Page 32 of Reaper Razed

“Did she get one like that as well?”

Bran nods.

“Fuck!” he roars as he throws the phone back across the room and he storms out. There’s a clatter and a scuffle before Steel bellows out, “Get. The. Fuck. Off. Me. Bran!” There's more scuffling, and the dog starts barking. “Bran! You motherfucker let me go!” I step out of the room on shaky legs, and Bran has Steel face down with his arms wrenched behind his back, pushing the side of his face into the floor. I mean, Bran’s a big lad, but Steel’s a fucking mountain, and yet Bran’s holding him down.

“Guys, come on. We need to find out what’s going on, not fight amongst ourselves, fuck’s—”

The door opens into the apartment, and all our eyes fly up to find Ares, Dice, and Dane standing there. “What the fuck’s going on?” Ares barks out.

“What the fuck are you doing here? She told you to keep him in his room. She really doesn’t need anything to get in her way right now!” Bran barks at Dane.

“Yeah, I’m sure she’ll be thrilled if she walks in and finds this whole… situation… like, seriously, man, get off him.” Dane bends down, shoves Bran off Steel, and gives Steel a hand.

The door opens again, and Priest, Tank and Blade walk in. Just as the bathroom door opens, Beauty steps out. She lets out a small gasp at seeing us all there, then walks past me with her head down and into the bedroom. “Beauty…” I sigh. “Give me a minute, guys.”

“Scar will be here in five minutes. She’s taking Beauty back to our room. We all need to talk about what the fuck’s going on, and the only people I trust are in this room. Well, you two …” He points at Bran and Dane. “I’m not sure I fucking trust either you or your sister, for that matter!”

“What the fuck, Ares?” Steel barks out as he crosses his arms over his chest.

“Brother, don’t, you have no idea —”

The door opens again, and Scar walks in. She walks straight over to Steel and wraps her arms around him, looking up at him. “You okay?”

“I’m okay.” He places a kiss on her head and gives her a squeeze.

I turn to go to the room Beauty’s walked into, but she’s already coming back out dressed with her bag in her hand. She walks past me with her head down and walks toward Scar. She grabs her wrist and heads towards the door. “Beauty!” I gasp, so much pain in one word. She turns to me, giving me a tight-lipped smile, and walks out the door. Closing my eyes, I sag into the door frame.

Brans is in front of me in a second. “Hey, come and sit down.” He helps me to the couch, sits down, and passes me the blanket. “You good?” I just shake my head. What else can I do?

Dane’s in front of me a second later with a glass of juice. “Here, it’ll help. You all need to eat something.” He walks to the kitchen and starts rummaging in the cupboard. Grabbing out the bread, he starts making sandwiches before walking over and placing a massive pile in the middle of the coffee table. Everyone sits down and starts eating. No one says a damn thing.

Ray

When Gerald wakes up, he’s groggy at first, and then he panics.

“Madison?” he murmurs. I sigh.

I've been sitting, waiting for him to wake up. The other guy, Liam, has been quiet as a mouse and keeps his head down. I don’t have any answers for anyone other than Dante Crane. I mean, who the fuck is he really? He’s the one making waves. He’s the one who is linked to the Hellhounds and Tali, but who the fuck is he? I need more. I can't face Steel until I have a reason for what happened to him.

“Well, nice of you to join us, sugar!” I smile at Gerald. He physically shakes as he scooches back to the cot and craws onto it. “You feeling any more helpful? Sugar?” He winces as he moves, as the tugging from the wounds pulls with his movements.

“I-I-I don’t k-know anything else, please!” he gasps out.

“I must admit, sugar, I'm massively disappointed in you! Dantes is going to be very dissatisfied too when I tell him my report on how well his ‘recruits’ …” I use the air quotes to emphasise my point. “Hold up…” I shake my head. “There’s definitely no promotion for you, Gerald. On the other hand, Liam here hasn’t squealed at all!”

“Y-you work for Dante?”

“Sugar!” I shake my head. “You’re just a major, major disappointment to the whole organisation. I’m gonna have to make an example of you.” I step up and turn around, whistling while I rummage through my toolbox, grabbing out my blow torch and lighting it up, firing it up a few times. I switch it off, and I set it next to the table!

I stand and head towards Gerald, sliding the gun out of my pocket. “Only one of you is gonna make it out alive, sugar.” I point to Liam. “You snitch, you go, you don’t, he does.” I turn to Gerald. “Same for you! You’ve got till the count of five to start talkin’!”

“Please, I don’t know anything. My grandma needs me!” Liam begs.

Gerald looks at Liam and back at me, then back again. “I’m sorry, Liam!”

Gerald takes a deep, shaky breath. “Where do you want me to start?”

“I want you to start at the beginning, sugar, as all good stories should. Dante must check every ounce of information to ensure nothing is leaked or compromised!”

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