Page 15 of Reaper Razed
“In the barn, look.” I shove my phone at him.
Ares takes it and walks around. He’s standing near the doors. “I’m right on her phone icon. Do you think she’s in the grain storage?”
“The fucking what?”
“The grain storage, it’s underneath!” He shrugs, and I snatch my phone back and start dialling again.
“Shit, sorry, Steel. I didn’t hear my phone!” Cade answers, out of breath.
“Cade, where the fuck’s Ray. I’m in the barn?”
“Hang on!” Then he hangs up.
“Motherfucker.” We stand there like a pair of spare pricks and wait. After about five minutes, I’m starting to lose my shit when a whirring sound follows a click. Next thing, the hay bale in the corner starts moving and tips up ninety degrees, leaving a hole in the floor.
Walking towards it, Ray’s head pops out of the hole as she climbs some stairs. She’s filthy and in her underwear with her boots on.
I stop dead, and I’m standing with my mouth hanging open. I mean, what the fuck am I supposed to say to that?
“Erm… nice outfit?” Ares looks between us both like he’s not sure what to say while I’m trying to process the whole… whatever is going on. I pinch the bridge of my nose and close my eyes, taking a breath for a minute. Next, a hand on my chest runs up to my cheek.
“Hey, baby.”
I sigh as my arms automatically slide around her and pull her towards me. She slides her arms over my shoulders and behind my neck, her unbandaged hand and shoulder pull me in, and I sigh into her. “You’re not wearing your sling!” I breathe into her neck.
“No, I’m good.” She kisses along my jaw and across to my mouth, diving in with the softest sensual kiss she’s ever given me, and I melt into her. Fuck, this woman is my kryptonite!
“Hey.” Cade breaks the moment as his head pops out of the hole, too.
“Do I want to know why you’re both underground in your underwear?”
Ray doesn’t say anything as she grabs my hand to pull me forward.
“This seems more like a… family thing. I should head back!” Ares says as he backs away.
“No way, Boyband! You need to see my new office. It's gonna be so great when it’s finished!” Ray says as she pulls me along. “Okay, just remember it’s not finished yet.”
As she drags me down the stairs, the heat is stifling, which explains the underwear. There is a set of steel stairs welded to the wall, which looks to be steel, too. As we walk down the stairs, there’s a massive, dimly lit room about fifteen feet high and the size of the barn above. Against the wall is an old steel sink and table. Against the far wall is what can only be described as a prison cell.
Two prison cells, to be exact. There’s a pallet with rolled steel bars and lengths of flat steel sheeting that looks like two either low tables or possibly cot-type beds made of steel.
“Ray… what is all this?”
“It’s my new office.” She spins around with her arms in the air as if encompassing the entire space. “It needs a lot of work, but it’s gonna be epic! I realised when we had Miguel here that it wasn’t a… longer-term solution and thought sometimes these things just take… time.”
“So, let's be clear. When you said office, you meant kill room?” Ares questions cautiously.
Ray barks out a laugh. “No, knobhead, it’s an interrogation room!” She waggles her eyebrows at him.
“Jesus!” He rubs a hand down his face
“You know as well as I do that the barn just isn’t sufficient. We had to let Joseph go the next day. If I’d had this up and running, we could have kept him secure for weeks, months, even years.” To this, she just smiles.
“Baby, you’re still injured. You're supposed to be strapped up for six weeks.” I shoot a look at Cade, who raises his hands in defence. “This isn’t what Doc meant by taking it easy!”
“I’ve been good. I was strapped up and under house arrest for two weeks apart from the little “Talking to” I had with Joseph. Cade did all the heavy lifting last week, and this week, I’ve been welding. Cade still lifts everything. I’ve been doing rehab at the gym, look I’m fine.” She starts rotating her shoulder like there was never an issue and then wiggling her fingers at me.
I turn and glare at Cade. “I thought you were gonna help, ya know, keep her in line?” I cock a brow at him in frustration.