Emma's Reaper: Soul Reapers #4 Read online

  I knew in that moment that tonight would never be enough. Nothing in Baton Rouge could keep me away from this woman. No looming turf war. No rightful place. No legacy would ever stop us from happening.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Emma

  Wanted. That was what I was as Gunner led me over to his bed. My body was aflame with need for this man and everything he had to offer. His eyes glowed with desire as he slowly undressed me piece-by-piece.

  Cherished. That was how Gunner made me feel as he worshipped every inch, as it was unveiled. A kiss here. A nip there. When I stood in nothing but my strapless, purple bra and matching lacy panties, Gunner took several steps back.

  “I have never seen anything so beautiful. Turn around slowly for me cher. Let me see all of you.” The heat in my cheeks traveled down my body settling in my core as I slowly twirled around letting him see all of me. When I faced him once again, Gunner closed the distance taking me in his arms. “God, I want you so much,” he whispered across my lips before his tongue trailed along the seam. “Tell me what you want.”

  “I want you.” Voicing my desire never felt so good. “Right now.” We stared at one another until I breathed, “Please,” and then we could not get at each other fast enough. His growls accompanied my giggles as we stripped one another bare. Gunner practically tackled me on the bed, coming to rest above me, aligning us perfectly. He circled his hips to the left and then to the right. My moans only egged him on as he did it again and again.

  “What do you taste like cher?” He hummed against my neck. I tilted my head back giving him better access as he licked up my neck and then around the shell of my ear. “Have you ever tasted yourself? Slid your fingers through your lips and into your pussy, spreading your sweet honey all over yourself before licking them clean?”

  His words had me bucking my hips to try and relieve the pressure that was building inside of me. “Gunner,” I whimpered as his mouth left my ear and traveled a slow path to my breast. My back arched as he took one nipple into his mouth, swirling his tongue around and around until it peaked. Nipping at it with his teeth, Gunner then inhaled, pulling in cool air against my wet skin. My body jerked in response. Gunner wasted no time moving to my other nipple and doing the same thing as one of his hands moved between my breasts and over my stomach until it came to rest between my legs.

  An incoherent plea escaped me as his thick, middle finger pushed through my folds stopping at the entrance. Gunner’s palm rested on my clit. My body wept for his attention. Lifting my hips, his finger pushed into me before retreating once again. “Please,” I begged.

  “Tell me what you want.” Gunner demanded again as he pushed the tip of his finger in and out of me, drawing a groan of frustration from me.

  “You. Only you,” I pleaded as his finger went slightly deeper. Gunner continued to tease me, adding a little more of his finger with each plunge. Once his finger was in knuckle deep, he picked up his pace until my inner thighs were slick with need and I was aching for him to finish. “Yes. That’s it,” I encouraged as Gunner’s palm began to rub against my clit. A shudder ran through me as I neared the edge. Then Gunner stopped.

  He withdrew completely as cool air replaced his warmth. My warning growl was silenced when the heady scent of my arousal taunted me as his middle finger began to trace my lips. Gunner came within an inch of my lips as he took a deep breath and murmured, “You smell divine.” His tongue then darted out and followed the same path as his finger. “And taste delicious,” he breathed.

  I could not take it anymore. Grabbing the back of his neck, I pulled Gunner’s lips to mine as I pushed my tongue into his mouth. The taste of me on his tongue drove me over the edge as I reached between us and found him hard. I stroked him once, twice before I slid my hand down his shaft to his tip. Precum moistened his tip, telling me his was as ready as I was. My legs opened wider inviting him closer to me as I aligned him at my entrance.

  “Gunner. I need this. I need you.”

  Gunner

  Emma’s whimpers and moans almost had me losing the small amount of self-control I still possessed. Her smell. Her taste. Her body. Damn! My cock was the hardest it had ever been. My body was ready to ravage the fuck out of her until we could not tell where she ended and I began.

  “Gunner. I need this. I need you.”

  Thoughts of her needing me as much as I needed her unleashed something primal inside of me. There was no turning back. Not for her and definitely not for me.

  At the first feel of her heat at the tip of my cock, all control left me as I pushed into her. Emma cried out as her body shuddered against my invasion.

  “Good girl. That’s it,” I growled. “Take it. Open your hips more.” Nothing was headier than having Emma obey me. “You want it? Let me in.” Her thighs went wider as I continued to press into her. “That’s it. I can feel you stretching to fit me. You were made for my cock.”

  “Don’t stop,” she begged as I sunk deeper and deeper into her. Her body shuddered once again as our pelvises met and her legs wrapped around me.

  “That’s it cher. Feels so good.”

  “Gunner.” My name on her lips stole my breath. Ever so slowly I began to pull out of her. Inch-by-inch her velvety walls massaged my engorged cock until just the tip of my manhood remained in her. Goosebumps appeared all over her body as I plunged back in. Again and again I kept up my slow retreat and quick, hard stroke back in as her pussy grew slick and her juices coated me.

  The noises that started to come from Emma told me she was close as I picked up the pace. Her body jerked at the same time she cried my name. Her orgasm overtook her as she threw her head back. Emma’s pussy clenched me so tight that stars erupted in my eyes.

  “When your body responds to me like this,” I gritted as she continued to tremble in my arms, “it makes me crave you even more.”

  “Gun.” Her breathy sigh of my name was more than I could have ever imagined. My forehead fell to rest on her shoulder as I slammed home. I pumped into her hard and fast, branding her with each thrust. A tidal wave was building within me. I could feel it, cresting higher and higher as I savagely took her again and again. I felt Emma tense in my arms again as she screamed my name, right as I roared my own release.

  Time ceased to exist as my world was only Emma. Encased in her warmth I could have stayed there forever. Her scent surrounded me as thoughts of her . . . of us consumed me. As my senses slowly came back to me I realized that all my weight was on Emma. I attempted to slide off of her, but her thighs tensed holding me in place. “Don’t go.” I immediately surrendered to her whispered words as my weight pressed back into her. “I wish we could stay like this forever,” she murmured before drifting off.

  Me too Emma. Me too.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Emma

  It was so cold. I burrowed further into the covers to try and warm myself. Why was it so cold? I did not recall being this cold when I fell . . .

  Oh my God! I jolted up as I took in the bare walls of Gunner’s room. My eyes shifted to the empty spot next to me as I realized that I was alone.

  He left.

  Just like he always did. Why was I so surprised by this fact? I thought last night was different and that I had finally gotten through to him. He seemed ready to take this crazy attraction between us to the next level. Gunner kissed me in front of all of his brothers.

  Why? Why would he do that?

  That bastard!

  He fucking claimed me in front of them.

  And he knew! Oh my God! He knew!

  Gunner knew what kissing me in front of them would mean. Of how every brother would see that as him marking me.

  Shit!

  He might as well have peed on me. And where was he now?

  The simple answer – NOT HERE.

  And that was all I needed to know. Nothing he could say or do would change the fact that I woke up alone and cold in his bed. Even if he was downstairs or was sent on an errand, it would not change the
fact that he was missing in action. He did not even have the decency or the BALLS to wake me before he left.

  Stupid!

  Stupid!

  Stupid!

  I was so fucking stupid. Was this a game to him? A challenge that took eighteen months to play out? The reality that I fell for another Reaper’s promises, of believing that I was his was a joke. I was a fucking joke to this club and these brothers. I may have held the title of old lady, but I was never treated as one.

  Fuck this!

  That’s it! I was done. No more Reapers. No more old lady.

  NO MORE! I was sick and tired of always making excuses for why other people did not treat me the way I wanted to be treated. I was over being treated like trash that could be tossed aside when it was no longer needed.

  I was done.

  Do you hear me? I raged in my head.

  D. O. N. E.

  I jumped out of bed, looking for my underwear. It was nowhere to be found, so I threw on my bra and dress before I rushed out of Gunner’s room. As I stomped down the steps, Campbell and Dylan were sitting at the bar drinking from steaming mugs.

  “Hey,” called out Dylan when she saw me.

  “I gotta go.” There was no way I could talk to them right now. There was too much running around in my head that I was afraid would be freed if they asked the right questions.

  “What? Why?” questioned Dylan at the same time Campbell said, “Wait a second.”

  “I can’t. Not right now. I need to get out of here,” I said, walking past them to the back door.

  Dylan jumped up and came after me, catching me by the time I got into my car. She banged on the window until I screamed in frustration and rolled it down. “What happened last night?” Dylan started right away. “You two looked so happy. I thought that was it.”

  “You and me both Dill. I don’t know what happened and right now I don’t care. I gave him everything last night and this morning I got nothing left.” I shook my head as everything we did last night flashed before my eyes. I rubbed them hard, trying to rid myself of those images . . . those memories. “I’m so tired,” I admitted. “This club has sucked the life out of me and I just can’t take it anymore.”

  “Ok. Ok.” Dylan’s hands were held up in surrender. “It was a rough night. I get that, but don’t go making crazy decisions about what tomorrow holds. We will figure this out. Let me talk to Knox and my father to see what is going on,” she said, rubbing my arm through the window. “I promise to call tonight. Ok?” I nodded. “You are going to be ok?” I nodded again knowing that deep down I would be, but could not voice that knowledge right now. It hurt too much to admit defeat once again to a Reaper. As if knowing I did not have the strength to answer her, Dylan leaned over and said, “I know you will be,” before she stepped away from the car.

  Keys in the ignition and a roar of the engine later I was running away from everything that had hurt me over the past few years. The noise in my head was louder than the howl of my beat up, sun-faded red Jeep Cherokee 4x4. I blasted the radio, hoping for relief as I sped to Stella’s to get my boys. She and Mica had taken them home after the ceremony.

  As I turned on the main street, “Fight Song” by Rachel Platten came on. This was Campbell’s favorite song at the moment and after listening to the first refrain, I was belting it out. “All those things I didn’t say. Wrecking balls inside my brain. I will scream them loud tonight. Can you hear my voice this time.” I felt the tears coming and I did nothing to stop them. I needed them more than I ever cared to acknowledge in this moment.

  “This is my fight song,” I wailed. “Take back my life song.” It was time to take back my life. “Prove I’m alright song.”

  The tears came faster until I was forced to pull over on the side of the road. “I don’t really care if nobody else believes. Losing friends and . . .” My breath hitched as I screamed the next few lines. The pain didn’t stop, but the relief I felt as I ugly cried my hurt out was cleansing. When my sobs subsided and only hiccups remained, I whispered the last few lines.

  “My power's turned on. Starting right now I'll be strong (I'll be strong). I'll play my fight song. And I don't really care if nobody else believes. 'Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me. No I've still got a lot of fight left in me.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Emma

  I knew it was coming. What used to happen every night only came about once a week now. But tonight was the anniversary of Tru’s death and no amount of pills or booze would stop the awful reliving of that nightmare. So I surrounded myself with my girlfriends and lots of wine in hopes of passing out and not seeing Tru die in my arms again, of being covered in his blood as I failed to save him. The ache in my chest would not loosen no matter the amount of alcohol I forced down my throat.

  “Em, maybe you should slow down,” Dylan suggested as she sat next to me holding my hand. She was amazing, never leaving my side even when I stood at Tru’s gravesite for an hour today. Being seven months pregnant did not slow her down.

  “I can’t. Not tonight,” I said, looking into my wine glass as if it held all the answers. The boys were with Stella. They were still too young to understand the significance of today. This was the first time since the wedding that the boys had stayed with her.

  “We got you.” Something Dylan said about a dozen times today. I think she still felt guilty for encouraging me to go after Gunner. I had not been to the clubhouse since Logan’s wedding and I refused to participate in the club’s activities today. “You know the Reapers did their memorial ride today for Tru.” She paused, waiting for me to say something, but I remained silent and staring. “And tonight they are all staying in for a brothers’ night.” I would have asked if she was worried about the women who attended those events, because I lived through countless nights of what that looked like, but refrained. Misery did not always need company. As if she could read my mind she said, “It’s a brothers only event. No one but them. Tomorrow, other chapters are coming down and they will have a big party. You should come. I know there are so many people who want to see you.”

  “I don’t know Dill. I don’t know.”

  “Ok, no pressure. Just think about it.”

  ‘Hey, over there,” called Campbell from the love seat. “Let’s play a game or something.”

  “Good idea,” Logan added, turning off the television and sitting next to Cam and Amber. She waved Dylan and I over.

  “What should we play?” Campbell asked as she shuffled cards that I had set out for tonight.

  “Poker,” suggested Logan.

  “No,” Dylan responded. “Let’s play golf.”

  “Golf?” Amber questioned. “You obviously don’t mean the club kind.”

  “Here give me the deck. Each player gets four cards. Two on the bottom and two on the top. The two on the bottom you can look at once. The top two you can’t look at. The point of the game is to get the lowest total for all 4 cards,” Dylan explained as she dealt the cards. “Jacks are zero. Aces are one. All face cards are 10. The deck will be placed in the middle and you turn a card over. You either use it and place it face down, replacing one of your four cards. Or you put it face-up next to the other pile for the next person to use if they want.” Dylan looked to each of us and we all must have looked lost, because she laughed and said, “It’s easy. I promise. We’ll go slow until you get it.”

  “Sure it is,” Cam and Logan said at the same time.

  “Jinx,” both sisters yelled, making us all laugh.

  When we calmed down, Amber asked, “Are we doing this?”

  “Yes,” I agreed as I looked at my bottom two cards. Luck was on my side with a three of hearts and an ace of diamonds. I was last in the rotation so I waited patiently for my turn. My first card was a ten of clubs so I placed it back down and listened to Cam as she started telling a story about one of the courses she was taking at the community college. The game progressed and everyone, but Dylan, drank multiple times for forgettin
g their cards. We played another hand, and one after that. The stories got funnier and funnier until we were crying with laughter. Cam told the best stories, with Logan’s interruptions, about the cities they lived in and the dives they stayed at.

  Several bottles of wine later, the rounds were taking longer and longer and we drank more and more as remembering the cards got harder and harder. Amber was passed out in the chair having never been a big drinker.

  Our millionth game was interrupted by a knock on the door. I stood to get it, but fell back into the couch, which caused all of us to howl with laugher.

  “Easy drunkard. I got the door,” Dylan said as she rolled to standing and went to answer the door. In walked Colton who only had eyes for Logan. She immediately stood, but had the same reaction I did and fell back into seat, causing us to get hysterical once again.

  “Well I can see you ladies had a fun evening,” Colton observed.

  “IIIII fought you stay at the club?” slurred Cam, throwing her arm around Logan’s shoulders. The extra weight had Logan tilting sideways until Colton stepped up and stopped her from falling over.

  “Yeah, well I wanted to check on you ladies and make sure everything was ok. No one here has answered a text in over four hours.”

  “Oops,” hiccupped Logan. “Ours bad.”

  “Yeah,” laughed Colton as he pulled Logan into his arms. “Let’s get you home. Cam, I am taking you too. Tank will meet us at the duplex.”

  “O.K. bruther. Followin’ you,” Cam babbled as she stood rather uneasily and took Colton’s offered hand. I watched them head towards the front door when something caught my eye. I shook my head trying to clear it. What I saw had me rubbing my eyes. When I opened them again, Gunner still stood there.

  “No. No. No,” I yelled, each time a little louder than the last. “Whaaat the fuuuck you doin’ here?” I stood abruptly to tell him to get the fuck out when I pitched forward and ended up right where I knew I should never be again, but craved every minute of every day . . . in his arms.