Page 192 of Reaper
“Awww, that’s so sweet of them to carry on their moms’ names as their daughters’ middle names,” Lark says quietly as she dabs at her eyes.
“Can we see them?” Mae asks and both Thor and Dragon nod.
“Yeah, but Wildcat is understandably pretty spent, so just a quick visit for now. Longer visits can happen once she’s had some rest.”
We all take turns, though all of the women hold back, letting the guys go first. It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask why they didn’t want to go first, but I suspect it’s because they all want to hold them and their visits will take a bit longer than the rest of the guys’.
Finally, it’s our turn to go in and see Half-pint and the girls.
“Awww, they are just precious,” Lark coos as she bends over the bassinet holding Adrianna per the name card on the front of it.
“You can hold them,” Half-pint tells her as she sits up a bit more in bed. She tries to hide her wince and her cheeks flare red when she notices I saw it. “How was the ride over?” she asks me and then her face hardens when she sees my expression.
“What happened?”
I grit my teeth and notice Lark’s muscles visibly tighten for a moment before she forces them to relax since she now has Adrianna snuggled in her arms.
“Reaper, can you grab my phone out of my pocket?” Lark asks me as she turns her back to me.
I do as she asks, unlocking it and bringing up the text thread before handing the phone to Levi. Both Thor and Dragon peer over her shoulder and read the texts.
“Minutes after the fourth one came through, we got an alert on our phones of a fire at the tavern. The fire department got it put out before it could get out of hand, but most of Lark’s office will need to be replaced,” I tell them.
“I think I’m gonna ask Smithy if he can make my next desk out of metal and use fireproof drawers or safes as my ‘desk drawers’,” Lark mumbles as she sits down in the chair and rocks Adrianna. Thor walks over to Olivia, picks her up, and walks back over to Lark. She holds out her other arm and nestles Olivia in close.
“Thank you,” she whispers and thankfully, he says nothing about the unshed tears in her eyes that she’s desperately trying to blink away.
“Do you need us to send some guys to Junction Creek with you?” Thor asks and I pause, not having thought to ask about that yet. Thor chuckles and clasps my shoulder. “Brother, you and your club have helped ours repeatedly. It’s the least we can do to start repaying you. I’ll message Phoenix to talk to everyone and see who all we can spare. If need be, we can switch people out after a week or so.”
“Thank you, Brother.”
His lips twitch in a half smile and tension leeches out of my shoulders. Now all we have to do is figure out our next step.
Lark’s gaze locks with mine, and I can tell she wants to suggest something but isn’t sure if she should.
“What is it, Darlin’?”
She chews on her lip as she looks around the room at Thor, Dragon, and Half-pint before it settles on me again.
“I think we need to pay Zac a little visit at his house. Something is still telling me he’s involved, and if he is, then there has to be some clue there.”
I grin and share a look with the others. “Looks like we’re going hunting.”
We stayed for another half-hour, ironing out the plan for who all will go with us as well as what our next steps are going to be.
I look down at Olivia in my arms and longing once again hits me hard. I hope like hell Lark and I are able to start a family of our own soon. I carefully lay her down in her bassinet, relieved when she doesn’t wake back up.
“You did good, Half-pint,” I tell her as I walk over to her and hug her.
“Thanks, Andre. You know you guys are always welcome to come and visit anytime. Once the girls are a bit older, we’ll start making trips out to see you guys again as well.” She pauses as she gives me a bit of a squeeze before she lets me go. “And keep us posted on this stalker asshole. Lark’s right. If that Zac is involved, there has to be some sort of a clue at his house. Fuck, I wouldn’t put it past the guy to have a shrine of you somewhere.”
Lark visibly shudders at that before hugging Half-pint. “I hope that’s not the case but that would let us know for sure if he’s in on it.”
“Ryder, Smoke, Gunner, Axe, Timber, and Patch are able to head out with you guys today. Smoke also told me to let you know he’s got the supplies for giving you guys the trackers under your skin. Everyone in our club now has it and I think it would be a good idea for your club to get it too. Smoke has all the bugs ironed out, so we’ll be letting the other chapters know about it as well.”
I give him a chin lift. “We’ll stop at the club house and get it done. I’ll talk to the guys but I don’t think they’ll put up an objection.”
After saying our goodbyes, we head out to the waiting room. To my surprise, I see the rest of my club still in the waiting room.
