Page 39 of Reaper

Reaper: I hope I didn’t send you into a spiral, Darlin’. If I did or if I overstepped, I’m sorry. If you are comfortable with it, I’d still like to chat with you. And if you’re doubting me, the answer is yes, Darlin’. I want you to be my woman someday, and eventually, my Old Lady. I think you are beautiful and sexy, just the way you are.

Lark: Thank you, and I did spiral, but probably not in the bad way you were thinking. And, no, you didn’t overstep. I’ll text you tonight and see you in the morning. Also, thank you again for helping me.

Gravel crunches under the tires and I look up, realizing that Ma’s pulling into Khloe’s driveway. Glancing around, I take inKhloe’s home, our temporary home for who knows how many months, and I try to calm my nerves.

A few years ago, she bought an older house that had been newly remodeled. It’s a two-story house that has four bedrooms—one of which is on the main floor. There are three bathrooms and there’s another room on the main floor that she uses as an office. The house sits on five acres of land that buts up to the forest that surrounds most of our town. That’s one thing I’ve always loved about Junction Creek. How wooded it is around here. That and the gorgeous creek that runs through town, complete with a little waterfall as well. At least while I’m here, I’ll still be able to take comfort with the forest being right there. I’ve always been an outdoorsy type of girl, and there’s just something about the forest that is like a balm on my soul, calming me.

But none of that is why my nerves are going through the roof.

It’s that I have no illusions that Khloe’s boyfriend, Zac Crawford, will be here as well.

I’m almost positive he’s moved in, even though Khloe hasn’t said anything. He was what made me pause when Khloe had initially offered for us to stay with her. I don’t have anything against Zac per say, but at the same time, I also don’t feel comfortable around him. He’s always given off a creepy vibe around me. Of course, that’s not something I’ve ever told Khloe. However, Ma and Granny both know I’m always uncomfortable around Zac—those two don’t miss anything.

With everything that’s going on, though, I had to look at the financial side as well. With the supper club gone, all three of us are out of work until we can get it up and running again. Surprisingly, even though I should have expected it, Khloe said that she didn’t want us to pay her rent despite my protests that we should be paying her something for staying here. The only things she’d asked for were that we chipped in with groceries and a few bills while we were here, which is for damn surecheaper than renting an apartment outright for who knows how many months. For that alone, I can stand being around creepy Zac for a while.

When Ma brings the car to a stop and shuts off the engine, I shake my head to clear my thoughts. Taking a few deep breaths, I exhale slowly to try and calm the bundle of nerves in my stomach. Grabbing my bag off the seat beside me, I carefully get out of the car.

“Hey, girlie,” Khloe calls out and I turn to find her standing in front of her open door.

She freezes and for a moment I wonder why until I realize my hair is still tucked behind my ear from Reaper’s touch earlier. Unfortunately, that means I’m giving her a bird’s-eye view of my new scars and skin. Even though they took skin from other parts of my body, as well as using some pig skin in a few areas, it still looks weird and discolored to me. Maybe in time it will look better, but who knows?

Quickly, I untuck my hair from behind my ear and let it fall into a curtain around my face. There are some sections of my scalp that were burned and my hair singed, but for the most part, I got lucky in that my hair is still there. I had taken a shower earlier that night, not even an hour before I’d first started to get really hot. That was when I’d thrown it up into a bun on top of my head. Since then, I’ve often wondered if my hair being wet and being in a bun helped saved it multiple times.

Khloe shakes out of her shock and quickly walks down her steps before drawing me into a careful hug. Both Khloe and Miracle visited me in the hospital a few times, so she knows where she can touch and where she can’t. I just wish I’d been able to see Miracle more but was thankful to see her the two weekends she was able to come up. She already has plans to come back for Halloween which I’m very much looking forward to.

Unfortunately, her boyfriend, Grant, wasn’t happy with her coming to visit me.

They met sometime during Miracle’s last year of college and have been together since then. Though, they have taken a ‘break’ as Miracle calls it a couple of times. At first, she said he was very attentive and protective, but I think it might have gotten worse the longer they’ve been together. While I’ve never met Grant in person, I can say that I’m not very impressed with how he’s treating my best friend.

During Miracle’s last visit, Grant kept calling and texting her constantly. Telling her, not asking her,tellingher to come back home. I bite back a smile at remembering what Miracle had said to him during one of the phone calls when he got pissed that she was ignoring him and then made the mistake ofdemandingher to return otherwise she’d be punished.

“Listen here, Grant. I’ve already had this argument with you a hundred times. Lark is like a sister to me and is one of the most important people in my life. If you can’t take me being gone for a couple of weekends to visit her while she’s stuck in this sanitized hell hole as she recovers from being nearly killed in a fire, then you can shove your overprotective, controlling antics so far up your ass that you fucking choke on them, asshole.”

She then proceeded to turn her phone on silent and ignored the rest of his phone calls and text messages for the remainder of the weekend.

Shaking off those thoughts, I hug Khloe back.

“Hey, Khloe. Thanks for letting us stay with you.”

When she pulls back, I swing my backpack over my good shoulder. She gives me a ‘duh’ look and then moves to grab my other bag out of the back of the car. Turning, I offer my good hand to help Granny up and out of the car.

“Lark,” a deep voice calls out, making me jump slightly.

Fuck.He’s here.

I turn toward Zac and force my face to remain neutral and to not flinch at how intense his face is as he stares at me. It takes me a moment before I realize he’s holding a luggage bag in each of his hands that he must have grabbed out of the trunk.

Granny’s worried gaze meets mine, but Zac doesn’t see it since Granny is facing me which puts her back toward Zac.

I give her a tight smile, letting her know I’ll be okay. Or at least, I think I’ll be okay. Glancing back up at him, I tilt my head toward the bags in his hands. “Hey, Zac. Thanks for helping with our bags.”

Granny pats my good arm, and I relish the distraction to break Zac’s intense focus. She walks around me and then around the front of the car, making her way up the stairs as she holds onto the handrail. I watch her as she climbs the steps, knowing that she’d swat at me if I hovered over her, and my heart breaks again at seeing her once proud stature slightly hunched with grief.

“Anything for you, Lark,” Zac says in a low voice as he passes me, shaking me out of my thoughts.

I do a double take at his retreating back. At the same time, a sliver of unease slides down my spine. What did he mean by that? And why is he saying something like that to me? Especially when he’s with Khloe, not me.

Glancing around, I frown when I realize he said it so low that neither Ma nor Khloe heard him. Granny’s already inside, so I know she didn’t hear him.