Page 3 of Reaper
Megan glances around before reaching the counter. “I tried to wear them out,” she tells me.
Chuckling, I shrug. “It’s okay. I know how they can be.” I walk around the counter and help them take their jackets off.“Why don’t you two go into my office? You can watch a movie while I work.”
“I wanna milkshake,” Heidi complains, and her brother nods in agreement.
Reaching into my pocket, I grab my tips and count out Megan’s fee for the evening. After paying her, she thanks me and says goodbye to the kids before leaving. Then I turn my attention to Heidi and Hunter.
“I’ll make you a deal,” I begin, and their eyes light up. “You can each have a strawberry milkshake, but you have to drink them in my office so I can work.”
Hunter rolls his eyes, and Heidi thrusts her fist in the air with excitement. She’s definitely easier to please than her brother.
“Can we watch Monsters, Inc.?” he asks.
“Yep. And if you’re still awake when that’s over, Heidi can pick the next movie.”
“Order up!” Barry, my cranky, overweight cook hollers as he slaps the bell sitting on the passthrough window.
“Go to my office, and I’ll bring the shakes,” I tell the kids as I grab the plate piled high with loaded nachos.
They do as I tell them, and as soon as I deliver the food to the customer, I go about making the shakes. The ice cream machine gives me fits so it takes longer than it should, and by the time I carry them into my office, both kids are lying on the small couch and watching the opening credits of the movie.
“I’ll check on you guys in a bit,” I say.
Satisfied that they’ll be occupied for at least an hour and a half, I return to the front of the diner.
2
Reaper
“Put some fucking clothes on.”
I glance over my shoulder and see Demo strutting into the Mess Hall. All I can do is shake my head at him because he’s naked as the day he was born. Viking, the president of Valhalla Rising MC, stands up from the long table and glares at our road captain.
“I’d like to keep my food down, if it’s all the same to you,” he snaps.
“That’s what she sa?—”
“Donotfinish that sentence,” Mist, the Valkyrie assigned to Demo, says as she enters behind our brother.
“At least she has the decency to be covered up,” I grumble before shoving a large bite of boar into my mouth.
“It’s not like you haven’t seen it before,” Demo mutters as he turns on his heel and walks out of the Mess Hall.
“Just because we’ve seen it doesn’t mean we like it,” Inferno calls after him, laughter in his tone. “Dear Odin, you’d think we were asking him to shove a needle up his ass.”
Before the conversation continues, the air shimmers at the end of the table, and Herja, the oldest Valkyrie, appears. As is typical, she’s wearing a scowl.
“What is going on here?” she bites out.
“It’s called eating,” I reply sarcastically. “You should try it sometime.”
She turns her attention to Viking. “Makayla has been tasked with a new Warrior.”
Viking narrows his eyes. “Why are you telling me this?”
Herja sighs. It’s no secret that she doesn’t like Viking, but she’s come to respect his old lady and seems to look out for her. “Let’s just say that this particular Warrior is going to be her most difficult to date.”
My muscles tense. Makayla might not be my better half, but my president loves her, and that makes her family. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
