Page 27 of Devil to Pay: Cutter

“Let me make a call. I think Dusty is looking for a new receptionist. Nurse Betty usually does the check-ins, but the practice has gotten way busier in the last year. Betty has to do whatever shit nurses do in an office while Dusty is seeing patients.”

“Dusty? She’s the physician’s assistant, right? Isn’t she with one of your brothers?”

“Reaper.”

“With our history, do you really think he’ll let her hire me? None of them trust me. It’s my fault for taking your money, but they don’t seem to care why I did it, just that I did it.”

“Lord help Reaper the day he decides to try to tell Dusty Brand how to run her practice. The man’ll spend the rest of his life as a eunuch.”

I laugh at the image dancing through my head. I think a eunuch biker is the antithesis of bikerdom.

“Listen…” Cutter rolls over onto his stomach, resting his chin partially on his hand and partially on my arm. “Dusty will meet you. That, I can be sure of. I don’t know if she’ll hire you or not. That’s between the two of you, but I know she’ll meet with you.”

“Thank you. I mean that.”

He drops his face to his arm, concealing his eyes, and sighs heavily. When he lifts his head again to look at me, a very somber feeling takes up residence in the bed with us. “You going to tell me what had you on the run the night we met?”

Why did I even attempt to believe he would let that go? “Are you prepared for me to leave, then?”

“No. Why would you leave?”

“Because what I have to say—it’s not good.”

“Baby—”

“What did I say about calling me that?”

“I’m not going to fucking stop calling you that because that’s who you are to me.”

“We’re—”

“Together,” he says, cutting me off. “We started as one thing, but it’s more now. Don’t deny it. I want you here with me. I want you sleeping in my bed.”

“It’s just the sex.”

“It’s not just the sex and you damn well know it. Aj, you haven’t been off my mind since the night we met. Even when I was hunting you down because you stole from me, what I wanted more than getting my money back was to see you again.”

“But you said—”

“I don’t give two shits about what idiot me said. Being a commitment-phobe is a lot easier than trying to be a standup guy. But it’s time. You leave, I’ll just bring you back because this is where you’re supposed to be.”

“I—”

Cutter dares me to deny him, to deny us with one look and I shake my head, snickering humorlessly because I can’t, but there’s nothing funny about the situation. He’s right. I don’t know if this thing between us will develop into something more. All I know is I like him. I like being around him, I’d even go as far as to say I care about him. But Vlad… the brothers…Gah!This is so bad. Once it’s out there, it’s out there. How do we come back from it?

“I was fleeing the Death Bringers the night you found me.”

His whole frame stiffens. “The fuck? They the ones who hurt you?”

Because that’s not going completely off topic. What does that matter anyway? It’s not like I don’t know what he’s thinking,“Stupid Aja making another bad decision.”He has it written all over his face. I close my eyes, unable to handle his judgment. “I told you that you’d want me gone.”

“What I want is for you to start explaining yourself.”

“After I left Clint, I found a job dancing a pole in Knoxville. I lived in one of those cheap, dirty pay-by-the-week motels, but it was a roof over my head, right? A place to shower. Believe it or not, they even had Wi-Fi. I stayed a couple of years, saving as much money as I could, but when some creepy dude moved into the motel and started giving me serious ‘I’ll break into your room, murder you while you sleep, fuck your dead body then suck on your rigor mortis toes’ vibes, I blew out of Knoxville as fast as possible. I didn’t have a car, so I took the bus to Little Rock, but I didn’t like Little Rock, so I hopped a bus headed for Birmingham. I’d spent about a year in Birmingham when I met Johnny.”

Cutter scoffs.

“Nothing good ever comes from a man named Johnny. I learned that the hard way. Johnny told me I was beautiful. He wanted to be my man and take care of me. It sounded nice. A home, not a motel. Companionship. You don’t have to say anything. I know how stupid I sound.”

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