Page 8 of Ruckus

“You ever had it valued?” She slides her thumb over it.

“No, but I wouldn’t get rid of it even if someone offered me a million dollars for it.” I take it back from her and think about the times I’d spend with him, handing him tools while he worked on engines. Life was so simple back then.

“What happened to him?” She frowns as if she actually cares. “You never speak about your folks.”

“Pillow talk ain’t part of the Ruckus experience, Princess.” I grin at her, hoping we can leave it there. Luckily she rolls her eyes and gets off the bed, looking to find her shorts and tee so she can get herself dressed.

“So, are you staying till morning, or are you leaving?” she asks, taking out her cell and checking it like she’s not concerned if I stay or go.

I decide to do what I always do when a decision has to be made, and after flipping my coin in the air. I catch it and cover it. Heads I stay, tails I leave. I really shouldn't need the coin to choose for me. All this requires is basic common sense. Staying is a bad idea. I should have been on my Harley and heading home half an hour ago, but I just don’t feel done with her yet, and there's a real scary voice in my head that tells me I never will be.

“So?” She lifts her head from her phone, looking for my answer and when I lift my hand I see the tail staring back up at me. It seems even fate is seeing sense tonight.

“Looks like I’m staying.” I ignore the coin and all my sanity as I place it on her bedside drawer then, lifting the covers, I gesture for her to get in beside me.

She tries to hide her smile as she climbs in beside me and shimmies her body against mine, turning it so her ass is right where my cock is.

“Just for the record, this ain’t part of the Ruckus experience either,” I tell her, before reaching over her head so I can turn off the lamp. I need her to know that she’s different, and I don’t mind sacrificing a little of my pride for that.

“Night, Ruckus.” She reaches up and kisses me before I lie back down, and knowing that I can never let this happen again feels worse than bullets or fuckin’ blades.

Present Day

“You know what this means though, right?” Eden sounds positive while Wrath stares at the poster she’s put on the table.

I knew it wouldn’t be long until someone else around here spotted posters of the stunt show Freya ran away with all over town.

“It means you get to speak to Freya. She needs to know about Willow.” Eden’s enthusiasm falters as she wraps her arm around his.

Wrath closes his eyes and looks weaker than I’ve ever seen him. It’s been less than a month since we found out the Reapers killed Wrath’s sister, Willow, and all because Cliff screwed them over.

“How the fuck am I supposed to do that?” He looks at his old lady blankly. “I let Freya down just as much as I did Willow. She’d never have left town with this fuckin’ show if I’d stuck around and taken care of her.” He screws up the poster in his fist as he gets up from the table and heads for the door to the balcony. Eden goes to follow, but I shake my head and decide to go after him myself.

“If you’ve come out here to tell me I’m wrong, you can walk your ass back inside,” he calls out without having to turn his head and see that it’s me.

“I didn’t come out here for that.” I step up beside him so I can rest my forearms on the railings and look out at the ocean. It's lookin’ like it’s gonna be a beautiful day despite the huge shit cloud we got hanging over us.

“We need to make some kinda movement, Ruckus.” Wrath cracks his knuckles and keeps his eyes on the horizon. “All this waiting around shit is drivin’ me crazy…” He shakes his head and slides his fingers through his long wavy hair.

“You talkin’ about what happened to Willow, or this killer we gotta find?” I light myself a smoke.

“I’m talkin’ about all of it, Ruck. It’s not safe for Freya to be here right now. It’s not safe for Eden. Someone came through our fuckin’ gates and killed a girl we were supposed to be protecting. We have zero clue who it is… for all we know it could be one of us.”

“It ain’t one of us,” I assure him, though if I had to place a bet on which one of us it would be, I’d put all I got on it being Sinner. He’s always had serial killer energy.

“And how can you be so sure?” Wrath looks at me with narrow, pained eyes.

“Because it ain’t, we threw out the crap with your father, everyone here is loyal, you have to believe that or you’ll drive yourself mad.”

“I’m already driven fuckin’ mad, Ruck. I sleep with a gun under my pillow, I spend all my time thinking about riding to that Reaper compound and tearing up hell… My wife deserves better than that.”

“You know that can’t happen. I’m all about getting revenge, brother, but Raze is right. We have to think smarter than them. That’s exactly what they will be expecting us to do. After all thistime without Eden, then finally getting her back, do ya wanna end up dead or behind bars? I get that it’s tough but…”

“No disrespect, Ruck, but you don’t get it at all. You’ve never cared about a female in your life. You think with your dick. So don’t fucking stand there and tell me you know how I feel.”

I swallow my frustration and hold back the voice that wants to tell him he’s wrong.

“The girls are safe. We’re on our guard. We’re alert, We’ve improved security since the Jenika incident.”

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