Reaper's Stand (Reapers MC, #4)(81)

“Now tell me everything,” he whispered. “Don’t leave out anything, whether you think it’s important or not. Got it?”

I started to nod and he jerked my hair back violently.

“Bad idea to nod when you’ve got a knife at your throat,” Horse said casually from across the room. “Might wanna be a little more thoughtful in your movements right now, London. Just a suggestion.”

“Yeah,” I said, my voice so hoarse that it came out with a croak. I cleared my throat, then tried to talk again. “Um . . . you know Jess got mad at me and went down to her mom, Amber? Well, the guy Amber was living with is holding Jess prisoner. You already know she was scared of the men at Amber’s house, told me she wanted to come home. That was Wednesday morning. Then my house blew up Wednesday night, and you brought me out to your place.”

Reese’s fingers tightened in my hair hard enough that I wondered if I’d have any left in a minute. The knife shifted painfully.

OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGod!

“So you know about that,” I continued, almost thankful for the cuffs holding up my wrists. I wasn’t sure I could’ve stayed on my feet without their support. “The next morning I called Jess and she said she’d changed her mind. That was in your bedroom, remember? Looking back, I think they’d taken her already. She didn’t sound like herself, something was off. That night I came out here for the party—” Reese growled, low and deep in his throat. He jerked me into his body, still holding the knife to my throat, and I felt his cock hardening against my ass. Must’ve been remembering our time together out in the courtyard.

A hint of desire built between my legs, and I wondered just how much more twisted my lust for him could get. He’d made me feel free, adventurous . . . guess that sense of adventure ran deeper than I realized, if I could get turned on by him holding a knife to my throat.

In the unlikely event that I actually made it out of here alive, I really needed to look into some serious counseling. The thought struck me as funny, and a snort of laughter escaped. Nobody else laughed—guess they couldn’t quite appreciate the humor?

“Your daydreamin’ bullshit is only cute on days you haven’t tried to kill me,” Reese murmured in my ear. “Fuckin’ talk or I’ll cut you.”

I swallowed, forcing myself to focus.

“So the next morning the girls invited me to go out with them and get pedicures. That was Saturday. We had a good time and got some lunch after. Then I left because I needed to get to work. I went back to my van and the front window was open. There was an envelope on the seat and I opened it. There was a phone, the same one you probably found in my purse. It’s black.”

“Didn’t occur to you that maybe opening a strange envelope was a bad idea?” Bam Bam asked, his voice casual. “Your house had already blown up, and then you find someone’s been in your car? Not real bright, London.”

“Yeah, I’ll give you that one,” I said, biting back the urge to laugh again. God. What was wrong with me? Oh yeah . . . imminent death . . . “Not smart at all, but I did it anyway. They sent me a video chat request, and I answered it. Jess was there and I talked to her, and then they held her down and cut off one of her fingers while I watched.”

Reese’s breath hissed in my ear, and for the first time I saw the carefully blank expression on Horse’s face crack a little. He looked . . . disgusted?

“So they cut off her finger and told me that I had to take pictures of papers I found in Reese’s house,” I said slowly. “They told me they’d kill her if I didn’t, and I believed them. I think they might have done it already . . . They didn’t care about hurting her, and they have no clue what they’re dealing with. She’s not a normal kid, at least not medically. Not with that shunt in her head. Other stuff isn’t quite right with her, either—her brain doesn’t process cause and effect correctly. Fetal drug effects. Amber did a lot of drugs while she was pregnant, so Jess came early and spent months in the NICU over at Sacred Heart. We’ll never know if the hydrocephalus is connected to that . . .”

“Shoulda told me,” Reese gritted out. “Shoulda told me about Jessica’s medical shit, shoulda told me somethin’ was wrong. Gave you lots of chances.”

“Fuck, London,” Gage said, shaking his head. “Why the hell didn’t you come to us?”

“I hardly know you,” I said, and for the first time I felt something that wasn’t numbness or fear. Anger. “Why the hell would I come talk to you? Crazy men have my cousin and she’s in danger, and all I really know about you is you throw great parties and everyone says you’re criminals.”

“Nice to know our time together meant so much to you,” Reese whispered, and I’ve never heard so much menace in a man’s voice before. But his cock was still hard against me and my nipples tightened in response.

Serious f*cking counseling.

First thing on my to-do list, right after not dying in this basement.

“Think about it from my perspective,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm. “I don’t know you very well. Her life is at stake. Would you risk Em’s life based on a relationship that’s only a week old?”

Silence fell, so terrible I actually heard my own heartbeat.

“Babe, I wouldn’t risk lettin’ you flush a f*ckin’ toilet at this point.”