Page 8 of The Reaper
The minute Adam saw me, he barked, “Talk.”
I sat down next to Colton and replayed the night’s events with all the gory details that I knew Adam would want, seeing as he’d missed out. The others occasionally waded in with their comments, and Adam nodded. He knew we’d done the best job we could. Every loose end was tied up, every line of enquiry that the police could make wouldn’t come back on us––I would stake my life on it. The only question we had now was what to do with the girl.
“You did a good job,” Adam announced, furrowing his brow in frustration. “I only wish I could’ve been there to help reinforce the message that nobody fucks with us. Nobody.” He pointed at Tyler and added, “Tomorrow, we go through every member application with a fine-tooth comb. Any discrepancies and they’re out. This never happens again.”
“Damn fucking right it won’t,” Colton replied, taking out a cigarette and sparking it up. He took a long drag and then blew out a cloud of smoke before asking, “What about the girl?”
“Olivia is with her now,” Adam said, taking the seat opposite Colton. “I say we let her sleep it off, then get her home safe tomorrow.”
“And if she wants to go to the police?” Tyler asked, looking around the circle at each one of us.
Adam just shrugged. “We cross that bridge when we come to it.”
“Is Liv going stay with her all night?” I asked, hopeful that he’d say yes. I saw myself as an expert in combat and torture, but emotions and all that other shit didn’t come naturally to me. I could do without facing that part of the job.
But Adam had it all figured out. “Yeah, we thought that’d be best. That way, if she wakes up, she won’t freak out seeing one of our ugly mugs staring at her. Olivia will put her at ease and explain what’s going on.”
“Does Liv know what we’ve done tonight?” Will asked tentatively, and we all turned to look at Adam. No one else had ever been let into our unit quite like Liv had.
“She knows enough,” he stated, not giving anything away.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, boss. I know she’s your girlfriend, but do you trust her to know about stuff like this? Our other business, I mean,” Will ventured bravely. The adrenaline he had coursing through him had obviously given him bigger balls if he was questioning Adam over Liv and what he told her.
Adam’s jaw tensed as he gritted his teeth and took a breath before he answered. “One, its none of your goddamn business, and two, yes, I do trust her. I trust her with my life. You should know that by now after what happened on the roof of the community centre, but that’s beside the point. You shouldn’t need to question me or my decisions. Oh… and three, she isn’t my girlfriend. She’s my wife.”
We all froze, not quite believing what we were hearing.
“Are you fucking joking?” Colton spat, his eyes bugging out of his head.
“No. Why would I joke about that?” Adam narrowed his eyes and stared at Colton. He wasn’t in the mood for him tonight, judging from his surly stare.
“When did this happen? And why didn’t we know about it?” Tyler added.
“A few days ago.” Adam sat back, a hint of a smile appeared on his face before he schooled his expression. “We did it at Sandland Registry Office, and no one knew, not even her friends. We wanted to keep it to ourselves.”
“So romantic.” Colton slapped his hand on his chest for effect.
“Fuck me. Does this mean you’re moving out?” Will asked, cutting right to the chase. “Are you going to get a house with a white picket fence and start popping out kids?”
“It changes nothing,” Adam fired back. “We’re staying here. We have no plans to move out… yet. And as for kids, that’s way off in the future.”
Colton rubbed his chin and smiled. “Fuck me. Never thought I’d see the day when Adam Noble would be talking about having kids.”
“I’m not. That’s the whole fucking point. We’re married and she’s mine. End of.”
We weren’t going to argue with that. And in all honesty, I kind of liked it. I liked Liv. She fitted in.
“Well, now I just feel bad because I didn’t get to buy you a gift or wear a tuxedo,” Colton whined.
“I’m sure you’ll survive,” Adam responded without a hint of humour. “If it bothers you that much, check with Olivia tomorrow. I’m sure she’ll have an idea of something you can buy her.”
I could see Colton’s mind going into overdrive, so I butted in and said, “Congratulations, mate.”
I was pleased for Adam. We all were. At least one of us had a fighting chance at a normal life after everything we’d been through. A rare opportunity to escape the reality of this godforsaken world that, for the most part, had dragged us all down. We were infected by the virus of life, the dirty underbelly that others preferred to ignore. Sworn to do our duty to bring justice at any cost. There was chaos all around us, it consumed us, but we consumed the chaos. We lived for it. It was our purpose.
Settling down?
I doubted that’d ever happen for me. Besides, what would any sane girl see in a killer like me?
