Page 43 of Reaper

“No. We are going to live in my house.”

“You have a house? I thought you lived here?”

“Nope. I have a place about a mile down the road from the clubhouse. Still on Skulls land, so it will be protected, but it’s an actual house. I stay here because I had no reason to live there.”

“And now?”

“And now I do.”

“Do you know anything about my real parents?”

Max slid a folder over to me and opened it up. Looking at the contents, he said, “Only that they never stopped looking for you. They loved you Remi. They wanted you and never gave up hope that one day they would find you. They were good people.”

I just nodded as tears rolled down my face. I was wanted, missed, and loved. My real parents never stopped looking for me. They never gave up hope. I didn’t really know how to handle this information. My whole life was a lie, and yet looking at the pictures and information in the file, I felt a tugging at my heart, and it was breaking. My parents weren’t my parents. I should have been loved and wanted, but I wasn’t, and knowing that my real parents were out there, looking for me made my heart hurt. They were traumatized as much as I was. They were hurt as much as I was. I wanted so much to call them, talk to them, to hold them, but I was denied that. I was never going to hear my mother laugh, feel my father’s hug, know their love.

“I want him dead,” I muttered as my finger lightly touched my mother’s picture. I looked like her. I had her smile.

“Who, baby?”

“David Halcomb, my fake father.”

Max snickered, and the rest of the boys nodded when Savage said, “Don’t worry, that fucker is going to get exactly what he deserves. The Golden Skulls are coming for him.”

A little bit later, Max walked me into a beautiful ranch home with a wraparound porch. The house was modern yet homey, with four bedrooms, a large family room, and a decent-sized kitchen. The house was stunning and would be perfect for when my sister and brother came to live with us. The only problem I foresaw was that the house was bare. I mean void of everything.

“Um, Max.”

“Yeah baby,” he said, walking out of the kitchen into the living room where I was standing, looking out over the vast hillside. The view was stunning, magical and I felt at peace. “Where is the furniture?”

Wrapping his arms around me, he hugged me tightly. “Thought you’d like to pick that stuff out. If it were me, I’d just have a big screen tv with a recliner in front of it and plenty of beer in the fridge.”

Chuckling, I turned in his arms and kissed his cheek. “Well, let me see what I can do about that.”

“Seriously, babe, I don’t care what you get.”

“Well, I want you to be comfortable too.”

“I will be, as long as I’m with you.”

FOURTEEN

REAPER

“Are you sure about this?” Remi asked me, her nerves apparent on her face. It had been a full week, and since Remi had been a wrecking ball trying to get everything set up and ready for her siblings. From clothes to furniture, Remi had every damn delivery truck after delivery truck enter the compound. Since she wasn’t allowed to leave, she became a preferred member on Amazon and any other store she wanted shit from. They loved her…my Amex card…not so much.

However, today wasn’t about the house, her siblings, or some fucking window treatment. Nope, today was about riding.

I needed to get away for a bit, and I wanted her with me.

She was good with it at first, but now not so much. The look on her face was priceless, and if I weren’t so damn eager to get on the road, I would have laughed. It had been too long since I’d been for a fucking ride, and the only thing holding us up was Remi.

“I mean, I only have two more days before my brother and sister get here. Don’t you think it would be best to finish the house?”

“Remi,” I sighed. “We’ve purchased every pink sparkly fur thing around along with every transformer, sailboat, and match car we could find. Seriously, those kids have more shit than all of us put together.”

“Maybe I went overboard, and they won’t like it,” she mumbled to herself as she turned to look back towards the house. Groaning, I got off my bike and went to her. “Baby, you did well. Those kids will never want for anything as long as we’re around. They will be protected, loved, and taken care of better than ever. You did everything exactly right. Now, get your fine ass on my bike, and let’s go for a fuckin ride before they get here because when they do, our freedom is going to be cut in half.”

“Are we riding or what!”