Page 34 of Reaper and Ruin

He leaned on me, both of us resting on the door, our breaths heavy, any stress I’d been feeling now totally evaporated.

“Our food is going to be cold,” he eventually murmured, still deep inside me, neither of us willing to move.

“And there’s probably a long line of women about to pee themselves.” I giggled.

I could feel his smile as his lips pressed to the back of my neck. I was sure it was vaguely sweaty from having him all over me.

“You good to go back out there?” he asked.

“Your cum is dripping from me.”

He groaned and put my panties back into place. “Exactly how I like it.”

I couldn’t deny that I liked it too. I was going to end up with a UTI if I didn’t clean up a bit, but it could wait a few more minutes.

I liked having part of him inside me, even when he wasn’t.

He pulled out, and we washed our hands, grinning at each other in the mirror like naughty kids who’d most definitely done the wrong thing but didn’t care.

And by the time we walked out of the bathroom, Lynx and his party had left.

But the memory of the encounter hadn’t.

No amount of quick, hard, fast, and dirty sex could erase that something was very wrong in this town, and that until we worked out what it was, none of us were safe.

11

WHIP

I’d been ignoring my personal phone for over a week. Every time a call from an unknown number flashed up on the screen, I sent it straight to voicemail then conveniently didn’t listen to the message.

But that was getting ridiculous. I wasn’t going to have a business if I never answered my phone. I couldn’t just continue not working. I had savings but I wasn’t made of money.

Besides that, what the fuck else was I supposed to do with my time? I couldn’t just chase Violet around and keep X and Levi out of trouble as my full-time job. That wasn’t exactly going to pay the bills.

Except the idea of having sex with anyone other than them was about as appealing as going to the dentist.

I needed to get my shit together. It was a job. Nothing more. I’d always been able to detach myself from it, so why the hell couldn’t I do that now?

I’d thought more than once about getting a regular job. A nine-to-five, like I’d had once upon a time, but the thought immediately sent fear through me.

I’d had a normal life once. A regular job. A woman to sleep next to. Beautiful kids who had run outside every night when I’d gotten home from my office job in the city.

And all of that had been taken away in a heartbeat. In one stupid moment, my entire life had been wiped out because the three of them no longer existed.

Now all I had left of them was this house I could barely stand to sleep in and a photo in a frame that reminded me I was no longer the man I’d once been, and I couldn’t go back, no matter how much I might want to.

Because losing it had nearly killed me once.

I couldn’t afford to do it again.

There was no going back to a normal job. Sex work paid the bills, and it reminded me to never get too close to anyone because everything was transactional.

I needed to go back to work.

I rolled onto my side on my couch and forced myself to pick up my phone and play the voice messages.

“Hi! Uh, is this Wyatt De Leon? A friend of mine gave me your number—”