as she dragged me down the length of the hall into a room with a giant table. Horse and Boonie sat studying some papers.

“You boys need more time?”

Horse leaned back, eyeing me as Boonie broke into a sly smile.

“Nope,” he said, standing and walking toward Darcy. “Missed you, babe. I hate it when you’re out of town. Next time make your mom go by herself, okay?”

Darcy murmured some reply I couldn’t make out and they fell into another clinch even more intense than the first. Boonie lifted her and set her butt on the table. That appeared to be our cue to leave, because Horse came over and took my hand, drawing me back out into the hallway.





Chapter Fourteen



Talking with Darcy made me feel both better and worse. What she had with Boonie looked pretty good. They seemed to keep focused on each other despite the chaos around them. Horse had offered me the same deal and I’d thrown it back at him, with prejudice. Still didn’t excuse kidnapping me. As we left Darcy and Boonie behind, a woman stumbled over to the wall across from us, bracing against it as she threw up noisily.

“You wanna go outside for some air, or back into the bar?” Horse asked, arm hooked around my neck, casually dominating me without even trying. He didn’t seem to notice the barfing.

“Some air might be good.”

He led me down the hall to a propped-open door. Beyond it was a cleared area, surrounded by a six-foot chain link fence. A huge bonfire lit up the place and I saw a lot of people smoking. My nose told me it wasn’t all tobacco. That made me think of Jeff rather wistfully. He was so smart—why did he get himself into this situation? He could do anything if he put his mind to it.

Horse pulled me over toward the back of the fenced area, still part of the party but outside the ring of light from the bonfire. He sat down in the grass, leaned back against the fence and tugged me down to sit between his legs. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me back against his chest. It felt good. Of course it always felt good when he held me, even when he was being a total *.

“You and Darcy have a good chat?”

“Yeah,” I replied. “Very educational.”

“You give her the whole sob story?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Good,” he said. “She’ll pass it on to the right people. Word’ll get out where it needs to go.”

We fell into silence for a while. I watched a couple of guys drag out some big speakers, fiddling with the wires until classic rock burst out. Zeppelin, that kind of thing. Made me think of my mom. Not my favorite but it fit the night somehow. Girls started dancing around the fire, stumbling drunkenly into men who swung them up and around before dragging them off into the darkness. Horse’s hand slid down to my breast, reaching in to pop it out the top of the corset. I would’ve been utterly humiliated but I didn’t think anyone could see us so far out of the light and I had the start of a good buzz going. I knew there were other couples around us but I couldn’t see them, so we were probably safe from the audience.

That’s why I didn’t protest as his other hand pushed up my skirt and slid aside my panties to tickle my clit. I just leaned back into him, closing my eyes and focusing on the sensation as he coaxed me to life. Then I heard a shrieking noise and opened my eyes. A couple pulled away from the fire, close enough to us that we could see and hear them, but not so close that they noticed us.