Chapter One
Reaper
Reaper looked around the smoke-filled bar. Yep, just another day at the office. As always, the place was packed with the clubhouse usuals - brothers and the whores trying to become their ol’ ladies. He hated this place. Maybe hate was a strong word. He would rather be at home, laying in his bed, icing down his sore leg, but he was on duty tonight. As VP of the Devil’s Henchmen MC, he was responsible for ensuring everything ran smoothly tonight. Sledge, the MC’s President, was gone for the day to get his kid sister.
Well, she really wasn’t a kid, he thought to himself.
Sledge’s sister was a twenty-two year old woman, who apparently likes to pick all the wrong guys. This isn’t the first time he’s had to rescue her from a bad relationship. As a matter of fact, he had to do this same thing last year. Sledge ended up sending a couple of guys over to her place to chase off the low-life she was trying to get rid of, because apparently the guy wouldn’t take a hint.
To be honest, Reaper was surprised he had never met the girl yet. He’s heard about her plenty over the last fifteen years simply because he and Sledge go way back; but, he’s never brought her here to the compound. So whatever transpired this time, it must be pretty bad.
Reaper was lost in thought, wondering what exactly could have happened to make Sledge bring her to a place like this, when the clubhouse door flew open banging against the wall. Heart pounding, Reaper stood so quickly the barstool he’d been sitting on slid out from behind him and crashed to the floor.
Sledge was standing at the door with a lethal look on his face. He reached behind him and gently pulled a curvaceous female to his side. His cut was draped over her head so she couldn’t be seen, but Reaper knew who was underneath. Sledge glanced at Reaper and signaled for him to follow.
“Hold down the fort Frank,” Reaper said to the bartender on duty tonight and trailed behind Sledge up the stairs and into his office, without even waiting for a reply. He knew his order would be followed.
“Shut the fucking door,” Sledge said, looking as if he was ready to murder someone. He was pissed. It had been a long time since Reaper had seen his friend this upset. Sledge was normally the calm one out of the two of them. To see him pushed to his current state of anger, was something new for Reaper.
Closing the door, he turned back to Sledge just as he was removing the cut from his sister’s head, and everything clicked into place. Reaper understood what had pushed his friend into his current state. Reaper stood stiffly with his back against the door. The woman next to Sledge was beautiful.
She stood maybe five feet tall, long red wavy hair that reached to her waist, and curves that a man could hug for days. But that wasn’t the only thing that Reaper noticed. Her face, as stunning as it was, it made his blood boil. He could make out the cut on her swollen lower lip, the ugly black and purple bruise by her left eye that hadn’t begun to heal; and another on her right cheek and the perfect outline of a handprint around her throat. All of it was recent. Someone had put this beautiful woman through hell. Reaper wanted answers. No, something inside of him demanded answers. Whoever did this, whoever hurt her, they would pay.
“What the hell...,” he said as calmly as he could, but Sledge still arched an eyebrow at Reaper’s tone. He could hear the grumble in his voice and knew he was barely holding onto his rage.
The two of them had been friends for so long, they knew each other’s thoughts just from a single look. If there was one thing the Devil’s Henchmen did not tolerate, it was the abuse of females.
“Who the fuck is responsible for this?” Reaper demanded, making Sledge’s sister jump at his barely controlled tone.
Sledge glared at Reaper, saying, “That piece of shit ex of hers.”
“Please tell me he is no longer a problem?” Reaper asked, trying to calm his tone, not wanting to scare the woman more than she was already.
“Reap, this is my sister Amber. Amber, this is Reaper my VP. If you are not with me or in the clubhouse - you are to be with him. He will protect you.” Amber nodded her head to indicate she understood.
“To answer your question brother, no he is still out there. The fucker ran off the second he heard my bike pull into the apartment complex. I searched around the neighborhood, but I couldn’t find the dickweed anywhere,” he told Reaper. “Until he is found and dealt with, she goes nowhere alone,” Sledge said.
“Agreed. We need to call a member’s meeting. The club should know what’s going on and who to look out for. I’m sure the bastard won’t be stupid enough to come here looking for her, but the more eyes we have looking, the better,” Reaper said and Sledge nodded his head in agreement.
“I’ll call a meeting in the morning. From what I saw downstairs, most of the brothers are probably too drunk to even understand what the fuck is going on tonight,” Sledge said, running a frustrated hand threw his hair.
He was right about that, Reaper thought, remembering a couple of the guys stumbling around and laughing when one fell over a chair and spilled his beer on one of the club girls. That’s how things were around here on a Friday or Saturday night. A bunch of drunk bikers looking for a piece of ass and even more club girls willing to give it to them.
That was never Reaper’s thing though. If he needed to get laid, he’d find his own flesh before he stuck his dick into something that all of his brothers had already had.
Looking at Amber, he wondered what her flesh would feel like wrapped around him. What she would taste like and he felt his dick come to life, thinking she probably tasted like pure honey.
What the ever loving fuck was he thinking! She’s his best friend’s sister and obviously the woman had already been through hell, Reaper thought to himself.
At that moment, Amber looked up at him, running her eyes from his scuffed-up boots to his middle. Her eyes widened slightly. Reaper knew she noticed his cock and he snickered causing her to break contact with that particular section of him and meet his eyes.
Damn, she was gorgeous, Reaper thought. If they had met under different circumstance, and if she wasn’t his President’s sister, Reaper knew he’d have been buried deep inside her the second she had walked through the club doors.
A cough drew Reaper’s attention away from Amber and towards her brother. “What?” he asked.
Sledge gave Reaper his signature look, the raised eyebrow and crooked smile. For some reason, tonight that combination made Reaper nervous. Normally, it wouldn’t have bothered him, but right now was totally different.
Reaper watched as Sledge’s eyes bounced between him and Amber. Shit! He noticed the tension between them, Reaper thought. This cannot be good. Sledge would tear his ass a new one for lusting after his sister.