Reaper's Property (Reapers MC, #1)(53)

The living room was empty but I heard voices in the kitchen so I followed them. Horse was pouring freshly brewed coffee for Max and Picnic. All three men looked up as I walked in. Picnic grinned at me. Max stared at me intently, like I was some puzzle he couldn’t quite solve. I nodded, uncertain of my position but wanting to hear any news they might have.

“Hear you had some fun last night,” Picnic said, leaning back against the counter. He wore his gray t-shirt, black leather boots and cut casually, but as always, his looks struck me. That grin didn’t help. I couldn’t quite reconcile the man who stood before me casually drinking coffee with the biker who’d held a gun to my brother’s head two days ago.

“Horse tells me you’re worried about him getting in trouble,” Picnic said, smirking. “Thought we might be the cops.”

I nodded, unsure what to say.

“No worries, darlin’. Horse did the right thing, Boonie already called, explained everything,” Picnic said, grimacing. “Damn, this coffee tastes like ass, Horse. So Marie—for what it’s worth, Boonie feels like shit about what happened. And knowing Darcy, he’s gonna catch more shit about it for a long time. Apparently she’s taken a liking to you, wanted to be sure and let you know you can call her any time. Bitch woke me up at seven in the f*cking morning to give me the message.”

He shook his head, looking annoyed. Apparently Picnic liked his sleep.

“Don’t let Boonie hear you call his woman a bitch,” Horse said dryly. “Man’s whipped, might take offense. Remember last time?”

The guys all laughed and I felt completely out of my depth.

“I don’t have her number,” I said, deciding to focus on little details—like Darcy’s phone number—rather than the fact that we were calmly discussing Horse almost killing a man with his bare hands last night.

“It’s in your new phone,” Picnic responded, grabbing a large, padded envelope from the counter and tossing it to me. I managed to catch it, awkwardly, and opened it to find my car keys, a cell phone and a section of newspaper folded open and highlighted. I pulled out the paper first. It only took about four short sentences to describe the total destruction of our trailer by fire. Resident Jeff Jensen was uninjured, had been found outside, inebriated. No official cause yet, but the fire appeared to be the result of a pipe left burning on the carpet.

My hands shook as I put it back in the envelope.

“Sorry, sweetheart,” said Picnic, and he actually sounded like he meant it. “But we had to get rid of any evidence. Also part of the message to other clubs. Either your trailer or your brother.”

I agreed, remembering how I’d suggested burning the place myself. Anything to protect Jeff. The trailer was just a place to live, and not much of one to be honest.

“I’d like to visit my mom at some point,” I said to Horse. “Can I do that? She’ll be really worried and she doesn’t have a way to get hold of me.”

“You can write her,” he said. “Give her your new phone number if you like, she can call collect after that.”

I pulled out the phone. It wasn’t fancy, but it wasn’t crap either. I turned it on and touched the address book icon. It already had several entries. Horse, Picnic, Darcy and “armory”, whatever that was.

“What about my old phone?” I asked. “Why a new one?”

“You needed a new account for your own protection,” Picnic said. “We aren’t the only people your brother pissed off. Hearing new rumors all the time. This is safer, you should cut contact for a while. Horse will fill you in after we give him the details.”

“Am I allowed to call anyone I want?”

“Depends on whether you want them to stay alive,” Picnic said, shrugging. “Far as I’m concerned, make that first call to your brother. Educational experience for both of you.”

I powered down the phone and stuck it in my pocket quickly.

“Car’s outside,” Picnic added, like this was just some normal social visit. “Painter drove it up here the other day. Piece of shit, broke down on him twice so I had the guys at the shop fix it up for you.”

I pulled out the keys and felt better immediately. Now I had a way to leave. I liked that idea a lot.

“Thanks.”

“No worries,” said Picnic, shrugging. “Don’t do anything stupid, Marie. Got me?”

”Okay.”

“Got that stuff in the barn for you to pick up,” Horse said to Picnic, watching me with speculative eyes. “We’ll talk when I get back,” he told me. “Won’t be long.”

The three men headed outside without another word. I clutched the car keys and ran my fingers over the bump the phone made in my pants. I had my car, I had a phone and I had a little bit of money in the bank. I could call Jeff if I wanted, or just send him a text to make sure he was all right.

I could just drive away and never look back.

Instead I fixed breakfast, finishing up just as Horse walked back into the house. Ari followed him in from outside, looking at the food-filled counter hopefully.

“Good timing,” I said. “Food’s ready. You hungry?”

“Yep,” he said, but he didn’t sit at the table. He came over and wrapped a hand around my neck, pulling me in for a long, slow kiss that tasted like coffee and sex. Every time he touched me I melted. It wasn’t fair. I wrapped my arms around him and Horse reached down, lifting my butt and setting me on the counter. I opened my legs and he nestled up between them.