Her brow furrowed. “Jesus, girl, don’t call him that here. It’s Reaper. All the boys only go by their road names while in here.”
“Sorry, uh, Reaper.”
It felt weird to call someone Reaper, but now wasn’t the time for that. I needed his help so I’d call him whatever the fuck he wanted me to.
“The boys are all out on a run, darlin’. What can I do for ya?”
“Oh…um…well I was going to ask for a job. I lost my last one and times are tough, you know.”
She cocked her head to the side. “Well, of course, but you wouldn’t ask Reaper for that. You ask me, girl, and you are hired.”
“Really?” I asked, elated that it was that easy.
“Of course. You’re family.”
My stomach plummeted. I wanted to be. If they found out Trey and I weren’t together, they could easily kick me out, but they didn’t need to know.
Not yet, anyway.
“Thank you so much, Cherry.”
“Come with me,” she said, taking my luggage handle and dragging it down a hall, past the bar. I had only been here once or twice before, but we’d never been this deep in the clubhouse. Large wooden doors were all closed with locks on the doors. As we got to the end of the hall, she led me up a staircase withwooden railings until we got to the second floor. This hallway was larger and held only three doors. A large double door at the end of the hallway, one to the right side and one to the left side.
Cherry opened the door on the left side and led me into a room. It was beautiful. A large queen size bed sat in the middle with dark blue quilts and pillows. A closet was off to the side, large windows that looked out into the wilderness surrounding the clubhouse.
“This is yours, so you don’t have to look for a place in Kurrajong or whatever. I didn’t see a car, so I assume you don’t have one.”
“No, I sold it a while back.”
“Awesome, so you stay here, and maybe you can start tomorrow?”
“Sounds great.”
Cherry gave me a hug again, softer this time, and looked at my face. “Maybe cover the bruises. The boys don’t like beaten women.”
I nodded. “Thanks for not asking.”
“You’ll tell me when you’re ready. We’ve all got a story here, hun, and I’m guessing yours is a doozy.”
She headed to the door, turning once she got there. “The bathroom is just outside, the door on the opposite side. Don’t go to the double doors. You can come downstairs anytime, the coffee machine is amazing, and the kitchens are just past the bar, next to the office.”
“Thanks, Cherry. What’s behind the double doors?”
“Reaper’s bedroom. It’s just these two rooms up here. The rest of the boys sleep downstairs.”
I wanted to scream. To cry out. To say something but everything died in my throat.
Cherry left me standing in the foreign room, scared to move. I really needed to work on my self esteem. Reaper would be fine with this.
He would do this for Trey. I knew he would.
Sleeping in a different bed, all while your pain meds were wearing off, on a hot summer night and no air con was not fun. I slipped out of the bed, and headed to the bathroom across the hall. There were loud, raucous noises coming from downstairs, which told me the parties happened every night, not just weekends like I assumed.
I wasn’t ready for that yet.
Opening the door to the bathroom, I was awestruck at the beauty. I would have expected a masculine wooden decor, with one toilet and a shower stall. What I was looking at, had my little heart beating faster.
A large, white spa bath sat off to the corner of the room, huge marble tiles were under my feet as I spun around to take in the large shower stall on the other side. A toilet sat in the corner, tucked to the wall, a sink next to it that was big enough to have all my old make-up accessories scattered over it, if I wanted to.
