Page 73 of Reaper

I grin. “Yeah, I have a special seat and harness for him that I can attach to my bike. He even has his own helmet and goggles.”

Lark squeals. “I need to get a picture of that!” Then she frowns. “But then that means I won’t be able to ride with you when we have Igor with us.”

I pause at that. Shit. With my current set up, she’s right, that wouldn’t work. But then a thought comes to me and I grin. “I’ll get a side car for him. I’ve been toying with the idea anyway for when Levi’s and Mae’s kids are older. This will just be a little sooner than I had originally planned.”

Lark stares up at me in shock, her fork frozen mid-air. I bite my tongue, knowing where her mind went, but I keep quiet for now. After a moment, she gives me a blinding smile before she does a little wiggle in her seat.

“That would be fun to ride with you and him. I can’t wait!”

I grin and make a mental note to talk to Punisher and Atlas later.

After breakfast, Emma and Granny waved off our offers to help clean up.

Lark grasps my hand in hers and leads me into the living room.

“So,” she starts and claps her hands softly together and points back toward the kitchen. “Even though they aren’t as keen on them as I am, I wanted to be prepared. The fire put us all on edge, and that led us to thinking of other scenarios to protect ourselves. There are six guns downstairs. One is secured under the sink in the kitchen. In the living room, one is in this end table and another is strapped under the coffee table. There’s also one under the sink in the main downstairs bathroom. Both Ma and Granny have a gun in their room and last I knew, it was in their nightstands. I also have plans for when I have the breweryand carving rooms done, then I’ll store a gun in each of those locations as well.”

Turning, I look at each location she mentioned except for the one in the kitchen since I don’t want to disturb Emma and Granny as they wash dishes. Using the code she gives me, I open each one and check the guns. When I’m done, Lark leads me upstairs and opens a closet next to her room.

“This is where we keep the big gun safe. Besides the ones downstairs that I mentioned as well as the ones that are in my room, this is where the rest of them are.”

She punches in the code, and I watch, realizing it’s the same code as the safes downstairs.

“There is also a key to the safe that’s hidden in my room. I’ll show you later where it is.”

She opens the door and I nod as I take in her hunting guns, and a few other older handguns. She even has a few knives in here.

“Those are knives from when I used to go hunting with Uncle Mark or Pappy. My physical therapist cleared me for hunting with a gun, but I need to build more strength back up in my arms before I can go bow hunting. I’m close, but I can’t hold the position for too long.”

Lark leads me into her bedroom, and I look at each of the locations she told me about last night, checking every weapon like I did downstairs. Then she shows me where she stores the keys in case the code doesn’t work.

“There’s also another set of keys downstairs in our junk drawer. The tag on them is just ‘GS’ since I didn’t want to write ‘gun’ or ‘gun safe’ on the tag. They’re in a small divided off section of the drawer in the upper left-hand corner.”

I pull her close to me, wrapping my arms around her and she melts into my embrace.

“Thanks, Darlin’. I’m glad you have protection. Hopefully you’ll never have to use them, outside of hunting that is, but if you do, it’s a relief that you’re prepared.”

She shivers. “Ma told me what Chief Riggs had told her. About our fire alarms being tampered with and the wires cut. Before, I only had guns in my room and gun safe. Scenarios kept running through my mind after that. What if one of us had come across whoever it was that did that and we weren’t able to get to a weapon but they had one? I didn’t want something like that to happen.” She pauses as she blushes. “I may have gone a little overboard, though.”

Leaning down, I kiss her forehead. “I’d rather you all be prepared and never have to use them versus needing them but not having them.”

Lark nods and steps back, going over to her bed. “Let’s put my stuff in the car and then we can walk down to the tavern and supper club. I’ll show you where everything is there. Then we can get Void and head to your house.”

Chapter 30

Lark

AftershowingAnthonywhereI had stored the weapons in the tavern and the supper club, we walk back up to the house.

As we reach the porch stairs, Anthony turns me toward him and grasps my hips. He hesitates and I wait, not wanting to rush him.

“I didn’t push you too fast this morning, did I? It’s okay if you aren’t ready to come over.”

Stepping closer, I reach up and wrap my arms around his neck. He hums when my fingers start running through his short hair.

“No, I didn’t feel like you were pushing me. I want to spend time with you, meet Igor, see your house, the guys, Mama Astrid… and see the clubhouse.”

Over the past year and a half, I’ve gotten to know everyone in the club pretty well. Some more than others, obviously.