Reaper's Property (19 page)

She pushed me toward the rooms. I crossed
the floor to the hallway, feeling awkward as all get out. Dark doors lined the
both sides of the hall, all of them closed. I had no idea what I’d find inside
and exploring on my own felt weird. I decided to wait for Maggs. Then Max
strolled up, offering me that same friendly smile he’d worn at the bar.

“You lost?” he asked. I shook my head.

“Not so much lost as a little out of my
depth,” I admitted. “I guess Cookie’s gonna have us film her dancing for
Bagger. She said to find a room, but I’m afraid to just start opening doors.”

“No prob,” he said, shrugging casually,
although his eyes held a pleased gleam. “Follow me.”

Something felt off. My instincts said I
shouldn’t follow him, but I couldn’t think of a reason not to and I was still
pretty drunk. My drunken instincts weren’t so hot—Gary’d asked me to marry him
after I’d just killed a six-pack.

When Max pointed me toward the last door on
the right side of the hall, which had a little green light glowing above it, I
hesitantly walked over and pushed it open. It took a second for my eyes to
adjust to the darkness and soft red light. Then I saw Horse sitting on a black
leather couch against the wall, arms stretched out along the back. His shirt
was off and an almost-naked, bleached-blonde woman straddled him. Her hips
writhed against his and when she turned to look at us, I saw she had giant,
obviously fake boobs. She wore a blue, sparkly G-string and nothing else.

Horse met my wide, frozen eyes and glared.

“What the fuck are you doing here? Thought
this was ladies’ night.”

“Nothing,” I whispered, stepping back and
very carefully shutting the door. I felt brittle, fragile, like I was going to
break apart into a thousand pieces. I don’t know why. It wasn’t like we had a
real relationship. I didn’t own him. But seeing him with another woman—that
hurt me deep down inside. I bumped into Max, who caught my arms and steadied
me. I looked up at him, devastated, and he wore an expression I couldn’t begin
to describe.

“Did you know he was in there?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Max replied. His easy response,
completely unapologetic, threw me.

“You set me up?” I whispered. “Why?”

“Because you’re living in a fucking dream
world and the girls were filling your head with shit. I can be a dick, but not
as big a dick as he’s being. Thought you had a right to know.”

I tried to think. Unfortunately, everything
was spinning around me.

“I didn’t do it to hurt you, Marie,” Max
said, pulling me in for a rough hug. I stiffened, then relaxed into him,
needing the comfort. He rubbed my hair, combing it with his fingers.

“You’re a sweet kid and you’re in a really
fucked-up situation,” he said, not unkindly. “You need to keep your head
straight. Horse is not your old man, you’re not going to live happily ever
after with him and your brother isn’t going to come through for you. The faster
you figure that out, the better your life is going to be. That’s the truth.”

I pulled away from Max and glanced back at
the door, willing Horse to open it, to come out and explain that this was all
just some sort of mistake. He didn’t. The green light taunted me.

“You want a ride home?” Max asked.

“Yeah,” I said.

“Okay.”

He took my arm and went to the fire door,
quickly punching a code into a keypad on the side. A tiny red light blinked
green and he pushed through the door. I followed him across the parking lot to
his bike. My phone started vibrating and I looked down to see Horse’s name on
the screen.

I turned it off.

The ride seemed to last forever, and I was
pretty much sober by the time we reached the house. Ariel ran out to greet us,
smiling his big puppy grin, but I didn’t pet him so he whined and crawled under
the porch. Max surprised me when he left his bike and followed me into the
house. I guess I expected him to just drop me off or something. It felt strange
and awkward with him there, and I wished I could be alone.

“You want a drink?” I asked, hoping he’d
say no.

“Yeah, grab me a beer,” he replied, pulling
out his phone. I left him fiddling with it while I found a beer for him and a
glass of water for myself. As I came back down the hall he met me halfway,
taking the drinks and walking into the dining room. He set them on the pool
table and cocked his head to the side, studying me again.

“Why do you do that?” I asked.

“Do what?”

“Look at me like that?”

“Trying to decide what the fuck Horse is
thinking,” he replied. “You don’t need to be with him, Marie. This is fucked
up. You should let me help you.”

“Help me how?”

Instead of answering, he leaned down and
threw me over his shoulder. I shrieked, hitting him on the back and kicking.
Max ignored my struggles, carrying me back into the living room and throwing me
down on to the couch. I hit hard and lost my breath. Before I could recover he
was on me, thrusting a knee between my legs, covering my mouth with his. I
struggled against him, but I shouldn’t have bothered. Way too strong for me. His
legs pinned me, pelvis grinding into mine as his arms wrestled my own into the
couch. His kiss wasn’t sensual, just a brutal attack. No tongue, no seduction.
Just a crushing of his lips against my mouth. I seriously couldn’t breathe and
my vision started going dark.

“Oh no fucking way. You’re a dead man.”

I heard Horse’s angry voice and felt a
surge of hope. Then Max flew off me so hard I almost rolled off the couch.
Horse threw him across the room into the wall, missing the TV by about six
inches. I screamed as Horse leapt after him, hammering him with his fists. Max
writhed under the onslaught, but he started laughing, the sound horrible and
dark and oddly punctuated by the blows slamming his body. A loud, clicking
noise cut through his laughter and I looked up to find Picnic aiming a gun at
the two men.

Horse didn’t pause.

“Horse!” Picnic said. “Drop him or I’ll
shoot you.”

Horse gave Max one last, vicious punch to
the gut before he stepped back, chest heaving. Max rose to his feet unsteadily,
grinning at Horse in a way that was truly unbalanced. Now I got the whole “Mad
Max” thing…

“You got a problem,
brother
?” Max
asked as he wiped the blood streaming from his nose with the back of his hand.
“Your bitch didn’t seem to think so. Practically jumped into my arms at the
Line. I’ll admit she’s a sweet cunt, but is she really worth fighting over?”

“Shut your mouth,” Picnic said, stepping
forward. “You don’t talk to a brother that way. And you don’t fuck around with
a fellow Reaper’s woman. We’ll deal with this at the armory tomorrow. You got
that?”

Max laughed again. Then he turned to me and
stuck two of his fingers in a “v” in front of his mouth, flicking his tongue
between them at me.

“You asshole!” I yelled, filled with sudden
rage. “You
fucking asshole
, you get out of here! Get the fuck out of
here and don’t fucking come back or
I’ll
fucking shoot you myself
!”

All three guys froze, looking at me in
surprise.

I sneered back at them, disgusted.

“What, surprised that the bone you’re
fighting over can talk? Well fuck all of you!”

With that I turned and stomped up the
stairs to my room, slamming the door behind me. Moments later bikes roared to
life outside. I paced my room for a minute, furious and full of energy, then
threw my door open and headed back downstairs.

I had a few more things I wanted to get off
my chest.

I found Horse standing in the center of the
living room, running a hand through his hair, scowling at the splatters of
blood staining his floor. He turned toward me, and we glared at each other across
the room, neither of us giving an inch. I was still a little drunk, but I’d had
it. Time to lay things out with Horse. I opened my mouth to let him have it,
but he started in first.

“Who the fuck you do think you are, showing
up at the Line like that?” he demanded. “And why did Max have his tongue down
your throat?”

Oh, that
really
pissed me off.

“You don’t get to talk about tongues down
throats, asshole,” I hissed. “And for your information, I was at the Line
because
your sister
took me there. I guess it didn’t occur to her that
you’d be screwing some slut in the back room!”

“I wasn’t screwing anyone. It was a lap
dance. No big deal,” he said, eyes narrowing on me.

“So sorry I interrupted you before you got
to the happy ending!” I yelled. I didn’t think I’d ever been this angry before
in my life. The edges of my vision actually turned red. I felt like throwing
things at him, and I glanced around, trying to find something with a good heft.
Horse stalked over, looming over me as he yelled in my face, backing me toward
the wall.

“Why the fuck
shouldn’t
I have a
happy ending? It’s not like I have an old lady to worry about! No, not me!” he
declared, throwing his arms wide, speaking to the room at large. “I don’t have
an old lady, now do I? Nope, because you’re too fucking good to wear my patch,
now aren’t you? What haven’t I done for you, Marie? I kept your brother alive.
Didn’t come cheap, babe, you got no clue how pricey your ass is. And tonight?
It’s not like you were around to take care of me, was it? We had plans and you
blew me off. You can’t have it both ways, Marie. Either we’re together or we’re
not, but if we’re not don’t expect me to sit around with my thumb up my ass
while you’re out partying. And this bullshit with Max? In my own home? I should
throw your ass out and call the hit on your brother myself. You can go fuck
yourself, Marie. Seriously. I’m done with you.”

I snarled at him. How dare he play victim?

“Max was trying to rape me,” I said, the
words cold and hard. “And the only reason I caught a ride home with him was
because you were too busy letting some whore grind her skanky crotch against
you to notice. I go out one night without you and you can’t keep it in your
pants?”

“Why should I?” he demanded. He shifted his
weight forward as he caught my hands, twisting them behind my back and forcing
me against him. A sexual thrill ran through me, all mixed up with my anger and
the crazy rush of adrenaline making my heart race. I felt his cock, hard and
ready, and smelled the mixture of sweat and motor oil that always seemed to
follow him. My pussy was a swollen, hot well of need and my panties were
sopping. I wanted to bite him and lick him and kick him in the nuts all at the
same time.

“Cookie hasn’t seen her man in months, but
when
she
goes out, she wears his patch,” Horse snarled. “She’s
proud
to be his old lady. You want me to keep it in my pants, you wear my patch.”

Horse thrust his hips against me for
emphasis and I laughed at him. Then I lunged forward and caught his lip in my
teeth, biting, and not a little love nip. He dropped me with a shout and I took
off up the stairs. He tore after me, catching the back of my shirt as I reached
the top, pulling me down three steps and trapping me under his body on my
stomach. One hand tangled in my hair, holding my head tight as the other ripped
open my fly and jerked my jeans down around my knees, pinning them together. I
moaned as he fumbled to free his cock, pushing my ass back at him, feeling my
juices run down my leg because I wanted him inside me so badly.

Horse’s dick ripped through me and I
screamed.

What happened next was not gentle and nice
and sweet and romantic. Horse tore into me, fucking me so hard I’m surprised
nobody got hurt. His hand in my hair hurt, but his cock filled me exactly how I
needed it. I don’t know how long it lasted. I’m not even sure how many times I
came. I just know that every orgasm I took felt like a victory over him, and
when he finally blew into me—hot seed shooting deep into my womb—he shouted and
pulled my hair and that turned me on like nothing I’ve ever experienced before
in my life.

Shit…

I collapsed down on the stairs, cradling my
face in my arms as Horse’s cock slowly softened inside me. His harsh, panting
breaths echoed in my ears. Then he pulled out, turning and sitting down on the
steps below me. I rolled over and looked up at the ceiling.

“This is really fucked up,” he said,
sounded stunned. I knew the feeling. “Did I hurt you?”

“No,” I replied, running a hand through my
hair. I needed to pull up my pants, but it took everything I had not to melt
into an exhausted puddle. “I’m fine. I know this is sick, but that was
incredible. I’ve never felt anything like it.”

“Yeah.”

We sat there for I don’t know how long. My
heart rate slowed and I started to notice things, like the rough texture of the
carpet under my ass and the risers cutting into my back. And how wet I was.
Ewww…

“I think I’m dripping on the rug,” I
murmured. Horse gave a short bark of laughter. I looked at him and the complete
and utter absurdity of our situation hit me. I couldn’t help myself, a little
hysterical giggle started deep down in my chest. I twisted my mouth, trying to
keep it in, but it broke free. I laughed harder and harder, my body shaking as
Horse watched me like I’d lost my mind. Maybe I had.

“I’m so sorry,” I said, tears building up
in my eyes. “But this is beyond crazy. What’s wrong with us? Where do we go
from here?”

Horse shook his head, shrugging.

“Fuck if I know,” he admitted, and for once
he didn’t bother putting on a front. “This is a whole new level of dysfunction
for me, and that’s saying something. I don’t want to figure this out tonight. I
just want to go to bed and I want you with me. Is that okay? Just for tonight?
Can I hold you?”

I nodded.

“Yeah. Let’s finish fighting tomorrow. I’m
exhausted.”