Page 73 of Cutter's Hope

“Now who is gonna tattle on who?” I asked. She blushed and bit her lower lip, and I could tell the prospect excited her. Yep. She and Reave were doing just fine. A weight, a worry I hadn’t known I was carrying lifted at that. She was okay. Reave was okay.

Good. I was glad for that. I really was. Now I just needed Hope to be alright and if that went down like it was supposed to, well then I would be right as rain. I really was in love with the bitch. Hopelessly in love with Hope. I smiled, it had a nice ring to it.

35

Hope…

I wanted a cigarette. I hadn’t smoked in years but I wanted a fucking cigarette so bad right now. I lifted my glass and took a drink, sniffed and set it back down. I was pretty much done drowning my sorrows but didn’t have any place to go just yet so I figured I would knock back a few more and maybe if I got lucky something would present itself. I wasn’t exactly a stranger to picking up men in bars… except I didn’t want that anymore. I wasn’t up for a one night stand. I’d had a taste of something better, and I just wanted him now… except now I wasn’t sure he would want me.

“Have another?” I asked dully.

A blur of light denim, black leather and beneath that, white cotton dropped onto the barstool beside me. I looked over at ol’ blue eyes from Cutter’s boat that morning.

“Think you’ve had enough,” the bartender said looking me over.

“I’m inclined to agree but go ahead and give her one more, I got this,” Ol’ Blue Eyes winked at me and I huffed a half assed snarky laugh.

“Ohhh you couldn’t handle me. Trust me, Baby Cakes,” I said.

“You got someone who can though, don’t you?” he asked and smoothed his hair down in front, so it formed a point between his eyes. It was a style that worked for him. Easy to manage but made him look real nonconformist and badass… of course the raggedy assed leather vest… excuse me,cut, he had on went a long way to perpetuate that image.

“Seems that guy can handle a lot of women, doesn’t it?” I asked him and nodded to the bartender who set a fresh Cosmo in front of me. I took a sip. Ol’ Blue Eyes smiled a crooked panty dropping grin at me which did absolutely nothing for my lady bits whatsoever.

“Reaver,” he said ignoring my barb completely and he stuck out his hand before following up with, “Reaver Michaels.”

“What is it with you guys and the juvenile,” I frowned my brain catching up, “Wait, I thought bikers didn’t do last names.”

He was shaking my casted hand and I didn’t remember giving it to him. He let me have it back, again with that grin, his sky blue eyes sparkling.

“It’s my name. Well the Reaver part wasn’t always, neither was the Michaels part. I took my road name and my wife’s last name when we got married. You met her this morning.”

I narrowed my eyes, it was taking way too much fucking brainpower for me to work that one out. I was fucking lit and I knew it. The nice part about being this lit is the rest of it was dulled, the ache was still there but it was less sharp, less raw.

“How about this, Princess? I’m going to tell you a story. You just sit back and enjoy your drink and have a listen.” He looked me over and that’s when I saw it. Sliding behind his eyes. He really needed me to listen, I just didn’t know if I had it in me to carry any more people today. I sighed. Why the fuck not? I was pretty good at being some kind of big damned hero lately.

“Shoot,” I told him and waved him on. If he was talking, then I didn’t have to, which was probably a good thing.

“So I’m at this wedding, the girl getting married? My wife. Except she was marrying this total douchebag and I was gonna let her.”

“You’re joking right?”

“Don’t interrupt.”

I put up my hands and leaned back, I wasn’t sure I was drunk enough for this, but he was continuing on, “I lucked out, and I know it’s a shitty thing to say, but I did. The douchebag dumped her at the alter.”

“Shit, that sucks…”

“Don’t interrupt,” he said.

“Sorry, except, you know, I’m not.” I giggled. For some reason I thought that was hysterical. He grinned too, and shook his head and kept talking anyways.

“So I put her on the back of my bike and took her to her honeymoon destination, figured she needed the dust to settle and the vacation was already paid for, so what the fuck? Why not right?”

He paused so I figured it was okay to speak, “Lemme guess, destination here?”

“Destination here,” he said with a smile. Let me tell you something, for a guy I didn’t know, Reaver told me a lot of shit. Enlightening shit…

“You did what?” I asked abruptly, I wanted to make sure I’d heard him right.

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