“At first, we agreed to do something biker themed, so we opened Reapers. And for a bit, it worked. Cole said that it was his way of paying homage to the Black Reapers original chapter, back where we met, while staying busy managing a bar.”
I was learning so much more than I think even Zack and his friends knew. It was a strange feeling to realize I would have access to that knowledge and he might not.
“But then, one day, he came back from a long bike ride. Said he ran into some guys in a rural town that looked like they had the right stuff. I didn’t need to ask what he meant. I could tell just by looking into his eyes what he meant.”
Lilly sighed.
“The only thing I told him was that if he helped, he could do so financially and with training, but I would not want him to get involved in club activities. I was very adamant about that, Dr. Elks. Like you wouldn’t believe.”
“I can…I can try and guess,” I said, careful not to refute her words by saying I could imagine it.
“And for the next year or so, Cole did that very well, and I thought we’d reached a happy point.”
She bit her lip and shook her head.
“And then the bar got graffitied with ‘Fallen Saints.’ My father’s club.”
Wait, what?
“When Cole and his brother killed my father and the Saints—”
This world is somehow even more fucked up than I thought. Jesus.
“—I thought that was the end of it. Now, before this, Cole was talking about how the threat really is in Las Vegas, and how it’s a whole bunch of shit, and…”
She let out one more exhausted sigh. She almost sounded too tired to cry. If I’d watched over my loved one for a month in a coma, I’d feel the same way.
“Like I said, the Black Reapers are the best kind of men,” she said. “But now you know why they’re the worst kind of men possible.”
“They can’t leave work behind,” I said.
Lilly grimly nodded.
“I’m sorry, I’ve been rambling to you like you’re my therapist.”
“No, it’s OK!”
“No, it’s not, but I appreciate it, Dr. Elks,” Lilly said. “Can you let us have a few minutes?”
I was more than happy to do so. I took my leave, shut the door, and asked a nurse to keep watch for a bit. After a conversation like that, I needed a break myself.
So, Cole had not only killed, he’d killed his wife’s father in…what? And his wife seemed utterly unbothered about it? She didn’t say it with any sort of anger or rage. It was very matter of fact as if she was describing how Cole had needed to get permission from Lilly’s father to marry her.
There was obviously far more to the story that I could see, but it did make me wonder what sort of sacrifices Zack would have to make for us to work.
But on the other hand, it certainly said something that the men were literally willing to kill in order to protect their women.The best kind of man, and the worst kind of man. You’re not going to get anything in the middle from them.
And let’s face it, with the men you’ve been seeing in med school, maybe it’s time you got someone at the extremes. If for no other reason than what you’ve done so far has not worked out.
I stepped outside the hospital to get a breath of fresh air and to try and clear my mind. It worked—for about two minutes.
And then a familiar face showed himself.
And it wasn’t good.
“Hey!”
It was the creepy man who had approached me earlier, asking if I wanted to work with some wealthy clients. The answer now was the same as the answer then.
