Chapter Three
1600 Words
The first knock goes unanswered, leaving Reaper standing staring at the peeling paint of the door. He knew he shouldn’t be here. He should have stayed away, listened to the advice of his friends, yet here he was.
Glancing about the decrepit hallway, he marveled at the stark contrast to her childhood home. What the hell was she doing living in a place like this? The rose he knew wouldn’t be seen dead living in this dump.
Except she wasn’t Rose anymore.
She had made that more than clear.
It seemed Bethany liked to slum it.
Pursing his lips, Reaper knocked again, louder. The door shook with the force of it. Like hell was he going to lose her now. Not when she had just walked back into his life. She might not want to talk; she may not care about Ollie and what he would want but he did. He needed to make it right. Even if this new version of “Rose” was a much bigger b***h then the sweet girl he remembered.
Hell, just thinking about her made him squirm. She was the same girl underneath, he had to believe that because if it turned out that she really hadn’t cared about them, cared about Ollie it would break him. It would be like reliving his death all over again.
The door swung open, as he paused to knock again. Bethany’s eyes were blazing in her head. “What the hell are you doing?”
He took a step back. Whoa. The grey-haired woman wasn’t what he was expecting. “I’m looking for Bethany” He composed himself quickly.
“She’s not here”
Reaper fought the urge to roll his eyes. Stating the obvious much.
“Do you know when she will be back?” He turned on the cheeky charm he was so famous for. It was a good disguise. It helped people forget what he was.
“Never, it looks like she’s upped and left” She swung open the door, allowing him to enter.
“s**t”
It was obvious she had left in a hurry, there was half emptied boxes strewn across the small room. Clothes were thrown over the sofa. A lamp lay smashed against the small window. It had all the signs of a struggle, but Reaper had a sneaky suspicion she had left of her own violation.
Did seeing him again really cause so much stress that she felt the need to leave in the middle of the night like a thief. The thought alone was enough to give him pause.
Was he really that bad?
He had been a jerk to her, there was no doubt about that but this? This was taking it to new extremes.
He clenched his fists. She had run once. When they were younger. Had run when he had needed her the most and she had just done it again. It was what she was good at. Running and leaving him to pick up the pieces of his broken heart.
“Son of a b***h” He threw his fist, it hit the wall with a thud leaving a hole. The woman behind him gave a little scream. Hands fluttering to her throat.
“Sorry, sorry” He suddenly felt out of control. Anger making his blood boil. “I will pay for any damages; do you have any idea where she has gone?”
The woman studied him with narrowed eyes. Obviously torn as to what to tell him. His outburst had done more damage than good.
“How do you know her?”
“I am an old friend” Wasn’t that the truth, at least in part. Once they had been friends. Closer than friends.
“Are you the one she’s running from?”
“Running from?” Reaper couldn’t help but parrot her. what the hell had Rose gotten herself into. He shook his head, no not Rose, Bethany.
“It was pretty obvious she as running from something, was it you?”
Again, he shook his head. “No not me, I only saw her today for the first time in years” He scratched his chin.
God damn her. She had always been able to get under his skin. Ever since that first moment.
“I’ll pay for any damages” He said again.
“And the rent she owes?”
Reaper didn’t like the twinkle in the old womans eye, but he nodded anyway. “Anything and ill have someone come and put her things in storage as well”
Glancing about him, reaper paused.
What the actual hell.
He picked up the photo frame studying the phot in it. Brows knitted together.
Bethany was there, he would recognize her face anywhere though her hair in this photo was blonde and poker straight. She was looking straight into the camera, a wide smile on her face.
There was a bike behind her. The kind of bike that Requiem favoured. Big and powerful. Too powerful for a slip of a girl like her.
Was she running from a biker gang? It made sense. If she had gotten involved with someone, she shouldn’t have then she would have no choice but to run.
He ran his fingers across the glass, it was as close to touching her face as he could get right now.
If she was in trouble, then he had to find out and help her.
Then his eyes widened. How had he missed it. In the photo Bethany wasn’t alone.
“Roman”
Reaper called from his office as the wolf walked past. It was strange seeing him these days without Rory. They seemed to be permanently joined at the hip. Not that any of them minded. Everyone loved Rory. Their love story was legendary.
“What’s up” Roman didn’t miss a thing, his eyes instantly travelled to his torn and bloodied knuckles. “You ok?”
“Does Bethany have a child?”
There was silence.
“I have to go and check on Rory, can this wait?”
Reaper took that as a resounding yes. He gripped the desk hand enough for the wood to creak. “No, it can’t wait, how old is her child?”
“I have absolutely no idea brother” Romans face was more guarded than Reaper had ever seen. “All I know is that it’s a little girl”
Reaper lowered his head to his hands. A girl. A beautiful little girl with the same curly red hair as her mother. Bethany had a daughter. It slammed into his heart like a blow from a hammer. “Rose has a daughter”
“You need to call her Bethany brother; Rose isn’t her name anymore”
“I think she is in trouble, real trouble2” He passed the photo over to his friend. His fingers gripping it tightly as if he didn’t want to let it go. “She’s run, and I think she’s running from something dangerous”
Romans eyebrows raised as he studied the picture. Reaper was sure he would see the same thing he did.
“Bikers?”
Reaper nodded, taking the picture back from his hand and settling it back in his desk draw. Closing it with a soft thud. “What else could she be running from that makes her change her name?” Reaper asked, scratching his chin. “That would make her up and leave her everything behind”
Roman nodded. It made sense but he couldn’t help but remember something Reaper seemed to have forgotten. “Could she be running from you?”
“What? Why?”
“You have told me how much of an absolute jerk you were after Ollie died Reaper” and he had. Roman had been a few years older, but they had always been close.
But reaper was shaking his head. “I understand why she left and didn’t get back in contact but what would make her run now, I am no threat to her” He couldn’t help letting his fingers stray to the draw that held the photo. “I am not a threat to her daughter; no, she’s running from bikers I just know it”
“Then Requiem is the man you need to talk to, you know he has contacts in that community. Pass it on to him. Let him find her for you”
“I can find her myself”
“You will get yourself killed if you go against them and start throwing out accusations”
“I can take a few human bikers Roman” Reaper couldn’t help but feel insulted. He was the youngest of the three true but hadn’t he more than proved himself. Time and time again.
“Until one puts a bullet in your head, put Requiem on it. He doesn’t have a job right now so he can get right to it”
Reaper nodded, it made sense. Requiem could find her and then he would go and talk to her. Offer her and her daughter protection. Keep them safe.
Her daughter, he felt his heart lurch.
She had a bloody daughter.
- Writer
