Page 16 of Reaper Released

Steel cocks a brow, and Demi literally starts to hyperventilate.

Ray

Pulling up at Pa Bernie’s after explaining everything to Demi, I take a deep breath.

“You okay?”

I nod. “That was just a lot. I wasn’t expecting that… well, shitshow at the diner, and it caught me all on edge.”

“You know I mean it, don’t you?”

“Steel, you’ve known me twenty-four hours at most, and I probably slept for fourteen of them!”

“I knew you were special when you got out of that van, dripping in blood and barking orders at the guys, orders that not one of them questioned, by the way! And when you turned and I saw your tattoo, I knew you were meant to be here, and when I woke up wrapped around you, I knew I never wanted to let you go, so like I say, inevitable!”

I blow out a deep breath. “Let's just stop the crazy talk for now and go grab Scar. We can talk about this later.”

As he climbs out of the cab of the truck, just before he closes the door, I hear, “Inevitable!” Closing my eyes and taking another deep breath, I turn to get out of the truck as Steel opens my door for me, puts his hands on my waist, lifts me down, tucks a stray strand of hair behind my ear and leans down to kiss my neck. “Inevitable!” Stepping back, grabbing my hand, he leads me to the door, knocking on it.

The door swings open, and Pa Bernie’s there, mouth open, before he grabs me and pulls me in for a hug. There’s a hitch in his voice and tears in his eyes. “Fuck, Squirt!”

I just squeeze him as my eyes water too. Fuck it, I’m glad to be alive! Stepping into the house, Ma sees me first and she drops to her knees and sobs into her hands.

I run to her and kneel beside her. “I’m okay, Ma, I’m fine.”

She nods as she hugs me. “Fucking hell, Ray!” Pulling back like I’ve been shot, the sheer shock of those words on her lips. I have known her all my life, and I’ve never heard her swear, I mean ever!

“Ma?”

She just hugs me. “Shh, my child, that's how worried I am!” I just hug her back. After a while, we both climb to our feet, looking over at Steel, he just smiles.

Bernie has his hand on his shoulder, shaking his hand. “Come in, son! Let’s have a drink. I think we need one. Don’t you?” We all nod.

Before I can say anything… “Bran, Dane, Scar, your sister's home!” The next seconds are a blur, almost like a stampede. There’s a thunder of footsteps along the corridor upstairs that continues down the stairs as all three of them barrel into me, sweeping me in their arms.

“OW! Motherfuckers, I’ve been shot, and stabbed, and shot, ya know?”

“Fuck, sorry.” Bran lets go.

“Soz!” Dane breathes as he also lets go.

Scar just squeezes me harder. “I don’t give a fuck. I’m never letting go again ever, ever, ever and then even longer, so there!”

Hugging her back, I turn to Steel and whisper, “She’s the drama queen of the family!… Ouch, fucking shot, ya know!” from the dig she gives me in the ribs.

“You deserve that, dickwad!”

“Missed you, fuck face.”

“Fucking love you twat waffle!”

I squeeze her back. “K.F.D.”

Looking at my face, searching for something, I’ve no idea what, she breathes, “K.F.D.”

Dane wraps his arms around us both. “K.F.D.”

Followed by Bran encasing us all and repeating, “K.F.D.”

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