Fallocaust (The Fallocaust Series) (74 page)

I had my satchel securely on my arm and I let Matt take me to Doc’s clinic. We were almost there when a very pissed off Reaver came storming towards us. His face softened when he saw me though.

“Are you okay?” Reaver said, he tipped my cheek up and examined where I assume a nice welt was forming. I felt his thumb wipe the blood from my lip.

“Just one hit, I’m fine, hun,” I said with a reassuring smile. “Marley will check me out, don’t worry about me.”

Reaver nodded and his expression turned dark. “This is fucking ridiculous.” He turned to Matt. “Am I insane or are these fucking jokes getting more bold?”

“They are, I had Karl sneaking through my shed last night,” Matt grumbled. “I dunno if it’s Greyson slacking on the court dates or the fact that everyone knows the mayors are out of town but you’re right this is ridiculous. Broad fucking daylight. Juan says Killian had his back turned for a second to help him after he fell, and Cam just went for it. You got your work cut out for you Reav my man.”
Reaver growled, I could see the stress on his face. First the Kerry’s and now this? Greyson couldn’t come back soon enough.

Without another word Reaver stalked towards the holding cells and we continued on to Doc’s.

Marley cleared me pretty quickly, the cut inside my mouth was very small. Just my tooth biting down on my inner lip a bit. Afterwards since I didn’t want to worry Reaver, I packed up the shop and pushed the cart back into the storage room. Juan had stayed with my stuff, and I gave him a few dollars for his troubles but he refused it. I ended up giving him the potato peeler for a dollar instead.

When he was on his way I locked up and went back to Leo and Greyson’s house. Reaver was no where to be found, hopefully off torturing Cam. What a jerk, I hated how I almost felt betrayed. It wasn’t like he was my friend or anything but we had been having a nice conversation. I guess I was too trusting and naive at times. Not everyone is nice and friendly like Juan or Leo or Reno, the world is full of jerks and unfortunately it can be difficult to tell the difference. The best jerks are the ones who can fake it.

I grabbed my self a bottle of water and sat down on Leo and Greyson’s couch, I counted up our money and neatly tied it up into bundles. We had made one hundred and twenty two dollars today. All of it profit! Reaver had a safe in his living room closet, I’d add it to the stash and like I had promised myself I’d go into my old house and grab the money from there too.

For a new reason too. Reaver working as mayor (and kind of me too) was really making me see that there were shady people in Aras. I had heard rumors sometimes, my mother would tell me who to stay away from (Reaver mostly), and I would over hear conversations but mostly I didn’t notice. I definitely didn’t notice after my parents died, I just stuck to myself then.

No one would dare rob my old place though, but I didn’t want to take any chances. Once Reaver was relieved of his mayor duties we would board it up and remove everything we wanted or at least secure it. It was so close to Reaver’s house anyways and we walked by it every day, if anyone tampered with it we would know.

I made some dinner for the both of us, even though I wasn’t sure when Reaver would be home. I lit up the barbeque pit and fried us up some steaks and some corn. The corn would all be gone soon and we would have to go back to canned crap. Even though our corn was sad and tiny compared to Perish’s it tasted alright.

Reaver must have smelled the meat because right when I was plating everything he walked in.

Oh boy did he look stressed.

“I made steak, it’s all bloody.” I gave him a friendly smile.

He looked past me at the meat and sighed. “I could use some food, I haven’t had time to eat all damn day.” He gave me a quick kiss and picked up the plate. I wanted to ask him what happened after I had almost been robbed but I knew better. When my dad had a bad day at work my mom would always wait until he was done eating and had had some heroin before she talked to him.

That gave me an idea, I jumped up from my plate and grabbed my drug bag in my satchel and put it on the coffee table beside him.

He gave it an approved nod and continued to wolf down his half raw steak. I ate mine very slowly as usual, I was only half done when his plate was cleaned and he was inhaling drugs.

Reaver’s stressed and bedraggled face relaxed as the dilaudid pills hit him. I was happy to see him start to look a bit more like himself.

“We have five people in holding cells right now,” Reaver said his voice a growl. Maybe he wasn’t as relaxed as I thought. I watched as he pressed two of his fingers into his eyes and tensed his face. Then he drew his hand down it. “Hollis arrested a woman in the Red House who knocked out another woman’s teeth with an iron. We have no more room in those damn cells, they were only meant to fit one person and he insisted on keeping the chick in her own. I don’t see the point, what happens to her is her fault not mine.”

“Greyson will be back soon... right?” I said, I got up and sat beside him, though far enough that he had his space. He handed me the sniffer and I took some drugs for myself.

“I hope not,” Reaver muttered.

I looked at him in surprise.

“Greyson will let them go,” Reaver said thumbing through the papers he had brought in with him. “And the law breaking will continue. I never realize how much this block was going to shit. Hell forbid the leaders take some time off to deal with their own problems. As soon as their absence is noted the croaches crawl out from the wood work. It’s fucking disgusting. They’re like the deacons, always testing for weakness; and once they find one they spring.” I watched a very sinister smile spread across his lips. “You know what is wonderful, Killian?”
I felt a bit spooked by the tone of his voice. “What... dear?”
“They think I’m a fucking babysitter. They think I’m minding the shop until daddy gets home,” he smirked, the devilish smile on his face was well suited for his already dark features. It made him seem very menacing. “They don’t believe I’ll exercise my authority. They think I’ll wait for Greyson to get home then  he’ll let them off...” Reaver tapped his finger against his lips. “Very very interesting.”

This made me feel just a bit ill. I don’t think the shady residents knew what they were getting themselves into. If they thought Reaver would let them get away with these things they were sorely mistaken. This wasn’t going to be pretty. I knew my boyfriend well enough to know he would take it as a personal insult if they didn’t take him seriously.

“Please just let Greyson handle it, love.” I gave him the sniffer and shifted closer to him, I put my hand on his leg and rubbed it. “We’re not mayors, it’s their problem.”

His chocolate brown hair fell over his eyes as he passed the sniffer through each finger. Reaver’s black eyes were fixed on the drugs, but he was seeing a lot more than just four yellow lines. His mind was working, processing, ticking. Figuring out what his next move would be.

A purple bruise still graced his high cheekbone and a small healing cut, above it his bad ear, fully knitted together and healing. A dangerous arian with the battle scars to prove it.

“When was Greyson suppose to return?” Reaver said, still staring forward.

“Not tomorrow but the next day,” I replied.

Reaver nodded, and leaned down to take even more dilaudids into his nose.

“Human nature is a tricky thing...” Reaver said slowly, more to himself than me. “But humans love bloodshed especially when you give them the moral approval to love it.”

This was true, at every execution there was always jeering and things being thrown. It was a bit unsettling how much like animals the residents got when they were given the excuse to act like them. The only ones who kicked up a fuss usually were the families and even then Greyson always volunteered them to take their place. No one ever did.

“But baby... you can’t hold the trials without Greyson, Leo and Doc,” I said gently. “Half the council is gone. Their families would never allow it.”

“Exactly,” Reaver said, the dark smile appeared on his lips again. He leaned over and gave me a kiss, he must be thinking some pretty awful things. I kissed him back, but as it seemed to happen a lot it escaladed. He slid his hands down my pants and grasped my hardening member. I kissed his neck and started unbuttoning his shirt. He got way to turned on by his twisted thoughts and ideas, but well that was Reaver.

A little over an hour later I watched Reaver put his clothes back on. I was sore and exhausted but satisfied. Reaver looked much more relaxed, I was happy I could help with that. Sex was a great stress relief for him and for me too. I hope Greyson and Leo didn’t mind us violating their couch but I’m sure they had done it enough times.

Well... that was disturbing. I looked down at the couch cushions. Maybe I should have at least flipped them first.

I was a bit disappointed when Reaver belted his gun holder across his chest, but I guess it was time for him to put in the four hours of sentry duty.

“Did you want me to walk you back to the basement?” Reaver asked, he picked through our bag of drugs and put a couple pills into his pocket.

I was about to say yes but then I remembered that I wanted to look for more information on Reaver’s parents. “I’ll be okay, I want to clean their place a bit more to keep me busy, then I’ll go home when I’m tired.”

He nodded but then paused as he was sheathing his combat knife. “You like Matt right?”

“Sure.” I shrugged, he seemed like a nice guy.

“I’ll be sending him over to walk you back to Quil Street. Just the beginning of the road. I’ll be on west wall so I’ll watch over you the rest of the way.”

I sighed but I wouldn’t dare push it. It would make Reaver feel safer for me to have an escort, and with the crime rising around us I could see his point. “Okay, I’ll wave to you.” I’d have over two hours to look around anyways, more than enough time.

With one last kiss Reaver was off to sentry and I was all alone in Leo and Greyson’s house. The blinds and curtains were all drawn and it was quiet. I locked the door and felt a shiver of adrenaline. I did a bit more drugs and started with the ‘Chance’ box.

Well I almost got to the box, the drugs hit me pretty hard and I spent about ten minutes leaned up against the closet door in zombieland. It was a very warm, sweeping feeling and I just found my mind slipping for a second. Damn I loved those things. There were two feelings I had come to enjoy the most, drugs hitting me and Reaver inside of me. I had both tonight, and I could still feel the remains of Reaver’s love with every movement I made.

I carefully opened up the box and looked through it a bit more carefully. I so dearly wished they would let me bring this stuff back to Reaver’s, it was a shame to have it in a box forgotten. The blanket was probably Reaver’s baby blanket and he probably loved it when he was little. I had had a baby blanket too, but it was in our... attic.

Hmmm... I gently put everything back and closed the closet door. I tiptoed up the stairs.

The second story was a hallway, bathroom that had been turned into storage, two bedrooms and a small office. Everything was covered in cigarette stained wallpaper that may or may not have  had a pattern on it at one time. The floors were bare glue stained wood and left over fringes of an old ripped up carpet.

Everywhere I looked I could see boxes. Most of those boxes looked like mayor stuff and supplies. I looked around and found the string to pull the attic stairs down.

They creaked, which made me jump a mile high. I was half expecting Reaver to come barging through the door demanding what I was doing and why I needed to see the attic, but he didn’t come of course.

I quickly ran down and grabbed a bluelamps and took a breath. My heart pounded as I took the first step onto the old wooden stairs. If I was caught I would be in so much trouble. I tried to think of a lie I could tell to justify me being up here.

I heard a noise? Reaver wouldn’t believe that, I would run out of the house if I heard a noise.

But if I heard kittens... that might work. Okay, I nodded to myself as I ascended the stairs, I could use that excuse, that was believable.

The damp, musty air hit me as I reached the top of the creaky old stairs, I crouched down and shone the bluelamp around the dusty, dark attic.

The wood was surprisingly clean, bleached a lighter colour than the floor so I think it had been scrubbed of mold at one point. The roof its self looked like it had been patched many times with parts of other houses and bits of sheet metal. It was dry up here and not damp at all. I saw the wood stove pipe going through the floor and into the roof, the heat from the pipe probably warmed this area during winter like Reaver said happened in his first floor. So this wouldn’t be a bad place to keep personal items.

Should I be doing this? My guilt started to get a hold of me, but my curiosity was stronger. I stuffed it down and took my first shaky step onto the faded, dirty wooden floor. The floor creaked and once again I froze, but the house was silent.

I moved the bluelamp around and tried to get a good look at my surroundings. Everything looked like a monster ready to attack until the cold glow revealed its true shape.

I could see old mattresses covered in plastic... a steamer trunk, bicycles, plastic totes, a plastic christmas tree they brought out during christmas and... a cage?

I took a step forward and held up the lamp to shine some more light onto it. Nope not a cage, it was a crib.

Inside I squealed, it was Reaver’s baby crib! Inside were plastic totes. My heart started to bang in my chest as I walked towards the crib. Like all of the other things that had belonged to baby Reaver it also had bite marks on it, and a cover made from wire mesh. They must have used it as a cover when he tried to escape. He sounded like a very difficult baby to take care of, but most two year olds were.

I set the bluelamp on top of a dust covered coffee table and peeled the mesh cover back. I gently lifted up the totes and put them down beside the crib. My chest was still clenching and shaking with excitement. I felt so sneaky doing this but it was exhilarating at the same time.