The Revolt (The Reapers: Book Two) (21 page)

“I’m just really hungry,” I said. “I skipped
breakfast.”

“How was your morning?”

“It was great.”

He frowned at me, like he knew I was
lying.

“It was great,” I said, more firmly. I needed
to throw him a bone, but there was nothing I’d done that morning
that I wanted him to know about. “I think Jed misses you.” It would
probably get me in trouble with Jed at some point in the future,
but I was desperate for a change of conversation and I needed to
get on Caleb’s good side, so two birds, one stone.

He studied me, as though searching for the
lie. “I miss him, too. I hope he and I will be able to work
together again, soon.”

“Really? I think he’d be glad to hear that.
Will you go back to work for Varius?”

He sneered. “I work for no one but myself
anymore, Kelsey. I’m hoping Jed will come to work for
me
,
here in Briarton.”

“Doing what?”

“I’m going to be sheriff, here, and I’d like
him to be an officer.”

I grabbed my sandwich and stuffed it in my
mouth before he could see the shocked expression on my face. And
before I said something stupid.

“Is that what you meant when you said you’d
own the town?” I asked, once I’d managed to chew and swallow my
mouthful.

“Did I say that?” he said, his tone dulcet
and smooth.

I tried not to glare at him. The thought of
Caleb with the power to lock anyone up made me shiver.

“You did. And you said you’d give it to me.
What was that all about?”

He frowned at me and tapped his fingers on
the table. He still hadn’t taken a bite. I stopped eating, and
tried to figure out what he was up to. The room was spinning just a
little bit. “I’m going to make it possible for you to live safely
in this town, Kelsey.”

His words came to me as though through a long
tunnel and echoed around me. Something was wrong. “Why aren’t you
eating?”

Tucker popped up next to me. “What’s going
on? I could sense you panicking.”

Caleb leaned closer to me and studied my
face, showing no sign of having noticed Tucker’s presence. “You
look like you’re not feeling well, sweetie. Maybe you should go lay
down. I have a room already prepared for you.”

Laying down sounded like a very good idea,
but I didn’t want to go to any room he’d ‘prepared’ for me.
Ewwww.

“Talk to me, Kelsey. Are you sick?” Tucker
asked.

The room was starting to blur, but I managed
to look at Tucker and get out one word, “Poison.”

“Wow, who are you talking to,” Caleb asked,
waving his hands. “I’m over here.” He laughed. “That wine must have
hit you pretty hard.”

“I’ll get help,” Tucker said, and he
vanished.

I grabbed the edge of the table to keep from
falling over. Caleb smiled at me and bile rose into my throat. I
swallowed it back down. “What. Have. You. Done. To. Me?”

“I drugged you, Kelsey. I didn’t give you
enough to kill you, just enough to make sure you won’t be able to
go anywhere for a while. “

“Huh,” I said, more to give me a moment to
take a few deep breaths and keep my vision from going dark than
from a need to say anything. “I got that part. Why?”

“Our last date went so poorly, Kelsey, and I
need quality time with you so you can see how good we will be
together. I need more than a meal with you every other day.”

“And you thought poisoning me would encourage
my love?” My words sounded slurred to my own ears, but Caleb didn’t
seem to have any trouble understanding me.

“I didn’t poison you, I drugged you. It’s not
ideal, but the reapers are getting impatient, Kelsey. I need them
to believe we’re spending a great deal of, um, time together to
ensure they don’t harm you.”

“Harm me?” My thoughts were moving like
molasses in mud, but when I figured out what he was implying, anger
fueled a moment of clarity. “You want them to think we’re sleeping
together?” The room went dark and I gripped the table harder,
forcing myself to hold on long enough to get the answers I needed.
What Caleb was doing didn’t make any sense to me and, for some
reason, I needed it to make sense. “If you touch me—”

“I would never take advantage of you that
way. I just need you to stay here for a while. I’m trying to help
you, Kelsey.”

“And you?” I slurred. “Don’t you want me to
want…” I couldn’t keep track of what I was saying.

The room was grey, but I could still see
Caleb’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “Once the reapers take this
town and you move in here with me, you’ll have plenty of time to
get to know and love me. The reapers needed more immediate
results.”

“Move in with you?” The floor started to rise
and I tried to back away from it, but it still slapped me hard in
the face. I opened my mouth to swear at it, but my world went black
and all I managed to say was, “Fuck.”

My head pounded like I’d been out drinking
all night, and my stomach felt scraped raw. I opened my eyes, but a
blast of sunlight had me groaning and quickly closing them again. I
tried to remember what I’d been doing to generate this kind of
hangover, and it all came back to me. Caleb poisoned me, and I was
still alive. I mean judging by the way my head was pounding I
wasn’t sure how long I’d stay alive, but the pounding head meant I
was alive and not a reaper. I lifted my arms and legs, without
opening my eyes, and found them joyfully unrestrained. I rolled my
head around and found a pillow under it. The surface I lay on felt
soft and wide like a bed, but it didn’t smell like my own bed. I
rolled toward what seemed like the darker side of the room and
opened my eyes slowly, one at a time.

Jed was asleep in a chair in front of me. He
looked so good, his chest rising and falling beneath a thin t-shirt
for some band I’d never heard of and never wanted to hear of. His
legs were sprawled out in sweats, his head thrown back over the
back of the chair. He couldn’t possibly be comfortable, and I felt
a warmth rise in my belly at the thought of him, there for me, not
for any corporate reason, but because he was worried about me.

I dragged my gaze from him and looked around
to see that I was in my own room. It didn’t smell like my room
because vomit and something stringent, like alcohol, overwhelmed
the normal aromas. I considered letting Jed sleep, but his eyes
opened as though he could sense mine on him. He smiled at me and
leaned forward, elbows on his knees. The gentle concern in his face
brought tears to my eyes. I was just so happy he was there.
Apparently, being poisoned made me emotional.

“How are you feeling?”

“Like—” I said, but the word croaked out of
me and my throat felt like it was on fire. “Ah.”

He frowned and sat next to me on the bed, a
hand on my back. “Your throat is probably pretty sore. You threw up
like six times.”

“I don’t remember.”

“You were completely out of it. Lucy gave you
some meds to make you vomit.”

“I hate throwing up,” I said.

“We had to make sure we got it all out of
your system.”

“Tucker?”

“He’s fine. He didn’t want to leave you alone
with Caleb, but he knew he had to get you out of there. Thad,
Isobel, and I went over and got you. I brought you back here and
Isobel and Thad beat the hell out of Caleb to get him to tell us
what poison he used.” He sighed. “He told them right away, but they
beat him up anyway.”

I could understand why Jed wouldn’t have
wanted to be a part of that interrogation. “You okay?”

“Yeah, if…” He stared at the floor for a long
moment. “I was so angry when Tucker told us what he’d done to you.
I wanted to…” He clenched his fists and fixed a smile on his face
before he looked at me. “It doesn’t matter. You’re safe here now,
and you should rest and recover.”

“He said the reapers were watching him. I’m
not sure his bargain with them to keep us safe is still on.”

“I’m not sure it ever was. We’re all going to
be careful. You just need to rest right now.”

“What about the plan,” I asked, but I was
already yawning. “I’m supposed to act like everything’s
normal.”

“There’s nothing you need to do right now,
but get better.” He reached out like he might touch my face, but he
pulled his hand back before he made contact.

My head was pounding and my throat ached, and
closing my eyes felt like heaven. Maybe I’d sleep for just a few
minutes. Just fifteen minutes, max.

I dreamed of a man I’d seen before, but I
couldn’t place him. His face was rough with stubble and his nose
looked like it had been broken more than once. His eyes were a
brilliant blue and his smile…His smile transformed him from an
ordinary guy to a stunning man.

“If it were up to me, you’d be dead,” he
said, and I remembered him. I’d seen him with Landon when he’d
tried to reap me. He’d wanted to kill me then, too. “But some have
convinced me you might be useful to us and have asked me to deliver
a message to you.”

“You don’t seem like the type to deliver
messages for anybody,” I said, marveling at my audacity to speak to
him so bluntly.

He just smiled. “I am not. I’m drawn to you,
Kelsey. You have a power that is…” he stopped himself and his smile
broadened. “Distracting. But I am here in your dream to tell you
that we have your friend, Angelica.”

My heart started pounding like it wanted to
escape from my chest. “What do you mean?”

“We have her and we’ll kill her if you don’t
come to work for us on our terms.”

He tsked when I shook my head, trying to take
it all in. “Don’t play dumb with me, child, it doesn’t impress me.
Be at the home of Bruce and Rose’s grandmother in one hour or your
friend will die.” He vanished before I could ask him what he
meant.

I gasped and clawed my way up out of sleep. I
climbed out of the bed and stood on the floor. The room spun for
just a moment and, when it righted itself, I realized I was only
wearing a bra and panties. I started fumbling around for a pair of
jeans that should have been on the floor around there
somewhere.

“Kelsey, what are you doing?” Jed asked, his
voice cracking just the slightest bit.

I spun and saw him still in the chair across
from my bed. “Why are you still…? Never mind. I need clothes, Jed,
where are my clothes?”

“What’s going on?” He stood and gently
grabbed my elbow, trying to steer me back to bed. “Why don’t you
sit and I’ll find some clothes for you.”

Anger and fear rushed over me and any
grogginess I’d still felt left me. “I need my clothes. They’ve got
Angelica and they’re going to kill her.”

He tightened his grip on my elbow. “You’ve
had a nightmare, that’s all. Angelica’s fine.”

I twisted out of his grasp, ran to my
dresser, and started pulling drawers open. I was pretty sure all of
my jeans were dirty, but it was worth a try. “It wasn’t a dream.
One of the reapers came to me like Landon used to and he told me
they’ll kill Angelica if I don’t join them. I need clothes. I only
have…” I glanced over at the clock on my bed and guessed how long
it had been since the scary dream guy gave me the ultimatum. It was
2:12. “Forty-five minutes to get to Bruce’s grandmother’s house and
turn myself over to them.”

My dresser was empty. I rushed toward the
closet and the dirty clothes hamper, but Jed tackled me and threw
me down on the bed. “You can’t do this, Kelsey. You’re too
valuable—” He was on top of me, his face inches from mine. In
another situation, I would have probably noticed how warm his hands
felt on my arms, how good he smelled, and how his hard abs pressed
against my bare stomach through his t-shirt, but my thoughts were
on saving Angelica and I didn’t have time to notice how kissable
Jed’s jaw looked. No time at all.

I tried to push him off, but he wouldn’t
budge. “Angelica is just as valuable as me, if not more. I’m not
going to let them kill her.”

“What makes you think they won’t just kill
her anyway?”

That got me, and I stopped fighting him. “I
have to try. If I do nothing… I can’t live with myself.”

“So you’re going to let them have you?
They’ll probably kill you both.” The words came out raspy, like
they’d stuck in his throat.

“I’m not going to go in blind. I’m going to
talk to Caleb first.”

He nodded and let me up. “Why didn’t you say
that before? I’ll go with you.”

I stood and went to the closet, pulling out
jeans and a t-shirt that didn’t smell too bad. I dressed and ran
out of the room, with Jed on my heels.

“Where are you going?” Rooster asked. He and
Thad were on the couch and they stood as we passed them.

Jed stopped to explain it to them, but I kept
running.

I slowed to a trot to catch my breath and
prepare myself as I approached Caleb’s building. I figured he could
convince the reapers to let Angelica go and, if he couldn’t, he
could tell me how to get to Bruce’s grandmother’s house. I took a
few deep breaths and headed up the stairs.

I was shaking with fear and anger, so I
banged on his door with both fists. I hadn’t stopped for gloves and
the cold air made each knock sting, but I didn’t stop. I just kept
banging until there was no longer a door to bang on, because Caleb
had opened it. He smiled at me, already dressed in slacks and a
crisp button-down that didn’t match his black eye and split lip,
and gestured for me to enter.

“You came to see me.” He smiled like I was
visiting him for a fucking tea party.

“Where is she?” I stepped inside and pressed
my hands flat against my thighs. I wanted so badly to wrap them
around his neck and squeeze until his face turned purple and his
eyes bulged.

He shut the door behind me and sat down on
the couch.

“I take it this isn’t a social call.”