Page 37 of Down & Dirty: Reaper

“That’s fucked.”

“Yeah, that’s my father.”

“No wonder you are the way you are.”

Vi laughed. “Everything wrong with me, I blame on him.”

“And not your mother?”

“She’s a saint to put up with his ass.”

“But she does it well.” He’d also met Jewel in passing. What Vi’s mother lacked in height and stature, she more than made up with her big personality. But to deal with her ol’ man, she needed it.

Between those two parents, their daughters didn’t have a chance in hell to be overly feminine or demure. They probably cut their way out of the womb with a Bowie knife while wearing a tactical onesie.

But then, he’d never been attracted to high-maintenance women. If they couldn’t get ready in less than fifteen minutes, he was out.

“Why didn’t you go into the military like your sisters?”

“Didn’t have a chance. Being the firstborn, Diesel groomed me to take over the business. By the time I was old enough to do so, he and his crew were ready to hang it up and there was no fucking way my father wanted to build a new crew from scratch. He didn’t have the patience for it, so he left that up to me.”

“But I’m the only outsider on your team. He knew the rest of the current team since they were kids.” Or even from birth. Including his two youngest daughters, Scarlet and Indie.

“That didn’t mean he wanted to work with a young team. He doesn’t have the patience. The OG Shadows came onboard with a shitload of experience and skills. It helped that Mercy stepped up into an unofficial leadership role. My father trusted a former Sergeant Major to make the right decisions when it came to jobs.”

“Mercy being that former Sergeant Major.”

“He knew his shit and could handle disasters without emotions.”

Reaper hadn’t met Mercy yet but it was well-known around the Warehouse that the former Shadow was as cold as ice. The only time he thawed slightly was when he dealt with his wife.

“Aaaaaanyway, I should go.”

Say what? The fuck if he was ready for her to leave.

Before she could even finish climbing off the bed, Reaper snagged her wrist and yanked her so hard, she fell back onto the mattress. “I’m not done with you yet.”

“Oh.” She grinned. “Well, good thing I’m not done with you, either. Obviously, that was a test and you just passed.”

A test? Great.

What he really needed was a cognitive test for being attracted to someone like Vi.

Chapter Eight

Reaper rode at the back of the pack next to Rage, the sergeant at arms. He’d never ridden with so many other bikers before.

But now he was one of them.

Despite riding two-by-two, the formation was insanely long. While all the OGs had their ol’ ladies on the back of their sleds, very few of the younger generation carried what they called a backpack: a passenger, usually of the female variety.

Of course, the prez had Kyra with him since she wasn’t a part of the Angels of Fury. But Rage was by himself because it wasn’t enough that the women started their own club, they purposely scheduled their runs at the same time the DAMC did to prove a point.

From what he heard grumbled by some of his new club brothers was that even Dyna Dietrich, the AFMC’s road captain, had traveled all the way from Manning Grove to Shadow Valley for this month’s run.

Of course, motorcycles were in these women’s blood and he doubted a transfusion would rid them of it. Hell, Dyna was even named after a damn Harley.

What was more surprising was that he hadn’t run across anyone in the DAMC named Harley or Davidson.