Page 52 of Lawless
"I told her the truth," I admitted. "About why we killed Tom and Liza."
"And?" he inquired. "Did y'all kiss and make up?"
"No."
The only sound that followed was the wind blowing through the canyon.
"But that's what you were hoping would happen," Jandro piped up after a few moments.
"Nah." I sealed up my water and returned it to my saddlebag. "I stopped hoping anything good would come my way years ago."
"Okay, so you didn't want her believing the rumors about you, which is almost the same thing," he concluded. "You want her to know therealyou."
"You overestimate me, Jandro." I threw a leg over my seat and maneuvered my baby back to the road. "All I want is to ride and see another day long enough to smoke a cigar. Pussy's fine, too, but I don't give two shits what a woman thinks of me."
Jandro laughed, shaking his head at the sky as he followed me. "Oh, I know you much better than that, Reap."
* * *
The sightof Mariposa lying on a deck chair next to the pool didn't help to prove my point at all.
"Fuck." I sucked my bottom lip between my teeth and felt all the blood rush to my dick.
She wore one of my sister's bikinis, which honestly fit Mari much better. I didn't know how the fuck women's clothing worked except that the red polka-dotted number accentuated, supported, and highlighted every delectable curve on her body. It was like magic. Or maybe it was just her body that was magical, or the fact that I hadn't fucked anyone in nearly three weeks.
Her lips curved into a smile as she watched Gunner do a flip off the diving board. Lips that I kissed, that tasted sweeter than the wild blackberries I picked as a child.
Jandro punched me in the shoulder, and the resulting grin he shot at me made me want to punch him in the face.
"Getting in?" He was already shrugging off his cut and pulling his T-shirt up. "I bet Hades will love it."
"Nah, later," I said. "I can't think straight around all you fucks."
"Or you're just thinking with the wrong head." His eyes slid appreciatively over Mariposa. "Not that I blame you."
I headed into the main building before he could give me any more shit, Hades loyally trotting at my side. Before I could talk myself out of it, I went up to the smoker's lounge and fished another cigar out of my cut pocket.
I didn't normally have more than one at the end of a long day, but this place seemed to wreak havoc on my nerves. Nothing looked suspicious, so why did I feel the need to look over my shoulder constantly?
Hades guarded the door like usual as I lit up. Daren would have pitched a fit if he knew I was smoking two cigars a day. His sire passed away in his early fifties from esophageal cancer. I was fourteen and Daren was twelve. As the youngest of us, he'd been sheltered from the pile of shit the world was becoming. His sire was the first of my fathers to go, and our lives only descended deeper into the shit pile since then.
"Would you really be so upset if we saw each other again soon?" I said to the empty room. "You're gone because I fucked up. A year later and I'm still willing to trade, if anyone's listening. It should've been me, Daren."
How ironic that I earned the name Reaper and couldn't even bargain for my little brother's death.
Hades' wet nose nudging my hand lifted me out of my guilt, if just for a moment.
"How do you always know, boy?" I scratched his ears as I looked into those deep, soulful eyes. "Whenever I think about him or talk like he's here, you just know."
"Excuse me, sir?"
I looked up, annoyed at the intrusion. In my rush to light up and be alone, I left the door to the lounge open. One of the kitchen girls poked her head through.
"Yes?" I snapped.
"Mr. Fischlin would like a word with you in his office. At your earliest convenience, sir."
"Regarding what?" I demanded. "The gift from yesterday?"
