Page 3 of Reacher's Ride or Die

“Care to tell me what’s funny?” she asked. She sounded more uppity than she wanted, but he was beginning to grate on her last nerve, and she didn’t care who knew it.

“You being so polite,” he admitted. “I guess I just find it a bit funny.”

“And what’s wrong with being polite?” she asked. Brandi put her bag on the sofa and slipped out of her jacket, tossing it on top of her bag.

“Nothing,” Reacher said, “I just didn’t expect it is all.”

“Well, you don’t really know me yet, Reacher, so you don’t know what to expect from me,” she said.

“You’re right,” he admitted, “I don’t know you and I shouldn’t assume things about you, Brandi. I apologize,” he said.

She smiled and nodded, “I was just giving you shit, Reacher,” she admitted. “I’m not usually polite at all, but you seemed uncomfortable seeing me again this morning, so I decided to have a little fun.”

Gloria walked out of her bedroom, “I knew that I liked you, honey,” she said to Brandi. “You give Reacher all the shit you want. He’s a bear in the morning.”

“Only because you won’t share your coffee,” he said.

“I told you to bring your own,” she said. “You like yours too strong and I don’t want you making coffee in my machine.” Hearing the two of them go back and forth made Brandi chuckle.

“You know, I didn’t have to come here this morning,” he reminded, “but I promised you that I’d be back to check on you.”

“Well, you know that I appreciate that, Reacher,” Gloria said. “But I’m sure that Brandi can handle taking me to my appointments today.”

“You sure?” Reacher asked.

“Of course,” Gloria insisted. “As long as you promise to call me if you hear any news from your meeting last night.”

“Will do,” he agreed. “Just call me if you need me, Gloria.” He turned to leave and looked back over his shoulder at Brandi. From the smirk on his face, she could tell that he was about to be a smart-ass, and that was something that Brandi liked in a guy.

“Good to see you again, Brandi,” he said, giving her back her own words. Gloria giggled and shook her head at him and Brandi worried that between the two of them, she was going to have her hands full.

Reacher

He had spent most of the day around his old home, doing some much needed projects and painting his bedroom, but Reacher wasn’t sure what else to do with his free day. He loved working on his fixer upper, but today, he felt lost. He was usually the one who took Gloria to her treatments so that Yonkers could work. He had a family to support, but Reacher didn’t. Plus, Reacher didn’t have a job, but one phone call could change all that for him. With luck, he’d get that call today and would be able to start his new job soon, but he didn’t want to get his hopes up. He knew that these things took time, and he just needed to be patient—which wasn’t his strong suit.

He decided to run into the clubhouse to see if Hurricane needed any help around the bar. Reacher was always looking for new ways to do things for the guys. It wasn’t just that he felt as though he owed them all for allowing him to join the Royal Bastards, but he genuinely enjoyed helping his brothers. They loved giving him shit for being too nice, but Reacher knew that there was no such thing as too nice.

He walked into the bar and found Ryder sitting at the counter, drinking a beer. “Don’t you have a place to go besides here?” Ryder asked. He was the pilot for the Bastards down in Huntsville and was on loan to the guys in Yonkers. Reacher really liked the guy, even if he didn’t know him very well. He was really helping Hurricane out with a few personal things as well as club business and that made him a good guy in Reacher’s book.

“You mean, like a house?” Reacher asked. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever be able to afford a house in Yonkers, but when he found the little fixer upper, he fell in love and bought it. It wasn’t very big—and definitely not big enough for the wife and kids that he wanted to have someday. But with the way his dating life was going, someday wasn’t ever going to come around.

“Yeah,” Ryder said. “A home with a family or at least a woman.” Reacher used to hate people butting their noses into his business, but since joining the Bastards, he had to admit, he was getting used to the guys asking him a bunch of personal questions.

“No family,” Reacher admitted. “I’m not from New York, and when my father died about two years ago, I left my hometown and started roaming, finding odd jobs and shitty apartments to stay in. When the town got to be too boring, or too rough around the edges, I’d move on to the next one. I was kind of a nomad.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad,” Ryder said. He could tell from the pity he saw in Ryder’s eyes that he really didn’t mean it. Ryder had a wife and a bunch of kids waiting for him at home, so he wouldn’t get Reacher wanting to move to a new place every few months or so.

“It wasn’t really, but when I pulled into Yonkers and my bike tire blew right in front of the clubhouse, I took it as a sign, as stupid as that sounds. I came here and everyone was so nice and offered to help me out, I couldn’t bring myself to just keep ridingout of town. Hurricane invited me to a few parties here and well; the rest is history.”

“It sounds like you found your home here,” Ryder said. Reacher hadn’t really thought too much about it, but Ryder was right—the guys had quickly become his family and the clubhouse, his home.

“What are you two hens clucking about?” Yonkers asked, walking into the bar. Reacher knew Yonkers best out of all the guys, and he had to admit—he’d do just about anything for the guy, and for his mother. Gloria quickly became his surrogate mom—something he never had growing up.

His mother took off when he was just a baby and his father raised him. His dad had to play both parents’ roles in life, and he did a hell of a job. Even in the end, his father wanted to make sure that he was taken care of, leaving him a small nest egg to ensure that it would happen. But now, his nest egg was almost gone, and he really needed a phone call about the job down at the docks. That job could solve a lot of problems for him.

“I was just telling Ryder about how I landed here,” Reacher said. “Do you guys know each other?”

“Yeah, Yonkers and I go way back,” Ryder said. “We were in the same club down in Huntsville before you all snatched him away.”

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