Chapter Thirteen
Charlotte
I wake up early, shower, and dress in black yoga pants, a sports bra, and a loose white shirt. I’m so excited to start training that I barely slept last night. I can't believe Reaper said yes. I thought it was going to take a lot more to convince his grumpy ass.
I take one last look in the mirror and tie my hair up into a ponytail with my favorite red scrunchie, then walk out of Reaper's bedroom. Should I just start calling it my room?
I hum the same song I was playing last night in the kitchen as I walk down the hall to the staircase. Before I reach the stairs, a door to my right opens wide and out walks Reaper, completely naked.
“Holy fucking shit. Oh my god!” I yell, bringing my hands up to my eyes.
“What the fuck are you doing?!” he demands.
“What am I doing? What are you doing naked?!”
“I just took a shower and ran out of towels. And you're not supposed to be awake yet!”
“I figured I’d get up early like you so we could start my training.”
He grunts and I peek at him through my fingers, eyes landing right on his impressive semi-hard cock hanging between two muscular thighs. He’s not even trying to cover himself. I swallow a large gulp, then trail my eyes up his wet ripped body landing on his mouth… his bare, maskless mouth. My hands completely drop, and I stare at him, fascinated.
Seeing his face in whole is something I was not prepared for. He’s perfectly symmetrical, features strong and rugged, with full dark pink lips that look like the most sweet and innocent thing on him. I once teased him for not having a jaw, but his is most definitely there. Angular and chiseled connecting to a rounded chin, and face coated with a few days of stubble.
He’s…. he’s wickedly beautiful.
And I’m suddenly nervous as hell.
Reaper's dark brows furrow as he stares at me, clearly wondering why I’m gawking at him. Realization hits him as he brings his large hand up to cover his lower face.
“Fuck,” he growls.
“Too late, Reaper,” I manage to say with a smirk and plant my hands on my hips.
“Fucking hell, Charlotte. You weren't supposed to be up. You've never been up this early.”
“Oopsies. Surprise.”
He growls again and drops his hand in resignation.
“Meet me in the gym in five,” he grumbles, then walks into another room, but not before I get a flash of his toned bare ass.
What a fine specimen .
When I see Reaper again, he’s unfortunately dressed in loose dark gray shorts and a tight black tank top which puts all his glorious muscles on display.
“Over here. Sit and stretch.” He motions to the mats on one side of the room and sits down.
I follow his lead, spreading my legs as far as they go and stretch my top half down onto one leg at a time. He is surprisingly flexible for someone his size.
After floor stretches, we move to standing ones, then he gets me on a treadmill to start. After some cardio, he hands me ten-pound weights even though I insist I can do more. I just roll my eyes and continue following instructions. I can't argue with him on my first day.
When we get to the machines, continuing to work on my upper body strength, I become way more aware of his closeness and gentle touches to my arms as he helps me use the equipment. I’m trying to focus, but now that I can see his face, now that I've seen all of him, I can't stop my mind from picturing it all over again, and he keeps catching me staring at him through the mirrors like a creep.
“Are you going to keep gawking at me or focus on training?”
My cheeks redden and I can't help but smirk. He scowls at me and I let out a laugh.
“Are you sulking because I finally saw your face?”
“No.”
“No? So you’re perfectly okay with the fact that I’ve now seen all of you?”
He pauses for a moment before answering while I stare at him, grinning.
“Honestly, I surprisingly feel relieved more than anything else.”
“Really?”
“I thought it was best that I kept some part of me still a secret, that I remained the Bone Reaper to you. ”
“You thought it would blur lines,” I state, understanding.
“Partly.”
“And the other part being you not wanting me to see how utterly grotesque you are under your macabre mask? I get it. It’s okay though, Reaper. Judgment free zone here.” I smile innocently. An eyeroll and a grunt are his only response to my teasing.
He has to know how devastatingly attractive he is, but I certainly don’t let him know how it’s affecting me.
We continue our muscle training, mostly in silence, then finally move on to what I'm really looking forward to—self-defense.
The first thing he tells me is to trust my instincts in a situation. If it doesn't feel right, then something’s not right and I should walk away, not engage.
“When someone is attacked, it’s best to try to escape if they can, but in our case, once we’ve been seen, we can't just leave, even if you have the opportunity. They will go to the cops or they will find a way to come after you. It’s a loose end we can't have. They will try to kill you, especially someone who looks like you, easy prey. They will think they’ve won before they even start. But that also will give you the upper hand. They’ll be cocky, overly confident, and consider you easy. Use that to your advantage. Play the part. Feign weakness, let them think they're winning. They will lower their guard and that's when you strike back. The element of surprise is one of the most important aspects.”
I listen along and nod to everything he tells me, trying to focus on his words and not his perfectly sculpted mouth.
Reaper goes on to show me a couple quick strikes I could use. A heel-palm strike to the nose, fingers in the eyes, a throat chop and the good ol’ knee to the groin which will definitely render a man useless if it lands true.
“But once your attacker realizes you know how to fight and you're not the easy prey they expected, they will come at you with everything they got, they won't fall for your tricks a second time. So once you begin your return attack, you can’t stop. Don't stop, Charlotte, even if you’re scared. You cannot control fear but you can choose to not allow it to control you. You commit and you finish it.”
“I’ll finish it,” I say with conviction.
The next hour continues with practicing the different strikes and getting used to the movements. We end up having one close call of my knee actually colliding with Reaper’s lovely package which would have been truly unfortunate.
By the time our training session is over, I am completely exhausted with my limbs feeling like jelly.
I run a bath with Epsom salt and soak myself in the tub until the water turns cold, and my skin is all pruned.
Over the next month, we continue my training every morning with only one day off a week. I already feel and see the difference happening with my body. I like it. I feel stronger and surer of myself.
“I have work in the basement. I’ll be back up in a few hours,” Reaper informs me.
“What kind of work?”
“A body. I need to pack some items up for some clients.”
“Can I watch?”
“You want to watch a body be cut up and organs removed?”
I hesitate for a moment, really considering if I'm ready to see that side to his work.
“I’d like to see more of what you do.”
“Fine. But no interference. ”
“Promise,” I say with a wide grin.
When Reaper enters the code to the basement, he actually doesn't block the view.
“To be clear, you don't go down here without me. The basement is still off-limits, but… maybe if I actually do ever need help, you can get down there,” he says.
I just smile.
I gotta take the small wins with him.
Part of Reaper’s basement is set up like a morgue. A quick chill runs through me as he rolls out a very dead man from a large body box refrigerator. I take note that there’s one other empty slot that can fit another body.
He brings the pale man over to his work table and after adorning gloves and an apron, he begins slicing into him. I watch in fascination at how he moves so fluidly like he’s done this hundreds of times.
“What’s that?”
“Retractors.”
“What are they for?”
“They are used to hold back tissue to give you a clear surgical field or reach other areas.”
A couple more instruments are used before he pulls out a large reddish brown… thing.
“What in the world is that?”
“A liver. You never took an anatomy class?” he grumbles.
“I guess it’s just different seeing it like this and not in a textbook or something.”
An hour goes by filled with more of my questions and seeing things I wish I hadn't.
“How many clients do you have?”
“Will you stop asking questions?”
“But I want to learn.”
“You're not here to learn this.”
“Then why am I here? ”
Reaper pauses as if he’s really considering the question.
“You asked to be.”
“Ok. Yes, I asked to be here. But why am I still here, right now? You could have told me to go upstairs an hour ago.”
Another pause and then a deep growl crawls from his throat.
“Am I annoying you?”
“Yes.”
I’m not sure why but his answer causes me to smile. Should I be happy I can get under the skin of such a beast of a man? Probably not, considering he’s also a serial killer and currently holding something that could slice me open.
“Answer this last question and I'll let you finish up in peace. Why am I still here?”
He pretends to search for another tool, then lets out a long sigh before saying, “Because… when you're not annoying me, I enjoy your company.”
He finally turns and looks at me, noticing my wide grin and scowls at me.
“See, was that so hard?” I say sweetly. Another growl leaves his throat. “See you later, Reaper.” And with that, I walk over to the door and enter in the code I’ve now memorized, leaving Reaper to his work.