Page 60 of Powerless
I pressed on his chest with my hands to swing my leg over, wobbling like a newborn giraffe as I grabbed my pants and made my best attempt to insert my legs.
Once dressed, I grabbed my supplies and walked away without a word or even a glance at the man behind me.
Twenty-Two
REAPER
Holy mother of cunt balls, my whole body fucking hurt.
Motorcycle boots were not made for thirteen-mile long walks so not only were my feet killing me, my knees, hips, and back were feeling about eighty years old, too. But I didn’t get any fresh bullet holes or road rash or cactus spines in my dick today, so at least there was an upside.
Hades and I limped home to find Fischlin’s guard on one of my couches, wearing nothing but one ofmypairs of sweatpants and a bag of frozen peas on his shoulder. To add insult to injury, his feet were also propped up onmymahogany coffee table I stole from a governor’s vacation home.
“The fuck you doin’ in my house?” I asked.
“He’s with me.”
The answer came from Noelle, who just emerged from the linen closet with a folded blanket and a pillow.
“Excuse me?” I asked.
“I said, he’s with me.” She dropped the blanket and pillow on the couch next to him, then faced me with her hands on her hips.
Oh hell. I hated when my sister got sassy.
“And what the fuck do you mean by that?”
“You bring home strays, I take care of them. Just the way it’s always been.”
“And you gave himmypants?”
“Well, he won’t fit into mine!”
“Hey, hey, it’s all right.” The guy gave an uneasy smile as he stood up, hands raised in a de-escalating manner. “Reaper, uh, Mr. President, I appreciate you bringing me along with your club after everything that happened. I don’t want to impose so if you’d rather not have me in your house, I can stay somewhere else.”
“No, Larkan, it’s fine,” Noelle insisted. “Reaper’s grumpy as hell on his best days, so he’s bound to be a little moody after his trek through the desert.”
“Noelle,” I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Just…come here a minute.”
I limped over to my study—Goddamn, I was dying to get off my feet—and closed the door after my sister followed me in.
“What the hell is going on?” I asked, folding my arms.
“What? Nothing.” She matched my posture. “It’s like I said. First Hades, then Mari, now Larkan. You bring home strays, I give them a home. Same as always.”
“No,” I shook my head. “This one’s different.”
“What do you mean?” Her voice went a little high on the last word.
“Are you just looking to get laid or is it something more?”
“Reaper!” she growled. “That’s not what this is!”
“Yeah, right. He’s a grown-ass man whose mechanic skills rival Jandro’s and he’s a sharpshooter. We’re gonna integrate him as a prospect and see how he does. He doesn’tneedto be taken care of. But,” I flashed her a taunting smile, “he does have a six-pack and pretty eyes, doesn’t he?”
“Fuck you,” she punched my arm. “Why would I set him up on the couch if I wanted to get laid?”
“Hence the other part of my question. Is it something more?”
