Page 67 of Reaper Released

Nodding, he rubs his thumb across the back of my hand.

“Right, hold on to the seat of your pants, as I think mine are way worse, and you might be the one changing your mind!”

He shakes his head at me. “Never!”

Letting out a calming breath, I close my eyes for a second. “I can’t tell you the full story of how Scar and I met. It’s not my story to tell, but what I can say is I was nearly fifteen. I killed two men, slit one’s throat and stabbed the other eighteen times. Scar begged her dad to take my case and save me, and he did. He got me off of the murder charges, and I walked away scot-free, but I did do some time in a detention centre for it while waiting for it to go to trial.

“Scar and I were together for about six months after we first met. You know, like together. I killed three men, then killed my own dad to provide me with an alibi for the deaths of the three, not to mention the countless other people I’ve killed, beaten up, stabbed and shot. I also killed six guys when I was kidnapped, leaving them in a barn and setting a fire. I killed… I kissed a guy to lure him to my room, then killed him at Carmen’s. I killed Shay by snapping her neck with my bare hands, and I fucked Dwayne… kind of!”

“Anything else?”

“Erm, off the top of my head, I think that’s it, but there’s a lot of shit I’ve done, so if you’re looking for an out, I think I’ve given you more than one to go on. Definitely more than you gave me!”

“What about the Dice thing?”

“Dice?”

“Yeah, when I first met you, I was told you were fucking Dice, and I kind of tried to be okay with sharing. I actually thought if I didn’t see it, it wasn’t happening, so I tried not to look. I never asked you to end things with him, but he was also with you first, and I kind of got swept up with everything, and I kind of just lied to myself and said I was okay with it. But the closer we get, I can’t ignore it anymore. I think that’s my deal breaker… I can’t share!”

“Steel, baby! I can’t believe you think I’ve been fucking Dice this whole time, and you haven’t kicked off. Also, when would I have time to fuck anyone else? I’m not or never have fucked Dice! We’re close, yes, and lines were slightly crossed in the beginning, but we’ve never fucked! Is that why you’ve hung back?”

“One of the reasons. So you’re not fucking him then?”

“No, baby, I’m not!”

He huffs out a breath and scrubs a hand down his face. “You mean all this time I’ve been trying to turn a blind eye and accept something that wasn’t even happening? Fuck’s sake!”

“Hey, it’s okay. Look, you can ask me anything. I will always be honest. There are things that I can’t share as they’re not mine to share, I will always tell you that, but everything else is fair game, okay? Just tell me if there’s anything you can’t deal with. I mean, I hit you with a lot.”

He blows out another breath. “I’m not overly thrilled about three of those things. I'm just hoping I can get past them.”

“Which bits?”

“The bit where you crossed lines with Dice, kissed a guy at Carmen’s and fucked Dwayne. I’m really having a hard time with the Dwayne one, but I think if you told me what happened with them, I could get past it!”

“Deal!”

“Deal? Easy as that?”

“Yep, I’m an open book! I have a deal breaker, though, two, to be exact. I won’t tolerate lying. I can’t abide by it!”

“Oh shit!”

“Well, that sounds like a confession of guilt before we start!”

“I can’t tell you why I lied, but I have been for weeks. Just please know it’s for a surprise, and I wanted to throw you off the scent.”

“You lied?”

“I did. I'm so sorry I didn’t …”

“Hey, we’re only just setting the rules, so anything beforehand is null and void. Next time, I want you to be honest. Just say it’s a surprise and leave it at that. No other explanation needed!”

“Really?”

“Really!

“And the second?”

---