Reaper looked down at her, seeing she was asking him and not her brothers, leaving the decision in his hands.
Every place he could come up with had drawbacks, and none that would be as safe as to what the Colemans were offering.
“You might not have been in town the last few months, but how about the rest of your brothers?” Reaper asked Silas, not giving in to what could be Ginny’s safest option without considering the safety of everyone involved. If he had to pitch a tent behind the church, he would.
“They come into town even less than me.”
“Silas is the only one who isn’t a homebody,” Ginny teased her oldest brother.
“They could get sick,” he told her before giving in. “We could have been exposed. It’s going to be a waiting game to see if we get any symptoms, which means they’ll have to wait it out with us before coming back to town again.”
“If Ginny goes anywhere else but with us and gets sick, we’ll get infected anyway, because no one will be able to keep us away from her.” Silas took a step off the sidewalk as he talked. “As to the food, all the groceries that Knox sent you was enough to feed an army. Plus, we already have three freezers packed full. I reckon we’ll do fine.”
“You have three freezers?” Reaper regarded him skeptically. For people who never came to town, they seemed to have an overabundance of food.
“Have you watched TV lately? Nothing to do in the mountains but hunt. Ginny looks like she’s ready to drop. The only one Ginny and you will be in contact with is me. That’s why the boys are staying back. Isaac and Matthew share their own place, Jacob and Jody each have theirs, Moses has his. Ezra and Fynn both live with me, but Ezra is going to move in with Isaac and Matthew, and Fynn will be going to stay with Jacob. See? We have it all worked out.”
“Gavin, it’s up to you.”
Ginny leaving the decision to him when all her brothers were standing there, putting his say-so over the brothers she loved and trusted, placed a burden on him to consider the best recourse for her. The problem was that he had other options available to him, but all of them involved leaving her unprotected.
It rankled with him that Silas had never filed their father’s will. Their reappearance in Ginny’s life could have another motive, and until he could assure Viper that Ginny was safe with them, he didn’t feel good leaving her alone.
“I’ll call Viper, then decide. Give me a minute.”
“Call whoever you want,” Silas urged without irritation, his face hard and resolved, “but our sister is either coming home with us or we’re staying.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Are you certain you’re okay with us staying with Silas?”
Reaper didn’t look toward The Last Riders’ factory or clubhouse as he drove past on the way to Ginny’s brothers’ home.
“Nine days will go by fast.” It wasn’t much of an answer, but one that would start his stay with them on the rocky ground. He didn’t want to have to search for another place right now, and once he determined that she was safe with her brothers, he would have both Ginny and Viper off his back.
“You’ll like my brothers once you get to know them.”
Ginny had perked up once he told them that Viper agreed it was the best option available, if not the only one. Unlike him, Viper had no hesitation about giving his approval with Ginny and him staying with the Colemans. He wasn’t the one who would have to stay there.
He was still irritated that Viper hadn’t provided him with a better alternative.
“You really will,” Ginny assured him. “You and Silas have a lot in common.”
“Like what?”
“He hates road trips with me too.”
He couldn’t help the small smile tugging on his lips. “As long they don’t expect me to go hunting with them and they keep their distance, we’ll get along.”
“Aw … You’re like Moses. He doesn’t believe in killing animals, either.”
Wanting to give her an eye roll, Reaper contained himself, even though he couldn’t keep his sarcasm to himself. “Depends how many legs they have.”
“Huh?”
“I don’t mind taking out the two-legged variety that shouldn’t have been put on earth in the first place. It’s the four-legged, helpless ones I have a problem killing.” He used to have that bleeding-heart mentality until he was shown firsthand the brutality humans were capable of.
“I hope you’re joking.”
“Is this the turn-off?”
“Yes. Gavin, killing … Never mind.”
“Go ahead. What were you going to say?”
“Hatred fuels the wrongs done. Forgiveness puts the fires out.” Ginny pointed to the left. “You can park over there.”
“Hatred can also provide oxygen to right a wrong.”
Hatred was the only reason he had fought so hard to get out of rehab. Without the desire for revenge, he would have been content to wither away. Vengeance was the only emotion he was able to feel after Slate and his perverted clients had ripped his sexuality away from him.