REAPER'S KISS (8 page)

chapter twenty

(jace)

*NOW*

What the fuck was I doing?

I ran the towel down Ava’s left
leg. I touched her feet, studying her small toes. I noticed chipped blue nail
polish. I put the towel to her right leg and moved it up. I leaned forward and
gently placed a kiss to her soft and smooth mound. I couldn’t get enough of her
body. The sweet and succulent taste of her pussy. I was putting myself in a
very dangerous position.

I slowly stood up and wrapped the
towel around her shoulders.

“Come here, sweetie,” I whispered.

I grabbed Ava and lifted her,
cradling her in my arms.

I carried her from the bathroom to
the spare bedroom that was now basically her new home. I placed her down and
took the towel away. I loved watching her body move, her supple breasts
bouncing, the way she was sort of shy but her eyes were that of a wild vixen.

“Get some sleep,” I said. “I need
to take a shower.”

Ava grabbed my hand. “Jace…”

I crouched down, butt ass naked,
facing her.

“I’m sorry about the guy that died.”

“To be fair, he was just a prospect,”
I said with a grin. “But the thing is… I was a prospect once. You have to earn
your way in. It’s not always easy. It took me getting attacked. Shit, almost in
the same fashion.”

“What happened?”

I wasn’t one to relive bad
memories. But for Ava…

“I was on a ride alone. Flying
around some turns. Just tempting the reaper. Finding my way as an outlaw. It
was all I had in life. I almost lost my edge but I saved it. That’s when a car
flew up on me and hit me. On purpose. Shattered my leg. They roughed me up. Two
men. They were clearly after the MC. I tried to fight back but they ended up
shooting me. Killing me… or they thought.”

“You were shot?” she asked.

I turned and showed her my back.
There was a scar from the bullet hole and from the surgery that followed.

“Holy shit,” Ava said.

She touched my back. Goddamn if it
didn’t send chills down my back. It made me shiver, made my balls tighten, and
made my dick jump. I wanted to fuck her again. Right now.

I turned to face the bed again.

“I was lucky,” I said. “The guy
that shot me was an idiot. I had to go through an intense surgery. My leather
cut and knife actually saved my ass. Where everything was positioned at that
exact moment helped to save me. I got out of surgery, talked to the club, gave
up everything about the two guys, and we got the guy that shot me.”

“Did you hurt him?” Ava asked.

“The day I got out of the hospital,”
I said. “They took me to a small garage. I thought for a second they were going
to do me in. Instead, they had the guy in a chair. And a gun on a table. It was
my initiation. To prove I could do what needed to be done. So I did.”

I saw the look on Ava’s face. The
realization that she had just slept with a killer.

“And the other guy?” she asked.

“Never got him. But we sent our
message. And I got my leather cut. I was patched in. So to me I’ll never forget
that night. The night I was attacked. July 27th.” I swallowed hard. “Get some
sleep, sweetie.”

I started to lean in but stopped
myself. I couldn’t kiss her goodnight. I couldn’t go over the line.

So I hurried to stand and walk
away, my dick swaying back and forth.

“I think I figured it out,” Ava
said.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Our connection.”

“Oh?”

Ava smiled from the bed as I stood
in the doorway. “Yeah. July 27th.”

“What about?”

“That was the night you almost
died. That was the same date my mother was murdered.”

I didn’t say anything to that. I
didn’t play the fate game or any of that bullshit.

But it did stick with me.

It stuck with me when I climbed
into the shower. It stuck with me as I dropped Ava’s soaking wet clothing out
of the shower. It stuck with me as I cleaned myself up.

And then it hit me. Bad.

July 27th.

The same date… that was
coincidence.

But there was one question I didn’t
ask.

What year?

I met up with the undercover cop
and took off my sunglasses. Jeff was a sly prick, the jackass high school football
star who dreamt big but came up short. So now he enjoyed life as a cop for
Bishop - and the county - normally riding undercover and busting up anyone he
wanted. His IA record was as thick as my dick and he had no signs of slowing
down.

Jeff also had a thing for nose
candy and strippers. His paycheck couldn’t cover that which was why he became a
close friend to the MC.

I threw him a few bills and he
nodded to me as he stuck them into his pocket.

“What do you have for me?” I asked.

“A rough night,” Jeff said.

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“I pulled those reports you wanted.
Record of your incident. Funny how nobody was ever brought in for questioning
on it. Looks like they cared for about three seconds.”

“That’s how you guys tend to treat
us wild outlaws.”

Jeff laughed. “Yeah, right. Okay,
so that same night, there was a little list of bullshit crime. All around the
outside of Bishop. Break ins. Windows smashed in. Little shit. But there was
one big one. Here you go.”

Jeff took out a piece of paper and
unfolded it.

Shit, it wasn’t a police report. I
didn’t need that. It was the fucking headline of the local paper.

GROCERY STORE OWNER GUNNED DOWN

“Holy shit,” I whispered.

“I remember that one,” Jeff said. “I
was just on the force when it went down. The roof to that store was leaking and
she was there mopping up the mess. Never understood why her husband wasn’t
there though. I thought set up but I had no pull in the case. So she was there
mopping and someone came in and just…”

I shook my head.

It was fucking Ava’s mother. A
picture of her, black and white, and I could see the resemblance. Shit, Ava’s
father was in the paper. Even Ava’s name was mentioned twice.

“Here’s the thing,” Jeff said, “there’s
something on the police report.”

“What?” I asked.

“You know it went unsolved, right?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Okay. The police had no idea what
to think or do. It was straight up murder. They went after you guys but the
footprints never made sense to them. The floor was wet, right? Whatever she had
in the bucket left a little streak on the floor. Shit, Jace, this was before
the crazy forensics we have now. But they came up with one thing that made
sense.”

“Which is what?”

“There were two men there that
night,” Jeff said. “The police tried to keep that hidden. Because it got even
deeper.”

“How so, Jeff?”

Jeff rubbed his nose. “You asked for
reports. I gave them.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I
growled.

I reached into the car and grabbed
him. I pulled him through the driver’s window and threw him to the ground. One
kick to the stomach and he was waving his hands, giving up.

“Fine! Fine!” he yelled.

“What else do you know?”

“The notes were lost,” Jeff said. “Or
destroyed on purpose. Whatever. The case was let go because one of the guys… fuck.”

“What?”

“One of the footprints matched a
body that was found a month later. Way up in the mountains though.”

I felt my heart sink. I felt like I
could throw up right there on the spot.

Instead, I backed up and took
another bill out of my pocket. I dropped it down to Jeff and climbed on my
motorcycle.

“Call me anytime!” he yelled over
my thundering motor.

I peeled away, kicking rock and
dust into Jeff’s face as I sped away.

Shit was starting to fall in place,
and not in the way I had hoped it would.

Yeah, Ava was fucking right. We
were fucking connected.

The guys that attacked me all those
years ago were the same guys that killed her mother. On the same fucking night.

But why?

chapter twenty-one

(ava)

*THEN*

Dad held me on his lap. He was
hugging me, smiling as he told me a story of when I was little girl and I would
make him dress up to be part of my tea parties. His eyes glistened like he was
going to cry but he didn’t.

I was twenty years old and too old
to be sitting on his lap.

But he insisted.

“I want to talk to you,” he said to
me.

“I’m going to stand up first,” I
said. “You’re sweaty.”

I stood and looked at him. He
looked ready to pass out.

“Is it your heart?” I asked.

He patted his pocket. “I have my
magic pills. Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. I want to talk to you about me going
away.”

“What?”

“Listen to me. Sometimes things
happen in life. It’s hard to explain. Okay? But if I ever have to disappear for
a little while I need you to just stay calm. Do not call the police, okay? My
job…” Dad looked away for a second. “Ava, sometimes things go bad and I have to
hide.”

“At the store?”

“Yes. Sometimes with Uncle Frank,
we have to take rides. Meetings. Stuff like that. But I can’t give information
about it. It’s almost like spying. It’s actually kind of fun.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

There was a knock at the door. “I
have to go now. I don’t know when I’ll be back. Okay? You’re in charge of the
store. Remember, Ava, no police.” Dad stood up and waved a finger at me. “Trust
that I’ll be okay.”

“Are you okay?” I asked, my heart
pounding.

“I’ll be okay,” he said. “I just
don’t want you to worry. You’re safe right now.”

Dad hugged me. I felt the pill
bottle in his chest pocket press against me. He broke away and walked away.

“Dad!” I yelled. “Please tell me…”

“Just think of your mother,” Dad
said. “I have to make this thing work. For all of us. It’s going to be just
fine.”

Dad started to whistle as he walked
to the door.

When he opened it, I heard Uncle
Frank ask, “She okay in there?”

“She’s fine.”

“Good. We don’t have time. Glen is
going to fucking lose his shit soon.”

The door shut and I stood there,
empty and shocked.

One question burned in my mind.

Who the fuck was Glen?

chapter twenty-two

(ava)

*NOW*

It was my turn to make breakfast. I
had quickly adjusted to Jace’s schedule. His morning didn’t start until after
noon. His nights were long and sometimes, we saw the sun come up before we went
to sleep.

Something about him was off. More
off than normal.

The MC was going to go crazy trying
to find my father and Uncle Frank. I met with them and they asked if I would be
a decoy and I said yes. I would do anything to help find my father and help to
prove myself to the club. I could tell a lot of the guys didn’t trust me.

Dad had come and gone so many times
it wasn’t all that new to me. Sometimes it was a day, sometimes a week. Once he
was gone for a month.

I flipped the pancakes and they
sizzled on the griddle.

That’s when the outlaw came walking
from the bedroom, no shirt on, baggy shorts on, looking like he had just walked
out of my wet dream.

My nipples started to get hard and
I knew they would be visible pressing against my shirt. We had fooled around in
his bed and mine but we never took the plunge to sleep all night in one bed. To
me, Jace had set a boundary and I was okay with respecting it.

“Morning,” I said. “Hungry?”

Jace walked right to me and grabbed
the spatula from my hand. He threw it into the sink. He then grabbed the plug
and tore it from the socket, sending a flash of blue sparks. His hands grabbed
my pants and he lifted me up on the counter. Our breaths were instantly
intertwined, the awkwardness of morning breath, but both of us not giving a shit
about that.

“I’m fucking starving,” Jace said
in a rough voice. “
And you look fucking delicious.
”

My bare ass was on the counter, my
legs wrapped around Jace’s neck. His tongue lapped up and down between my legs,
devouring my pussy like it was his last meal. He worked my clit like magic,
suckling on it, bringing me to the edge of the counter, then backing off, just
enjoying me. He was fucking with me and I was perfectly fine with it.

His hands were up my shirt, cupping
my breasts, his fingers taking turns sliding across my nipples.

I had never been touched like this
before. Just tossed around and pleasured. Made to feel wanted. Made to feel
beautiful. That’s what he did to me and for me.

The tip of his tongue flickered
against my clit again and that was it. He stayed right there and pounded at me,
letting the wet flickers echoed through the kitchen. They were only matched by
sounds of my groans as I reached climax.

The second I started to come, his
mouth latched to my pussy, sucking all the fresh wetness.

I was his morning fruit and he was
going to be loaded up for the entire fucking day.

He savored my body like no man came
close to doing. I leaned back against the cabinet, my left hand holding the
edge of the counter tight, my right hand grabbing at his hair. I stared down
and watched his tongue lapping against me, still going, even as my body couldn’t
contain itself as I thrust forward, greedily demanding more of him.

Jace stayed right there with me.

When I started to calm, his mouth
moved over me again, engulfing me. He then slowly kissed up over my mound and
to my stomach. Using his nose, he started to lift my shirt. It was super sexy
and sort of cute. Watching this outlaw nudge my shirt with his nose.

He pulled away and stood up.

“I didn't get my morning kiss yet,”
he whispered. “Well, not from your other set of lips, sweetie.”

Before I could say a word, Jace
planted his lips to mine. It was a jarring and daring move. He outdid himself a
second later, thrusting his tongue in my mouth. I couldn’t contain myself as I
kissed him. I tasted my own cum, my own unique flavor.

I had never tasted myself
before.

I tingled head to toe, my toes
curling tight.

Jace slipped a hand between my legs
and rubbed my pussy.

He broke the kiss. “You’re still
wet, sweetie.”

“Yes,” I groaned. “For you, I’m
always wet, Jace.”

“Goddamn, I love hearing that from
your sweet mouth. I love…”

Jace’s eyes met mine.

All I could see were his eyes
screaming
too soon
.

But that didn’t mean our moment was
through.

Jace pulled me off the counter.

He placed my hand between his
legs.