Page 2 of A Reaper's Secret

Leaving the diner, he stepped out into thehot summer night. It was still light out, but the sun was slowlystarting to set. He was going to have to get a move on if he wasn’tcareful. He’d already ditched his car, because he figured thatmonster would leave a trail for them to find, and he didn’t want to make it too easyfor them.

There was also a chance he was panicking fornothing, and no one was going to be following because it was alljust rumor. He shook his head. No, that was bullshit. The Reapersexisted, and they were not men to trifle with.

The temptation of the money and an easy lifewas just too irresistible for him, and he’d already taken the cashbefore he truly thought about what he’d done.

Now, he knew he was fucking everythingup. He also felt ahorrible need to turn around, go back, and beg forgiveness. But ifhe did that, he was going to have broken body parts, and he wantedthat even less. He didn’t like pain.

Walking down the long road, he didn’t seeany cars. Was that normal? He didn’t even know if The Reapers hadany kind of sway, and as he took another step, he heardit—the sound of atwig snapping. He spun around in a circle, hand raised into a fist,ready to take on whatever came at him.

The perspiration was dripping off him atthis point, and hecouldn’t seem to control it. He felt sick to his stomach. There wasno sign of anyone, no indication of someone walking close by, orfor that matter, any reason why he heard the twig snapping. He waslosing his mind, it was so clear to him now. The paranoia waseating away at him and causing him to hallucinate.

Billy started to walk forward again, andthis time another twig snapped, and as he spun around, about to dothe same dance, he froze. Three men stood in line a few feet awayfrom him. None of themmoved or spoke a word.

He knew exactly who they were and what theywere doing here. Fear raced down his spine, and without anotherword, he took off, trying to run, only to come to a stop. Whilehe’d been looking behind him, another man had appeared in front ofhim.

“Hello, Billy,” he said.

Billy froze. He tightly gripped the bag with the stolen cashinside. This was supposed to be his meal ticket, but he knewwithout a shadow of a doubt he wasn’t making it out of this alive.No amount of begging or pleading was going to work.

He was a dead man, and it was all hisdoing.

“Are we going to do this the easy way, orthe hard way?” he asked.

Every fiber of Billy’s being was begging forhim to do this the easy way, but then he drew out his pocketknife,flicking it open. He wasn’t going down without a fight.

There was a chuckle from the man in front ofhim. “Good, I was worried for a second you were going to make thiseasy.”

And in that moment, Billy knew what madeThe Reapers so terrifying. They were not afraid of death. They did not feelfear, and any threat actually thrilled them. No one would ever be amatch for them, and he knew by the end of the night, if not the endof the hour, he wasn’t going to see daylight.

Chapter One

Amy Flynn was a waitress down, but she wasn’t going to allowthat to stop her café from getting the job done. They were at theheight of summer, and the tourists were flowing through town like anice stream. So far, for the season, everything had gone smoothly.Most of the visitors were only there to see the views, a fewfamilies had opted to stay at one of their many hotels as well asthe B&Bs that were spread through the town.

It hadn’t been too bad of a season, andAmy, for one, was loving it, but she also had a feeling thattourists were the reasonher main waitress, Penelope, wasn’t in that day. Penelope washoping to find her millionaire soul mate who had come to Lost Creekto find the woman meant for him, and leave. Penelope was lookingfor an escape every chance she got, and had been doing so fornearly ten years now, and so far, nothing.

She and Penelope were the same age, butwhere she loved the town of Lost Creek, along with the café,Penelope hated it. She wanted out, but rather than just take achance and leave, she didn’t. For some reason, Penelope opted tostay, wait it out for the right guy, while at the same timeenjoying the fresh visitors and the tourists.

Amy had never slept with a tourist, andshe had no plans to do so. She’d seen the damage firsthand from giving in to atourist. Now, she didn’t for a second believe they were all bad,because she also knew there were several guys who’d found theirtrue loves, but they hadn’t left Lost Creek. They had come to stay,to build a life here. Which is what happened to her own parentsbefore they passed away over fifteen years ago.

She was able to think about them withoutcrying, but she did feel their loss all the time. Losing herparents at fifteen hadn’t been easy. She’d been close to her parents, but she had alsoseen how desperate they had been to have a vacation together, evenjust a long weekend. That was all it was meant to be. Amy hadpromised to behave as she went to stay with her grandparents, andthen late Friday evening, her parents hadn’t even gotten to ahotel. There had been a hit-and-run at the local gas station, butit had soon escalated as the retreating car had been fired upon.Both her parents had been killed.

After the funeral, her grandparents hadhandled everything, and she lived with them. Now, with her grandparents gone, she ownedtwo homes and this café. It was crazy how life had turned out. Fora long time, all she had ever wanted to be was a doctor, butworking at the café, her grandmother and even her mother had saidshe had a knack for feeding people, so that was exactly what shedid. She fed people, and she did so well, which was why Flynn’sCafé was on the map.

To keep the tourists coming all yearround, she changed themenu up to entice them. Even through the summer, she would havemultiple changes, and then there were her takeout options aswell.

The locals loved this about the café. She would have Retroor Old Favorites Week, where food they used to love would be backon the menu.

This week was all about the differentsalads, with chicken, meat, and seafood. Living by the coastoffered an array of exciting fish dishes, and she loved it.She was also friends with localfarmers, and shopping locally was something her grandparents hadfelt passionate about, as did she. That way, if there was evernothing available, she would change it up for what wasavailable.

While Penelope was out, she at least hadMartha, her grandparents’ friend, who had worked for them on and off for the lastthirty, if not fifty years. She wasn’t quite sure how old Marthawas, and it was not exactly polite to ask. Either way, Marthahandled her way around the kitchen, and Amy took care of the peskycustomers.

Martha, even though she was a nice olderwoman, wasn’t a people person, or at least, not a tourist person.She had no time for them, but when it came to the locals, she was asweet old dear. Amyloved her, and she wouldn’t be without her.

“Good morning, welcome to Flynn’sCafé, can I take your order?”Amy said, approaching the table in the corner. She quickly slid herglasses up her nose, and then looked past her notebook to see noneother than Daniel Long, owner of The Reaper bar, sitting alone,reading the local paper.

“I’ll have my usual,” Daniel said.

She couldn’t help but smile. “You do realizeI got out of having to remember everyone’s usual, by changing themenu up.”

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