I always tried not to judge a book by its cover, but these dudes looked intimidating as hell.
All around the bar, Sinners stood and moved closer to the door. A few moved a hand behind their back, and I knew they were readying to grab their guns if needed.
“Where’s your prez?” the man on the left barked, taking another step into the bar.
Sensing a threat, a few Sinners mirrored that step as they drew closer to him.
Without hesitation, Cain released my arm and stepped forward. “Right here. What can I do for you?”
I went to take a step forward to be closer to Cain, but from my peripheral, Sly caught my eye. As if he knew what I was about to do, he flattened his hand by his side to tell me to stay still, and gave me a look of warning.
The guy looked Cain up and down, then his eyes drifted behind him to me. I lifted my chin.
“You fucked with the wrong crew,” he stated as he looked around at the Sinners. The other guy made no move to enter the bar further, but stayed watching closely from the doorway.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cain told him, revealing nothing.
The guy’s eyes snapped back to Cain, and he smirked, flicking a toothpick out of his mouth onto the floor. “Figured you might say that. I’m here to deliver a message. Watch your fuckin’ backs,Sinners. You see, us Reapers live by a code—an eye for an eye. You owe us a fuckin’ eye.”
Cain’s hands balled into fists, his whole body tensing under the guy's words. As he stepped forward, about to explode, I threw myself at him and grabbed his bicep to stop him from making a mistake.
These guys weren’t the type you fucked with, and any reaction Cain revealed right now would be detrimental.
“Get the fuck out of our bar,” he hissed, taking another step forward despite the hold I still had on him.
The guy put his hands up mockingly and walked backward toward the door. His buddy opened it and they both left without another word, letting the door slam shut behind them.
“Fuck,” Cain roared, turning around almost violently to face his men. “Church,now!”
Pulling me into a tight hug, he kissed the top of my head. “I’m so sorry, Rose.Fuck, I’m sorry.”
“This isn’t your fault, Cain. Take a deep breath and go talk it out with the Sinners. You guys will come up with a plan on how to handle this.”
“Go lock the doors, and under no circumstances unlock them again until your staff shows up for work in a few hours. Better yet, go into your office and don’t come out until I’m back.”
“You’re overreacting.” I ran my hands down his chest in a way that was meant to be comforting. “I get why, but it’ll be fine. It’ll all work out. Go. Talk to them. Come up with a plan.”
I lifted on my tiptoes and pressed my lips to his, wasting no time pushing my tongue into his mouth to find his.
He grabbed onto my hair and deepened the kiss, pressing his lower body against mine so I could feel the way his cock was hardening.
Even under pressure, the man still found ways to make me feel like I was the most important thing in his life, even though right now, his crew needed to be.
Pulling away from him, I gave him one more quick peck before I fulfilled his request and went to lock up the bar. He watched as I did before retreating upstairs to go figure out what the hell he was going to do about the threat of ‘an eye for an eye’.
CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE
My eyes strained as I stared at the computer screen, attempting to figure out how to make QuickBooks do what I needed it to do. It was time I hired someone to balance my books, but I was having a hard time relinquishing that portion of control. I was meticulous and liked things a certain way, even if that meant I was killing myself slowly by having to teach myself new programs and do everything without help.
Giving up, I sat back in my chair and tried to clear my head. My stomach growled, the not-so-subtle reminder that I hadn’t eaten since I forced down a banana at breakfast. Now, it was nearing seven at night, and my empty stomach was rolling.
Two days had passed since The Reaper’s Wings stopped by the bar, and though tensions were still high, the Sinners hid it well. Especially Cain.
It worried me how when he returned from his emergency Church meeting, he was eerily calm and had seemingly turned off any and all emotion toward what happened. I wanted to ask what was said in their meeting, but I wasn’t sure it was my place.
Cain and I hadn’t defined our relationship.
Not having a label didn’t bother me, but it did put up a giant question mark on what information I was privy to when it came to the Sinners. So I waited, hoping he’d open up on his own, but considering it was now Friday and he still hadn’t, I assumed whatever was said was on a need-to-know basis.
