Page 18 of Reaper

I’m alone.

Harrison stayed with me all night. I know because he woke me every two hours to check on me, then made me take pills once. I’m not sure how long he’s been gone, but the sun shining through the window is enough to tell me that it’s not early morning.

I look around again, but there’s no clock. Last night I was too out of it to take in the room, but now in the daylight, I can see what I didn’t notice before.

The room isn’t messy like I would have thought. It’s actually fairly neat. There are some pictures on the wall. Even a calendar with naked women on motorcycles.

Then there is the smell. I would expect a man’s room to smell musty. Sweaty even.

The way William’s clothes often smelled if I didn’t clean them quick enough.

Not Harrison’s room.

Instead it smells of bourbon, wood, and motor oil. It sounds like a unique combination, but it oddly works.

Slowly, I stand from the bed. My ribs still ache, but it doesn’t hurt as much as it did last night. My head throbs, but I can handle it. I always do.

After using the bathroom and rinsing my mouth out with water from the sink, I take a long look in the mirror.

I look like one of the posters for domestic violence. My eye is purple and I have a huge knot on my right temple. I move my hands to feel at the back of my head. I can feel the dried blood scabbed over into my hair.

Part of me wants to wash it out, but the other part doesn’t want to bleed again.

So instead, I find the hair tie I left in the bathroom the night before and carefully pull my hair back out of my face.

It will have to do for now.

Making my way back into the bedroom, I wonder what I should do next. He didn’t tell me to stay in here, but going back out in that main room again doesn’t seem very smart. Especially not after last night.

Still, my stomach is growling. I never ate dinner last night. I’d also like some pain reliever, but I didn’t see it sitting anywhere.

I wait five minutes before deciding to at least check the hall. Maybe there will be someone who can tell me where to find my host.

When I go to the door, my heart stops. It’s locked.

I squeeze my eyes shut as I fight back the panic. I’m not back at William’s. My nails dig into my palms as I try to center myself.

It takes me a second to resume breathing. That’s when I realize while it is locked, I can unlock it from my side.

I need to thank Harrison for thinking to lock me in. I’m sure he did it to keep anyone from happening upon me. At least, I hope so.

Opening the door, I look both ways down the hall. Everything is quiet.

I look down at my outfit and cringe. I’m wearing an old T-shirt with the MC name on it and a pair of Harrison’s boxers. I look like a total groupie.

Still, the smell of bacon lures me down the hall. When I make it to the main room, I glance around.

Unlike the night before, it is empty now. I expected to see men hungover, sleeping off the night before. Maybe even trash all over. They had been pretty rowdy last night.

Instead, I find Jacob sweeping the floor while some of the women from the night before are straightening the furniture and throwing away any trash.

Hesitantly I shift from foot to foot. Do I make myself known, or do I turn back around and hide?

“What are you still doing here?” The woman from the night before frowns.

With her attention on me, I fight the urge to flee. Everything in me is screaming to run and hide.

Jacob startles before looking over at me. “Natalie. Pres told me to make sure you got food when you woke up. Come with me.”

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