“You’ll love her.”
Ashton stops outside a room, and for some reason my heart is thumping. Will this be my new home, or merely a stop along the way of my journey? I guess only time will tell.
CHAPTER 18
BLADE
It’s good to be home, but for some reason, it’s as if something is missing.
When Delilah left, Ryder and Snake quizzed me on my time with her, and I told them what I know. I left out the part where I can’t stop thinking about her and gave no indication I caught feelings for her.
They know. It was an unspoken understanding, and yet I’m not ready to face what’s happening. Delilah is not of my world. When her memory returns, she will hate what we stand for. How we live and the people we are.
She is obviously refined, rich, and privileged, and despite the fact she’s scared and vulnerable, I’m guessing it will hit her hard when she wakes up to the person she really is.
She deserves a normal life with a professional man. A big house, money to burn, and a lifestyle I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.
But she is Aspen Costello, not Delilah Grimes, and I have yet to meet the woman she was born to be.
When I finish up with the guys, the first place I stop is the bar, and as I throw open the doors, the rush of noise hits me like a huge welcome home.
Fuck, I’ve missed this.
Every room in the compound is soundproofed, and for a very good reason. This is the loudest place in the unit because it’s where the Reapers come to relax. Loud music, jostling, jeering and music, mix with the volume of the huge screens set up on the walls.
Couches slung at intervals hold heavy Reapers, usually with a willing woman on their laps. A huge bar runs one length of the room with every spirit in existence and a couple of the whores running it. Bar stools are set against it where the Reapers hit on the whores, mainly banter and suggestive winks, never threats or unruly behavior.
However, there is only one man I’m searching for tonight, and as I head inside, the first person I meet is Flash.
“Good to see you, soldier.”
The last time I saw him was at the hospital while he hovered anxiously over his daughter Imogen’s bed. He must be relieved she’s okay, but he has the added problem that she fell in love with Drake, one of our brothers.
“You okay, man?”
I’m concerned for him, and he nods, a weary expression in his usual twinkling eyes. Flash is the joker of the compound, an easy-going guy, cracking jokes most of the time, but this must have knocked him senseless.
“How’s Imogen?”
“She’s good, thanks. And Delilah?”
“Struggling with her memory.”
“I heard.”
He nods toward the bar. “Come and find me when you’ve settled back in. We’ll grab a beer.”
“Sure.”
He sighs. “It hurts when it’s one of your own.”
“But all the sweeter at the same time.”
“You got that right.”
Flash grins. “Go and get wasted, man. You earned it.”
As he heads off, it strikes me that getting wasted is the furthest thing from my mind. There is only one thing I want, and that is Delilah by my side, where I can watch out for her.
