Chapter 28
Reaper
Not being able to resist Lark, I open my eyes and bite back a groan.
Lark is dressed in a dark blue silky robe that hugs her curves and show off her gorgeous legs.
Then I notice that her eyes are closed and she’s tightly gripping the sash of her robe.
She’s let her hair down out of her loose braid and she’s tucked her hair behind her ears, revealing the burns on her temple, left ear, cheek and neck.
Cupping her cheek, I lean down and rest my forehead against hers.
She leans into my touch, and I feel some of the nervous tension leaving her body.
Taking a deep breath, she unties the sash and lets the robe slide off her shoulders and onto the floor.
I suck in a sharp breath. Fuck, she’s so sexy. I’m going to be having a serious case of blue balls tonight—especially since I didn’t cum earlier, but her pleasure is more important.
The tank top and shorts match the silky blue of her robe and they hug her curves.
I tear my gaze away from her gorgeous curves and back up to her face.
This time, I follow the line of her burns and discolored skin down her face, neck, collarbone, shoulder, chest, and down to her left arm and hand. For the first time, I noticed that there’s also a small area on her right shoulder that was burned but it’s not as bad as her left side.
My gaze lowers even further, and I spot another patch of discolored skin peeking out from under her shorts and goes to about mid-thigh on her left leg.
Lower on her calves, there are lighter patches of discoloration on both legs.
Judging by how much lighter they are than the others, they must not have been as severe.
Her fingers toy with the hem of her tank top and I raise my gaze back up to her face. She’s chewing on her lip nervously and her eyes are still closed. Exhaling heavily, she raises her tank top and lowers the left side of her shorts.
A small section of burns blooms around her right hip and then tapers down to the one that must run down to mid-thigh. They aren’t as severe as the ones on her left arm and shoulder, but they are more prominent than the ones on her calves and her right shoulder.
Reaching out, I gently wrap my hands around her waist as I lean down, placing a kiss on her temple over her scar.
Gently, I start to kiss each scarred area down her face, ear, neck and shoulders.
Sinking to my knees, I kiss down her arm, across her stomach, down her hip and thigh.
Lifting her right leg, I kiss the side of her calf and then do the same to the left leg.
Looking back up at Lark, she has tears in her eyes as she stares down at me, a mixed look of relief, shock, and disbelief on her face. Standing, I cup her cheeks using my thumbs brush away the tears that fall.
“To mirror your words, your scars don’t bother me in the least. You were beautiful before, and you’re just as beautiful now.
To quote my sister, our scars do not define us.
Wear them with pride because you are a survivor.
It took me a really long time to start accepting what she said, and I’ll admit, I still struggle sometimes as you just saw, but I’m working on it.
And if you ever stumble, I’ll be right there by your side to help pull you up and out of the darkness. ”
She reaches up, cups my cheeks in turn and knowing what she most likely wants, I lean down, allowing her to kiss each of the scars on my face and neck. Pulling back, she gives me a small smile. “And I’ll be there by your side for when you stumble.”
My chest warms while at the same time, it tightens.
Reaching up, I grasp my shirt, then I close my eyes as I hesitate for a second before pulling it up and over my head. Lark gasps and I feel her fingers shaking slightly as her hands gently move from scar to scar on my chest and then to each arm. Then I feel her hand cupping my cheek again.
“Anthony, look at me, please.”
Opening my eyes, I stare down into her chocolate brown eyes.
“What I told you before? It’s still true. Your scars don’t bother me.”
Like I did for her, she kisses each and every scar on both my arms before moving to my chest. Lastly, she kisses right over the ‘BP’ again before placing a hand on the back of my neck and pulling me down for a kiss.
I bite back a moan at the feeling of her soft lips against mine.
She immediately opens up for me and my cock throbs as the desire courses through me, but I ignore it even though I’m sure she can feel it against her stomach.
My left hand tightens on her waist as I fight the urge while at the same time, I force my right hand to not tighten so I don’t hurt her.
I don’t know how sensitive her skin still is, and I refuse to cause her pain.
Fuck. I hope I didn’t hurt her earlier. I tried to keep most of my weight off of her, but I’ll need to ask her about her limits later.
That thought has me easing the kiss and when we separate, we’re both breathing heavily. I damn near groan at seeing her pupils blown with lust.
“You’re sexy as fuck, Darlin’, and I’m fighting to keep from fully losing control, but I don’t want our first time having sex to be when Granny’s downstairs and most likely hasn’t turned off her hearing aids even though she said she would.”
Lark giggles a little even though her face flames red. “Yeah, I didn’t think she was serious either.”
I lightly tap her on the left side of her waist. “Hop in bed, Darlin’, and I’ll be in in a moment.”
I bite my lip when she turns around, realizing I was right. Her shorts hug her ass perfectly. Turning, I grind the heel of my palm against my cock as I try to get it to go down as I head into her bathroom.
A few moments later, I head back into the bedroom but then I hesitate as my gaze goes to her door.
Shit.
I didn’t do a perimeter check.
I’m at war with myself, but ultimately, I turn back toward Lark to find her watching me as she frowns. Walking over to the bed, I lean over and kiss her forehead before resting mine against hers.
“I’m going to do a quick window and door check. I won’t go in Emma’s room, or Granny’s for that matter, but the others I’m going to check real quick.”
She damn near melts under me and gives a little nod. “Thank you.”
I shake my head. “This isn’t something you ever have to thank me for, Lark. I’ll always do what I can to keep you and yours safe.”
Giving her another kiss, I straighten and walk over to the dresser before slipping my jeans back on. Heading out into the hallway, I go room by room up here and then head downstairs. Granny’s still in her glider and she looks up at me in question over her reading glasses.
“Just doing a check of the windows and doors before heading to bed.” Like Lark, Granny gives me a soft smile and I swear I see her shoulders drop a little in relief. “I won’t check Emma’s room since she’s asleep. Did you want me to check your windows?”
Instead of answering me right away, she marks her spot in the book and closes it before setting it down on her lap. She gestures to the armchair to her right and I sit down, slightly confused.
Granny frowns slightly as her gaze drops to my chest and worry etches her features. My muscles tense as I realize I didn’t put my shirt back on.
Clearing my throat I gesture to my chest, figuring it’s best to just get this out of the way.
“This summer, me and my President’s Old Lady, Levi, were kidnapped.
They did this to me, though some of it I intentionally brought on myself to try and lure their focus off Levi.
The club rescued us before they could do any more. ”
Her eyes swim with unshed tears, but she blinks repeatedly to keep them from falling. “Is there any chance that they’ll come back for retaliation? That they could take Lark?”
I shake my head. “Nah, the cops locked them all up. With what they did, there’s no chance of them getting out.
They’ll rot there till they die.” No way am I mentioning that it was actually the Feds, not the cops, that locked them up and that they then went after the rest of Black Plague’s members.
Nor will I mention that we took care of some of those fuckers ourselves.
Granny gives me a sharp nod. “Good. Now, I didn’t want to say anything with Lark around earlier, but what are you going to do about that good for nothing Zac Crawford?
He’s been sniffing around Lark the past few months even more so than he was before.
She doesn’t know that I’ve noticed, but I have.
Khloe doesn’t know either.” She sighs as she looks down at the book in her hand, her fingers tracing over the slightly raised letters of the book jacket.
“I wish Khloe would wake up and ditch his controlling ass. She almost did after that first time you came to her house to bring Lark the laptop, but somehow the asshole weaseled back into her good graces. My Khloe is way too good for that man.”
My frown deepens as my gut tightens with worry. “What do you mean he’s been sniffing around Lark?”
“He’s somehow figured out her schedule, both at the tavern and the few times she stops in to help out at the supper club and to keep tabs on how it’s doing.
At the supper club, he’ll sit in the back but will make sure he can still see the bar.
He pretends to be on his phone or talking to whoever he’s with, when he’s really watching everything Lark does.
As for the tavern, he goes with his cousin, Darren, or his brother, Oliver, a lot.
They’re the ones that come up to the bar to get his drinks so he doesn’t have to. ”
Her brow creases even more and I fist my hands as anger courses through me.
“He tends to wear baseball caps and pulls the bill low on his face. She’s always noticed him though and did her best to steer clear of him.
She also makes sure he can never catch her alone in the hallway to the offices or bathroom.
At some point after the fire, when we were still living at Khloe’s house, Lark told me that she could always feel when his attention was on her.
It’s like her skin is crawling. Kind of like the feeling of having ants walk over your skin,” she says before pausing.
“These last couple of months, I think he thought you two had quit whatever was going on between you two. Things have also been rough between Zac and Khloe from what I overheard. I don’t know what he wants with my Lark, but I don’t want to see my grandbaby hurt again. ”
That would certainly explain a bit about why Zac was so angry tonight, but not all of it.
Did he see me kiss her before coming in tonight?
And why does he seem to have an issue with the club?
I’m going to have to talk to Python about this.
Maybe Smoke too. See if I can get in on the alerts they get from their security system.
It seems like his focus on her has turned into some sort of obsession.
If Zac’s been sniffing around like this, it won’t take much for him to get even more stalkerish.
And like I’d told Lark earlier, I’ll do whatever I can to keep her, and those she is close to, safe.
“I’ll look into things on Zac’s end and talk with Lark. If things get too out of hand with Zac, I can see if some of the guys can rotate in when I can’t be here to make sure Zac doesn’t pull anything. She might not like it, but her safety is my top priority.”
Granny nods and reaches over, patting my arm. “Good. Now go on and do your thing. It’s late and I bet you’re tired. We’ll have breakfast ready for you later in the morning.”
“Night, Granny.”
Getting up, I head to the entryway and double check the alarm is still set before going around to each window and the back door, making sure they are locked before heading back upstairs.
Shutting the door, I strip out of my jeans and crawl into bed before flicking off the lamp on the nightstand.
“Everything okay?” Lark asks sleepily as she scoots over closer to me.
Hooking my arm around her waist, I gently pull her even closer and bury my face in the crook of her neck, kissing her as I breathe in her rose perfume mixed with a smell that’s all her.
My cock throbs as she wiggles closer, rubbing her ass against it in the process and I take a few steadying breaths as I try to calm my desire.
“Yeah, Darlin’. Granny and I chatted a bit before I made sure everything was secure.” Pausing, I kiss her neck again. I have to bite my lip to keep from groaning when I see her skin pebble in goosebumps as she shivers slightly. “Sleep, Darlin’. I’ve got ya.”
I won’t mention anything about Zac tonight, but soon, I’ll have to talk to Lark about him.
Lark sighs contentedly and after a little bit, I hear her breathing level out. A few moments later, sleep claims me as well.