Page 58 of Reaper's Rival

“No.”

“Why?” I wanted her to open up. I needed to know why she was doubting herself.

She sighed. “If I tell you I’ll think about it some more, will that do? I’m really tired, Kade.” She didn’t want to fight with me. And as much as I wanted answers from her. I knew she wasn’t ready to give them. So I’d settle.

“Fine.” I got up, taking my hands off her. I thought not touching her was bad, but just a small touch of her made me feel alive again. “Don’t do anything without talking to me first, at least?”

She nodded her head.

“Do you need a hand to clear a space for you to sleep?” I looked at her bed.

“No, it’s fine.”

“Abby, you really shouldn’t be lifting all this crap around.”

“It will be gone in a couple of days.” She yawned and stood up. “God, I’m cold.” She started picking AKs up.

“Do you want me to turn on the heater?”

She turned, looking at me, as if I had transformed into someone else. “Why are you being so nice?”

It was my turn to shrug my shoulders.

“Don’t deserve it,” she muttered to herself, putting the guns down on the floor.

I walked to her side and started collecting the ammo. She had enough here to start a small war. What was Daniels thinking, letting Abby handle these weapons?

I dumped the ammo on her couch and turned on her heater even though she didn’t ask me to. I watched her shiver and reach around to her back, pulling down the zipper.

“Why are you so wet?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking.

“Had to walk.”

“In the rain?” You had to be fucking with me.

She nodded her head.

“Doesn’t that boyfriend of yours have a fucking car?”

“He did.” She turned and grinned at me. “Till I shot it up.” She looked rather pleased with herself.

So that’s what she meant when she said he knew the guns worked.

“Not a very nice thing to do to your boyfriend,” I pointed out as she pulled the dress off. I hated saying it out loud, that word - boyfriend. Her boyfriend. And it wasn’t fucking me. And I took a sharp breath in seeing her in her underwear, with the most perfect tiny round stomach. I did that.

She turned her back to me and pulled the blankets back, and that’s when I caught sight of something on her shoulder.

“What’s that?” I asked, walking toward her.

She spun around quickly, her eyes going wide. “Nothing.” She was backing away from me, looking terrified.

“You didn’t get their mark again, did you?” Surely she wouldn’t make the same mistake. But I had caught a glance of it, it was definitely a tattoo.

She backed away from me till she backed into her bedside table, causing her attention to drop from me for a second, which was all I needed. One hand gripped her shoulder, my other hand gripped her waist and forced her to turn around.

Four letters. Shouldn’t be a big deal. But I froze as soon as I saw them.

Kade

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