Chapter two
Finley
“What the fuck?” My brother paced the garage, as I tried to get my bearings.
Holy shit, I just made out with a behemoth of a man I’d just met. And I mean behemoth. I’d never seen a man that big before. He was a fucking giant. I was pretty sure his muscles had muscles, and that smooth bald head with his beard made him irresistible, his intense green eyes just cinched everything together.
What was wrong with me?
The answer was a lot, because I wanted to be back in his arms, under his body, and whatever else he had planned for us.
“What’s going on, Fin?” Flame stood in front of me. His arms were crossed over his body and the look of disappointment curdled my stomach.
“I don’t know, Flame. We were flirting, and then we were kissing.” I didn’t hold back with Flame. Hell, he was more of a father to me than a brother. He’d gotten me out of our shitty trailer park as soon as he could, and we’d never looked back.
“Are you okay?” Flame’s disappointment melted off his face at my words. He knew as well as I did how hard it was for me to trust a man, especially a biker.
He pulled me into a comforting hug, I went willingly. I was sure we were both thinking of the time he held me while I cried after the one and only other biker I let get close to me. Flame was there when my first and only boyfriend, Dylan broke my heart, and I understood his over reaction when he saw me and Banshee making out, but it still didn’t stop the pull I felt toward the Reaper.
“I’m fine. He just got to me. When he told me, that now that he’s met me, I was it for him, it kinda hit a cord. It was a stupid lack of judgment on my part, but I promise I’m better now. I don’t know why I fell for his line.”
Flame’s body stiffened, I pulled away from him wanting to get a read on his face.
“What?”
“It’s nothing, kid. Let’s get you home. I’ll even buy you pizza.”
“Flame, I know when you’re keeping stuff from me. What is it?”
He yanked at the tips of his gray hair. Something he’d do whenever he got frustrated, it showed he was keeping something from me. “The Reaper’s Rebels have some weird thoughts that when they find their one, that’s it for them.”
“So what he was saying, he truly meant?”
Visions of shifters with their fated mates crossed my mind. Being stuck with a shitty childhood I found my escape through reading. Flame would take me to the library whenever our mom would entertain her latest piece of shit. We were at the library a lot.
Shifter books were always my favorite. The loyalty, the possessive alpha male, there was no way my panties would be dry.
“Stop, Fin.”
“What?” I asked, embarrassed how breathy my voice sounded.
“I know you. You’re getting some romantic shit in your head that maybe he really is your one and only soul mate. That shit doesn’t happen in real life. He’s just playing you, just like Dylan did, and I refuse to see you hurt again.”
“It’s fine, Flame. I’m not some stupid teenager anymore. I’m smarter now.”
Flame stared at me as if he was trying to read my mind. Thank fuck he couldn’t.
“Knock it off, Flame. I’m not an idiot. Don’t treat me like one.”
“I know you’re not an idiot, but Mom didn’t give you anyone to look up to, especially in the men department. I don’t want you letting some deep seated daddy issues fuck you up, where you make some dumbass decisions.”
Anger threaded its way up my spine until it had entered every part of me. “How dare you compare me to Mom. I’m not her.”
Flame opened his mouth, but I was out of the garage before he could even form a coherent word.
I knew he worried about me, but I never would have guessed he was afraid I would go down our mom’s dumbass path. I slammed into the house, stomping up to the shower. As the hot water slid down my body I had to stop myself from thinking of Banshee’s hands on me. I’d never been touched like that before, and I hated that I liked it so much.
His words filtered back to me. The anguish on his face when I didn’t go with him branded my mind. Could he really mean what he said?
