Chapter 13 Lexi
The rumble of a motorcycle’s engine cuts off abruptly outside. Tension knots in my gut because I can sense Reaper’s back from wherever he went. As I sit up in his bed, the sheets slip from my grasp. Cool air raises goosebumps on my skin. Reaper’s been gone for hours. Where the hell did he go?
The bedroom door slams open with such force that the walls seem to shudder. Reaper stands there, a towering silhouette against the dim hallway light. Shadows carve out his furious expression, his eyes two dark pits of rage. He doesn’t say a word, just strides toward the bed with the determined gait of a predator closing in.
Before I can even form a question, his hands are on me, rough and insistent. There’s no tenderness in his touch, only a raw, desperate need that overrides everything else.
He flips me onto my belly and shoves my face into the pillow. Gripping my hips, he slaps my ass hard right before he takes me with one, vicious thrust. It’s not like last night; there’s a darkness to his thrusts that frightens me, but it doesn’t stop me from wanting him like this. My body responds to his fervor, but my mind races, caught between arousal and fear.
“Reaper,” I gasp out, trying to grab onto anything that can anchor me to reality. “What’s wrong?”
He doesn’t answer, doesn’t slow down. Instead, his grip tightens, as if he’s trying to communicate through his actions alone. It’s hot—God, it’s so hot—but it’s also terrifying because this man, this enigma wrapped in leather and ink, is a tornado of anger, and it seems to be directed at me. I have no idea why, but I also don’t really care.
“Harder,” I plead between ragged breaths, glancing over my shoulder.
What I see sends a fresh wave of anxiety through me. His jaw clenches, and for a moment, I see something flicker in his eyes—pain, betrayal, confusion? But it’s gone as quickly as it appeared, buried under the relentless tide of his anger. He closes himself off to me. His features are a mask of fury. Usually, there’s at least a hint of playfulness in his expression, or a bit of the grudging affection which he tries so hard to conceal. None of that is there. I’m not even sure he’s really here with me or if he knows he’s fucking me like a beast.
“Please, Reaper.” My voice shakes. “Tell me what’s going on.”
“Later,” he growls, slapping his hand over my mouth to keep me from speaking.
I suck on his fingers, tasting him while trying not to drown in pleasure. My pussy aches from all the sex we had last night, but the way he’s pounding me into the bed is so primal that I surrender to it.
“You’re going to come for me, now!” He grabs my clit, pinching it lightly before scraping his fingers over it.
I shatter, pulsing around him just seconds before he unleashes his fury in hot spurts. He grunts out the last few thrusts before shoving off me and collapsing on the bed. Staring up at the ceiling, he doesn’t look at me. Not once.
What demon has chased him back to this room to seek solace in a display of ferocity that’s as much punishment as it is passion? I have no doubt something bad happened.
“Is Ace okay?” I ask softly.
“Fine. Your son is with Nina.”
I don’t know why he put so much emphasis on Ace being mine. Does he know about Ace? Did he find out somehow?
The air is thick with tension. The aftermath of our raw encounter clings to my skin like the humidity of a brewing storm. Reaper sits up and moves to the edge of the bed, turning his back on me. His muscles are coiled in anger. His hands ball into fists, and even from here, I can see the white of his knuckles. The silence between us is a living thing, snarling and snapping, waiting for one of us to make a move.
“Lexi,” he growls without turning, “you’ve got one shot at telling me the truth, and you better do it now.”
My heart stutters, fear mingling with confusion. What truth does he want? My mind races. There’s no way he’s talking about Ace. I made sure I didn’t list a father on his birth certificate, so he can’t be talking about that.
“What truth?” My voice is tremulous and uncertain.
He spins around and skewers me with his dark eyes. The intensity within them pins me to the spot. “I think you know exactly what I’m talking about.” There’s an accusation there, a certainty that I’m hiding something from him.
I stop thinking about Ace, a child who has no idea that his father is a dangerous man. Reaper couldn’t have figured it out so quickly. It’s impossible.
Instead, I’m transported back seven years to the night I slipped away under cover of darkness, leaving everything I knew behind.
“Are you talking about the night I left?” I ask, the words tumbling out in a rush. My chest tightens as I wait for his reaction, bracing for another wave of his wrath.
My pulse hammers in my ears, each beat echoing Reaper’s silent demand for the truth. The air seems to thicken around us, heavy with unspoken threats and my own rising panic. I swallow hard, the taste of fear metallic on my tongue.
“Reaper,” I start, my voice a fractured whisper, “I—I’m scared to tell you.” My hands tremble as I pull the thin sheet up over my chest, a flimsy barrier against the tempest brewing in his eyes.
“Scared?” His lip curls slightly, a sneer that doesn’t reach the cold fury in his gaze. “You think I’ll hurt you for telling the truth?”
I nod, unable to form words, the weight of his stare pressing down on me like a physical force. A single tear escapes, tracing a hot path down my cheek, and then another follows, a silent testament to the sheer terror gripping my heart.
“Lexi,” he says, and the way he utters my name feels like an omen.
The dam breaks, and the tears come freely now, sobs racking my body as the truth spills out of me like blood from a wound. “I saw you … that night … I saw you kill someone. In cold blood.”
His reaction isn’t what I expect. There’s no explosion of rage, no violent denial. Instead, there’s a chilling calmness as he asks, “That’s all you have to say?”
“Isn’t that enough?” I gasp between sobs, the question a plea for some kind of mercy or understanding.
He steps back, the shadows in the room seeming to coil around him. “Yes, I murder people,” he admits, his voice devoid of remorse. “But only those who deserve it. Liars deserve it too.” His eyes lock onto mine, probing, searching. “Are you a liar, Lexi?”
No further words escape me. I can only shake my head as I’m trapped by the intensity of his gaze. Will my honesty bring salvation or damnation?
I cower beneath the weight of his stare, my breath hitching in my throat as I shake my head. No words form. They’re locked inside me, strangled by the fear that has seized every fiber of my being. A low growl rumbles from Reaper’s chest, an animalistic sound that curls the hair on the back of my neck.
In a swift motion, he turns on his heel and strides to the door. The violence of his departure reverberates through the room, the door slamming against the wall with such force it splinters the hinges. The sound echoes like a gunshot, a stark reminder of the raw power he wields. He’s gone, leaving a deafening silence.
My heart races, pounding against my ribcage with the desperate urge to escape the danger I’ve summoned. If Reaper is this furious over my confession about witnessing a murder, how will he ever come to grips with the truth about Ace?
Reaper doesn’t know that when I left, I took a part of him with me. Ace is a living, breathing secret that could change everything between us. How can I possibly tell Reaper the truth? What will happen when he learns that I’ve been hiding his son from him?
“God,” I whisper into the emptiness, my voice barely audible.
The clubhouse walls seem to close in around me, each creak and groan a sinister whisper of the chaos to come. My mind races as images of Reaper’s wrath intertwine with the softness of Ace’s laughter, a juxtaposition that knots my stomach.
Family, loyalty, and justice—these are the pillars of Reaper’s world, a code etched deep into his soul. And here I am, caught in the crossfire of love and duty, a precarious bridge between the man I cannot forget and the child who binds us forever.
Cold dread settles in my bones. I hug my knees tightly to my chest. Tears blur my vision, but I blink them away, steeling myself before I fall apart completely. I’ve seen Reaper’s capacity for violence and his uncompromising pursuit of what he deems right. But what scares me the most isn’t the wrath of the man known as ‘Reaper’ – it’s the fury of a father scorned.