Page 6 of Reaper

I stare her down and raise my gun, pointing it at her. She scowls and hurries out of my room. Aiden’s right behind her as he cautiously looks back at me over his shoulder. However, I find it odd that he doesn’t make one protective move to shield Kelly as she scurries down the hall. Not that I would have actually shot at them. There’s no way I’m going to prison because of these two. While Wisconsin does allow home and business owners to use lethal force on those that break into our homes or businesses, I know Kelly will try to flip everything around and play the victim card. Before tonight, she would have been welcome in my home since she was my friend. Now though, she’d just try to say I shot them in anger for stealing my fiancé. It’d be a long drawn-out hassle that I want nothing to do with. I follow behind them, gunstill raised, making sure they leave and that they don’t damage or take anything on their way out.

Once outside, they briskly walk over to Aiden’s convertible and the way Kelly glares at me as she gets into the car has me narrowing my eyes at her. I have a bad feeling that the next few days and weeks are going to be difficult.

Painful and difficult.

There’s no way Kelly will keep her mouth shut about this. The smirk and little wave she gives me as they drive away just proves it.

When their taillights finally fade, my body slumps and I let my arm fall to my side. Slipping my phone out of my pocket, I pull up my security app and watch as they leave our property, breathing a sigh of relief that they don’t damage anything along the way. I remove the shells out of the gun and pocket them before turning and walking back into the house. However, once inside, I stop in my tracks.

Ma, Granny, and Pappy are all sitting on the couches in the living room.

“I take it you heard some of that?” I ask, trying to keep my voice even, but it cracks at the end, betraying how hurt I’m feeling.

Ma nods. “Some of it at the end.”

She gets up, walks over to me, and wraps me in a hug. I return it and after a moment, I feel Pappy’s weathered fingers taking the gun out of my hand. I hear him checking that it’s empty and setting it down before he arms and Granny embrace us as well.

After a few moments, Ma pulls back and she wipes my cheeks. Then she seems to pull herself up straighter and gives me her signature stern mother look.

“Don’t you listen to anything they said, Lark. You are beautiful, inside and out. There is no cookie cutter way that says you have to look a certain way to be beautiful. And you will findsomeone someday that will love you for you, not for what you can do for them.”

Numbly, I nod. Logically, I know that’s true, but right now, I just want to curl up in bed.

“Ah, fuck,” I hiss as I reach up, scrubbing my face with my free hand.

All three of them look at me, confused.

“I’m going to sleep in one of the guest rooms tonight. They were, ah, they were... together... on my bed.” My cheeks heat at talking about sex with Ma and my grandparents, but thankfully, they don’t question it or say anything.

Ma pats my arm that she’s still holding. “We’ll get you all situated, and you can have a bonfire to burn the offensive shit.”

I blink, startled at her bluntness and the fact that she cursed. Very rarely does Ma curse, and when it does slip out, it’s usually when she’s furious about something. She gives me a soft, understanding smile.

“It will help, or at least, it helped me. We’ll do whatever we need to do to turn your room back into your safe space, your haven. And if it doesn’t feel that way after a while, you can move into one of the other rooms if you still want to stay here. It won’t offend us if you want to move out or build a house on our property.”

I nod, not really wanting to move because my room is one of my favorite rooms in the house. Well, besides the two hobby rooms for our wood carving and brewing. Then the rest of what she said sinks in and my chest tightens even further at the thought of moving out of my family’s home. The home my family has lived in for generations. Even the thought of being in a different house but still on our land has my chest hurting. Nope. That’s not happening anytime soon.

“Tomorrow, ah, tomorrow I’ll go through everything. Right now, I just want to curl up in bed and try to get some sleep.”

They all step forward, hugging me again and I feel some of the tension in my shoulders loosening at their support.

When they let me go, I reach out and Pappy gives me back Ol’ Faithful. We share a small smile, and I know he’s pleased that I chose that gun out of all the guns in my safe to handle things tonight.

Trudging upstairs, I dread what I’ll have to deal with tomorrow. With each step I take toward my bedroom, I feel as if my body gets heavier and heavier. I store Ol’ Faithful in the gun safe, along with the shells, before heading into my room and grabbing my pajamas out of my dresser all while forcing myself not to look at the rumpled sheets on my bed. Walking into my adjoined bathroom, I grimace at the mess that greets me.

Items on my vanity are knocked over and wet towels lay in piles on the floor. My lips curl in disgust as I look closer at my vanity cabinets and sure enough, dried cum is stuck to one of the doors as well as a pile of it on the floor.

Sighing, I grab my makeup remover, toothbrush, toothpaste, and my comb before heading back into my room and pausing. It only takes me a second to make my decision and then I’m crossing the room to my closet and pulling out clothes for tomorrow, as well as grabbing my phone charger off my nightstand. I don’t want to have to come in here before I have coffee to deal with this bullshit. Items in hand, I head out into the hallway and into one of the guest rooms.

Once my business is done and I’ve changed into my pajamas, I plug in my phone, set it on the nightstand, and crawl under the covers

Reaching over, my hand hovers over my phone, but I hesitate. The urge to text my bestie, Miracle Whitmore or M as I sometimes call her, is strong. Glancing at the clock, I’m relieved that it’s only ten o’clock because that’s around when she takes a break. She’s a bartender and almost always works until closingtime. I miss her something terrible, but she’s having fun down in Madison and loves the bar she works at. Plus, she recently started seeing someone, so I’m happy for her even though I miss her. I should wait until tomorrow, but I really need her right now. Picking up my phone, I text her.

Lark: Hey, M, are you on break? I need my bestest bestie.

Miracle: Yuppers. Just got done cleaning up after some asshole preppy kids who couldn’t hold their fucking liquor. Fucking wussies. What’s up, Babe?

Lark: I need to vent