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“You fucking think. You left me. You fucking left me in that room.”
“Baby.” He moves to grab her, and this time when she goes to hit him, he stops her. “We have a lot to talk about. I came for you. I had to take care of business, and then I came for you.”
“Well, go to hell. I don’t want you.” She moves back to stand next to Scout.
“Officers…” He looks us up and down again. “Troopers, sorry. You’ll find out that one Stanley “Phantom” Smith is no longer in the state of Kentucky custody. He was paroled several months ago.”
“How do you know that?” I don’t like this guy or trust him.
He squints and looks over our shoulders. “I can’t tell you that.” He pinches his lips.
“Yes, you fucking can. If Phantom is coming after Riddler, we need to know,” River grits out as she moves toward him again.
“Baby, let me talk to these guys alone. You go inside and get me a beer.” Her fist swings out again and she cracks him in the face faster than he thought. “Yep, deserved that too.” He holds his jaw and looks at River again. “Keep it up, baby girl, and I’m going to fuck you against that wall to prove who owns you.”
“Try it and I’ll stick you with your Bowie,” River bites out.
“Reaper, what are you doing here?” Scout asks.
“Can we talk?” He nods his head and works his jaw. “Damn, baby, your hit has gotten better.” When he sees River squeezing her hand and working her fingers, he is at her side instantly. “Fucking A, baby girl.” He takes her hand and presses into her. “You can’t damage your fingers, you know that. I’m sorry.” He leans down and kisses her forehead. She tries to pull away, but he keeps her close with an arm around her. “You can come too.” He drags her around, and it’s the first time since River and Scout moved back here that I actually see River off balance. She is completely off step with this guy around.
“Let’s go to my office.” Scout moves to the clubhouse, and we follow along. The main room is decorated, and I see a DJ setting up. “Excuse us, the girls wanted to have a party since there are a lot of bikers in town for the Golden Days festivities.” She points around, and I note the number of men around here for it being an all women MC.
When we turn to the left and enter the second room, my gaze goes to the large desk. Images of me taking her on the desk in the bar run through my mind and I have to push them back before I embarrass myself. She moves to sit in the chair, and I watch as Reaper takes a seat and pulls River onto his lap. She tries to move, but he won’t let her go.
I shake my head as I pull my hat off. “River, do I need to help you?” I offer, and the guy looks at me like he wants to kill me.
“Dude, I don’t know you, but you don’t want to come between—” River covers his mouth with her hand, stopping him from saying more. He mumbles behind it and gives her a look, his tattooed eyebrow rising high.
“I was asking River,” I clarify, not afraid of him.
He starts to stand up, but she pushes him down, something I know she wouldn’t be able to do if not for the fact he’s afraid of hurting her.
“Thad, it’s okay. I know how to handle Reaper myself.” She raises her brow as he growls behind her hand.
“Okay, Reaper, what do you want to talk to us about? Why wasn’t I notified? I should’ve been,” Scout says.
Reaper pulls River’s hand from his mouth and kisses her palm. The look the man has in his eyes for her is pure love, but she is giving him hate back.
“You should’ve been notified, but I don’t think the authorities want to let you know they lost him a week after he went on parole. He up and disappeared. If you are having issues, I know it’s him.”
“He was supposed to serve a minimum of ten years, even if he got good behavior, because of the aggression of his attack. He also attacked the officers who arrested him.” Scout stands and starts pacing. It’s my turn to console my girl, and I move toward her. She starts to put up a hand but stops and lets me pull her into my body. I turn with her, and we look back at Reaper.
“Well. Well. Well. Riddler found herself a man. It’s about fucking time.”
“Continue. How do you know he’s out? How do you know all this?” I’ve had enough with this joker.
He takes a deep breath and looks at River before turning to look at Scout and me. “I’m former ATF. I was under for the last eight years. I can’t show you a badge or anything, but…” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his wallet. He opens it and pulls out a card. “He’ll be able to verify who I am. My real name is Klay Ulrich.” He sits back down and grabs River in his long arms. He tips her chin to look at him. “I’m here to get my woman back, to protect her from Phantom, and to warn you.” He turns to Scout and nods before he turns back to River. “In that order, babe. I quit. Walked away because I’m not going to keep putting either of us in danger.”
“Klay.” She sighs. “I can’t. You hurt me bad.”
“I know, baby girl, but I’m going to make it right. I swear.”
“ATF? You knew?” Scout pulls from my arms and looks between River and Reaper.
River looks down before she looks back up at her best friend. “I might’ve kept some things from you. Yeah, I knew.”
“We will be talking about this,” Scout says, waving her hand between them. She turns to me. “You need to get ahold of Kentucky and find out if he’s here, but I wouldn’t put it past him. He not only wants to hurt me for defying him but for putting him in prison. He also wants to get even with River for helping me. Vixen would be on his list too. And my Kentucky Chapter President. I’ll have to call her.”
