Reaper's Property(65)

On the bright side, Horse and I were getting ready for our first Christmas together, which was pretty exciting. I’d decided to go shopping with the girls at the Spokane Valley Mall that day. Cookie and Maggs were the leaders of our little group, probably because they needed the support of their sisters even more than the rest of us. The Reapers looked out for them, of course, but being away from your husband long-term had to suck, especially for Cookie. Her little girl, Silvie, cried for Bagger almost every night.
That would be ending soon. We’d just gotten word that Bagger would be home right after New Year’s. He’d been out of touch a lot lately, and Cookie was pretty close to the end of her rope when we got the news. That’s why we’d hit the mall—to find the perfect welcome-home ensemble at Victoria’s Secret.
“I want to look hot, but not slutty,” Cookie said, digging through the nighties. “You know what I mean?”
Maggs laughed.
“Babe, he’s not gonna care what you wear. Remember what he said after you sent that video?”
Cookie blushed and I burst out laughing. Bagger had liked the striptease quite a bit…after he knew for sure none of the other guys had seen it. I’d “met” him on Skype a couple of times now, and it was clear the man worshiped Cookie and his daughter, and he didn’t like the idea of sharing her at all.
“I still can’t believe I let you talk me into that,” Cookie said finally, wiping away tears of laughter. “I can just see it now. Silvie will be fifteen years old and she’ll find it on my computer. How am I going to convince her to wait for sex when she sees me doing something like that?”
“Silvie and Em, perpetual virgins!” I said, shaking my head. “Ah, the horror of life as a Reaper’s daughter. The poor darlings are screwed, no question. No pun intended, of course.”
That set us off laughing again.
“Screwed is what I’m looking for,” said Cookie, sighing. “Screwed, f*cked, pleasured and reamed, you name it. I’ve worn out three vibrators on this deployment, I swear. I cannot wait to see my man again.”
After an hour we finally found the perfect welcome-home outfit. Several of them, actually. Maggs grabbed a few things too, but I didn’t like spending Horse’s money. He kept saying not to worry about it, but I felt weird buying things for myself. We still argued about me getting a job sometimes, but to be honest I was keeping myself pretty busy. I helped Cookie at her shop, which led to me watching Silvie three days a week. Cookie told me she could teach anyone to make coffee, but finding a sitter she could trust was a lot harder. This was perfect, because I was helping out and also earning a few extra bucks each week. I’d have done it for free, but she insisted. I also ran errands for the guys and started cleaning the pawn shop when their cleaning lady flaked. The Reapers really did have a lot of stuff going on, and Horse had come to appreciate my willingness to kick in whenever help was needed. The other guys noticed too, and they seemed to enjoy having me around.
My phone dinged. I pulled it out to find a text from Horse.
Come by the armory? Need to talk to you.
That sounded ominous.
Everything okay?
Complicated. I’ll explain when you get here. No detours, okay?
Maggs and Cookie wanted to keep shopping, so I said goodbye and left. Fortunately I had my own car with me so I drove straight to the armory. I pulled up and parked in the front lot. Painter met me outside, taking my arm and guiding me through the gate and the courtyard to the back entrance, which seemed weird. He said Horse would be out in a minute so Painter and I stood and waited.
This sucked, because Coeur d’Alene might only be two hundred miles from my hometown, but it was way, way colder here in the winter. I shivered and rubbed my arms, noticing there were a lot more bikes than usual in the courtyard, along with some big trucks and SUVs I didn’t recognize. Then Horse pushed through the back door, holding it for Painter, who ducked back inside. Just seeing Horse warmed me a little. He wore a black jacket over his cut and a dark, knitted cap on his head. He’d let his beard fill in a little with the cold weather and I had to say, it looked hot. The look on his face wasn’t hot though. It was so cold I wondered if I’d forgotten something really important.
“We got a problem, babe,” he said without greeting me.
“What’s the problem?”
“Your brother’s made a deal with another club. Somehow he’s getting information about our business and he’s feeding it to them. In return, they’re supposed to snatch you and hand you over to him. These are bad guys and this is going to blow up in his face, which sucks for him, but I’m not letting it spill over on you. We’re locking you down, only way to keep you safe until it’s worked out.”
I stared at him, gaping.
“He’s trying to save you,” Horse said, shaking his head. “I swear, he’s either the stupidest f*ck who ever lived or has the worst luck of any human being I’ve ever met. He reached out to the Devil’s Jacks, who in addition to being our enemies are quite possibly the least trustworthy group of bastards ever born. They’ve been looking for a way to f*ck us up for a long time and now they have it. Could be a war, we don’t get this under control. The first step is to lock your shit up tight until we find Jeff.”
“I don’t get it,” I said. “What could he possibly be giving them? How did he go from laying low to plotting a war to get me back? You said he was against the wall—where is he getting this leverage?”
“No f*cking idea where it’s coming from,” Horse said, his face grim. “I swear, if he’d put half this much effort into doing his job in the first place we’d all be f*ckin’ millionaires. Instead he’s playing us like his personal chess game, which would be pretty impressive if it wasn’t for the fact that all the chess pieces have guns. The guys are all worked up, pissed as hell, and it’s a damn good thing everyone likes you because this is not a good scene. You’re gonna be moving into the armory for a while, into one of the apartments upstairs.”