REAPER: GOLDEN SKULLS M.C. by Rebecca Joyce (elon musk reading list TXT) 📗

know how to handle this information. My whole life was a lie, and yet looking at the pictures and information in the file, I felt a tugging at my heart, and it was breaking. My parents weren’t my parents. I should have been loved and wanted, but I wasn’t, and knowing that my real parents were out there, looking for me made my heart hurt. They were traumatized as much as I was. They were hurt as much as I was. I wanted so much to call them, talk to them, to hold them, but I was denied that. I was never going to hear my mother laugh, feel my father’s hug, know their love.

“I want him dead,” I muttered as my finger lightly touched my mother’s picture. I looked like her. I had her smile.

“Who, baby?”

“David Halcomb, my fake father.”

Max snickered, and the rest of the boys nodded when Savage said, “Don’t worry, that fucker is going to get exactly what he deserves. The Golden Skulls are coming for him.”

A little bit later, Max walked me into a beautiful ranch home with a wraparound porch. The house was modern yet homey, with four bedrooms, a large family room, and a decent-sized kitchen. The house was stunning and would be perfect for when my sister and brother came to live with us. The only problem I foresaw was that the house was bare. I mean void of everything.

“Um, Max.”

“Yeah baby,” he said, walking out of the kitchen into the living room where I was standing, looking out over the vast hillside. The view was stunning, magical and I felt at peace. “Where is the furniture?”

Wrapping his arms around me, he hugged me tightly. “Thought you’d like to pick that stuff out. If it were me, I’d just have a big screen tv with a recliner in front of it and plenty of beer in the fridge.”

Chuckling, I turned in his arms and kissed his cheek. “Well, let me see what I can do about that.”

“Seriously, babe, I don’t care what you get.”

“Well, I want you to be comfortable too.”

“I will be, as long as I’m with you.”

FOURTEEN

REAPER

“Are you sure about this?” Remi asked me, her nerves apparent on her face. It had been a full week, and since Remi had been a wrecking ball trying to get everything set up and ready for her siblings. From clothes to furniture, Remi had every damn delivery truck after delivery truck enter the compound. Since she wasn’t allowed to leave, she became a preferred member on Amazon and any other store she wanted shit from. They loved her…my Amex card…not so much.

However, today wasn’t about the house, her siblings, or some fucking window treatment. Nope, today was about riding.

I needed to get away for a bit, and I wanted her with me.

She was good with it at first, but now not so much. The look on her face was priceless, and if I weren’t so damn eager to get on the road, I would have laughed. It had been too long since I’d been for a fucking ride, and the only thing holding us up was Remi.

“I mean, I only have two more days before my brother and sister get here. Don’t you think it would be best to finish the house?”

“Remi,” I sighed. “We’ve purchased every pink sparkly fur thing around along with every transformer, sailboat, and match car we could find. Seriously, those kids have more shit than all of us put together.”

“Maybe I went overboard, and they won’t like it,” she mumbled to herself as she turned to look back towards the house. Groaning, I got off my bike and went to her. “Baby, you did well. Those kids will never want for anything as long as we’re around. They will be protected, loved, and taken care of better than ever. You did everything exactly right. Now, get your fine ass on my bike, and let’s go for a fuckin ride before they get here because when they do, our freedom is going to be cut in half.”

“Are we riding or what!”

“Yeah, come on, man!”

“Let’s fuckin ride!”

Grabbing her hand, I ushered her to my bike. After getting on, I held out my hand, “Put your foot on that peg, baby, and swing that leg over.”

Doing as instructed, Remi climbed on behind me. Grabbing her arms, I tugged until she scooted flush against my back. “Just relax and follow my body. If I go right, you go with me. Don’t tense up and enjoy the ride.” Starting my bike, I felt the familiar rumble and grit of the motor humming all around me. There is just something about being on my bike that comforts me. Maybe it’s the freedom of the ride, the unencumbered nature of the motorcycle as it plows through the air free of the cage civilians crave to make them feel safe. It could be the excitement of danger, knowing that anything could happen, like the rush of adrenaline that sparks when I first start my bike. I can’t really explain it, but it’s exhilarating. But having Remi on my bike behind me gives way to something I wasn’t expecting. Fear. Fear of her getting hurt. Fear of her not being protected as she should be. Fear of something, anything that could happen. Taking things slow.

Wrestling with those new emotions, I start out easy. I don’t have to look to know my brothers are wondering what the hell I’m doing. None of them would understand. None of them had someone at their backs that meant more than their own life. Knowing that one single woman could hold that much sway, that much power over me, was a strange feeling. It was humbling and, yet, annoying.

How did I let Remi seep into my soul so fast? How did I allow it to happen? One minute I was single and fucking my way through northern California and then nothing.

All that mattered was