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.”