“Can I see the lighter?” Reaper held his hand out to Greer.
The flame went out and the lighter was placed in his hand.
“Careful, it’s hot,” Greer warned.
Flicking the lighter, Reaper went to his haunches to see the straight lines marked on the rock. There were so many that he had to shuffle his feet on the ground to keep looking. When he couldn’t bear to count any longer, Reaper moved his thumb away from the light, shutting off the flame.
Letting the lighter fall to the ground, Reaper buried his face in his hands, fighting the years of bottled-up emotions spilling out. Dropping to the ground, he felt Suki land on his lap as Silas and Greer knelt by his side, enfolding him in their arms.
The rock hadn’t broken after nine and half years’ worth of lines scratched on its surface. The rock hadn’t broken, regardless of how many times a knife had been used on it to release the pain and rage the person was feeling. The rock hadn’t … but that night, he did.
Chapter Forty-Three
Reaper shut the truck door, giving a final wave to Silas and Greer as they drove off.
Going up the steps, he reached the front porch where Moon was pulling guard duty. In the early morning sun, Moon looked like death warmed over.
“Lucky was looking for you last night. Said he’d catch up with you today.”
Why hadn’t the brother called or texted? Mentally shrugging, he figured it must not have been important. Noticing the grey pallor of Moon’s skin, Reaper thought the brother must have played hard last night. “Had fun at the party?”
Moon tugged his skull cap over his ears. “Had better, had worse.”
Reaper went into the house, knowing where the brother was coming from. The parties, as much fun as they were, didn’t fill the void from the emptiness. He had felt the same void before meeting Taylor. Being with her had temporarily filled it, but that void had been opening again before his kidnapping.
Walking through the door, he found the main room empty. Deciding to get breakfast before going upstairs to shower, he pushed the kitchen door open and stared, dumbfounded, at the huge half-eaten wedding cake sitting on the kitchen counter.
He blinked to make sure it was really there and not the effects of the joint and the two beers he’d had last night. When he opened his eyes and saw it still sitting there, he turned his head to see Puck and Nickel sitting at the table, eating slices of the cake.
“It must have been a real party last night” was all Reaper could think to say.
“Help yourself,” Nickel offered. “There’re some fancy appetizers in the fridge, too, that no one knows how to pronounce.”
“I’ll pass.”
Going behind the counter, he made himself a bowl of cereal and poured himself a glass of orange juice. “It must have been a hell of party last night. Who got married?”
“No one, which is why we have the cake,” Nickel explained as Reaper took a chair at the table.
Eating his cereal, he thought about asking more questions, then decided he didn’t care enough. He was looking at his phone to make sure he hadn’t missed a phone call when Jewell and Jesus came into the kitchen.
When neither of them asked any questions about the cake but began pulling trays of food out of the refrigerator, Reaper knew they were aware of where the food and cake had come from.
Jesus sat down across from him at the table. “Lucky was looking for you last night.”
“I heard.” He would call Lucky when he went upstairs to take a shower.
He was finishing his juice when Lucky and Willa came through the back door, saving him the trouble of making the call. Nickel and Puck left the table to go the counter and started loading the dishwasher from the mountain of dishes that had been left there from the party.
Lucky and Willa took their seats at the table.
“Heard you were looking for me last night. What’s up?”
Lucky shook his head. “We can talk later.”
“What’s wrong with now? I need a shower and want to grab a nap. Was so important?”
“Not to me, brother, but to you, probably.”
Reaper frowned at the curious way Lucky was responding.
“Finish your breakfast, and we can go to my room.”
“Good idea.”
His curiosity rose when Reaper saw the amusement on his face.
Willa must have been in the dark, because she looked just as confused as he was. Finding no clue from her husband, Willa gave up, wiping a dot of frosting from the corner of his mouth.
Giving Lucky her napkin, Willa glanced toward him. “Where’s Ginny this morning?”
“She went to a slumber party at Sex Piston’s. They must not be up yet, because she hasn’t texted me.”
“Darn, I wanted to see what she thought of the picture I took of her yesterday. She didn’t text me back last night, and I’m getting ready to leave.”