twenty-nine
(slam)
*NOW*
I couldn’t stand waiting around. I worked best in the night. I couldn’t face Belle again either. Not in the state she was in. Drunk? Desperate to give herself up to me like that? It felt like she was throwing me a favor, as though I had been pressuring her to let me get that pussy of hers. Shit, that had been the original plan. The fucking original plan had been destroyed and there it was, waiting for me. She put her damn feet up on the table and spread those sweet, pink lips wide open, and she begged for my dick.
I had been so hard, my cock raging so bad, I felt myself leaking. Fucking pre-cum absorbing into my fucking boxers as I struggled with temptation and the beautiful innocence of a drunk woman.
That was my chance and I gave it up. Worse yet, I told her I fucking loved her.
I had taken everything and twisted it up more than anything in my life. Uncle Jakey was right. The Reap was built on action, not this mind game bullshit. We were tough, strong, and smart through our movements. Fuck us and we go after you.
Taking Tommy to Chief had been a smart move, but making one smart move required a second, third, fourth, goddammit. It was too much to think about.
Belle finally fell asleep and stayed asleep. I stood at the edge of the bed and watched her sleep. I put the trash can next to the bed, hoping she’d make it if she needed it. Chugging goddamn booze because of me. Because I put her in a position to give up her darkest secrets. Secrets that I had already known but still had her go through the pain of telling.
I really was an asshole.
Standing there lamenting about me being an asshole wasn’t going to get a single thing done. The wheels were already in motion with I had started with Chief. The easy thing would have been to just kill Tommy and let everything else fall into place. But I put the pressure on Chief and I gave him another piece of information. I spilled the intel I had about his wife’s murder. About Belle’s mother’s murder. That put me right back in the driver’s seat.
I was going to find out who did it. I was going to find a way to make things right, at least in the sense of an outlaw. The guy who pulled that trigger on Belle’s mother would never see prison. He would never see a judge or jury. Hell, he would never see anything in the sense of justice.
What he would see was the reaper.
I leaned over the bed and kissed Belle. It pained me to have to leave her. But I was better off on the hunt rather than sitting there, thinking. Somewhere inside my heart I refused to go back to the clubhouse, down whiskey, and let some woman suck me off. I confessed my love to Belle and I was going to keep that part of it all straight.
Even if everything else was fucked.
I left the apartment with the deep weight of regret. I had already done enough damage to Belle without fucking her. It wasn’t the first time in life I hated myself and it wouldn’t be the last.
Chief Richards called me a dog, saying I couldn’t retrieve bodies and dump them on him looking for respect or to give a sign of loyalty. What he didn’t get was that that was how the Reap showed loyalty and respect.
And the point was simple.
Someone had killed Belle’s mother, changing the course of Belle’s life.
I was going to find out who did it… and make sure they never lived another day.
“You look like shit.”
Knox patted me on the back and sat down across from the table. I held the entire coffee mug with one hand. Ana shuffled into the kitchen, wearing some damn skimpy looking PJ’s. She had a fucking fine post-pregnancy body to her. I couldn’t help but pause from life and check it all out.
I felt Knox kick at me under the table. His eyes were wide with jealousy.
“What?” I asked. “Your girl is beautiful.”
Ana looked back at me. She ran a hand through her hair. “Me?”
“Yeah you. Looking great, Ana. Seriously.”
She smirked. “Thanks, Slam.” Ana poured herself a coffee and right on cue, a whine echoed through the house. She sighed and turned, saluting me and Knox. “Back to work for me. Baby Knox needs his milk.”
“So does Daddy Knox,” Knox said. He grabbed for Ana and pulled her to his lap.
I had to endure a few seconds of tongue fucking, but I didn’t mind. Ana’s top pushed down and the way her body turned, it pushed her left breast way up. Those things were fucking huge still, full of milk.
Ana stood up and wiped her bottom lip, her cheeks red.
She walked toward me and I looked up at her and smiled. “My turn?”
She snorted. “Good seeing you, Slam.” Ana leaned down. “Thanks for saying I look good. I feel like a cow.”
“Aw, babe, don’t ever think that. And if this asshole in front of me does, you come see a real man like me.”
Ana kissed my cheek and left the kitchen.
I raised my coffee mug and winked.
“You feel good about yourself?” Knox asked.
“You’re a lucky man.”
Knox yawned. “Yeah. Tell that to my sleeping schedule. Baby Knoxville is a beast. That fucking kid wants Ana’s tits more than I do.”
“I can’t imagine that being true.”
Knox laughed. “Shit, brother, tell me you’ve been sitting up all night at my table.”
“Put it this way, this coffee is ice cold.”
“Christ. What are you going through here?”
“She offered herself to me last night,” I said. “She was dead drunk. I fucked this all up, Knox. You all were right. So I have to fix it. Bury the hatchet with everything. Get Ricky to get his fat ass moving faster than ever.”
“You’re really going after someone that has nothing to do with the club?” Knox asked. “That’s… risky.”
“You all can vote me out,” I said. “I’ll put my cut down and walk away.”
I stood up from the table.
“So that’s it?”
“That’s it,” I said.
“That’s what you thought about all night at my table?”
“Brother, I sat here and listened to your baby cry. I listened to you and Ana wake up, together, as parents, and love the shit out of that kid. I’m in a house you bought for her. You’ve been tied to that piece for years. You’ve got a great life here. You run outlaw because it’s your blood. I run outlaw because it’s my survival.”
“You want a house? You want a baby? Go see Belle right now and talk it all through. Tell her the truth and let the rest of this bullshit go. We rattled Chief Richards. Things are starting to settle.”
“Not for me,” I said.
A loud cry burst through the house. That was followed by Ana calling Knox’s name from the top of the steps.
“Shit,” Knox said.
“Go take care of your family,” I said.
I turned and Knox chased me down. He turned me around and pinned me against the wall in the kitchen. His forearm was against my throat.
“You do the same, brother,” he said. “Take care of your family. Don’t lose sight.”
“I don’t have a fucking a family, remember?”
“You do, Slam. Me. The guys. The Reap. And if you do this all right, Belle.”
Ana called for Knox again.
The fucking prick then kissed my cheek and slapped me across the face.
I left the house, tired as ever since the caffeine wore off. The sun was bright, too bright, making me growl. I was like a vampire, ready to burst into flames.
I had to go face Belle again.
The truth waited. I held it.
Before I could start my ride, my phone started to ring.
I didn’t recognize the number.
“Who is this?” I asked.
“Ricky,” a voice said. “I have what you’re looking for.”