A Deal With the Reaper: A Dark MC and Serial Killer Romance (The Saints of Purgatory Book 1), page 16
“They’re really quiet predators,” she says, shrugging. Without warning, she pulls me into a hug, squeezing hard.
“What’s going on?” I ask with a laugh.
“What? I can’t hug my friend?”
I didn’t know we were friends, I think. “We saw each other yesterday.”
She lets go. “Yeah, during a brutal bar fight in which you were almost strangled to death before you nearly decapitated a man to save Theo’s life.”
“I didn’t nearly decapitate him.”
Luna moves a pizza box from the counter behind her to the island next to me, flipping it open to show a pepperoni and olive pizza. “Close enough. It was hot too, the way you just slit his neck without pause. Everyone was talking about it all evening.”
I wince. I haven’t had much time to consider what the Saints are saying about my display. “Talking about how insane their leader’s new girl is?”
“More like how badass you are. I think Raph would propose if you weren’t dating the boss. They’re all expecting him to officially name you his Ol’ Lady soon.” She picks up a piece of pizza, using her finger to break long strings of melty cheese.
“No one is… I don’t know, disgusted? Or thinks I’m a deranged psychopath?”
Luna shakes her head, keeping the end of the pizza steady with her other hand to blow on it. “I think a few might be scared of you now, but that’s not a bad thing in this world.”
I shift my weight back and chew on the inside of my cheek. Another girl’s voice from over a decade ago echoes in my ears.
“What did you do? Oh, my god, Juniper. You’re a psychopath!”
All I can think to say is, “Oh.”
“Grab a piece. You like olives, don’t you?”
“How do you know that?”
“T told me.”
With a frown, I grab a slice of the pizza. I’ve never eaten olives with Theo or told him I liked them, so how does he know?
“What are you doing here?” I ask.
“Thought we could have a movie night.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m bored,” she says, dropping her eyes to the pizza. I can tell there’s more.
“And?”
She meets my eyes and tries to shake her head, but I raise my eyebrows, and she groans. “I’ve decided I don’t like serial killers. You’re too perceptive.”
That makes me laugh. “So? Why are you here?”
“Theo asked me to come. He had to go out for the night with James and wanted me to keep an eye on you.”
“Seriously? He still thinks I’m going to… run away or set up a bomb in his bedroom or something? Even after—” I snap my mouth shut, cutting off the sentence.
“After what?” Luna asks, wagging her eyebrows suggestively. “After whatever followed Theo threatening to murder us if we didn’t leave? After he left those marks on your neck and wrists?”
I look down at my hands, forgetting that I pulled off the sweater I wore during work as soon as we got back. A blush heats my cheeks, and I take a bite of the pizza.
“By how deep you were sleeping when I got here, I’d say you had a good time.”
“Why is he making you babysit me?”
“I’m not babysitting you, I’m hanging out with you. T has club business, so he had to leave, but he didn’t want you to be alone after everything. My guess is he’s worried that the last twenty-four hours will catch up with you.”
“I’m a grown-ass woman. I don’t need you to hold my hand because I killed someone and had rough sex. Neither of those things is new to me.”
“I know that. He knows that. But there’s nothing wrong with a girls’ night. And I really am bored.” Luna finishes her pizza, then wipes her hands together, sending crumbs falling to the floor. “So, are you going to keep interrogating me about the motivations behind my friendship, or are we going to watch a movie and get drunk?” She presents a bottle of wine that must’ve been behind her.
I hesitate, wanting to push her more on where Theo is and why exactly he wants me babysat, because I don’t believe it’s out of some concern for my mental health.
“Come on, killer.”
I roll my eyes. “Fine. But I get the last pizza slice.”
She smiles wide. “All yours.”
We end up watching old Jenna Marbles YouTube videos and playing Tipsy Battleship, which Luna digs out of a very messy closet. After my third loss, I hit the table and yell, “You are so cheating!”
She laughs, face rosy from the wine. “I am not!”
“You are!”
“How would I be cheating?”
“I don’t know!” I realize my voice is much louder than normal, but the pleasant buzz prevents me from caring. I turn my empty cup upside down over my mouth, pouting when nothing miraculously falls out.
“I’ll get more drinks.” Luna jumps up, clearly not tipsy at all, and heads to the kitchen.
“But we’re out of wine!” I call, twisting her Battleship board around to study it for signs of cheating.
“Have a little faith, killer!” She comes back with an expensive bottle of brandy. “I’ve known these men for three years. I know where they stash the good stuff.”
“Nice!” I reach for the bottle, but she holds it out of reach.
“Let's make the game a little more interesting.”
A frown of suspicion pulls on my lips. “Interesting how?”
“I’m thinking we raise the stakes. Each ship sunk, we drink. Or, even better, Strip Battleship!”
“Strip Battleship?”
“Yeah! An article of clothing for every ship.”
I study her clothes, then my own. “We’ll be naked after one game.”
She winks. “Sounds like a good game to me.”
I’m not about to fuck my way through the Saints, even if I do find Luna very attractive, so I counter with, “How about a mix of the two? We sink a ship, and the other gets to choose which we do: drink, strip, or answer a question.”
“Answer a question?”
I nod, a plan piecing together in my sluggish brain. “We get to ask anything we want, and the other has to answer honestly.”
Luna readily agrees.
“No doing the same thing twice in a row. If we strip once, the next round has to be a drink or a question,” I add.
“Sounds good to me. Game on.”
She pours brandy in both our cups, then settles on the couch across from me. “We’re starting over. I know you looked at my board while I was gone.”
I spend twice as long preparing my board as before. Once we’re both ready, I cast my first shot. “B6.”
“Miss. F5.”
“Miss. J2.” It takes four guesses before I get a hit and five more before I sink her ship. I impulsively want to ask a question, but her filter needs to be thinner. “Drink.”
“Boring!” She obeys, downing half her glass. When she sinks my submarine, she predictably says, “Strip.”
I’m still wearing both socks, but I pull off my shirt, watching Luna’s eyes drop to the lace bra holding my hickey-covered chest. “D10.”
Luna’s eyes tear away and flick to her board. “Fuck, hit.”
She sinks the next one and makes me drink. Then I sink her battleship and ask, “Why did you join the Saints, other than to rebel against daddy dearest?”
“Hmm.” She taps her lips in thought. “I was always different from my family. Gay, not as well mannered, hated going to church, into tattoos and horror, I’m even smaller than most of them. I started riding motorcycles in high school to try and get the attention of this smoking hot chick on the soccer team. I fell in love with riding, but I never even considered joining a club until I met James. I was in town for my twin brothers’ high school graduation, and I left the celebration early because the Mcintyres in a group setting are suffocating. I ran into James at a bar. He was… drowning his sorrows, so he was pretty drunk. But when a guy hit on me and called me a dyke when I turned him down, James still punched him in the face. In that one second, a stranger defended me more than my entire family had in over two decades. So, yeah, I guess I joined the Saints because I wanted a family I belonged to.”
It’s a much longer answer than I expected, which bodes well for future questions. “I’m sorry you didn’t have that with the Mcintyres,” I say. “I get it, though. The desire for a real family that stands by your side.”
“Yours wasn’t like that?”
I wag my finger in the air. “Sink a ship to get an answer.”
Luna rolls her eyes and takes her next shot. She drinks when I sink another of hers, then the following round, she throws the final shot to sink my carrier. “What was your family like?”
I huff at her look of satisfaction. “My mom is… a lot. She was in prison for a DWI until I was eleven. It was her third strike, and I was in the car, so she got eight years but got out in a little over six. She remarried when I was thirteen. My stepdad is a quiet, patient, wealthy man. He has a daughter a year older than me who lives in Texas with her son now. None of them are bad people, but I never belonged.”
“And you’re dad?”
“Dead.”
“How?”
I cock an eyebrow and look pointedly at the boards, and she groans. She sinks the next ship and makes me strip again. This time, I pull off a single sock. To even things, I tell her to strip when I sink her fourth boat, leaving only one left for both of us. Several guesses later, she wins the game.
“I think that means I get one of all three. Strip, drink, and question.”
“We did not decide that!” I argue.
“Then just two. Drink and answer.”
“Ugh, fine.” I finish my drink, building the courage to answer her question. Staring into my empty glass, I say, “He was murdered.”
“By who?” The way she asks it tells me she knows the answer. I start pulling the pins out of my boards to set up again while she says, “I know, I know. Gotta sink a ship. But I don’t need to win to know your answer.”
“You seem pretty confident.”
She shrugs. “If I were a serial killer, I would’ve killed my dad too.” And with that, we start our next game. We drink until we’re both far past tipsy, strip until we’re both in our underwear, and ask questions until I feel safe enough to get to the real answer I want.
“What happened to Amber Wallace?”
Luna squints at me, confused. “Seriously? Why do you care so much about that bitch?”
“That’s not an answer.”
“Amber was a threat to herself and the entire club. Theo took care of it. The rest of the story is his to tell.”
That’s still not an answer, but Luna won’t give me anything else. And I know I shouldn’t care, but I don’t like the way my question made her face fall and annoyance fill her voice. I like Luna, and I want her to like me, too. “Okay. It’s your turn.”
She studies me for a moment before throwing the next guess. Three ships later, I’m answering her question, that no, I’ve never had a threesome, when the front door opens and Theo and James walk inside. They freeze upon seeing the two of us, me topless and Luna fully naked, in the middle of their living room.
“Hey, boys! Down for a game of Strip, Drink, or Truth Battleship?” Luna asks cheerfully. I lunge for the couch, which we moved off of an hour ago, and grab a blanket to cover myself with. Theo’s heated gaze follows my movements.
“A game of what now?” James asks.
“Strip, Drink, or Truth Battleship!” Luna repeats. “So far, I’ve learned that June here likely killed her dad, refuses to answer who the craziest client she’s ever had was, despite the rules of the game—”
“Because of HIPAA,” I interrupt.
“—had the best sex of her life last night, and has never had a threesome. Also, she has absolutely magnificent tits.”
“Luna!” I shout.
She giggles. “Sorry.”
I drop my face in my hands. Tomorrow, I’ll be mortified at everything Luna just revealed, but right now, I’m too drunk to really care.
“Well, okay, then,” James says.
“They are pretty magnificent, aren’t they?”
That comes from Theo, and his voice is husky, filled with desire. I expect him to get angry that I let Luna see me naked, but he doesn’t.
“I think we should change those last two truths, don’t you agree, T?” Luna asks.
I don’t understand her question, but Theo seems to. “Careful, Lu. She’s not a random hookup.”
I look up, glancing between the two of them. Luna is grinning wickedly, facing Theo, whose dark eyes are still pinned on me. “I know. She deserves both of us to worship her, don’t you think?”
“How much have you had to drink?”
I realize he’s asking me that question, and I furrow my brows in thought. “Five… six glasses?”
Theo turns to Luna. “Not tonight.” I follow his gaze in time to see Luna pout, still not bothering to cover herself up despite being completely naked. “But later, when she’s sober and will feel everything, yes. Just once though, Lu. Then you don’t get to look at her again.”
Just once what? I think. That last glass seems to have doubled the effects of all the previous ones. My eyes shut. I bet I could fall asleep sitting up.
“Why once?” Luna asks. Her words are slurred. Or my ears are slurred. Can ears be slurred? “You’ve never been so stingy and jealous before.”
I’m not sure who responds, because whatever is said next disappears as I drift off, falling asleep against the couch.
Chapter Twenty-Three
June
Bits of the night before stick to my memory, mostly playing Battleship with Luna, but I don’t remember much after Theo got home. I think I was already nearly naked at that point, which means James probably saw me, too. I definitely don’t remember coming to Theo’s bed. Or what we did.
I sit up as Theo walks into his bedroom holding two mugs of steaming coffee. He kicks the door shut behind him and smiles when he sees me. He’s wearing sweatpants and no shirt, so I get a good look at those lean muscles and colorful tattoos. There’s a vibrant red and blue devil woman on his side that’s cracked in half with a skeleton crawling out of the hole. On his forearm is a large scorpion curled around a bleeding moon. Over his heart is a bird soaring above a willow tree in a scene that seems to radiate an odd mix of tranquility and sadness.
He sets a mug down on the bedside table next to me. “How’re you feeling?”
The pounding in my head is less intense than I expected. Still, I swallow the pills he left with half the water. “What… Did we?” I look down at my still bare chest. Part of me hopes Theo says yes, we did fuck. But I don’t know if I want him to say that because I want a justifiable reason to hate him, or because I genuinely like the idea of him using me while I’m unconscious.
As though he can read my mind, Theo smirks. “No, we didn’t. Next time I come home to find you naked and drunk, though, don’t expect me to be such a gentleman.”
The idea has heat filling my core.
At the sight of me squirming, his smirk grows, and he cups my chin with a hand, running his thumb over my lips, and says, “You gave Luna some ideas last night.”
I swallow. “What ideas?”
“In your time stalking me, do you remember seeing the kinds of guests I’d have?”
“Lots of women.” Even when he was still dating Amber, he’d have other girls over. Once or twice, Luna would follow.
Theo sets his coffee next to mine and sinks his hand into my hair. “Luna’s guests are similar. Now that she’s gotten a look at all you have to offer…” His eyes fall to my tits and my nipples harden at his intense gaze. “She wants a taste.”
“Would you cut her tongue out along with her eyes?”
“Do you want me to?”
“Of course not.”
He strengthens his grip on my hair, and I hiss. “Really?” He leans closer, and I wonder if he can hear how loudly my traitorous heart is beating. “Because I think a little violence turns you on just as much as it does me.”
“I don’t want you to hurt Luna,” I manage to say, though my voice is quiet and hoarse. “She’s my friend.”
“Do you want your friend to consume you? Do you get wet at the thought of Lu between your legs, fucking you with her tongue? What if I tied you down again and let her have her way with you?”
My mouth is dry, and my underwear is anything but. “What if I said yes?”
“Then I’d throw Luna at your feet and watch as she feasts on your delicious pussy until you can’t stand anymore.”
“And?” I prompt, licking my lips and spreading my legs slightly under the sheet.
Theo climbs over me, close enough that I can feel his body heat. He leaves one hand in my hair and drags the other down my neck to my chest. “Then I’d put you on your hands and knees and make you suck my cock while Luna fucks you from behind. Or maybe we’ll pin you on your back so I can fuck this tight cunt and Luna can ride your face.” He rolls my nipples between his fingers, and my hips jerk.
“Would my little reaper like that? What if I chained you up in the clubhouse and let every Saint have their way with you?”
“You wouldn’t,” I manage.
His soft laugh is a dark sound that promises corruption. “You’re right. But Lu? I’d give her a taste.”
“I’m not yours to give.”
“Yes, you are, little reaper.” Before I can respond, he presses his lips to mine. In seconds, he has the sheet removed and literally rips my underwear off. I shout, but the protest is lost in a moan that he swallows while sliding two fingers into me. “Always so wet for me.”
My hands go to his back, nails digging into his hot skin. He growls, bites my bottom lip, then pulls away enough to push his sweatpants down. He’s not wearing any underwear, so his hard cock is immediately free. Then he’s on me again, tongue eagerly exploring my mouth. There’s no warning or warm-up before he thrusts into me. I gasp, head falling back. Theo kisses my neck and slides a hand under my back to lift my hips, straightening so he can look down at where I’m lying naked, legs spread, hair a mess, and back arched. He maneuvers my legs, bending them so they can help keep my hips up. In his position on his knees, he has the perfect angle to hit that spot deep inside that fills me with resounding pleasure. My fingers clutch his sheets, and my mouth falls open with gasps and moans as he slams into me over and over.
