Page 11 of Reaper Razed

“Fuck, Cade, am I glad to see you! You’ve come to help, right? Say you’ve come to help? I'm not opposed to begging. I will if I have to!”

“Fucking hell, Steel, she’s not that bad!”

Steel punches me in the arm and sits down. “Tag, you're it!” He sighs as he slouches into the booth next to us.

Ares bursts out laughing.

“Don’t! Just fucking don’t! I think I might just cry! She’s… she’s… she’s just so…”

“Frustrating?” I ask.

As Ares says, “Annoying.”

“Fuck you two! I was gonna say independent.”

“Ah, yeah, she’s definitely that, son. So what’s the issue?”

“I promised I would take her to get some stuff for the dog, then I had to put her under house arrest, and now I haven’t taken her, so she’s pissed at me.”

“Dog? When the fuck did you get time to get a dog?” I shake my head. Fuck—things really do move fast around here.

“When she was on the job she got injured doing, she went missing then turned up with this fucking dog in tow, and it’s the dog version of her, so it’s pissed at me too.”

“Sounds wonderful. Look, Ray is easy, really. If you say you’re gonna do something, especially if you promised, she will be pissed at you if you don’t, so moral of the story kid”—I slap him on the shoulder—“don’t promise anything. Always say, ‘If possible,’ then if you don’t manage to do it, no harm, no foul.”

“Yeah, that’s great. But now I’ve already promised. What do I do?”

“Fucking take her, you idiot!”

Scrubbing a hand down his face and shaking his head, he says, “She won’t leave the house with the sling on, and I won’t let her leave without it, fuck’s sake!”

“Come on, son.” Taking a massive swig of the Tequila and wiping my mouth on my hand, I say, “Let’s give you a lesson in manipulating my daughter, shall we?”

“This I need to see.” Ares stands, waving to Roach. “Throw Cade’s bags in Steel’s old room. He’s moving in. Lob some bedding and towels in there, too, kid.”

Roach nods and scurries off. Slinging my arm around Steel, I say, “Come on, big lad, let’s go.”

Stalking through the door, a cushion comes flying and hits Steel straight in the face.

Dude doesn’t even bat an eyelid, almost like he’s expecting it!

“Baby, you’ve got a visitor.” He smiles as he bends down to pick the cushion up. As Ares follows me in, there’s a squeal and a flash of blonde as she dives off the sofa and runs at me.

She slams into me with an, “Oof, fuck, Squirt!”

“What are you doing here, Pa? Fuck.” She hugs me as hard as she can with one arm and fucked fingers, but she gets her point across.

“So Steel was just telling me he was taking you out to get some stuff for a dog you got or something?” I look over and wink at Steel.

“You are?” She looks over at him with the biggest grin on her face, like she loves him the most.

“Well, he was… but now I’m here, I thought maybe I could take you.”

“You will?” She sounds so hopeful and excited. It really is so easy to get her to do what you want.

“Sure, Squirt, whatever you want.”

“Can we go for ice cream? No, wait, a milkshake, a burger, and maybe ice cream.”

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