Page 64 of Reaper

I roll my eyes. I hadn’t told them where I was going, just that I was heading out. But with my history, the only other place I’d go this late would be here.

Reaper: Yes, she did and as a bonus, she’s officially my woman now. I plan to stay till closing then I’ll head back.

Devil sends me back an eye-roll emoji.

Devil: I’ll see you in the morning.

Devil: Congratulations. Don’t fuck it up. I’ll make sure Igor is taken care of.

Tucking my phone back into my pocket, I shake my head. I have absolutely no intentions of fucking things up with Lark, so I still plan to head back home after I see her safely to her house. While I’d love nothing more than to have her in my arms tonight, even if it’s just sleeping, I’m not going to push my luck and move too fast.

As if feeling me staring at her, she looks over at me and smiles, which has her whole body damn near lighting up. I don’t know how Aiden, or anyone else prior to him, couldn’t see how beautiful and passionate she is. Their loss is my gain.

My smile widens when she tucks her hair behind her ear, which reveals some of her burns, as she turns and gives someone their drink. I don’t think she even realizes what she just did either. As far as I know, she hasn’t willingly exposed her scars since that day I helped her retrieve their belongings out of their house and helped document how things had been after the fire.

As another customer steps up to order a drink, I settle in, content to watch over Lark for the night.

At two-thirty in the morning, Erica locks the door after the last customer leaves before she starts her rounds cleaning up the recently vacated tables. Not wanting to just sit here while Lark and Erica are doing all the work, I get up and walk over to the tables they’ve already cleared and cleaned off, flipping the chairs up so it’ll be easier to clean the floors.

“You don’t need to do that,” Lark starts to say as she comes over by me, carrying the tills.

Leaning down, I silence her with a quick kiss. “It’s not a problem, Darlin’.”

She rolls her eyes. “Fine, but don’t think kissing me is going to get me to agree with you every time,” she mumbles and I chuckle.

“Probably not, but it won’t stop me from trying.”

She laughs as she shakes her head and heads toward her office.

Turning back around, I’m not surprised to find that Erica was watching us. I’ve felt her curious gaze on me a lot tonight. I cock an eyebrow at her in question and she huffs.

“I get why you went silent, but please don’t do that to her again. It broke my heart to see her crushed like that. Especially after what that asshole did to her last year.”

I grunt, hating that she’s reminding me of that cunt licker. “Don’t plan on it.”

She nods sharply. “Good.”

For the next twenty minutes, I help Erica with her rounds, and we finish just as Lark comes out of her office and locks the door behind her. She’s already slipped on a lightweight coat and has her purse slung across her body.

“Is there anything else you both need to do?” I ask them and they both shake their head.

“Nope. I’m going to clock out and will head out. See you on Tuesday, Lark. Enjoy your weekend,” Erica says as she waves goodnight and heads down the hallway Lark had just come out of.

Lark double checks that the front door is still locked and then we shut off lights as we walk toward the back door. She sets the alarm, and we head out into the night after locking up. She pauses when she sees my bike parked back here and when she looks up at me in question, I sheepishly rub the back of my neck.

“I wasn’t sure if you’d let me talk to you much earlier, but I had hoped you would. Also, that you’d be okay with me staying until closing. If you were, I figured you wouldn’t want my bike sitting out front after you closed.”

She surprises me by stepping closer and wrapping her arms around my waist. My hands go to her hips and I pray she doesn’t feel how much she’s affecting me tonight. I’ve been hard ever since that kiss.

“You can park back here anytime. Or you can park up at the house. Just know that if you do, Ma, Granny, and I will get a security alert on our phones. Smoke hooked us up with a sweet setup and it’s eased my mind for when Ma and Granny head back home in the dark after they close up the supper club. It’s eased their minds too, as I know for a fact that they’ve checked in on me as I made my way home after closing the tavern.”

Stepping back, she snags my hand, entwining her fingers with mine as she guides me to the walking path beyond the back gate.

As we walk, I try to spot the cameras she’s talking about, but since it’s pitch black out here save for a few solar lights dotting along the path to their driveway, I can’t spot any. I’ll have to look when it’s light out. Not to mention, I need to thank Smoke again for making sure they got the best setup. Lark doesn’t know it, but when he told me she was hesitating between a few package options because of price, I told him I’d cover the difference. I wanted her to have the best. I never want to see that heartbroken look on her face again when she stared at the charred remains of her home and supper club.

Rounding the bend and heading up the driveway, their house comes into view. While the outside is completely finished, the inside isn’t quite done yet, though they have made tremendous progress. I’m proud of Lark doing as much as she has by hand to reclaim their space and to put the ‘Thompson stamp’ on everything.

Even if I do worry that she overdoes things sometimes.