Page 98 of Resurfaced Passion

“Snake said Paige was here.” She heard in his gruff voice.

“She sure is, come on in. Is my hubby with you?”

“He was dropping off at the club first.”

Drawn to him by an invisible thread, Paige moved across the kitchen floor, a smile on her face until she was standing toe-to-toe with the man who made her belly do funny flops at the sight of him.

It was instinctual to lift her face for a kiss and he didn’t hesitate in dropping a soft one on her lips. “Hi,” she beamed.

“Came to take you home if you’re ready.”

They passed by Snake driving up the street, both men lifting their hands to each other as Paige held onto Reaper’s waist. It was maybe a third of the way home that made Paige think something was wrong when she felt Reaper jerk against her touch as she slid her hands along his waist. Call it a hunch or women’s intuition but when she climbed off the back of his motorcycle she stopped him by touching his arm before he could walk her up the stairs to her apartment. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you lying to me?”

“Paige. Let’s get inside, it’s cold.”

It wasn’t cold. It was a comfortable summers evening; she could have traveled home without a jacket and not felt a chill.

Going with her instincts, Paige reached out and pressed the flat of her fingers against his ribs. He hissed and arched away from her touch.

She lost color from her face. “What’s wrong, are you hurt?”

He favored his right side with his arm and watching him warily she had no choice but to follow him up the stairs because he’d taken off in front of her with her keys in his hand. “Are you going to answer me?”

The outside light above her door illuminated his face. “I’m fine, Paige.”

She prodded his side again and this time his hiss sounded like a cobra in agony. So much so she stopped him from taking another step and yanked up the hem of his Henley shirt.

What she saw nearly buckled Paige’s knees out from under her as her mouth filled with spit in that way it does when she was about to throw up. “Tell me you didn’t have a fight in that cage tonight!”

“I didn’t.” he answered toneless, shrugged off his coat like it was no big fucking deal to him that half of his right side was a horrible purple color.

“So this is from?”

“There was an incident earlier, I got jumped. It’s nothing, Paige. I’m fine, really.”

He got fucking jumped?

Knowing the answer didn’t make her feel better at all but it was all the answers he would give her after that. Even when she tried to look at it closer to see if it needed medical treatment, he wouldn’t tell her what happened or why.

She slammed the bathroom door behind her, equally fuming as she was worried while she vigorously brushed her teeth and yanked on her sleep shorts.

Reaper was on the other side of the door frowning when she finally wrenched it open. He’d been sleeping naked, but he stood in just his shorts and a t-shirt, probably so she couldn’t see his bruising, which only stoked her temper even more; she slid by him and sat on the side of the bed to brush her hair before tying it in a side braid.

“Are you gonna be mad at me forever?”

“I’m thinking about it.” She snapped.

“Baby, I’m fine, really. Shit happens. I got my licks in too.”

She glared. Like that even mattered. Couldn’t he see how worried she was? And he’d intended to keep it a secret from her…

She climbed into bed and lay on her side. Reaper soon joined her and didn’t give her space. He smashed up to her back, arms around her waist and she sank back into him. He flipped off the lamp, sending them into darkness.

“I don’t like secrets, Reaper, and this was a biggie. You being hurt hurts me. Not knowing about it, hurts me.”

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