Page 4 of Reaper and Abby

“Kim, do you want the flaxseed oil in yours?” I asked. Flaxseed was meant to help with body’s immune system. Not that Kim needed it, she just liked the taste.

“Sure.”

My eyes snapped up at her one word. She knew something was wrong between Reaper and I. Her eyes were on Reaper, then she glanced at me.

“You know what, I might hurry those teenagers along.” Very smoothly, stir-fry, she excused herself from the thick tensioned air that had engulfed the room when Reaper walked into it.

I turned the heat down on the stir fry, expecting Reaper to start an argument as soon as Kim disappeared up the stairs. No point ruining dinner. At least I could serve it up while he yells at me for being out of line.

But a few minutes had passed, and he had said nothing.

“I was expecting one of your teenage fits and you running back to your father.” He broke the ice between us. “In fact, I’m surprised you are still here.”

There was genuine surprise in his voice. But it didn’t make me look up at him. Instead, I turned and went to the cupboard, getting out the plates.

I heard him sigh behind me. “So I’m getting the silent treatment?”

Did he really think I was that immature? I was a fucking adult with three children depending on me! Did he think I had time for pathetic games like that? I wasn’t a teenager anymore, and I had three children who woke up every day needing me.

“Are you here for dinner?” I spoke to him. I wasn’t rude. I wasn’t even cold. I just asked a question.

“Yes.”

That shocked me and made me turn around to look at him.

“You are?”

I could see his expression now. It was tight and told me. We would be arguing later tonight because he was planning on pulling me back into line. It was funny really. I went to him to help pull Tyson back into line and in the end, Reaper would be pulling me in line.

I nodded my head and just left it at that. I had nothing else I wanted to say to him.

My phone buzzed on the island and he saw whoever it was before me. His expression hardening, then his eyes going to me. “And here I was praising you for not going to your father.” He then threw the phone at me.

I caught it, and while Reaper had immediately assumed it was about what happened with Callan, he was wrong. I opened the message and threw it back at him.

“Dad just asked if there was a spare plate. Tell him there is,” I saw his eyes ran over the messages from my dad. Maybe just to confirm that I hadn’t turned to my father. Like he just accused me of.

Dad and mines relationship was estranged. Something was causing him to pull away from me and my family.

I turned my back to Reaper and began to get the glass cups out of the cupboard and set the table on autopilot. Reaper didn’t say a word. What was there to say, Reaper still thought I’d act like a sixteen-year-old when we had a fight. Truth was, maybe he still saw me as immature because he wasn’t around when I was making the decisions that were shaping my family, or should I say, our family.

3

REAPER

Abby didn’t say a word to me as soon as dinner was served. I tried to help her with it, but I realized I was just in her way. She had a routine when it came to dinner and I wasn’t included in that routine. Sitting at the head of the table, I felt like an outsider to my own family.

Roach pulled up in our driveway in a taxi within five minutes of me sending that message. I noticed how Abby greeted him outside and paid the driver.

“So, Dad, when do you get your license back? I’m surprised you actually stayed off the road this time.” Kim asked her old man, while pouring extra of that awful oil she lives on, onto her salad.

Wait. Roach didn’t have a license?

“Can’t afford to get caught again. Abby put her name down, and I ain’t getting her in trouble.” Roach stabbed a piece of meat. “Nothing wrong with public transport.”

I looked from Roach to Abby; she hadn’t mentioned any of this to me. While I might be looking at Abby, she was looking directly at Tyson. She lowered her fork down.

“Tyson. . .” Abby said with a threatening tone. My eyes flashed to Tyson, who was looking at Hannah with a mocking expression. “If you don’t tell me where you would put Hannah’s tablet, I promise you, that every piece of your technology will go missing as well.”

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