Page 108 of Reaper Released

“For now.”

He takes a step back and nods. “Still good for tonight?”

“Yeah, got some shit to sort first, but I’ll be there.”

“Never a dull moment, hey?”

“Never!” I laugh as I head back to Steel.

He leans down and kisses my cheek, and whispers into my ear. “I think they should stay with us.”

“You sure?” He nods and heads to our place.

“Tali, Carmen, we will set you up with us!” I nod to the girl. “You too.” She looks at all the guys and then falls in behind us as we head off. Viking grabs Tali’s and Carmen’s bags and follows behind us.

“This is nice!” Tali whistles as we walk in.

“Do you have enough room?” Carmen looks at the doors and sees only three.

I laugh. “Plenty, mi casa es tu casa.”

“Plenty, my house is your house.”

Steel points to our door. “That’s our room, bathroom.” He nods to the middle door.” He walks through the third door.

“Carmen, make yourself at home. There's fresh bedding and towels in the drawers.” He walks to the next door. “Here, kiddo, this should be fine for you. Do you need anything?”

She shakes her head. “Thanks, Steel, this is lovely!”

Walking to the last door, to the slightly bigger room of the three, he gestures. “You can stay here as long as you like, okay?” She nods and walks into the room. They are painted and clean with the basics, but they aren’t anything special. There’s just a bed, a chest of drawers, and a mirror in them all, no pictures or homely touches, not like the rest of the house, but all the beds and bedding are new, so they should be comfortable for however long this lasts.

I give them a grand tour then grab the truck keys from the bowl. “Carmen, write a list of what you need and your sizes. Me and the girls are going shopping, unless you wanna come?”

A high-pitched squeal comes from Tali. “You’re taking us shopping?”

“Don’t get too excited, we're only going to Walmart, maybe Target too!”

Carmen grins, grabs the pen and paper off the table, and then hands me the list.

“Want anything, baby?”

He pulls me in for a kiss. “I’m good, beautiful, be safe!”

I nod, walking to the back of the sofa where Viking is sprawled. I kiss him on the head. “Keep an eye on her!” I nod at Carmen. He gives me a nod, and then I clip him around the ear.

“Fuck’s that for?”

“Boots! Off my motherfucking coffee table, asshole!” Smirking, he slides them off and throws them near the door. “Fucking brothers! Animals, the lot of you!” I shake my head as I place them next to the door and head out.

As we get to the store I lay out some ground rules. “Rule one, you get a trolley each. Rule two, fill said trolley with shit you want. Rule three, try it on if you're not sure after the time limit. Rule four, you have thirty minutes." I check my watch. "Meet you near the changing rooms... Go!” Tali runs towards the clothing, and the girl just looks at me. “Go have fun. Grab what you need clothing-wise, shoes, underwear, PJs, anything, okay? It's on me. I will pay for whatever you grab, okay?” She nods, wide-eyed, but takes off after Tali.

I wander over to the electronics counter and grab three burner phones, then I head to the clothing aisles myself, grabbing the list from my pocket for Carmen and filling my trolley. I might also have got myself some cute underwear and some vest tops with skulls on and some swimmers.

I plan on taking them to the falls in a couple of days. I also grab some beach towels, beach balls, and crap like that. Once the girls have got full trolleys nearly an hour later, I take them to get girly shit, shampoo and nail varnish, make-up and crap like that, then we grab pizza and snacks and head back to the truck with a shit tonne of bags.

“So, have you decided on a name yet?”

“I can pick a new one?”

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