by Jamie Begley
One of the emails had both good and bad news. What little was left Ginny’s father had been found, and he’d been the only body located in the ocean. He would tell Ginny tomorrow. He wasn’t about to let her party be ruined after she had worked to make it special for T.A.
Stepping out the shower, he dried off, then went into the bedroom to dress. He gave the bed a longing glance and told Suki to stay before going back downstairs. In the time he had been taking a shower, the club room had filled with even more women, who were watching him like a hawk.
He was relieved to see more men than he expected. Calder, Dalton, Stud, Viper, Shade, and Train grouped around at the bar, looking as miserable as he felt.
Moving behind the bar, Reaper took a bottled water. “How did Lucky manage to get out of coming?”
“Prayer meeting,” Razer answered, coming out of the kitchen to take a bottle of beer before he could shut the fridge door. “I volunteered to sub for him, but the lucky bastard turned me down.”
“Why don’t we go and hang out in the kitchen?” Reaper made the suggestion when Sex Piston and Fat Louise began talking about their experiences during child birth.
“And leave them alone with a bar full of liquor?” Viper snorted. “That’s not going to happen.”
“Half of them are pregnant.” Reaper wasn’t ready to give up the idea of escaping.
“The others aren’t. Those are the ones I’m not taking my eyes off of.” Viper positioned himself in the space between the bar counter and wall, when Killyama came out the kitchen carrying a tray of drinks.
Not put off by Viper’s presence, she held the tray out for him. “Place that bottle of Effen Blood Orange on for me.”
Viper’s shoulders went up two inches. “No.”
“You want me to put the tray down and get it myself?”
The sickly-sweet smile that Killyama gave Viper made the skin on the back of his neck crawl for his brother. Viper must have experienced the same side effect because he took the bottle of vodka off the shelf.
“None of the brothers were drinking it, anyway.” Viper made the excuse for himself after Killyama disappeared into the crowd of women.
“I would have given it to her, too.” Dalton gave a mock-shudder. “Train, I don’t know which of you I admire most. You or Calder.”
“Calder gets my vote.” Train laughed from the end of the bar. “At least Killyama won’t kill anyone unless they point a gun at her. All you have to do is look at Crazy Bitch the wrong way.”
The men spent the next painstaking fifteen minutes having to listen to the horror stories of childbirth experiences. The stories sent his gut twisting in worry for Ginny and the child she was pretending wasn’t resting below her heart.
At first, he’d mistakenly assumed she was waiting to tell him until after she knew for sure. Then, after her arm was sprained and she never mentioned birth control again, he assumed she was waiting until the perfect moment. Each day that passed, Reaper came up with a different reason until he came to the realization that he wasn’t capable of figuring how Ginny’s mind worked.
His best guess so far was that Ginny wasn’t going to admit she was pregnant until he admitted they weren’t married. The woman didn’t know him at all if she thought he was going to cave. He could be just as stubborn as she, or at least until he convinced Lucky to give him permission to marry her, which, by the way that was going, Ginny would be on their third child before Lucky conceded. He told himself to be patient, he could outwait her. Time was on his side how much longer could she pretend to be pregnant before she started showing?
Jerking his thoughts away from killing a man of the cloth or ask him how far along Willa was when she started showing, Reaper tuned back to the conversation the men were having, then wished he had stayed in never-never land at hearing Viper and Razer arguing about whose wife had the worst child birth.
“Beth had two kids during a blackout, in the middle of the night, while men were trying to kill her and breaking into her house,” Razer bragged.
Viper made a slicing wave of his hand. “Winter might have had only one kid, but she nearly fucking died when that drug cartel was ….”
Reaper switched off, going back to what the women were saying. At least their conversations didn’t involve death.
“Did you hear the new doctor in town has two sisters?” Willa shared with the group. “One is a midwife, the other is a doula.”
“Really? I didn’t hear that.” Trudy paused while opening a present. “Is it too late for me to use a midwife?”
“Yes, it is,” Dalton provided the information, proving he wasn’t the only one listening.
“When I have a baby, I plan on using a doula and a midwife,” Ginny stated implacably as if it was a forgone conclusion.
“Oh … hell, you’re not. Your ass will be sitting in a hospital, begging for an epidural,” Reaper yelled.
The group in women went silent.
Reaper placed his hand on the counter to steady himself for the death glares sent his way from the women.
“Then it’s good thing you won’t have any say in the matter.” Ginny shifted on the couch to give him the cold shoulder.
“What happened to you being tenderhearted?” Reaper mocked. “You think that snatch isn’t going to hurt like hell when you try to squeeze out a bowling ball?”
When the women gave Ginny expectant looks, waiting for another comeback, Reaper also prepared himself for what she would say next. Instead, she turned to Willa but he couldn’t hear what she was saying, so he looked at the brothers who were also trying to listen in.
“Ginny asked Willa if midwives give epidurals,” Shade provided.
Winning that particular battle, Reaper was able to ease his guard for a sixty-second reprieve when he saw someone coming in the front door. Silently, he groaned. “Some days, it doesn’t pay to get out of the fucking bed.”
Viper gave a low whistle under his breath when he turned to see what Reaper was staring at.
“You’re fucked.” Viper sympathized, seeing the woman who walked through the door.
Reaper agreed. “Tell me something I don’t know. You might as well go ahead and dig my grave.”
Viper didn’t argue as the woman swatted the baby foot balloon away.
Reaper started toward the door, in the hopes of getting Taylor out the door before the group of women noticed her. Moon must have said a few words to Taylor before letting her inside, and from the glitteringly angry look she was giving Reaper, she must not have liked what Moon said.
“I don’t understand why Moon has to be so rude to me.”
At one time, Reaper would have hastened to smooth it over. Those days were gone.
“What are you doing here?”
Taylor’s expression went through a rapid-fire change. “I came to see you. I came before, a few weeks ago, and Viper told me you weren’t in Treepoint.”
Conscious of the room going silent, Reaper stopped moving toward her, keeping six inches between them. “We have nothing to talk about. You’ve wasted a trip both times.”
“Let’s go upstairs to one of the rooms to talk privately.”
He raised his hand to stop her when she would have come closer. “You’re good where you are.”
“Gavin, please don’t be this way. I know I hurt you when I came to the rehabilitation center, but what was I supposed to do? I was married, with my son on the way. I was confused.”
“You aren’t confused any longer?”
“No. Gavin, you know I love you. I’ll always love you.”
Reaper stared coldly at the woman who he had once thought he would marry.
The stark difference between Taylor and Ginny went far beyond appearances. Plus, there hadn’t been a ring of truth in a single word Taylor said.
Dressed in a hot pink skirt and a tie-dye top, she managed to come across as both sexy and classy. Back in the day, it would have given him a hard-on at the sexual confidence Taylor was an expert at achieving.
In hindsight, Reaper could see it was the sexual challenge that had attracted him to Taylor. During the year of their engagement, the challenge had begun to dull. Seeing her now, with his mind clear of the drugs, and with Greer and Silas helping him to deal with his kidnapping, he saw the future he and Taylor would have had. They wouldn’t have made it through two years of marriage, if that, and would probably have had a child dealing with the fallout.
They were too much alike, or they had been. He could see now what Ginny had been telling him; he had been running after fool’s gold. Like those miners, Reaper had clung to the belief that their relationship was the real thing, because he hadn’t been strong enough to kill off something Gavin had loved. With that admission, a final understanding of Rider’s actions finally clicked in place, as well as the knowledge of what Reaper had to do to move forward.
“Where’s your old man and kid?”
At his question, Taylor seemed taken aback. “Brandon is with his Burn. We’re getting a divorce. I couldn’t stay with him when I realized I wasn’t ever going to get over you. I married him when I thought you were dead, Gavin. You can’t hold that against me. I stayed with him because I was pregnant. I wanted my marriage to work, but I can’t stay with him when you have my heart, Gavin.”
Reaper turned his head to see Ginny moving toward the kitchen. “Ginny, come here.”
Flustered at being singled out in front of the other woman, Ginny started pulling her sweater together across her bulging middle.
Reaper took the steps necessary when she stopped short of walking directly to him. Placing a proprietary arm around her shoulders, Reaper gave Taylor an inflexible expression. “Go home. There’s nothing here for you.”
Reaper’s aloof behavior wasn’t affected by the devastation Taylor made no effort to conceal.
Catching Ginny’s hand in his when she wouldn’t quit restlessly stretching her sweater closed, he could see the discomfort, and the fear, in the nonchalant attitude Ginny was trying to portray.
“Who is she?” The venomous way Taylor asked the question had Ginny stiffening underneath his arm. Reaper released her hand to smooth his hand gently over the small mound of her belly to settle the mama and baby in his arms. “She’s none of your concern.”
At his movement, Taylor’s attitude changed. “Are you acting this way to hurt me? To pay me back for not leaving Burn when I came to see you at the rehab center? You can stop pretending, Gavin. I know the child isn’t yours. We need to talk privately. Let’s go upstairs where we won’t be interrupted.”
Taylor’s rudeness had Ginny giving a shocked gasp.
Reaper arched a brow at Ginny, waiting for her deny that she was pregnant, which she had done repeatedly each time her pregnancy had been mentioned. Any plan of using the opportunity to force acknowledgment out of Ginny failed when he saw the hurt deepening in her eyes as she tried to shift away from his touch.
He tightened his arm around her shoulders, holding her in place. “You couldn’t be more wrong. Taylor, when have I pretended to say or do something I didn’t mean? The baby Ginny is carrying is mine, and any future children she has will be mine. She’s mine, which fucking means I don’t want you. No amount of us talking will change that fact. Go home to Burn and your son. There’s nothing here for you in Treepoint. There never was.”
“I deserve to be treated better than this from you,” Taylor snapped, using a heavily ringed hand to toss her hair over her shoulder—making sure he noticed the sparkling jewel on her finger. “Do you know how I felt when I had to cancel our wedding? We didn’t know if you had taken off with the money for the business, or if you were dead. Do you know how many nights I went to sleep crying over you? I held out hope until Viper found your body. Even then, I wasn’t ready to let you go. Everyone kept telling me to move on, and then, when I did, what happened? They found you! What did you want me to do? Leave my husband and child when you weren’t in a good head place?”
Reaper moved himself and Ginny back a couple of steps when Taylor tried to come closer. Seeing what he was doing, Taylor stopped.
“I gave us enough time for me to see if I could make my marriage with Burn last, while giving you time to get over the trauma of what happened to you. Don’t send me away. Spend a couple of days with me before you decide. I love you. We can still be together, have the life we planned for, if you’d just give us another chance.”
“Another chance for what? To make both of our lives miserable? I’m staying put in Treepoint. You see yourself happy living here?”
From her expression, Reaper didn’t think she would be.
“You planning on walking away from your son? Burn might be willing to let you move away, but his son is a different story.”
“Nothing about you has changed. It still has to be your way or the highway.” Waspishly, Taylor turned her vindictiveness on Ginny. “You’re nothing but a stand-in for me. You’ll never replace me in his bed.” Taylor gave Ginny a smug smile, her eyes sweeping over Ginny contemptuously. “Three high-class whores couldn’t give him what I did for him. What I still could do when he’s done paying me back for the fact I didn’t divorce Burn sooner.”
Taylor’s gave him a suggestive smile. “I’ll stay at the hotel tonight. Come by if you want me to refresh your memory.”
“You did me a favor by not divorcing Burn. I’ll make sure to thank him personally.” Reaper’s words dripped ice. “This is Ginny’s party, and you weren’t invited. Leave now, or I’m going to forget you have a small child.”
Paling, Taylor turned hastily, and Reaper didn’t miss the look of contempt she treated the room of women to as she went to the door. Raising her hand with her car keys, Taylor popped the balloon as she left.
Moon raised a questioning brow at him at the doorway. “You want me to toss her down the steps?”
“No. Leave her be. She’s Burn’s problem, not mine.”
Reaper turned Ginny back toward the rest of the room. “I’m sorry for the interruption, ladies. There are presents left for T.A. to open. You were having a good time, so please don’t let her ruin the party, which was her goal.”
“We won’t,” Ginny said for the whole room.
Reaper noticed the sweet smile he was used to getting from her didn’t reach her eyes. Reading the self-doubt, he moved his hand to the back of her hair to tug her head back. Kissing her as if he was starved for her, boldly thrusting his tongue inside her mouth, he waited until she melted against him before raising his head to give her a gentle push toward the table of presents.
Walking to the bar, Reaper watched the women resume talking as T.A. bantered back and forth with Crazy Bitch and Fat Louise over which present she should open next. Satisfied that everything was back to the party atmosphere before Taylor interrupted, he took out his cell phone and punched in Knox’s number.
“What’s up?” Knox answered.
“Taylor is heading to the hotel to rent a room. I want her escorted out of town.”
“Any messages?”
“No message. Just get her ass out of town before I break my word never to strangle another woman.”
“Can do.”
Disconnecting the call, Reaper pressed another button on his phone.
“Yeah?” An irritated voice answered.
“What are you doing?”
Reaper heard a jumbled mix of voices complaining about the number of hamburgers from the other end of the phone.
“Tryin’ to get my fuckin food before I have a fuckin’ brain hemorrhage and die!”
“I’m at the club. I’ll give you two C-notes if you’re here in the next ten minutes.”
Disconnecting the call, Reaper placed his phone down on the counter, then stared at Shade, who was standing behind the counter. “Give me a Jack.”
Viper gave him a hesitate glace as Shade reached for the bottle of Jack Daniels. “Are you sure …?”
Viper put his hands up, backing off at lethal glare Reaper settled on him. Shade set d
own a thick glass on the bar and poured a generous portion of Jack. Reaper drank it in one swallow, then motioned for Shade to refill his glass.
“Keeping it coming. I’ve got nine minutes before Greer gets here to take the buzz off.”
“Mind handing me another beer, Shade?” Stud asked from the stool next to him.
“Never mind, Shade.” Sex Piston came up from behind them. “I’ve got a headache. I’m ready to go. Crazy Bitch is getting our coats. Let’s roll.”
Reaper turned to see Crazy Bitch talking to Killyama at the closet as she took her coat out, too.
“Give Stud his beer, Shade. Sex Piston, let me save you and the others the trouble. Taylor’s on her way back to Ohio. She’s not at the hotel.”
Reaper saw the disappointment from his announcement.
“Should have let me handle that bitch. She would have gotten my message not to fuck with my girl again.”
“Taylor didn’t need a message from you. Mine will be waiting for her when she gets back to Ohio and finds out she’s never allowed in the club there again and she has twenty-four hours to give me back the engagement ring I gave her before I was kidnapped.”
Sex Piston appeared slightly modified. “You’re not thinking of giving my bitch a used engagement ring, are you?”
“No, I have another one for Ginny that she refuses to wear.”
“Did it cost more or less than Ginny’s?”
“Less.”
“I guess that’ll have to do.” Sex Piston shrugged.
Reaper eyed her warily. “I guess so.”
“I wouldn’t have taken you for a Jack man. Probably why you’re having trouble getting that ring of yours on her finger.”
“How does what I prefer to drink make a difference?”
“Men who drink Jack tend to be old-fashioned, manly men.”
“I don’t come across as either of those to you?”