Page 49 of Reaper

I release him and step back, but I don’t turn around as I walk back to my truck. The guys melt back into the shadows and a moment later, I hear their truck start up. Climbing in behind the wheel, I pull out of the driveway and the guys fall in line behind me.

Now all that’s left is to call Remington and then we’ll see if Ashcroft takes our threats seriously.

Or if he’ll be taking a dirt nap.

Chapter 21

Reaper

SixMonthsLater~June 27th, 2023

My body is on fire, but that’s to be expected after everything those fucking assholes—Travis, Fang, and Fang’s brothers in the Black Plague MC—did to me a couple of days ago. Not to mention what they did to Levi, my Half-pint warrior whom I’ve since claimed as my sister. I would have taken more of their torture if it meant she would neverhave been touched by their filthy hands.

That first morning when the nurse and doctors came in to check out both of our wounds, I made sure to memorize every single thing those fuckers did to me. I know without even asking her that Half-pint did the same for her wounds. Those assholes will feel everything they did to us.

And more.

Remembering what Half-pint and Thor told me about my heart, I take a few deep breaths. I don’t need my heart going intooverdrive and then having something else go wrong. As I breathe deeply, Half-pint’s words from a few nights ago come to mind.

Leaning back, I rest my head against my pillow. What did she mean when she said she was going to use the coping mechanisms she learned last time to help her cope?

I definitely need something to help me cope with everything.

And I don’t mean talking to a fucking shrink.

I keep having nightmares about what those assholes did to Half-pint as well as what they could have done to her. It’s fucking embarrassing that Devil’s had to wake me up from each one because I would start yelling or trying to move around too much. Neither he nor the others have said anything, but I know they all know about my nightmares.

Or I should sayournightmares.

More than once, I’ve heard Levi calling out in the middle of the night.

Smoke, Alexei, or one of her men usually wake her, but it kills me every time I hear her strangled cries. Especially since almost every single one has her calling out my name, or Andre as she’s taken to calling me. I hate that my pain is causing her pain.

At least her wounds weren’t as severe as mine. She only had to stay in the hospital three nights, but part of that was because she developed a fever and an infection that first night. She visited me yesterday and said she was going to visit again today, but she’s not who I really want to visit me.

I pause, twirling my phone in my hands. I haven’t even told Lark everything that’s happened yet. She knows I was injured, but not the extent of my injuries. If she weren’t elbow deep in preparations for reopening her supper club and the grand opening of her tavern on July 1st, she would probably be here. Sighing, I drop my phone in my lap.

“You need to tell her, Tony.”

My gaze snaps to Devil’s, shocked that he’s using my real name. He only does that when he’s trying to get through to me to make some sort of point.

I chew on my lip as I debate his words.

“You know she won’t care about the scars. Well, she will in that she’ll want to put quite a few holes into the assholes who did this to you, but she isn’t going to push you away because of them. That’d be pretty hypocritical, don’t you think?” He cocks an eyebrow at me and I grunt, annoyed that my best friend is right.

However, that’s not all that’s bothering me.

“My head’s all fucked up, Isaac,” I reply, ditching his road name as well.

“Then talk to Levi. I think what she’s been doing will really help you sort out those thoughts. Fuck, they might even help Lark.”

I frown. How does he know what she’s been doing to cope?

He chuckles as if he knows what I’m thinking. “I talked to her last night when I saw her writing in a journal. She—”

He’s cut off by a knock on the door and he gets up to answer it. His grin tells me it’s probably Half-pint and when he steps back, I realize I was right.

Levi smiles widely when she sees me and, like before, she brings a chair over by my bed and carefully sits down in it. However, this time, I notice she has a backpack with her that she’s put on the empty bed that used to be hers.