Page 23 of Reaper's Claim

I reached for my books, only to have Noel kick them away.

“What, Noel?” I looked up at him from the ground, and with no class or grace, I got back up to my feet. “Come on then, get on with the insults so you can leave me alone.”

Noel’s lips twitched into a grin that would scare any sane person away, and it usually appeared before he said something hurtful.

“Your boyfriend isn’t here to back you up now.” He took a step closer to me. “Can’t go whimpering to him.”

Kade. Oh god, I wished he was here right now.

“So?” I challenged him and scooped up my books. “What is your point?”

“Getting lippy, aren’t we, Harrison?” He cocked his head to the side and took a few more steps towards me until I was backed against the wall.

It was the end of the day, and I had avoided him thus far. The door to my freedom was at the end of the hall, and I couldn’t help but let my eyes flicker to it.

“If you have nothing to say, can I just go?” I asked, but it came out more like a plea.

“Sure, Harrison. In fact, go on, go.” Noel stepped out of my way and gestured an arm out for me to leave.

I wasn’t going to wait for him to change his mind, so I rushed past him and had my hand on the door before his evil voice spoke to me.

“Oh, and I love what you did to your car. Good to see you are embracing who you are.”

What had he done? I pushed the door open and bolted down the steps.

Noel was fully evil, and I was sure he was Satan’s actual son. He had made it his personal mission to make my life more miserable.

I reached into my handbag and pulled out my keys. My car was everything to me. I had either been fixing the darn thing or nagging the boys to fix it for as long as I could remember, which was when I first got it when I was fifteen.

Dad had finally coughed up and paid for its paint job as my birthday present. It was beautiful and was only finished last week.

That’s why Noel threatening my car had my blood running cold. I spotted my purple beast in the car park. It was sparkling in the sun and looked like it had just ridden out of a magazine.

So when I reached the driver’s side of the car and saw what had been keyed into it, it was natural for the tears to swell in my eyes.

***

‘Biker’s Bitch’ had been keyed, badly and roughly, into the side of my car. I pulled the car cover over it after parking it in the back of the garage. I had managed to get it home without one person seeing it.

I was gutted. It felt like someone had keyed the words into my own body. I hated Noel and if I could, I would kill him. I was tempted to tell my dad.

But what would that prove? It would prove them right, that’s what.

I flicked the lights off and closed the door. I knew—because the bikes that normally decorated the driveway in front of the clubhouse weren’t there—Dad wasn’t home. I wasn’t sure if Kade was still around. He hadn’t mentioned he was leaving when we last spoke on Saturday.

I couldn’t be sure. It was Monday, and it would make sense if they had left to head back home.

Suddenly I felt a lot flatter. I closed the clubhouse door behind me.

“Heard what happened to your car.”

My head snapped up. Kim was sitting on the couch, TV remote in hand and looking at me. The normal hate in her eyes was not there.

“I didn’t hear about it until it had been done so I couldn’t do anything.” Kim turned to look back at the TV. “You going to tell Dad?”

I was shocked because Kim was speaking to me and more importantly, she was speaking nicely to me. Which only meant one thing.

“What do you want, Kim?” I shoved my hands in my leather jacket.