Reaper's Salvation: A Last Riders Trilogy by Jamie Begley (read a book TXT) 📗

“How’re you going to keep her from hearing what’s going on when you come back?” Shade questioned, dropping his eyes to the uneaten oatmeal.

“She’ll be more concerned with what’s going on in our room rather than the rest of the club,” he bragged, pulling the oatmeal toward him and starting to eat the goo. Expecting to gag under Shade’s scrutiny, Reaper was pleasantly surprised at the taste.

Finishing the bowl, he looked at his cell phone and saw that Ginny still hadn’t texted him back. Sending her another, he told her that he was heading to Silas’s.

Taking his dishes to the sink, he grabbed one of the tumblers sitting out, then went back to the table, pouring the hot coffee into it. “I’m going to Silas’s. If anything comes up, you can text or reach me there. Any of the brothers want to earn any extra cash this afternoon, we could use help building the sheds.”

Shade gave him a quizzical look. “How many are you building?”

“Four.”

“Four?”

“Four,” Reaper repeated, aware of the brothers in the kitchen listening in. “Any of them have experience laying bricks, I’ll pay extra.”

The humorous expressions had him instantly regretting asking, but dammit, he didn’t want a crooked shed.

“They make brick sheds?”

Tuning out the snickers from the brothers, Reaper answered Viper. “Yes.” Then he gave Viper a condescending-asshole look, like how didn’t you know. “It’s the size of a two-door garage.”

“Hm … And why did you want it to be brick?”

“Ginny bought it for me. She wanted a sturdy garage for my bike.”

The jealous looks the brothers gave him made up for being the source of their prior amusement. Well, except for Shade, who wasn’t buying what he was selling.

“Jesus has the most construction experience; ask him.” Viper nodded his head back.

Reaper dragged his eyes to where Jesus was standing behind the counter with a shit-eating grin on his face. “I worked as brick layer for three summers when I was in high school and worked as one for two years when I worked for my dad’s construction company.”

Did he really care if the walls weren’t straight? Damn, the garage doors might be off track if they weren’t.

“I have to finish with kitchen duty today. I wasn’t planning on going to work for you until Monday, but I wouldn’t mind giving up my weekend. I do charge extra for brick laying.”

“Just let me know how much you want, and I’ll make a check out to you.”

Jesus didn’t let him off so easily. “I’m not cutting my hair.”

“Brah, I was joking. I didn’t expect you to cut your hair.” Calling Suki to him, Reaper got the hell out the kitchen.

Frustrated, he was angrier at himself than he was at Jesus. He didn’t know why in the hell Jesus’ hair bothered him. He just knew it did. He was absolutely losing it.

Ginny wasn’t making him lose his ever-loving mind. He was already there.

Going through the living room and out the front door, Reaper went down the steps to Viper’s car. Opening the back door to let Suki inside, Reaper shut the door before getting in the front seat. He needed to take a day to buy a car. He had basically taken over Viper’s, and while his brother hadn’t said anything, Reaper didn’t want to keep imposing.

He had never owned a car, even when he was in high school. He’d used Ton’s or Viper’s when he’d gone out on dates, if he hadn’t wanted to ride his bike. He needed a vehicle for Ginny and Suki.

Arriving at the Colemans’ property, he found the brothers hard at work. They had started on Silas’s shed, where they would store the lumber and equipment until the house was built.

“How’s it going?” Carrying his tumbler, Reaper walked up to the busy men.

“Pretty good.” Silas wiped a band of sweat away from his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt. “We’ve got two of the side walls built. Matt and Isaac are starting on the garage doors.”

“Lucky for me, there are so many of you.” Taking a drink of his coffee, he nearly spit it back out.

Silas saw the face he made. “Something wrong?”

“Decaf.”

Silas grimaced in sympathy. “I’d offer you some, but we made the last in the can this morning. I have to buy more when I go to the store tomorrow.”

“I’ll make do.” Reaper set the tumbler aside.

Checking to see where Suki was, he saw her sleeping on the porch.

Taking his phone out, he looked to see if Ginny had called. No messages. Irritated that she hadn’t answered, he almost called, then decided against it. She was probably just catching up with Willa and hadn’t seen his messages. Still, the woman could have at least texted him that she loved him. She could have told him when he was sleeping, and he hadn’t heard her. He would have to ask her when he caught up with her.

Pitching in with Silas and Matt, they worked steadily for the rest of the morning. Breaking for lunch, they went inside Silas’s house to make sandwiches and grab drinks, then returned back outside. They finished Silas’s shed and spent a good hour filling it with the lumber and equipment. Locking when they were done, they walked over to Matthew’s house and began putting his shed together.

Clicking the last wall in place, the men all stood back to admire their handiwork.

Glancing at his phone, Reaper saw that it was four.

“I’m going to have to head out. We can do your shed tomorrow, Isaac. One of the brothers from the club will be coming to help with the brickwork. By Monday, we should be able to get started on the house.”

“Sounds good,” Silas said. “What time do you want Greer and me to pick you up?”

“Six good?”

“Yes, that gives me enough time to eat and shower.”

Saying good-bye to Ginny’s brothers, Reaper called for Suki, who had been playing with the goats that were eating the cleared out brush and weed from where they