Page 24 of Fear the Reapers
“What are you dickheads looking at?” I asked, my curiosity perking up my senses.
“Our new pet.” Ezra mumbled, with his eyes staring daggers towards the bar.
Shit,I had been so caught up with thoughts of Stevie and finding out what happened; I had completely forgotten about the girl. I wanted nothing to do with her, but who was I to stop my baby brothers from having a little fun and reaping some benefits of our business.
Following their gaze, my eyes froze on the familiar silhouette I dreamt about almost every night.Was I hallucinating again?She was leaning against the bar, looking very fucking real, and pounding back a Hellhound, Jessie’s signature cocktail of vodka, grapefruit juice, and grenadine. By the looks of it, she’d already thrown back at least four and her movements were becoming a little sloppy.
Shooting out of my seat, I reached the bar within five long strides and latched onto her arm without thinking.
“Ouch! What the fuck?” She screamed, pulling her arm away and causing every eye in the room to stare at us.
I gave her a blank stare, hyper aware of the audience surrounding us. My expression was completely void of the emotions that were warring inside of my head. It wasn’t safe for her to be here. But before I could do anything about it, I needed to get the curious eyes off of us.
“My apologies,” I said, loud enough for everyone to hear, “I thought you were someone else. Here, let me buy you a drink.”
She gave me an icy glare as I took the empty seat next to her.
“What are you doing here?” I hissed, slowly losing the little control I had left.
I kept my eyes locked on the bartenders as I waited for an answer. We didn’t need anymore attention directed our way.
“Wow.” She mumbled, turning her body back towards the new bartender that still hadn’t made himself scarce.
Jessie obviously hadn’t given him the rundown of who his new bosses were. If she had, he’d know to stay far the fuck away from my conversations. Yet there he stood, like an overeager puppy dying for attention.
Anger boiled beneath my skin as I watched him hand her a fresh glass of liquor that she didn’t fucking need. Stevie placed her hand on his, thanking him for the drink, and the stupid blonde pretty-boy motherfucker actually smiled at her.
“Are you going to answer me?” I asked, painfully gritting my teeth. I needed to get her out of here. The lack of sleep was affecting my control, and I was one wrong move from blowing the fuck up and putting her in even more danger.
“Atlas,” she said cooly, “you can stop pretending. I’ve heard everything there is to know about you and your brothers.”
She used my actual name and the realization of what she must have heard hit me.Fuck.I should have corrected her two years ago when she started calling me DC, but a part of me enjoyed the anonymity of it and I liked our inside joke.
“Let’s go.” I said, readying myself to pull out her chair.
“No,” she hissed under her breath, “I still have my freewill.”
What the fuck was she talking about?
“Jacob,” she called out after downing the rest of her drink in one gulp, “another one pretty please.” She said, flashing him an obnoxious grin.
He was obviously not the smartest tool in the shed. The pretty boy began making her another drink, completely oblivious to the tension mounting between her and I. At least we’d never have to worry about the poor fuck eavesdropping. He was dumber than dirt.
“Jason,” I called out, waving him towards us. “If you serve her another drink,” I hissed, “I will cut off your balls and serve them as olives in your fucking martini. Understand?”
“It’s Jacob.” He mumbled under his breath before finally finding some fucking common sense and moving towards the other end of the bar.
“You know, you’re being a real ass, DC.” Stevie huffed, piercing her eyes at me.
“It’s Atlas.” I spat through gritted teeth as I pulled her closer. “Now what the hell are you talking about?”
“Please don’t act like you’re innocent in all of this.” She said, shaking her head at me, “Let me guess, your brothers made the deal with Malcolm? You had nothing to do with it, right?” She asked, her tone doused in sarcasm.
Malcolm? Why did the name sound so familiar?
Shit.The girl.Malcolm’s girl.
“Get up. Now.” I ordered, pulling her out of her seat.
