Skirt (Ruthless Kings MC #5) - K.L. Savage Page 0,25
right here with Dawn. I don’t need you going in pissed and forgetting there’s a four-year-old boy who needs rescued.”
“I won’t forget that!”
“Yeah? Tell me you wouldn’t kill Cohen right in front of Aidan’s eyes without thinking. Tell me,” Reaper urges, flicking the ashes of his cigarette on the ground. The way the burnt tobacco floats to the floor reminds me of snow. It’s oddly beautiful and just as dangerous. Cigarettes cause cancer, but snow can freeze people to death.
It’s what happened to my parents.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Reaper kicks off the desk, walks around the side, and opens a drawer. A gold ashtray is revealed, and he rubs the end of the ember against the metal to put out the cigarette. “I won’t repeat myself; I fucking hate doing that. I’ll gather Poodle. He’s got an itch to scratch.”
“Poodle? A dog? You’re going to send a dog after my son?” I holler, ready to throw my fists again. Not that they will do any damage, but I’ll try.
Reaper chuckles. and the smoke still lingering in his lungs is forced out of his nostrils. “No, Poodle is member. Good guy.”
I have a feeling there’s something he isn’t telling me. I spin on my heel, away from Skirt blocking the door, and charge toward Reaper, my index finger pointed. My chin wobbles and sure, I always cry when it comes to my kid, but right now, I’m furious. I’m a mother on a mission, and I will go to any and all lengths to get Aidan in my arms.
If that means I have to take down every man in this building to walk out these doors, I will.
“You better not be lying to me, Reaper.” I stare at him in the eyes that remind me of something lifeless; they’re so deep and dark, like a well. A tear drops down my cheek for added effect, and the hardness along the edges of his mouth go soft. He can see my agony. He has no idea how much it hurts to not have my kid with me. It’s like a piece of my heart can’t beat, and I’m struggling to live, but I’ll live for Aidan. He doesn’t look away. He understands the point I’m trying to make.
“That’s my son. I need him here. If you are lying, I will kill you. I don’t know how”—a big tear falls down my cheek—“but I will.” I won’t. I don’t think I have it in me to kill a man, but I’ll go to any length to protect my son.
“Threat received, noted, and won’t be forgotten. I’ll tell you this…” He cracks his neck then his sausage-like fingers. “I don’t take kindly to threats, but I’ll let you go with this one because of everything that’s going on. Make no mistake, we are the really good bad guys, Dawn. You might have switched one hell for another, but the devil is a little nicer on this side of town. I’ll give you three chances like everyone else here. Don’t threaten me again. Get out. I need to track Cohen. Send Badge in here, Skirt, so I can update him on our next target.” Reaper pushes us out of his office and slams the door in our faces.
“What happens after three chances?” I stare at the fogged glass on his office door as if it will swirl and become clear to show me the answers to life.
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the biggest fool of all?
I am.
“He rips your heart from your chest and watches it struggle to beat in his palm.”
“Something tells me you aren’t joking,” I say, rubbing my hand over my heart as it steadily beats.
“That’s nothing to joke about.”
It just clicked how the men get their names, and I don’t like it one bit.
Once I have my son, I’m getting the hell out of dodge. Vegas can burn in the eternity of the hell that keeps it alive for all I care.
I’m done with dangerous men, no matter how captivated I am by Skirt. Men aren’t worth the misery that comes with them.
Sweat pours off me in gallons as I hit the Everlast bag in front of me in the gym Reaper had me build as an extension. I have my shirt off, gloves on, and I let out all of my frustrations. All these years, all this time, and Cohen O’Roarke is back in my life.