“I saw Aisha at the wedding yesterday. She’s adorable.”
“Thank you. Luckily, she takes after her mother,” Viper joked.
Reaper agreed. His tiny niece’s features were more like Winter’s than the hard angles of his brother’s.
About to take the opportunity to leave, Ginny forestalled him by bringing him back into the conversation.
“Her hair color is more like Gavin’s.”
Self-consciously, he started to raise his hand to his hair. Stopping himself, he shoved his hand into his pocket to hide the betraying movement.
Her expression didn’t show what she thought of the hack job he had done to his hair by shaving half of it off and tattooing the exposed portion. Instead, he felt as if she were memorizing each tattoo and imprinting them into her memory.
Gavin took a step back. Ginny was breezing her way through every guard he used to keep everyone out. It was as if a part of her was already inside him, and she was intent on reclaiming that part, as well as taking a part of him to establish herself into his life.
He needed to get the fuck away from her before he was sucked into believing the connection that Ginny was trying to make was real and not a figment of his imagination, as he’d been telling himself since he heard her sing at the wedding yesterday.
“Aisha reminds me a lot of Gavin when he was younger, especially when she wants to do something I’m not ready for her to try.”
Reaper felt the beginning of a lump in his throat at the hint of sadness in Viper’s voice. Ginny must have caught it too. It was the first time she took her attention away from him.
“My brothers complained the same way about me. I drove Silas crazy watching out for me. He was the oldest and could be a real pain when I was younger. I realized he was just being protective, but at the same time, I still wanted to do what I wanted to do. I think it’s in the younger sibling’s DNA to rattle the older ones.”
Viper looked up at him, their eyes meeting at the memories of the many blowups they’d had. They had argued since his release, but Viper was the only one Reaper held himself back from getting into a full-scale argument with—like he had before coming to Treepoint. Now, Viper either gave in to his demands or walked away.
At first he thought it was because Viper was waiting for him regain his strength, but later acknowledged Viper was never going to fight him. Reaper would never hold the same respect from his brother as the other brothers did, because the other men had proven themselves to Viper. He would never be given another chance. Viper wouldn’t chance him being hurt again. His brother would rather walk away from an argument at the cost of his pride before causing him any pain.
Before his captivity, Viper wouldn’t hesitate to knock his block off if he thought he deserved it. Now, if it came to a physical blow, Viper held back, incapable of hurting him, even with a gun to his head.
Slate had not only managed to emotionally obliterate him, but he had destroyed any chance that his brother would ever again see him as an equal.
Reaper mentally shook his head at himself. He’d paid for that burst of temper with nearly ten years of captivity, as well as what was left of his sorry life. The only thing that kept him sane was the desire for revenge on his tormentors.
“I can’t imagine you giving anyone a hard time, Ginny” Winter said, breaking the stilted silence from the two men.
Ginny rose from the couch, tugging her top down as she gave a self-effacing grimace. “Unfortunately, I used to be pretty obnoxious when I was younger. Thankfully, I grew out of it. I learned that you have to wait for something worth having.”
As Ginny approached him, she looked up at him. Reaper tried to ignore the silent message she was sending. Clenching his hand in his pocket, he stood still as a stone, despite the muscles in his legs shaking.
“I learned that something you had to wait for wasn’t worth having.” Reaper didn’t lift his eyes away from Ginny’s despite Winter’s gasp at his harsh rebuttal. If he hadn’t been afraid of the feelings rising inside him before, the resolute expression on her face terrified him now.
“Then you must have wanted the wrong thing. That’ll give you the wrong expectations every time. Maybe if you’re willing to change your point of view, you’d be able to see that you pinned your expectations on the wrong thing. But when you place them on the right one, you’ll get what you wanted all along, just in a different package.”
Was Ginny talking about Taylor? Or was he reading more into what she was saying? No one talked about Taylor in front of him, not even Calder, since he’d been there the day Taylor came to the rehabilitation center to see him.