Page 62 of Striker

I already know why, but I want him to say it. Reaper is a cunning, ruthless killer on his worst day. A manipulative asshole on his best. But he’s a fucking liar every day and I’m sick of sitting stagnant while he lies to us and himself.

His jaw pops as he grinds his teeth.

Yeah. I’m going to make you say it out loud.

He pulls his shirt over his head, looking out the grimy window over my shoulder as he tugs the shirt down over his stomach. The silence stretches between us until it snaps and he grabs his mask, hitting the row of weights as he does. They click loudly. His gaze locks on mine. He squares his shoulders like he’s preparing himself for his next few words, running his tongue over the thin scars on his bottom lip. “Imagine having your most valued possession taken from you.”

My jaw tightens, breath sticking in my throat. I don’t have to imagine. Neither one of us does.

“Then, suddenly, it’s back,” he says. “You can hold it, look at it. What would you do to keep that important thing from ever leaving you again?”

I press my eyes closed, my teeth grinding together like this will stop the stabbing pain from cutting through my chest and clawing up my throat. “I’d do anything.”

“Exactly,” Reaper says. “Delilah will do anything now.”

I shake my head, eyes popping open. I open my mouth to remind him that when he kept them apart for so many days; he created that same scared feeling with in them, but I shut my mouth.

Princess knew Cora was safe, just as Cora knew Princess was safe. We made damn sure of it.

Maybe he took Cora for this reason. Delilah will more than likely be a little careful with her actions now out of fear, but it’s more than that and weallknow it.

“Why Reap? The fucking truth. Why did you take Cora?”

His hands flex at his sides. “Youknowwhy.”

None of us want to say what we fear, but Reaper’s refusing to acknowledge whyhewanted Cora.

I had thought at first he wanted Cora because we were all so taken with her. That taking her would hurt Rune a bit more, but it’s more than that. Reaper wanted Cora not just for us to do with as we please like we’ve been ordered to do with Delilah, not entirely.

We watched them for so long we all know the unbreakable bond the women share. They’ll do anything to protect one another from being hurt. And maybe having them apart has made our lives easier as well as made them a tad more cooperative, but the real reason is he didn’t want them to suffer like we did.

He didn’t want Delilah alone without the only person who makes her feel loved and safe.

He didn’t want Cora’spersonripped from her.

“You wanted Cora forher,” I say. “For Delilah. So she’d have her most loved possession. And so Cora wouldn’t be scared, left alone, losing sleep, wondering what was happening to her best friend.”

He doesn’t deny it as he slips his mask over his head and brushes past me hard enough that I stumble back.

“Admit it,” I call after him. “You care and you feelguilty. If you just fucking admit it, then maybe you—”

The door slams so hard the glass pane rattles. Through the window I watch his black clad form as he stalks back to the house.

I don’t know how much longer he can keep denying his obsession with them.Her.With this need for revenge on something that isallour faults, not just Rune’s. It’s ripping him in two, making him volatile.

The door clicks closed and I’m left standing in our homemade gym, wondering when the house of lies he built around his own self deception crumbles, if we’re all going to go down with him.

Chapter 25

Delilah

“You had heat?” Iask, tucking the blankets up around my chin. Even though the room is now warmer, there’s still a bite in the air. We went to my room after the men left, and have been here ever since, under the blankets, talking about what we endured over the last nine days.

“They kept the fire going for me most nights,” Cora says, “But the radiator worked just fine.”

Something ugly and green coils like vines in my stomach. Cora, it seems, has been perfectly fine. She even gets to feed herself. Guess she didn’t try to stab them with a fork.

“They even got the shampoo right,” she says. Her eyes move down to the front of my dress. “And our clothing sizes.”

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