Hunter: MC Romance (Hell Reapers MC Book 1) (26 page)

Sabrina sighed, “Honey, like ninety percent of the time it
is
that simple. We’re just too stubborn to realize that, usually,” she opined.

“Doesn’t matter,” I droned, “not like I want to see him anyway.”

Sabrina howled at that, nearly spilling her food from her lap.

I shot her and confused and concerned look.

“Sorry,” she said, “but that my friend, is a huge load of B U L L shit.” Barristan perked up his head, the tag of his collar ringing out and his ear stuck itself out suddenly.

“I want nothing to do with him,” I protested, scrunching my face, “he’s an asshole.”

“Maybe,” she said, “never got to meet him myself, so you could be right.”

“I
am
right.”

“You’re miserable without him, I can tell.”

I exhaled a hard breath through my nose, “Only a little bit. Nothing I can’t get past.”

“Yes, but is it something you really
want
to get past? All I’m saying, is that I’ve seen you at your low, and I’ve seen you at your high. For the brief while you were ‘with’ this dude, in whatever capacity – you were soaring up there with the angels, babe.”

Invisible fingers pressed against my heart, and a small, sad smile tugged at the corner of my lips. “Soared too high then,” I told her, “now I’m all burned up. Still want me around?”

She waved a hand and popped more orange chicken into her mouth. She then leaned over me and grabbed the controller from my side of the couch, giving Barristan a quick ‘hello’ look. Sabrina casually flicked through the channels and said, “I’ll always want you around. Mopey. Mad. Haven’t showered in the past three days depressed because you got ran over by the mack truck known as love.”

“I showered!” I practically barked, “I mean. Yeah…I showered,” I was saying it far too defensively.

Sabrina just raised her eyebrows.

We shared a brief moment of looking at one another before I stood up, nearly stepping on the poor pup. I grabbed the pint of cherry and nuts ice-cream and sighed, “I’ll go shower now. But I’m eating this in there and you can’t stop me.”

“Atta girl.”

Chapter 26

Hunter

“Ehy, you lookin’ kind-uh distracted dawg,” Franklin Neer openly commented. Some windbreaker suited man in his middle ages walked by us, with a set of ear buds blocking out the world around him, his sneakers tapping against the concrete pavement of the well-kept park.

Images of Jessica swam through my mind, and my inner self roiled in pain. I’d agonized ever since that stupid night, wondering how I could have been such a damn fool.

“Nah,” I lied, “I’m good. I’m here.” We were in the heart of Whittaker district, meeting at our usual spot in Cassidy Park – some little slice of grass and tree that was flanked on all sides by busy roads and constantly frequented streets. On either end of us were various brownstones and ‘low’ rent hellholes of apartments; this was basically your only place to walk the yapping, manic demons others liked to pretend were dogs.

“A’ight,” Franklin nodded his head. He was a mischievous character, tall and lanky, he stretched up high like a giraffe on the bench. He had a mess of thick, fuzzy brown hair that was all fluffed up; and anytime that you were lucky to catch his surprisingly white teeth, you’d also see that Cheshire smile. Franklin dipped his hand into the pocket of his green cargo pants, producing a cigarette and a lighter.

“I need to know what’s going on with the Niners,” I told him, “any other day I’d shoot the shit, but I got things I’ve got to do.” Some girl and her boyfriend passed us, and her airy laugh made me think of Jess. Think of her wild hair and her sports car like curves. My heart tapped against my breastbone when I remembered what it was like to be inside of her, to feel her clamping around my cock.

I missed her eyes, and her laugh and her everything. Fuck.

Franklin bobbed his head and lit the cigarette, turning the end of it cherry red. He sucked in the smoke deep, and the flame ate away leaving a nub of gray ash. The light from his cigarette illuminated his dark skin, showed the pale milk-white scars across his knuckles on those humongous hands. “Yeah bruh,” he sighed, pushing out all of that smoke and looking to me, “I feel ya.”

I cracked my knuckles, a series of loud pops punctuating the air as I expectantly waited for him to talk. But the man was right, I was only partially here. My other half was caught in the darkness; faded between the breaths I was taking and the words that haunted me from that moment before – looped in a misery that just wouldn’t let go. Small daggers of agony plunged through every major part of my body, like a curious magician was following me around and thoughtfully pushing a knife into me, just to see how I’d react.

Franklin snapped his fingers, “Hey,” he said with the cigarette moving along with his lips, “hey c’mon man, pay the fuck some attention,” he sucked on that stick of ash again. “Niners are hitting up a new supply.”

“New supply?” I asked like I’d just woken up from a coma and had spent the last couple of weeks operating a fork in the incorrect manner.

“Yeah,” Franklin rested the elbows of his arms against his knees, “and they havin’ a meet soon. Can’t say f’sure the day yet.”

“They’re switching from Rocko?” I shook my head, “that makes no goddamn sense. Must be getting the same dope for cheaper, because there’s no way they’re getting a better product. Never been a game in town with a better high than Rocks.” This was excluding Fernando of course, but he wasn’t a bulk dealer.

Franklin shrugged and he moved a hand through his bouncy strands of hair. “Jus’ what I know bruh, you know?”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “This a big deal?”

“Oh indeed,” Franklin tittered nervously and grabbed the cigarette from his lips, “f’you thinkin’ what I bet’chu are, tellin’ you now that you’d bess re-think. Mad money yo,” he shook his head in a gesture of warning, his eyes pleading more so than his mouth. “You know wh’happens with the mad money. Mad heat. Madder game.”

“It’s a mad world, Franklin.”

“Is when you dogs go rabid,” he articulated, placing the cigarette back on his thick lips. He sucked in a breath and stretched his arms out against the back of the bench, one hand hovering close to me. “S’a buck fitty for that alone, ‘nother buck for where it happens—“

“And another hundred for when you get any more details, I know, I know.”

Franklin gave me that mischievous, Cheshire smile. “Yeah son, you know the game. You play it smooth. Not like Rey,” some kind of deep, full-body laughter rumbled from Franklin’s chest.

I laughed too, “He’d just beat your happy ass.”

He howled at that and a woman in red that was passing by walking her dog gave us a funny look. Franklin followed her with his eyes, watching her backside before sliding his gaze to me and chuckling. “Since we so tight, I’ll let you get at me with the money later – word is, it’s goin’ down at Rykers in the parkin’ lot.” Rykers? That place has been abandoned for nearly a decade. It’s a dead part of town. Nothing but ghosts and graffiti at that shipping yard, save for a couple of teenagers running wild and the rare homeless hoping for shelter. Even those races weren’t always hosted there.

I sucked in a breath. “Thanks brother, I’ll do right by you,” I lifted myself off of the bench and to my feet, turning to face Franklin. I clasped hands with him and we shared an acknowledging head nod before I departed. As I walked away, I turned my head back to look at him – sitting there relaxed as could be, his head looking up at the black sky as shafts of smoke rolled from his mouth.

Chapter 27

Jessica

My hand felt strange, it felt wet and I couldn’t come to an understanding as to why I could not move. Opening my eyes, with vision blurry, I saw the blackness of my room and felt that weird wet sensation on my hand again. Waking groans rolled from my chest and I tossed and turned in my bed, noticing that the door to my room was ajar. A few heartbeats later and I felt something jump up onto the bed, my heart dropping from my chest.

Barristan whined and rolled his long pink tongue across my slick hand. Ugh, come on buddy, you shouldn’t have to pee so I don’t know why you’re doing this.

That was when it hit me. The door to my room was open.

Why was that?

“Barristan,” I groaned into my pillow, “stop it,” I couldn’t shake this peculiar feeling now. I hadn’t left the door open, had I? I’ve never seen my dog open that door before, or anything outside of his once puppy cage. Moving across the bed with my elbows, I twisted my body and sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

Nervous warmth draped across my body and Barristan continued to nose at my hand with his cold and wet nose.

My vision became clear, the silver light of the moon spilling into the bedroom.

Something was not right.

I pushed myself out of the bed, dressed only in my black, tight fitting pajamas. Stepping over to the door, I considered for a moment just closing it.

Barristan went over to my side. I stood there at the door, just listening.

No. I definitely didn’t do this. The warmth of anxiety spread deeper inside of me, fiery needles travelling through my veins.

Some barely audible thud came from outside my room, and it felt like a hot hand reached itself inside of my stomach. I sucked in a tight breath of air in a gasp, my body shuddering briefly.

Fuck. What the fuck? What was that? My mind began to helplessly race and I grabbed at the end of the door, opening it all of the way and peering into the living room. There was a small light that I could spy coming from the kitchen.

Someone was here, and just like that my knees wanted to give out.

Barristan slipped right by me and loped across the living room.

“Barristan!” I called out in a loud whisper, shooting a hand to cover my mouth immediately. The dog didn’t even look back as he continued on towards the kitchen, turning to face it but staying in my vision, sitting on his hind end.

My mind burned up with the thought of getting my phone, with locking the door – but would Barristan be safe? Shit, shit, shit. The dog craned his neck so that he could look towards me.

There was another noise and my skin crawled with invisible bugs. Barristan turned his head to face the noise, it had sounded like a man’s voice – I think. I looked behind my shoulder and considered what I could use for a possible weapon, going down a mental inventory of extremely ineffective burglar deterrents such as my shoes or maybe a wooden drawer of emptied underwear.

That voice came alive through the air again though, and suddenly all thought left me – all heat drained from me. “Barry,” it whispered at a level just above what I had said previous, and I instantly recognized Jerry’s voice.

The cold touch of dread walked along my spine as though I were a torch amidst a relentless winter storm; it wished and willed and wanted only to suck the warmth from me.

Jerry came into view as I stood there frozen, watching him pet and scratch Barristan. The dog then looked toward me, and he picked up on this – his head moving in my direction. I couldn’t very well make out the features of his face, he was a barely lit shadow in the dark

But I knew: he saw me.

“Jessica,” Jerry called out, shifting in his spot and flicking on the lights to the small dining section of the apartment.

Everything felt like it was in slow motion, all of my senses overloading in this almost fugue-like state. I wished beyond all hope that I was still dreaming, and that I would wake up any moment.

That moment never came and he called out my name again, this time in such a way it seemed as if he were gauging my mental health.

I slammed the door shut and promptly locked it, flicking on the lights, my heart beating a mile a minute. I put my back up against the door and turned my head to look at it, shouting, “I’m calling the police, Jerry. I don’t know what the
fuck
you’re doing here but you better be gone before they arrive.”

I didn’t have my phone with me, the charger was in the living room. If he stuck around long enough, he would surely find it.

The door rattled as he tried to enter.

Chapter 28

Hunter

The harsh wind of the cool night air bit against my skin; I was riding towards club Vivid to let the boys know. Someone new’s backing the Niners, and I damn sure intend to push it up the chain that we hit them and hit them hard.

My beast of steel and chrome roared, it’s growls piercing the air as I sped down the roads – every curve sunk me further into an ecstatic trance. Every smooth motion, and every overtaking of neighboring motorists. This was my world, my escape and my fantasy. But even fantasies, no matter how real, couldn’t take away the pain in my chest. The strange, empty hurt in my heart.

Once I made it to the nightclub, I parked my bike and strutted towards the entrance, raising my chin at the bouncer. Even from outside I could make out this weirdly familiar voice coming from the speakers. Upon entering, and the voice became more clear, I understood that it wasn’t a voice I’d ever heard – it was who it reminded me of though, that was what I was hearing.