Page 1 of Reaper Released

Scar

I’m in a state of panic, but then my sister’s words ring through my head, and I pull out my phone. After explaining what has happened, Uncle Bernie tells me to go straight to Ares’s office and stay there till he gets here. It will be a few hours as he’s out of state, but I must make sure I’m not seen by anyone other than Ares.

Ducking out of the van, I run around the whole back of the clubhouse and in the far back door, up the stairs and not even knocking, I run straight into his office. Well I say run but my screaming ribs say different.

“Shit, princess, what the fuck?” With the panic on his face when he sees me, and the panic on mine, he takes in the tears rolling down my face. I slam the door shut behind me but gasp when I see Viking, Tank, Dice, Priest and Blade all standing there, staring at me.

“Fuck!” I sob. “No one can see me. No one can know they didn’t take me!”

“Princess, I need you to calm down, okay? You're

not making any sense. Guys, can you give us a minute?” The guys make a move to leave, but I step against the door.

“No! No one can leave this room till Uncle Bernie gets here. No one can know I’m still here. You need to keep me here, and they need to stay. They can’t go. No. One. Can. Know!”

Viking steps forward and places his hand on my arm. “Scar?” he says gently. “What’s going on?” I turn and lock the door, then breathe out the breath I’d been holding since the second Ray had been taken.

“They took Ray. Two guys came and took her. They were looking for me… Said Shay had sent them, then they thought she was me and took her. I hid from them and called Uncle Bernie, and he said to come to your office and don’t let anyone see me, but you’ve seen me, so you can’t go! You need to stay! You have to!”

“Scar, give me your phone. I need to call your Uncle Bernie, okay?”

I nod and give him the phone, opening it for him and passing it over. While Ares talks to Uncle Bernie, the guys sit me down on the sofa and get me a drink.

Viking pulls me into a hug and holds me there. “Don't worry, babe, we will get her back, okay?”

I sob into his shirt as I nod, but he just rubs up and down my back while he holds me tight. After Ares gets off the phone, he sends a message to the whole club.

When the guys' phones bling, they look, and I see “911.”

“What does that mean?” I ask.

Ares explains that it’s to get everyone back here immediately, and it’s sent to the whole club. As far as anyone is concerned, it will be me who has been taken, so we have to keep me out of sight. Ares has put a call out to all the members out on jobs. And now we have to wait for Uncle Bernie to arrive.

There’s a loud knock on the door. Ares asks who it is, and Dozer replies, so he’s let in, too, fuck’s sake. At this rate, the whole club will be in this office. Once they explain everything to him, he pulls me into a hug. “Hey, she’s a badass motherfucker, don’t worry. They will soon bring her back when she starts being… ya know, her usual self.”

I huff a humourless laugh. I know he’s trying to be funny, but I actually think he’s right. Ray isn’t the kind of girl who just gets kidnapped and plays along nicely. She’s gonna fuck shit up, and maybe end up dead.

I must pace that office for a good hour at least. The boys are practically going stir-crazy. Dice has been sitting at Ares’s desk, hacking into security footage, trying to follow the van and find out who has taken her. About two hours after she’s gone, there’s a knock at the door. Stepping back, I hide behind the guys.

I hear a deep gravelly voice I don’t recognise. “Ares, what’s going on, brother?” Ares makes his way opening the door, and a god-honest mammoth of a man walks in.

“Fuck, Steel, thank god you’re here!” Clapping him on the back, he leads him into the office and locks the door again.

“No. No. No. No. No! What the fuck? No one can know I’m here, fuck! Fuck!”

“Calm down, princess. Steel is my best friend. My Enforcer. I trust him like I trust the others in this room. This is my entire inner circle. I trust them with my life, okay?”

I nod, but this is Ray’s life. What about hers? Should I trust them with that? I let out a shaky breath. What else can I do? Thirty minutes later, there's another knock.

A young male voice comes through the door. It might be Roach. “Pres… Sorry to bother you. There’s a guy out here saying he needs to see you… He says he’s called Bernie.”

“I’m coming. I’m gonna go grab him, princess, okay, then I’ll bring him back here.” He turns to Steel. “Protect her for me, Brother. I won’t be long, don’t let anyone else in this room!”

“Don’t worry, Brother. I’ll guard her with my life. You know that!” I don’t know who this guy is, but he’s fucking scary. He has the shiniest blacker than black hair in a faux hawk, a deep scar that runs from his right eyebrow, down through most of his eyelid, and down onto his cheek. His voice sounds like he eats gravel for breakfast and washes it down with razor blades. He must be about six foot four, and he has grey eyes that look like liquid metal. They almost swirl as I look at him. He’s even bigger than Viking. He’s solid muscle, his black T-shirt straining against them. He walks over to the Fucked Up Five, and they all speak under their breaths while Dozer sits with me, rubbing my arm.

“Did you know about the lodge?” Dozer breaks me from my inner panic.

“Lodge?”

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