Page 10 of Reaper Razed

“Honestly?”

“Yeah, hit me.”

“She’s a raging bitch!” He exhales sharply. “Steel’s taking the brunt of it, poor motherfucker, but she’s tried to go to work already. It’s only been a few days, and now Steel has her under house arrest, so you can imagine how that’s going.”

“Hades, I should have given it a bit longer before turning up!”

We both burst out laughing. “It’s good to have you here, Brother. I’ve missed you.”

“Missed you too, Bernie.”

Bernie drops me at the clubhouse and disappears. “Pussy!” But then I decide to see if I can grab a drink in the clubhouse, ya know, Dutch courage and all that! As I walk in. Ares is sitting in his booth with some paperwork.

“Hey, man.” I shout over. His gaze shoots up before taking a second to realise who it is.

“Cade? What the fuck are you doing here?”

“Thought I should come to check what trouble that daughter of mine’s gotten herself into?” I walk over and throw my bags on the floor.

“And need a stiff one first?” He barks out a laugh. “I’m sure she’s a pleasure at the moment!”

“You not seen her?”

“Not since the house arrest. Steel caught her at the garage and lost his shit.”

“How long did that take to happen?”

“The fucking next day, she was even trying to get Dozer to help her take the bandage-type sling off as she couldn’t do it with her fucked up fingers.”

“Best make it a large one then before I walk into that shitshow!”

“Roach… Tequila! Bring the fucking bottle!” Ares laughs out. “Does she know you’re coming?”

“Nah, just packed up and left.”

“How long you here for?”

“Forever. I’ve packed up all together, JJ and Steven are running the Adventure Centre, so I’m gonna join the family business Stateside.”

“You staying with Ray and Steel?”

“Nah, if she’s being her usual delightful self, I’ll probably crash at Bernie’s.”

“Steel’s old room’s still empty if you wanna crash there, so you’re close but not too close.”

“You sure? That would actually be great, man, thanks.”

“Yeah, definitely. Maybe if you fancy staying, you could fix up one of the lodges. There are a couple of spares just rotting away up there. If you wanna be that close, obviously!”

“Actually, man, that would be perfect! I don’t really wanna be away from her any longer. I know she’s a cantankerous—”

The door swings open, and in walks Steel, looking like he hasn’t slept in weeks.

“Fucking hell, Brother, you look like shit!”

“Fuck you! Hey Cade… Cade…? What the fuck, Cade?”

“Think we’ve established you’ve seen Cade.” Ares barks out a laugh as I stand and hug Steel.”

---