Page 69 of Reaper and Ruin

X snorted. “I’m sure that’ll go down well.”

“Tomorrow?” I asked Violet. “It’s already too late tonight. But we can take my bike in the morning. Might even be a niceride.” Having Violet wrapped around me for a couple of hours and the wind in my face was exactly what I needed right now.

“Dax will want to come too,” Violet said.

“Whip and I will ride with him.” X gingerly nudged a tube of cat treats toward Harold, who was still faking sleep. He let X get the tube right up to his nose before getting to his feet and lifting his tail in X’s direction.

A second later, X’s mouth dropped open. “Did you just deliberately drop a fart at me?” His nose wrinkled, and he waved his hand around. “Oh my God, cat! What is wrong with your bowels?”

The smell reached me. I gagged.

X shot me a look. “Don’t you even think of throwing up!”

But my gagging set off his gagging, and Violet’s face paled, either from the noises X and I were making, or maybe from the way Harold had stunk up an apartment quicker than a stink bomb could.

The keys to my bike were still in my pocket. “I need to get out of here. Come for a ride with me?” I asked Violet. “I want to make sure you’re good on the back of the bike anyway, if we’re going to be doing a long trip tomorrow. You haven’t been on it much lately.”

She quickly followed me toward the door. “Absolutely. Take me anywhere there’s fresh air.” She glanced back at X. “You want to come with us? Your truck is here, right?”

But X shook his head. “You two go. I need Harold to know that even though he smells like rotten eggs, I will not abandon him.”

Harold let out another fart, letting everyone know exactly what he thought about being left in the care of X.

“And if we get back and find you dead on the floor from gas poisoning?” I asked.

X’s expression turned grim. “Just take care of Harold.”

I could tell he really meant it. I clapped him on the shoulder on my way to the door. “You’re an oddly good man, you know that?”

He was still eyeing Harold with wariness, probably just waiting for him to drop another stinker. “He is going to love me. I have declared it, and so it will be.” He glanced at me, expression full of worry. “But if you come back and find me facedown, half eaten, I want my obituary to say, ‘Beloved local menace dead at thirty. Cause of death? One resentful hairball and a fart so unholy the wallpaper curled in protest.’”

Violet nodded solemnly, though I could tell she was battling back a laugh. “It’ll be forever known as The Harold Incident.”

X perked up. “I like that.”

I shook my head. “Crack a window. We’ll see you when the stench clears.”

22

VIOLET

Fresh air greeted me outside my apartment building, the night mild, Levi’s bike waiting out front. He took a spare helmet from one of his saddlebags and fit it down over my head.

He kissed the tip of my nose before pulling down the visor and dragging on his own helmet. His long leg swung over the bike, and I followed suit, getting on behind him. Unlike the first time I’d been on his bike, I didn’t try to keep any distance from him. I snuggled right up against his back, wrapping my arms around his middle.

He squeezed my thigh once, and then we were off, cruising the streets of Saint View. He didn’t go fast, just puttered around, letting me ease into the feel of taking corners again. It was easier this time, when I wasn’t desperately trying to keep myself from hyperventilating over being so close to him.

This time, I could touch him all I wanted.

So I did. I slipped my hands beneath his open jacket and pressed against the ridges of his abs. Even though I couldn’t see what I was doing, it was easy enough to find the hem of his T-shirt by feel and slide my fingers beneath it, so I touched his skin.

A tremble ran through his body. Which might have been vibrations from the bike beneath us.

Might have been because of the way I was touching him.

Familiar landmarks of Saint View and Providence flashed by around me, but I didn’t pay much attention. All I could think about was where Nyah was and how stressed out Dax had to be right now.

If it was Levi or X or Whip who hadn’t come home, I didn’t think I’d be functioning.