Taming Blade (Kings Reapers MC Book 5) by Nicola Jane (mini ebook reader TXT) 📕

I sigh heavily. “Don’t storm off,” I mutter.

“Fuck you, Blade.” I watch her march back to her shop. Well, that didn’t go how I planned at all.

I follow her, placing her coffee on the shop counter. “I asked you not to storm off,” I mutter and she glances up at me. Sara disappears, grabbing her coat and bag and muttering something about food. I move around the counter, my eyes fixed to Tillie’s. She backs against the stock room door and I reach behind her, opening it and backing her inside, then kicking the door closed behind me.

“You can’t accuse me of that and then come here all—” she begins, but I cut her off, crushing my lips against hers. I’ve heard enough talking. My hand wraps in her hair and I feel her melt against me.

“Something about you being mad turns me the fuck on,” I whisper, pushing up her shirt and pulling the cup of her bra down. I run my tongue over her nipple and she moans. “If the cops show up here,” I continue, “you gotta hold it together, Sunshine.”

She shoves her hands hard against my chest and I stumble back. “You ass,” she snaps, pulling her shirt back into place. “You are unbelievable.”

“What now?” I ask, exasperated.

“Is that why you came here? To check I would keep your secret?” she hisses.

I shrug. “Well, yeah, but also cos I wanted to see you.”

“Get out,” she snaps, pulling the door open. An old woman is waiting patiently at the counter. She stares at us in surprise, and I smile awkwardly.

“I’ll be right with you, Mrs. Schmidt,” says Tillie politely.

“Tils, that wasn’t what I meant it to sound like.”

She opens the shop door and leans against it. “This isn’t gonna work,” she says quietly and I frown. “I keep trying to make excuses, reasons for it to work, but I know deep down it won’t. Last night was great and all but—”

I hold up my hand to silence her. “You’re dumping me?” I snap.

“It’s not like we were dating,” she mumbles. “It was just—”

“Don’t fucking cheapen it with your one-night stand bullshit. Jeez . . .” I turn my back to her, then spin around to face her. “You’re right. Riggs and Cree told me it wouldn’t work. Marry her or threaten her, they said. I chose to threaten you,” I take a few steps away, “cos I knew I couldn’t marry you. I don’t see you as a long-term plan. Remember what I said about the cops. Keep your mouth shut.” I turn and walk away. Fuck women—they’re nothing but trouble.

Chapter Nine

TILLIE

I watch him leave and sag against the door frame. Mrs. Schmidt clears her throat, snapping me out of the torturous heartbreak currently ripping through me. “What can I get you?” I ask, breezily. I wait until she’s left before hunching over the waste bin and emptying my stomach contents. Why do I always fall for the guys who are no good for me? I watched him kill a man, but I still crave him. What does that say about me? Sara rushes over to me, rubbing my back. “Shit, Tils, are you okay?”

“I don’t feel great,” I admit. “I’m gonna head home if you can manage here?”

She nods. “Of course. Take as long as you need.”

It takes me three days to begin feeling better. I’m not sure if I was suffering some kind of sickness bug or my heartbreak was so severe, it made me ill. Either way, I haven’t heard a thing from Blade and that makes the pain in my chest so much worse.

Sara pops her head around through the bedroom doorway. “I hate to make things worse, but your mum is downstairs asking to see you.”

I groan. It’s Saturday morning, why would she turn up at ten a.m. when it’s clear I’ve been avoiding her calls for the last few days? She’s down from Scotland for a week but I’ve been putting off our catch up.

I find Mum making coffee in the kitchen. “Hey,” I mumble, hugging her then taking a seat at the table. It’s been three days since I’ve moved from my room and I feel dizzy all of a sudden.

“Wow, you look terrible,” she says, touching my forehead in that way she always does when I’m not well.

“I’ve had a sickness bug,” I explain.

“Which explains why you haven’t called me back. I arrived in London two days ago.” She places a coffee down for each of us and joins me at the table. “Your nan spoke to me. She’s worried.”

“Why?”

“She said you mentioned a new boyfriend.”

I scoff, rolling my eyes. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“She said he was a biker.”

“Mum, I don’t have a boyfriend,” I repeat. “And honestly, I feel far too ill to deal with this today.”

“Your real dad was a biker,” she blurts out and I freeze, my eyes fixed on her. She’s never talked about my real dad. He left when Mum was pregnant and then she met her new husband when I was a toddler. I’ve always called him Dad because he raised me like I was his own. Mum picks at some imaginary fluff on the table. “He was bad news, Tillie. I can’t stress to you enough the dangerous things those men do, the trouble they get themselves into.” She visibly shudders. I think back to the dead man and bite my inner cheek hard to stop me from breaking down and telling her everything. “I saw things with him, things no one should ever see. He was cruel and evil. I ran from him as soon as I discovered I was pregnant because I didn’t want him anywhere near you. He would have destroyed us both, eventually.” A sad look passes over her face.

“Mum, I don’t have a boyfriend. We bumped into the local MC gang on a night out and we flirted. Nothing came of it, and he's long gone. I’m not