7. CALLIE
CALLIE
Reaper had killed a man less than an hour ago, and my daughter refused to let the nurse examine her unless he held her hand.
He sat beside the hospital bed with dried blood on his cut and Maddie’s fingers wrapped around one of his. His gun was gone, surrendered to the sheriff until the shooting was formally ruled self-defense, but nothing about him looked less dangerous without it.
Maddie was safe because he was dangerous.
The doctor found no injuries beyond a scrape on her knee and some redness where Viper had gripped her arm. Physically, she was fine. Emotionally, she was exhausted, frightened, and determined to keep Reaper within touching distance.
When the nurse tried to lead him outside for the examination, Maddie screamed.
He stayed.
He looked away while she changed into a hospital gown, spoke softly when she became overwhelmed, and promised for the fourth time that nobody would take her again.
Each time she asked, he answered with the same certainty.
“Ain’t happenin’, little bit.”
The police came after the doctor left. Maddie’s father was in custody, Viper was dead, and the preliminary evidence supported Reaper’s account of the shooting. Gunner and Knox had witnessed enough of the rescue to confirm what happened.
An officer asked if I wanted to speak to my ex.
I said no.
There was nothing left to say to a man who had traded our daughter’s safety for his own.
Maddie fell asleep with Reaper still beside her. Her small hand loosened around his finger, but he did not move away.
“You can let go,” I whispered.
His gaze remained on her face. “She ain’t lettin’ me.”
“She’s asleep.”
“Don’t matter.”
I sat beside him. “Thank you.”
His jaw tightened.
“Don’t.”
“For thanking you?”
“For thankin’ me like I did you a favor.”
“You saved her.”
“Should’ve stopped them takin’ her.”
“You put men at the preschool. You changed the collection password. You checked every entrance yourself.”
“And they still got her.”
“Because the Black Thorns created a distraction and attacked the men watching her. That is not your fault.”
His expression turned hard. “She was gone twenty-three minutes.”
“And you found her.”
“She was sittin’ beside a man with a gun.”
“And you controlled yourself long enough to get her out.”
His eyes finally moved to mine.
“I saw Viper’s body,” I continued. “One shot. No rage. No unnecessary violence. You could have killed Maddie’s father too, but you didn’t because she was watching.”
“Wanted to.”
“I know.”
“Still do.”
“I know that too.”
His hand closed around the edge of the bed. “You shouldn’t.”
“Shouldn’t what?”
“Know what I am and still look at me like that.”
I leaned closer. “You think I didn’t know what you were when I saw ENFORCER written across your chest?”
“Knowin’ ain’t the same as seein’.”
“I saw you carry my daughter out of that motel.”
“You didn’t see what happened before.”
“No. Maddie told me.”
His face changed.
“She said you made the monsters go away, that you told her when to close her eyes, and that she was not scared because she knew you would protect her. Is there something else I need to see?”
“You saw Viper.”
“I saw the man who threatened my daughter lying on the floor. I’m not going to pretend I’m sorry he can never hurt her again.”
His gaze searched mine as though he expected to find fear hidden beneath the words.
There was none.
Before Reaper, I had believed dangerous men were all the same. They took. They controlled. They filled every room with their needs and left women to clean up the wreckage afterward.
Reaper had stepped into my life and taken control whenever the danger became too large for me to handle alone, but he had never taken my choices. Even when we argued, even when he issued orders with that rough voice and expected obedience, he had stopped whenever I truly asked him to.
He had protected without diminishing me.
That was the difference.
***
Maddie was discharged shortly after midnight. Reaper carried her to my car, strapped her into the booster seat, and placed the stuffed dinosaur beneath her arm.
The front window of my house had been repaired while we were gone. Gunner waited across the street, and another Iron Flames member watched the alley behind the property.
Reaper checked every room before letting us inside.
I put Maddie to bed and stayed until her breathing settled, then returned to the living room.
Reaper was fastening his cut.
My heart dropped. “Where are you going?”
“Clubhouse.”
“Why?”
“Hawk’s callin’ church. We need to find Rafe before he makes another move.”
“And after that?”
His hands stopped.
“Reaper.”
“Hawk’ll keep men on the house. Gunner can stay outside tonight.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
He looked toward Maddie’s bedroom. “You’re both safe now.”
“Because you are here.”
“Because Viper’s dead and your ex is locked up.”
“Rafe is still out there.”
“Which is why I gotta go.”
I stepped between him and the door. “Are you coming back?”
His silence answered me.
Anger cut through the fear. “You do not get to do this.”
“Move, sweetheart.”
“No.”
“Callie.”
“You walked into my life, took over my house, made my daughter trust you, and made me believe I could trust you too. You do not get to decide we are better off without you because you are frightened.”
“I ain’t frightened.”
“You’re fucking terrified.”
His eyes darkened. “Careful.”
“Of what? You?” I moved closer. “You would tear apart every man in this town before you let one of them hurt me, but you cannot stand here and admit you want something for yourself.”
His hands curled at his sides. “Wantin’ you ain’t the problem.”
“Then what is?”
“I don’t know how to do this.”
The words came out harshly, but beneath them I heard something raw.
“Do what?”
“Be what that kid thinks I am.” He looked toward the hallway. “She looks at me like I’m good. Like I can fix everythin’. Sooner or later, she’s gonna find out I’m not built for bedtime stories and fuckin’ pancakes.”
“You checked beneath her bed twice.”
“Because she asked.”
“You ate half a stale biscuit because she offered it.”
“Wasn’t that bad.”
“You remembered her preschool schedule, repaired her window, and knew which dinosaur was hers in a parking lot full of toys!”
His jaw tightened.
“You are already doing it,” I said. “You’re standing here trying to leave because you think we deserve somebody better, but we do not want somebody else.”
“Callie—”
“I want you.”
His breathing changed.
“Maddie wants you too, and if you leave, it will not be because you are protecting us. It will be because you are another man making promises with his actions and disappearing before he has to say the words.”
Pain flashed across his face.
I hated hurting him.
I needed him to hear me.
“You told me I wasn’t her father,” he said.
“I was angry.”
“You were right.”
“No.” I pressed my hand over his heart. “I was scared of how quickly she loved you. I was scared of how quickly I did.”
He went completely still.
“I love you, Chris.”
His eyes closed.
For several seconds, the only sound in the room was the hum of the refrigerator and Maddie’s faint breathing down the hallway.
Then Reaper’s hand closed around the back of my neck.
“Say it again.”
“I love you.”
He kissed me.
The kiss was rough, desperate, and nothing like the controlled possession he had shown me upstairs at the clubhouse. This felt like a man holding on after nearly convincing himself to let go.
I pushed his cut from his shoulders and dragged his shirt over his head.
He pulled back. “Sweetheart.”
“Take me to bed.”
His control snapped.
Reaper lifted me, and I wrapped my legs around him as he carried me down the hallway. He lowered me onto the mattress before locking the bedroom door, then stood over me with hunger darkening his face.
“Take off your clothes.”
I did.
His gaze moved over every inch of me as I stripped, lingering on the flowers across my hip before dropping lower.
“Come here,” I whispered.
He removed the rest of his clothes and joined me on the bed. I pushed him onto his back before he could cover me and climbed across his hips.
One dark eyebrow lifted. “Got plans, sweetheart?”
“You said I could take what I needed.”
“Then take it.”
I reached into the bedside drawer for a condom, rolled it over him, and lowered myself slowly onto his cock.
His hands locked around my hips.
“Fuck, Callie.”
I braced my palms against his chest and began to move. He filled me completely, stretching me with every slow rise and fall while his fingers tightened against my skin.
“That’s it,” he rasped. “Use me.”
Pleasure built with every movement. I rocked harder, taking control of the rhythm while Reaper watched me through heavy-lidded eyes.
“You look so damn good ridin’ me.”
I leaned down and kissed him. One of his hands slid into my hair while the other moved between us, his thumb finding my clit.
My body tightened.
“Chris.”
“Come on, sweetheart. Give it to me.”
He circled harder, keeping time with the movement of my hips until the pressure broke. I came with his name against his mouth, shaking above him while he held me through it.
Before I caught my breath, he rolled us over.
He drove back into me hard, pushing my knees apart as he took control. I gripped his shoulders and met every thrust, unable to look away from the intensity in his face.
“You’re mine,” he said roughly. “Ain’t nobody touchin’ either of you again.”
“Yours.”
The words pushed him over. His rhythm broke, and he buried himself deep with a low groan, his forehead pressed against mine.
Afterward, he stayed above me, his weight held carefully on his forearms.
“I ain’t got pretty words,” he said. “Never needed ’em.”
“You don’t need them now.”
“There’s nothin’ I wouldn’t do for you. Nothin’ I wouldn’t burn down to keep you both safe. You ask me to stay, I’m here. You ask me to leave, I’ll go, but it’ll fucking kill me.”
“That sounds like love.”
His thumb moved across my cheek. “Then yeah, sweetheart. I love you.”
I kissed him softly. He wrapped his arms around me.
Maddie appeared beside the bed shortly after sunrise, dragging her dinosaur by one leg. Reaper had pulled on his jeans during the night, but his chest remained bare and one arm was still wrapped around me.
She studied us.
“Are you sleeping here now?”
Reaper looked at me.
I nodded.
“Yeah, little bit.”
“Every night?”
“Every night your mom’ll have me.”
Maddie climbed onto the bed between us and put her dinosaur on Reaper’s chest.
“He wants you to stay too.”
Reaper closed one hand around the toy and the other around mine.