Page 50 of Fearless
We took off our blood-soaked shoes before stepping into what felt like an empty house. Reaper had left his own bloody boots by the front door, but was otherwise nowhere to be seen.
“Reaper?” I called, my voice echoing against the high, vaulted ceiling. Then I tried, “Hades?”
A soft bark floated down from the second level. Jandro and I took the stairs together, following the sound toward Reaper’s bedroom.
“Hey, boy.” I kneeled to greet Hades, guarding outside the door like a loyal sentry. “How’s our human, huh?”
His fur was wet when I pet him, but not with blood. Jandro leaned down over us and took a small sniff.
“I think Reap gave him a shower. He’s as fresh as a daisy.”
“I bet you’re right.” I stroked over the handsome Doberman’s ears and scratched down his neck. “Can we check on your master? Huh?”
Hades licked my cheek and stretched his front legs out on the floor until he was lying on his belly. As if he understood my question, he tilted his head toward the door as if to say,you may proceed.
“That dog freaks me the hell out sometimes,” Jandro muttered as he followed me through the door. “You ever seen how fast he runs next to the bikes too? It’s unreal.”
“Yeah.” I stole a glance back at the dog, looking as proud and regal as a sphynx with his front paws crossed in front of him and his ears straight up in the air. I wondered how much Jandro knew about his special abilities, including how fast he healed from the shrapnel wound. “He’s something special.”
We found Reaper sitting on the edge of the bed, naked except for a towel wrapped around his waist. Water droplets still hung off the tips of his hair from his shower. His skin looked red and scratched on some parts of his arms and back, like he turned the water on to a scalding temperature and scrubbed vigorously to get the blood off.
Or to scrub away what he did to a man he once called a brother.
“Reaper?” I took a few steps toward him, but Jandro caught my wrist to hold me back.
“Reap,” he called out. “It’s Mari and Jandro.”
His elbows on his knees, Reaper’s head turned slowly to look at us. “I haven’t gone deaf or blind in the last ten minutes, so I dunno why the fuck you’re acting so squirrelly.”
I wrenched my arm out of Jandro’s grip and went to kneel on the floor in front of my first lover. “Let me see your eyes.” I didn’t wait for him to comply, but took his hands away from his jaw and pulled back his eyelids myself.
“Sugar, what are you doing?”
“Checking to see if you’re in shock.”
His pupils looked normal. Next I pressed two fingers to his pulse and flattened my palm against his chest. His pulse was elevated slightly, but at normal strength. And his skin was warm from the shower, not cold or clammy with sweat.
“Do you feel lightheaded?” I asked him. “Dizzy? Nauseous?”
“No to all of the above.”
“Good.” I lowered my hands to his towel-covered knees. “So you’re fine.”
He glanced up at Jandro, then covered my hands with his before looking back at me. “Honestly, I wasn’t. Not until you two came up.”
“Why?” Jandro remained standing at the far edge of the bed, arms crossed and brow furrowed with concern.
“I can’t—“ Reaper cut himself off, seeming to look past Jandro toward Hades on the other side of the door. “I can’t do that again. I can kill a hundred men in a day if necessary, but…not like that.”
“I don’t think you’ll have to,” Jandro assured him. “No one’s gonna forget that for a long time. You got the message across, now Gunner’s men are handling the body.”
I ran my fingers over his palms, trailing up over his wrists and to his forearms. “It’s over now. You did what you set out to do, for the good of your club.” My mouth lifted toward his. “And I’m proud of you, President.”
“Sugar,” he said in a strained whisper. “I found my strength in you out there. I’ve never been so glad to find a woman who doesn’t faint at the sight of blood.”
“I’ll always support you.” I rose to my feet, intending to sit next to him on the bed, but his hands closed around my upper arms and he pulled me straight into his chest.
“Don’t stop touching me like that,” he pleaded. “Only the wayyoulook at me makes me feel like a man and not a monster.”
