Reaper's Property(46)

“Well, I think I hurt his feelings,” I said. She stopped, giving me a look of patent disbelief.
“You hurt his feelings?”
“I told him I wouldn’t be his old lady for a million bucks. By text.”
“Shit. That’s a big deal, kid.”
I nodded.
“He told me it was, but I blew him off when he tried to explain. He stopped talking to me and I got drunk and sent him a bunch of texts and that’s when things really fell apart. Then I found the Reapers holding a gun to my brother’s head and Horse told me they’d give Jeff another chance if I came with him, so I did.”
Amazingly, Darcy didn’t accuse me of making it all up or some other normal, reasonable reaction to my crazy story.
“Okay, you can look now,” she said. I was impressed with what she’d accomplished. My eyes were smudged from the mascara but she’d blended it so they looked more smoky than scary. Darcy put her hands on my shoulders, meeting my gaze in the mirror as she stood behind me.
“Horse is a good man,” she said, and I didn’t doubt her sincerity. “But he’s clearly f*cked in the head. This is not good shit.”
“Tell me about it,” I replied. “He told me that if I didn’t want to be an old lady he wouldn’t treat me like one. I apologized for the texts I sent but I don’t think it mattered.”
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 *.