Hunter: MC Romance (Hell Reapers MC Book 1) (9 page)

***

I’d whipped up a quick breakfast of a bagel with strawberry cream cheese and a small, dainty glass of orange juice. As I jotted down my notes, I found my mind drifting back to the curious thing I saw while rummaging through my poorly kept fridge. The half-gallon of 2% milk that I had bought only a couple of days ago was maybe 3/4ths of the way full.

I don’t remember
opening
said milk. And yet, here it was, open and partially consumed. Sometimes I wondered if my mind was slipping. How could that be? I cut down the thought as I finished up my notes, making certain to call Mr. Gates and inform him of how some of the night went.

The boss man cleared his throat and whispered something I couldn’t make out to his assistant, “Excellent to hear, Ives, keep at it now – I’ve let HR know to start depositing your checks weekly, as a temporary deal, you should get the first one on Sunday and each after that. You push out this article, I’ll cut you a hefty sum, so keep at it. If you need an extension, we can talk about it.”

“Thank you, sir,” I replied, “but uhm, I do have to ask. Are they really such bad people? I mean I spent some time with a few of them last night, they were really friendly.”

“They’re trash, miss Ives,” Gates opined with a sense of vitriol in his voice. “Don’t let whatever shit shined appearance they put on fool you, they’re beneath people like you and I.”

Nobody should have to be beneath anybody, “Right,” I said, finishing up our conversation quickly and swiping my phone to an end. I closed my black and white journal, and lazily padded my way back to the bedroom, tossing the notebook onto my medium sized dresser table. There were more to these guys than just living in the darker parts of the world; more to Hunter.

There had to be.

Switching on the pot of coffee, I whistled for Barristan and grabbed his leash – fastening it to his collar and letting him outside.

I checked my phone for text messages, ignoring the one that Jerry sent me – this time from a new number, as I blocked his other ones. This was a tiring and annoying process, and I ended up reading what he had to say most of the time anyway – much to my constant frustration.

But, for now, I ignored it, and instead looked over the ones from Sabrina and Laura, giving them a quick reply

By the time that I came back and finished walking the dog, the smell of bold, fresh roasted coffee was plainly wafting throughout the air; the dark, rich notes prickling at my nose, sending a punch of need straight to my gut and a salivating desire in my mouth. I was nothing if not a caffeine addict. Helpless and always willing to consume coffee, I’d probably bleed a good roast if you stuck me.

After having my afternoon fix, I scooped up my car keys and jumped into the corolla. It was time to get cracking on the case.

***

I wasn’t sure what time that I should be at Victoria Park, so I arrived a little after one, having done some light grocery shopping beforehand. I had kicked my shoes off in the car earlier, and found myself walking with bare feet against the great swath of grass, the warm thousand blades crunching soft beneath my feet.

There were a good number of people out and about today. Couples and plenty of college aged students, a few older lovers that could be seen holding hands on a bench. It made my heart swell to see such love, and it made me hurt to know I’d never have it. I spent the better part of an hour out in the sweltering sun looking for that man. Beneath the burning blue, with soldiers of white that swept across the sky, which hung so joyously still. I could smell the fresh tones of nature, could breathe in the scent of fresh cut grass and the neighboring wood of pines.

But without finding Hunter, the air could only reek of disappointment and failure.

I was ready to give in. Ready to give up.

Some red Frisbee made its way over to me and a man called out to me, “Hey there,” the man said in a delighted tone; the man himself wore a red shirt, likely a college student. Some distance apart from the Red Shirt, was his friend – decidedly less attractive, in a white shirt.

I picked up the Frisbee between my fingers and looked over to Red Shirt. “You’ve got a good arm,” I said, crouching at a slight angle and winding my arm back, cocking my wrist and flinging the disk to Red Shirt with some degree of finesse.

Red Shirt jumped high into the air and caught it, his cleats landing back onto the grass. He walked over to me, along with his buddy White Shirt. “Thanks,” Red Shirt said, eying me up and down, “you’ve got a great body.”

I snorted, “Sorry but my panties don’t drop
that
easily.”

White Shirt snickered and Red Shirt fiddled with the Frisbee, “Hey I just call ‘em like I see ‘em.”

“Fair enough,” I replied. The Red Shirt was good looking, don’t get me wrong – but he was a boy compared to the men that I was hanging out with last night. I was rightfully pissed that I couldn’t find Hunter, and I cared even less for the guessing game that he was having me play. At this point my hair was getting damp with sweat, and I was starting to feel exhausted from the heat.

"So what're you doing out here?" Red shirt asked, "just enjoying the sun?"

"I guess I ended up doing that yeah," I said, "I
was
looking for someone, but I'm getting tired of that now,” I shrugged.

"Well hey if you want in on this," he waved the Frisbee around in a gesture, "you're welcome to it."

"Yeah," the White Shirt commented.

I smiled politely for the two, "I guess I could play, seeing as I'm already here and sweating my ass off."

"Ehy, that's the spirit," Red Shirt proclaimed.

“Jessica!” I heard a voice call out behind me, from afar. Speak of the devil.

I turned around to see Hunter, not dressed in his club leathers, but instead in black and green Xersion basketball shorts. To my utter delight, my inner self doing a happy jig, he was shirtless. His body was slick and glistening with sweat, giving him a sexy sort of sheen. He approached me with a bright smile on his face – his cute dimples showing. He had a light smattering of chest hair that worked its way lazily down to his navel.

His chiseled like a mighty rock chest was riddled with various colorful tattoos, some of demons and fire, others of ornate names and motorcycles.

There was one tattoo that went down the center of his rippled body, a sprawling dragon that breathed black fire all the way down to his waist; I could imagine that it went beyond that, and down to his no doubt glorious Adonis belt.

It seemed strangely familiar.

Hunter closed the distance between us, invading my space and looking between me and the two other men. It was subtle, but it was definitely there - the prick had certainly shown up at the perfect moment for himself. Maybe it was his plan all along. He cinched an arm around my waist and pinioned me against his person; I could smell the scent of him, all earth and salt and strangely attractive musk.

Hunter raised his chin at the men, "You boys look a little lost," he said in that cold, powerful voice of his, "what's up?"

"Nah man," Red Shirt replied, "we were just seeing if the girl here wanted in on our game You know her?"

Hunter removed his strong arm from my waist and stepped a foot closer to the two men, putting his hands on his hips in a relaxed, but dominating kind of manner. "I do," he said coolly, "in fact, we're about to have a private conversation," Hunter looked off into the distance and to his right, "why don't you boys go play over there. If she still wants to join you, she'll come over after we're done."

White Shirt looked like a frightened lamb, while Red Shirt himself looked agitated as all hell.

Meanwhile I stood there with inexpiable rivulets of joy running through my stomach. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that these boys were arguing over me.

"Don't be such a dick," Red Shirt growled, "I ain't no boy, and I don't see any ring on that finger. Maybe let the lady decide for herself?"

Hunter straightened his posture, his magnificently hard and sweat glistening muscles rolling along with him. "I've already decided for her," he shot a fierce look at my face, and I felt my stomach tighten. Who was he to speak for me? He looked back over at the two men, "I know what she wants, and a hundred of you aimless, chain-smoking, stoner losers couldn't measure up on your best damn day," Hunter's jaw jumped, his Adam's apple bobbing, "move along," he snarled, "now."

The White Shirt whispered something to his friend, and the two slunk away like helpless puppies. Red Shirt mumbling ‘whatever, man’.

I crossed my arms over my chest, ignoring the urge to bite down on my lip. In my head, I imagined myself tackling the hunkalicious man, dressed up as an Amazonian princess and riding him while people watched beautifully mortified.

So much for keeping my fantasies under control. “
So
nice of you to show up and scare those nice boys away, I’m sure you could learn a thing or two from them, if you weren’t such a stubborn ass,” the sass in me was dripping from my tongue now.

Hunter ran a hand through his wet hair, taking in a series of deep breaths. “Yeah, well, here I am,” he exhaled a hard breath, chuckling. “‘Sides, you didn’t
really
want to spend time with those kids, did you?” His wondrous blue eyes cut right through me, and he moved in closer, like a king in his jungle of sun and grass, hunting his prey. “They wouldn’t know how to handle a woman like yourself.”

“And you would?”

“Wouldn’t you like to find out,” the man said coy.

I turned my head the other way, “I’m not keen on guys who play games.”

“You showed up,” he husked, stepping closer once again, so that he was nearly touching me now. “That means something.”

“You were the jerk that didn’t tell me when to be here!” I snapped, feeling the anger sing through my bones, “you know how long I trekked these very under equipped for serious walking legs across this damn place?” My brows furrowed, and I imagined myself looking something like an owl. “It’s like, a hundred degree’s hotter than Satan’s left nut and I’m expected to find you out in this hellhole?”

Hunter smirked and I found myself getting even angrier.

“What?” I asked, “what is
so
damn amusing that you have to, that you have to do that,” I announce, pointing with my chin at his facetious smile.

“I should make you upset more often,” Hunter remarked, “it does wonders for your chest, seeing as how you heave them out for me.”

“I’m not heaving
shit
out for you,” I insisted and suddenly became very self-conscious of what I was doing and what I was wearing.

“Look, I just wanted to make sure you were the real deal – that’s all.”

“This real enough for you?” I shoved the man at his hard chest, sending him fumbling back a half step. I promptly wiped the sweat from my hands.

“You know for such a little thing you pack quite a punch, Jessica.”

I did a jack-in-the-box motion and unwound my middle finger for him, giving him a crooked smile and turning on my heel, starting to walk away.

“Whoa there,” Hunter shot his hand out to catch mine, pulling me back to him easily, “what’s the rush?”

I looked up at the man as he brought me within an inch of his person, fluttering of joy coursing through me. “Hey,” I whined, “you smell disgusting, let me go!” I secretly didn’t mind his smell that much, liked it even.

“Going somewhere? Hmn?” He loosened his grip on me. He was playing with me, toying with me. I squirmed against him. “Settle down or I’ll use you as my sweat rag.”

“Like hell you will,” I snorted derisively, “don’t…don’t get your gross man sweat all over me.”

“Well come on then,” Hunter insisted, taking me by the hand and leading me through the park, “I’m still with a client, so I’ve got to finish up with him real quick – then we’ll see what you can do.”

“What I can do?” I didn’t like the sound of that.

Hunter only grinned devilishly.

After a short trek, we reached a lone, great Laurel Oak tree that casted a swallowing swath of shade beneath its grace. It stood as some behemoth, ancient looking thing; otherworldly in its size compared to its far and away kin. Its canopy of lush green stretched upwards and outwards dozens of feet, as though it were hoping one day the branches themselves might dance with the clouds. I let out a sigh of relief as I stood beneath the comforting shade, finally getting a good reprieve from the punishing light.

Hunter let go of my hand and called out to the man on the other side of the great tree, whose back was turned to me – he was partially obscured from my vision, but the familiarity of his body hung in the air, caressing me with burning thoughts.

The Obscured Man spun on his heel, his arms folded against his chest with an impatient, agitated look on his face.

Pinpricks of fear skittered across my skin like spiders searching; my beating heart lurched awkwardly into my throat and rooted itself there, the muscles of my body betraying me next – threatening to tighten up and become next to useless.

It’s my god damn
ex
.

Chapter 8