Page 94 of Reaper Released

Sitting up, placing my elbows on my knees and tapping my hand on the sofa at the side of me, he glances over and comes over to sit next to me. I turn my body to face him and pull my knees onto the sofa.

“Whatever you need it to be… Brother!”

He blows out a breath. “I asked Scar to marry me, and she said no!”

“Do you want to marry her?”

“Well, I… I just thought… ”

“That’s a no, then!”

“It’s not like that. I just never wanted to get married, ever. I can see myself with Scar forever. I can't imagine anything else, and I don’t think I ever want to get married …ever.”

“So what’s the issue then? If you don’t want to, and she said no.”

“I just don’t know if I can lose her. She's my forever, Ray, just marriage isn’t a part of that, and I’m worried now she’s said no, she’s gonna go back to the UK!”

“I think you need to speak to her. Have you seen her today?”

“No, well, not since this morning!”

“Talk to her, honestly. I think you’ll be surprised!”

“Hang on, that's not what you came here for, is it? You came to see me.”

I smile at him. “I’m not sure what you want from me, Boyband, what the club wants from me. I’m the first woman. I’m the first not to prospect. How do the guys feel about all that? Do they think I’m getting preferential treatment? I wanna make my own way. I don't want it handed to me on a plate, and I still don’t know what you do here!”

I scrub my hand down my face. “Now the reality is sinking in. I’m not sure what my role is.”

“Okay, so we trade guns and weapons, offer security, safe passage, run the garage as you know, and a bike chop shop. We occasionally steal cars, but that’s more of a nostalgia thing, and we own the tattooist in Ravenswood as well as a nightclub at Castle Cove. The guys take turns to run security there, and we launder money through our legit businesses.”

“Still not seeing what I can bring to the table unless you want to get a new weapons supplier.”

“Firstly, you can’t think of anything you can bring to the table? Do you have no ideas about anything? And secondly, a new supplier? Who do you know? You run an Adventure Centre in the UK. Scar’s told me all about it! But you do have talents. We can use you, Ray, and what is it they say? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?” He wiggles his eyebrows at me.

“So you see me as the enemy, nice! Is that all?”

“Look, Ray, you're not the enemy, but you're definitely a wild card, and honestly, I would sooner have you on my side than on someone else’s. Steel’s obviously told me about the whole ‘his dad being another pa’ and all that, but I don’t get what that has to do with anything.”

“So my pas are all ex-military. We run an Adventure Centre in the UK and a security firm here, amongst other ventures. Also, Pa Bernie and Bran run a gun shop and tour gun shows buying and selling guns.”

“Huh!”

“Huh, that’s all you’ve got to say?”

“Shit, Ray, I had no idea. I knew you had a lot of hardware, but I didn’t know where it came from. It's good stuff, though. I just don’t think Bernie could handle the numbers we shift, but I will bear it in mind, we've been trying to make a partnership with The Armoury, but we can't seem to get a leg in at the minute, so we're working with the Cruzes!”

I huff a laugh at that. “No worries, Boyband, but what I came for is that I need an office!”

“I'm sorry, I thought for a minute as the Enforcer, you said you need an office!”

“You’re not as old as I thought then, and there’s clearly nothing wrong with your hearing either!”

“You know I can go off you quite quickly!”

The laugh that ricochets out of me is legendary. “You, my friend, are a dick! But yes, I want an office. Got anything hidden away or a bunker somewhere?”

“You serious?”

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