Page 73 of Reaper

She’s standing there laughing as she tosses a dart. She misses the board making the guys burst out laughing, but she’s still smiling.

“How long has she been out here?” I ask.

He shrugs. “Two or three hours. Wrath has stayed with her the entire time.”

I nod before moving toward them. Before I reach them, I freeze. Wrath has moved next to her, pulling her under his arm as he talks to her. It looks innocent enough, but anger flares inside me.

I move closer, catching his eye before hers. He smirks, letting his arm drop as he steps aside.

“Brother, took you long enough. Queen Bee here is slowly learning how to play darts. By slowly, I mean like a snail's pace.”

“Hey,” Natalie protests, smacking Wrath on the arm. “Don’t be an asshole. It’s not as easy as you guys make it look.”

Then she peeks at me, giving me a small smile.

“I can help you,” I tell her, moving closer.

“I’d like that.” Her voice has grown lower, almost husky.

Moving in closer, I wrap my arm around her, pulling her in closely as I press a kiss to her head.

“Reaper, how nice of you to join us.” Twitch laughs, throwing his final dart.

“I’ve been working, unlike you bunch. You hustling my girl here?”

He shakes his head. “Nah. Trying to teach her how to hustle the others.”

He gives me a quick nod. I tip my chin back in greeting.

That’s his way of taking back what he said before about her. He’s gotten to know her a little bit, and he sees what I see. I’m glad I put her off limits. I know that any one of these guys would want her as their own if I didn’t call dibs.

“Good.” I lean down, whispering in her ear, “Are you having a good time?”

She peeks up at me. “Actually I am. I was nervous at first, but Wrath hasn’t left my side, so that helped. Plus, these guys have all been really nice to me.”

“As they all will. I told you they won’t hurt you. You’re under my protection.”

She smiles but looks away.

I growl, nuzzling her neck, making her laugh.

“It’s your turn, temptress. Let me show you how to do it. What are you playing?”

“Three hundred one?”

I nod, knowing the game. You have to hit the board until you get down to zero, but if you go over zero, you bust.

“What are you at?”

She snorts. “Like two fifty, I think.”

Spider laughs. “Your girl can barely hit the board.”

I shake my head at him, taking the darts Twitch offers me. Then I move Natalie in front of me.

“Okay, so don’t throw it, but show me what you’ve been doing.”

She stands limply and acts like she’s going to throw. There’s no control in it. No wonder she doesn’t hit the board.

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