Page 16 of Mercy for Reaper

“Let’s talk inside,” he says, wrapping his arm around my waist and guiding me back into the house. I catch the dark-haired man’s grin right before the door shuts behind Reaper.

“Reaper . . .” My voice breaks with nerves, and I back away from him so I can think. I comb my fingers through my hair before grabbing a fistful and looking up to lock my eyes with his. “Are you a member of a motorcycle club?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, God,” I whisper, my stomach churning at his confirmation of what I’d already suspected. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Holly . . .”

“You should’ve told me!” I yell, my heart clenching painfully. God, what have I done?

I can be with anyone in the world, but someone from a biker gang. Aunt Meg is probably frowning at me from the afterlife, cursing me for being a fool.

It’s not even that he’s a criminal. Heck, Reaper could tell me he was a hitman or something, and it would hurt less. An MC member is the last person I can fall in love with.

I can’t be like my Aunt Meg. She made me swear that I wouldn’t make the same mistakes she did.

“Hey, it’s okay, angel. I promise you, no one is going to hurt you,” Reaper says, appearing in front of me and cupping my jaw. My heart clenches painfully as I stare into his beautiful eyes. When I first locked eyes with him, I thought they were cold and blank, but with time, he’s lowered his shields, letting me in and showing me a completely different side to him.

They’re warm, his hazel eyes. Warm and pleading as they stare down at me.

I’m a fool for falling in love with a man I don’t know. For giving my heart and body to the last man I should have.

“This house belonged to my aunt,” I whisper brokenly, my thoughts spinning back to one of the darkest times in my life. “She died a few years ago. She raised me alone after her husband was killed in a shootout between two motorcycle clubs. He’d been an enforcer for one of the clubs for fifteen years. When he was shot, they left him to bleed to death in the street.”

“Holly—”

“I grew up hearing one horror story after another about the dangers of being involved with a motorcycle club. I swore I would never get mixed up with an MC member. My aunt made me promise to never trust a man who wears a patch because they’re heartless and reckless. That club let the love of her life, a man who was one of their own and had dedicated years to the club, die in the street like he was nothing. Then they pretended he never existed and left my aunt alone in her grief to fend for herself.”

“Angel . . .”

“I need you to leave,” I whisper, brushing my hands over the wetness on my cheeks. “I won’t call the cops or tell anyone about you, but you need to take your men and get off my property. I can’t disrespect my aunt’s memory like this.”

It hurts me to say the words, but thinking I have potentially welcomed someone into my home with an affiliation to the people who ruined my aunt’s life hurts even more. I shouldn’t have let Reaper into my life. God, I should have called the cops the first night I found him in my house, but it’s already too late for that.

All I can do now is push him away.

I turn my back to Reaper so he doesn’t read the regret in my eyes, and I have no idea what I expect to happen, but the sound of the front door opening sends my heart clenching painfully. The shutting of the door after Reaper has walked out is a soundtrack to my breaking heart.

A few minutes after Reaper has left, I hear the loud rumbling sound again, which I now recognize as motorcycle engines, so freaking loud, I swear I feel the house shake. The noise fills the air before slowly fading away, and soon, the night is silent once more.

He’s gone.

It’s what I wanted. I cannot be with someone in a motorcycle club. Not only would it be breaking my promise to my aunt, I would be putting myself in the same position she was in. Anything could happen to Reaper in the service of his club. Hell, that’s likely how he ended up on my bathroom floor in the first place. It’s best that Reaper leaves now and return to his life, and I go back to mine before I become any more attached than I already am.

I hug my arms to ward off the sudden chill, hating the thought of going back to my old, lonely life. A life without Reaper in it—

“I told them to leave,” a deep voice calls out behind me, and I whirl around in shock, my lips parting on a gasp when I see the man standing just inside my door. The chill I feel is coming from the open door. Christ, I didn’t even hear him open it.

My mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water as I try to find the words to speak, but all I manage is a broken, “Reaper.”

I watch him approach me, his massive frame seeming bigger in this moment than I have seen before. Perhaps it’s because he’s spent the majority of his time in my house lying down.

“I told you I am not going anywhere,” the man says, brushing my hair from my face. “I am not leaving you, Holly. And even when I have to leave this house, it’ll only be for a short while. You’re stuck with me for life.”

“Reaper . . .”

“I don’t know what happened with your uncle,” he says, his words rendering me speechless. “But I can promise you that even if the Steel Order MC was involved, things have changed now that Priest is in charge. Things aren’t done the same way they used to be.”

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