Page 163 of Reaper

“What happened?” I quietly ask Loki as I step up next to him and his lips roll in as his shoulders shake with silent laughter.

“Cannon was loading the truck and didn’t know anyone was behind him when he stepped back. Let’s just say he’s learning a very important lesson about her ‘go-go juice’ and was confused as fuck to what she meant until she said her coffee. When he bumped into her, she would have dropped it if Atlas hadn’t grabbed it and prevented it from being spilled. She snatched it back out of his hands and has been laying into Cannon since he bumped into her.”

I bite the inside of my cheek and hand him my travel coffee thermos. “Put this in the truck, will you? I’m going to go rein in the zombie gremlin.”

His shoulders shake again in silent laughter as he takes my thermos but makes no move to put it in the truck. Sighing, I shake my head and step up beside Miracle, taking the thermos out of her hand. She whirls on me and pierces me with a glare that only softens when she realizes it’s me.

“Come on, zombie gremlin, let’s get in the truck where you can have more coffee before you need an IV of this because you and I both know you’ll be running on fumes in a few minutes.”

She huffs before turning on her heel, all the while continuing to glare at Cannon as she climbs up into the truck. She makes grabby hands when she’s finally buckled in, already knowing from past road trips my routine for dealing with her zombie-ness and I hand it over. She takes a sip, humming as she closes her eyes and I hear a strangled sound slip out of Cannon beside me.

I cock my eyebrow at him and I swear I see his cheeks tinge pink a little before he turns on his heel and walks back over to his truck to secure his tonneau cover in place. Shaking my head, I shut Miracle’s door and walk over to the other side of the truck. After buckling in, Loki hands me my coffee from where he’s sitting in the front as he tries to keep from looking back at Miracle who is still grumbling about Cannon needing to be aware of his surroundings.

Shaking my head, I take a sip of coffee as we get on the road, knowing it will be a few more minutes until she perks up to her normal self.

Not even five minutes later, I’m trying not to laugh as Miracle starts rattling off a list of everything we need to do today to get the party in order for Chris. Loki has twisted in his seat to stare at her in bewilderment and Anthony is giving her similar looks in the rear-view mirror. A moment later, she finally stops as she turns to me, an exasperated expression on her face.

“Babe, how are you ever able to get anything done? These two staring at me like I’ve sprouted a second head all the fucking time. Is everyone like this? Because if so, then Mama Astrid is a saint for putting up with this before you came. We may need to look into hiring an event coordinator for future celebrations at this rate.”

Almost in unison, both Anthony’s and Loki’s laughter suddenly cut off and they scowl at her. I can’t help it. I bust out laughing and they turn their scowls on me.

I wipe my eyes as I try to rein in my laughter, but when their scowls deepen, it only makes my laughter worse. After a few moments, I finally am able to somewhat talk in between laughing.

“M, they aren’t used to the transition from zombie gremlin to the Miracle they know. Cut them some slack. I’ve known you for years so I’m used to your crazy ass, but they aren’t. However, I think they all know not to get between you and your coffee from now on.”

Miracle grumbles as she takes another sip of her coffee. “Serves the fucker right.”

I’m about to say something when her phone vibrates, and then her face pales. Her fingers tremble as she types something in response and I feel the shift in the guys.

“M,” I say, keeping my voice gentle.

Miracle shakes her head but when a tear slips down her cheek, she wipes at it angrily. “It’s just Grant being his jackass self again, it’s nothing to worry about.”

I frown and share a worried look with Anthony in the rear-view mirror before turning back toward Miracle. “You know we’ll be there for you if you ever need anything, right?”

She gives me a watery smile and nods.

“If he threatens you, you just let us know, Miracle. You’ve got a club at your back that will gladly make that fucker pay for hurting you,” Anthony tells her and she gives him a small, tight smile as well as a nod.

I reach over and take her hand in mine, squeezing it. “After this weekend, I’m pretty sure it’s two clubs that will have your back.”

She squeezes my hand in response and exhales heavily. “I know and thank you. It’s just the same shit he’s been saying since I dumped him and kicked him out. He tries to sweet talk me into taking him back and when I don’t or if I ignore him, then he goes on a verbal rant about how I’m nothing without him.”

By the set of her jaw I know there’s more that she’s not saying, but I don’t press her for it right now. Not with how shaken she is by his message.

“And yes, before you ask, I block his number when I realize it’s him but he keeps sending messages so he must be getting different burner numbers or something.”

“Now I’m kind of hoping we get to get our hands on the fucker,” Loki hisses and secretly, I agree with him. “I would personally like to make him see the error of his ways.” He twists in his seat so he can look back at her. “Don’t believe anything that fucker says. Don’t change who you are to please someone, and if anyone tells you otherwise, then point them out and I’ll kick their ass. Even if that means you’ll always be a zombie gremlin in the mornings.”

That last bit gets a huff out of her, but it has the effect I know he was trying to get and a bit of tension leaves her muscles.

She leans her head back against the headrest and turns to look back at me, giving me a smile that I read loud and clear. Both of us like having a brother that looks out for us.

Later that afternoon, I pull the van that Anthony had specially bought for Chris to a stop outside of Chris and Julie’s house andput it in park. I glance in the rear-view mirror and note Cannon and Atlas parking across the street a bit further back, but still close enough to have eyes on me the entire time. We all were worried about what Julie would do if she saw the guys with me, and while no one liked my plan, it won out in the end of approaching the house by myself at first.

However, as I get out of the truck, I huff in frustration.

Seems I’ll be having some words with Anthony later about his overprotectiveness because both Cannon and Atlas get out and walk over toward me.