by Jamie Begley
“I’m wasting my breath, aren’t I?” Ginny slapped her hands down on the table to rise. “I need to take a shower before we leave.”
“Ginny ….”
Angrily, she slammed her hands down on the table again, looking down at him. Reaper was glad she was across the table.
“Don’t Ginny me! I’m not upset you didn’t know about me back then, but you do now, and despite what you’re feeling, you’re pretending it doesn’t exist.”
“I don’t feel a damn thing for you!” he yelled, getting to his feet and bringing his hands to the table. They stood like two adversaries, vehement at not yielding to the other.
“You’re lying. I know you are!”
The steam went out of him. “I’m not. I don’t want to hurt you—”
She dropped her hands from the table. “Too late, because you have.” She stared him down. “How wonderful for you that you believe that. It would make it a lot easier for me if I could lie to myself like that. I can’t, though.” Reaching across the table, Ginny snapped his computer closed.
“I’m about to give you a real good laugh. You sure you don’t want to sit back down?”
“I’m good,” he snapped back.
The fury pouring off her should have warned him, but Reaper was too appreciating of the fiery sparks coming from her. Color highlighted her cheeks and her breathing had her breasts thrusting out. Slinging tumbled hair away from her face, she reminded him of a wildcat about to pounce.
Pure lust rushed through his body like a tidal wave, making him dizzy. The shock had him grabbing the sides of the table, but Ginny didn’t notice the effect she was having on him.
“A couple of times, I could have sworn you were so close, then it would go away, and then I’d feel it again.” Ginny raised her hand to snap her fingers. “Then suddenly, nothing. I couldn’t feel you anymore. It just felt as if there was a deep sadness in my heart, just like when Leah and Pa died, but worse. So much worse. Has anyone you loved died?”
His face twisted. “My fiancé.”
“She didn’t die!” Ginny yelled.
He clenched his jaw. “Shut the fuck up!”
“No, I won’t! When I couldn’t feel you, I thought you had died in an accident or gotten sick. The only solace I had was that I thought you were with God. It didn’t make me feel better, but I told myself you were in a beautiful place with angels singing to you until it was time for me to join you there.” Her face twisted in pain, mirroring his. “I know. Crazy, right? That’s some of the shit I went through.
“Do you have any concept of how I felt when you walked out onto that patio and I saw you and found out who you were? To realize you were Viper’s brother, and you were the one who had been kidnapped for all those years? All the years that I laughed with my friends, went to movies, and lived a normal life when you were kept from the people you loved?” Ginny took a shuddering breath.
“Don’t expect me to stand here and keep my mouth shut about what I feel for you after you lost years of your life and the what-might-have-beens. Do me a flipping favor and call Viper; ask him if he loves you and see what he says. Better yet, call any of The Last Riders and see what they say!” Her voice dropped down to a lower octave. “After you do that”—Ginny reached across the table for his cell phone, using her fingers in a quick flick to send it skittering across the wood where it came to a stop against his hand—“then call Taylor and ask her.”
Numbly, Reaper made no move to pick up the phone. He didn’t have to call; he already knew how they would respond. Everyone, even all the hardened brothers, would tell him exactly that—that they loved him. He also knew Taylor’s answer.
“And while you listen to the woman you think you loved … who wore your ring …”
Lifting his eyes from the phone, the stark pain he witnessed in her eyes nearly bowled him over in pain.
Tapping the side of her forehead, as if she wanted to pound some sense into his head, she continued, “… I want you to keep one thought front and center.” She dropped her hand limply to her side. “Which woman would you trust to always be by your side? The woman you almost married or the one you met just a few days ago? Then see if you can lie about that to yourself so easily.”
Reaper was left standing as she departed, waiting until she was out of sight before sinking down onto the chair and burying his face in his hands.
There wasn’t one part of what she had told him that hadn’t rung true. Logically, he knew the soul mate crap didn’t exist, but to her, it was real. And regardless of how many times he played back the day at the pool, it had the same impact on him. Was he ever going to admit that to her? He couldn’t. The lie, as badly as it hurt her, was preferable to the truth.
During their argument, he’d had to keep the table between them, too experienced with women not to recognize the desire she had to hold and touch him. He should have told her …
You can’t hold ashes.
Chapter Fifteen
“You don’t want to wear the dress I bought?”
Sitting quietly in the chair of Ginny’s dressing table, Reaper pretended to scroll indolently through his phone as Ginny went through the clothes that had been destroyed by the stalker.
“I spent an entire day searching for this,” Kimmy argued, lifting a navy blue, leather dress off a rack. “It’ll go perfectly with the dark outfit that Kaden is wearing for the duet at the end of the show.”
“I’m not wearing it, Kimmy. I’m wearing the one I brought.”
Lifting his eyes from the phone, he saw that Kimmy was unzipping a clothing bag, exposing the dress within.
“You’re kidding me, right?”
“I’m not joking.” Taking the bag away from Kimmy, Ginny hung it back on the rack. “Let’s get my makeup done, unless you want to be the one responsible for delaying the show?”
At least he wasn’t the only one coming up short against Ginny’s refusal to be swayed from something she decided upon.
Giving up the pretense of not tuning into their conversation, Reaper put his phone away to calculatingly observe Ginny. To find her stalker, he had to find out just how close the person was to her. Unless the person was fucking invisible, he had to be within her circle of acquaintances, if not someone she considered a friend. They were too familiar with her life, finding access where no bystander would be granted without standing out. They had slid past Alec’s, Shade’s, and Rider’s notice. That skill alone exhibited how dangerous they were.
Giving Ginny the chair, Reaper moved to stand against the wall, out of their way.
“If you want to wait outside, I’ll let you know when Kimmy’s finished.”
Reaper leaned his shoulder against the wall, making himself more comfortable. “I’m good where I am.” Meeting Ginny’s gaze in the mirror, he refused her suggestion. If he wanted to be a gentleman, he would stand outside the door, leaving a small crack to check on her safety. Concern about her welfare wasn’t what kept him rooted in the spot, however, wanting to change the pattern of her behavior to throw her stalker off his game did.
The stylist wasn’t happy he’d rejected her suggestions, and it showed as Kimmy started brushing her hair back. His lips tightened when Kimmy laid the brush down on the table and he saw several fine hairs clinging to the bristles.
“Do you pay Kimmy for her services or is she doing it for free?”
Kimmy spun of her high heels. “Excuse me?”
“Even I could brush her hair out without hurting her.”
Flustered, Kimmy looked at Ginny’s embarrassed features.
“I’m not tenderheaded,” Ginny said, trying to excuse the treatment she was getting from the woman.
He wasn’t having that bullshit.
His own expression became inflexible. “Be gentler or start walking.”
Kimmy’s movements were slower and more careful as she pulled Ginny’s hair back, pinning it with hairclips. Every so often, Reaper caught her gauging his reaction as she put on Ginny’s mak
eup. The awkwardness as they worked didn’t bother him, but he could tell it did Ginny.
“I really like the blue dress, Kimmy. I appreciate the effort you put into finding it for me. I just … I wouldn’t ….”
“She doesn’t want to wear it because it was the only one that wasn’t destroyed,” Reaper explained when Ginny couldn’t.
Kimmy’s paused as she moved a small fan closer to Ginny’s face. “I should have thought of that myself,” Kimmy’s berated herself. “I can return that one.”
Ginny shook her head. “I was planning to pay for the dress and the clothes that were destroyed.”
“I’m a terrible person.” Latching her makeup carrier closed, Kimmy started to leave.
Ginny caught her by the arm. “Don’t say that. I should have told you. I just assumed you knew I would pay for them. This my fault. Don’t blame yourself when it was because of me the clothes were destroyed in the first place.”
“You can’t blame yourself for other people’s actions.” Kimmy flushed when she looked toward Reaper. “I should have known why you didn’t want to wear the dress. I would be freaking out if it had happened to me.” Her lips twisted wryly in self-disgust. “I was more worried about my pocketbook than understanding how scary this must be for you. You are always there for me, and when you needed me, I tried to pull your hair out. Your boyfriend was right to call me out.”
Hearing himself being referred to as Ginny’s boyfriend had a jarring effect on him, particularly because of Ginny’s reaction. A thirteen-year-old girl would be more blasé than she, as a wide range of emotions filled her face. The shy, innocent glance she gave him was mixed with a flood of embarrassment that colored her cheeks.
The only thing that kept his ass in the room and not heading back to Treepoint was Viper.
Leaving would put Viper on the frontline just when Ginny’s stalker was escalating. The killing of the bird escalated his threats, making him more likely to strike out at the person keeping him from getting Ginny. And right now, it was him. If he left, Viper would be the one taking his place.
Reaper couldn’t give a rat’s ass if her stalker tried to take him out. What had panicked him enough to hitchhike his way back to Treepoint was Ginny. The longer he was around her, the more he feared what she was telling him was true.
“I’m really not tenderheaded. My sister used to rip my hair out by the roots when we were—” A strange look crossed Ginny’s face as she removed her hand from Kimmy’s arm to turn the small fan off. “—when we were little. Gavin was just being protective of me, weren’t you?”
“Sure.”
Kimmy didn’t believe the bullshit, and Reaper refused to give her a pass from the way she treated Ginny. He might have no problem being a jerk to her, but he wouldn’t hurt a hair on her head, and no one else was going to, either, while he was there.
Sliding her makeup case out of the way, Kimmy went to the rack to unzip the garment bag Ginny brought. Diffidently aware that he was watching, Kimmy carefully removed the dress.
Taking the dress from Kimmy, Ginny gave him a sweet smile that always turned his mind and balls to steel. “Gavin, do you mind waiting outside for a few minutes? I need to get changed.”
The tiny space was claustrophobic with all three of them standing. It wouldn’t give her enough space to get undressed without touching him.
Reaper barely avoided the door hitting him on the ass he left so fast. Sin and Kaden stopped talking at his sudden appearance in the corridor.
“They kick you out?” Sin asked. “You can wait in my room if you want?”
“They won’t be long.” Rejecting the offer, Reaper stayed by Ginny’s door, refusing to be drawn into the efforts by any of the band members to be buddy-buddy. He didn’t want to be friends with them, had no desire to find out what they were into, and for fucking sure didn’t trust any of them any farther than he could throw them.
Sin shrugged off the rebuff. “You can see Ginny’s door from there. Just trying to make it easier on you.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Reaper turned his head to Kaden. “How’s Mason doing?”
“Furious at himself that he let someone get the better of him.”
“Lessons like that are hard to learn.” He should know.
“Alec told me you came down hard on him.”
Reaper shrugged. “I warned him to have his men working in pairs. Shade and Rider cautioned him that Ginny’s stalker wasn’t an amateur. He was overconfident, and it nearly cost Mason his life.”
“That’s pretty harsh, isn’t it?” Sin’s laid-back behavior flipped on a dime, dissatisfied at having someone he just met criticize a man who he’d worked with for years.
“Look at your boss; he isn’t disagreeing with me, is he?”
Sin turned to Kaden, and his eyes grew dark when Kaden remained silent. “I have shit to do.” Taking the few steps needed to reach his dressing room, Sin left him and Kaden staring stonily at each other.
“When I have an issue with someone I work with, I talk to them privately. I don’t discuss their fuckups with others.”
“Did you have a talk with Alec?”
“I did. He overextended himself. It has been rectified. He’s doubled his staff for the remaining time we’ll be here.”
“Then enough has been said.”
“I would think you would be more forgiving of other people’s mistakes.”
Reaper took it in stride that Kaden wasn’t taking his criticism of Alec lightly. Alec only had to answer to Kaden, not him. If Reaper wanted to say something about how Alec handled security, then he better be prepared to have his own faults thrown back on him. He lived with his past mistakes every day, so there wasn’t anything Kaden could throw out at him that he hadn’t said to himself.
“Then you thought wrong.”
Chapter Sixteen
The band was warming up when Kimmy opened the door. Taking a step back from the doorway, Reaper moved aside so she wouldn’t brush past him.
Instead of walking away, she paused. “I enjoy working with, Ginny. I usually don’t act the way I did today and yesterday.”
“Then we shouldn’t have any more problems, should we?”
“No, we won’t.” Embarrassed, Kimmy escaped down the narrow corridor.
With the doorway clear, he went inside, then wished like hell he hadn’t.
Her long, cream-colored boho dress had bell sleeves that swung with every movement as she tugged on the material clinging to the side of her hips.
Rattled by her appearance, he stood rooted to the spot.
“I need to give Marty’s burgers a rest for a while.”
He was unable to give her any reaction.
How did Ginny have the ability to make him feel like a little boy seeing tits for the first time? If she were side by side with Taylor, every man would get a rise out of his dick looking at Taylor, while Ginny would be the one placed in the friend zone. Taylor had the something extra that had a man determined to have her: there was nothing extra with Ginny. She was what she was—a good, wholesome girl who would make soup when you were sick, do you a favor, and even hang out with you when you were bored. Taylor was flashy on the outside, while Ginny’s beauty was ingrained into her character. Being around Ginny he was starting to remember the discontent in his relationship with Taylor before he was kidnapped.
“You look fine to me.”
The hurt look in her eyes gutted him. Fine was a bad four-letter word to women when they wanted to be complimented.
“Nice dress. It suits you.” He meant it as a compliment.
Sweeping loose hair to the side, Ginny gave him a false smile that didn’t reach her wounded eyes.
Her injured pride made him feel like a piece of scum. He hated himself for becoming the man he had. However, any encouragement he gave her would hurt her more if she really believed herself in love with him. Telling himself that didn’t ease his conscience, yet he made no move to repair the damage.
�
�They’re ready for me.”
“Ginny ….”
Inching past him, she went to the doorway. “If I don’t hurry, it’ll put Kaden’s set behind.”
Rushing out, Reaper followed her down the corridor. Her long hair falling to the top of her back in silky waves, and her backside swaying had his gaze fixated on her instead of where he was going, which meant he smashed his foot on a metal step, nearly sending himself falling face-first up the steps.
“Fuck!”
Holding the railing above him, Ginny turned toward him. “What happened?”
“Nothing,” he muttered.
Nodding, she went on up the stairs.
Being careful this time to keep his eyes on the steps and not her ass, Reaper managed to make it to the top. Then, as she took her spot behind the curtain, he had to squish himself behind her or fall off the small platform.
A wild compulsion came over him to grasp her upper arms and pull her back against his body. Every ion in his body wanted it, but the ones in his brain shouted to keep an emotional distance from her.
Disgusted with himself for even thinking about touching Ginny had him taking a step back. The metal railing pushing into his back cleared his mind from having her body so close to his.
Suddenly, the spotlight pointed toward the stage hit the portion of the curtain that Ginny was standing behind. She pulled the curtain so it would cover her more. In the dim light, Reaper saw the glint of her metal bracelet on her wrist as the bell sleeve fell down. It wasn’t the first time he had seen it. Recalling the last few days, the only time he hadn’t noticed her wearing it was when she came out of her bedroom in the morning.
Women often had a sentimental attachment to their jewelry, depending on how it was acquired. Taylor had loved jewelry. For special occasions, he bought her a few pieces, in addition to the engagement ring he had given her. Taylor would have ripped out one of her eyeteeth for the one Ginny was wearing.
