“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.
Putting the car in Park, he saw Ginny’s brothers unloading the supplies from Knox and carrying them into the house.
“There are other emotions that can do the same thing.” Reaching over the console, Ginny laid a hand over his that was resting on the steering wheel.
“None than I’m interested in.” Pulling his hand away, Reaper got out of the car, walking to the back of the pickup truck where Silas was standing. “You need any help?”
Silas used one of his feet to shove a box toward him. “You can take that one.” Hopping off the back of the tailgate, Silas took a large suitcase that Viper had packed for him.
Reaper kept a safe distance from the porch, waiting for Ginny’s brothers to come back out before entering the house. A broad-shouldered man, who he hadn’t seen at the hotel, came outside. Waving to Ginny as she got out of the car, he started to jump off the porch when a quiet word from Silas, who was coming up the steps, waylaid the man’s exuberant attempt at a welcome.
“Ezra!” Ginny laughingly waved back to the man who Reaper assumed was another brother.
A younger boy came outside to sidle next to Ezra.
“Is that you, Fynn?” Ginny pretended the porchlight was blinding her, placing a hand over her eyebrows to peer closer at the boy.
The young boy laughed. “Yes.”
Ginny blew kisses in his direction, making the boy giggle despite him manfully trying not to.
“Has Ezra been sneaking you his protein shakes? I almost didn’t recognize you.”
The boy beamed up at her. “I’ve been working out with him,” Fynn bragged, raising his arm to show Ginny his muscle.
“Wow.” Looking impressed, Ginny circled her hands together to make the circle of a grapefruit, exaggerating the size of the nonexistent bicep. “I can see the potential.”
“You can?”
Reaper’s heart dropped at the love and hero worship apparent in the kid’s expression.
“I can,” Ginny professed with a ring of truth in her words, not faking her reaction. “The girls at school will all fall in love with you.”
Reaper saw an inexplicable expression cross the boy’s face.
Ginny gave Silas a questioning glance at her little brother’s forlorn countenance as he settled a hand on Fynn’s shoulder, letting him know without words that he was there; a brotherly bond on display with the simple gesture.
“We were worried about you when you didn’t answer our calls,” Ezra admonishment, taking Ginny’s focus off Fynn. “Silas and Matt were going to head out in the morning to see what’s going on. Glad you finally called and saved them a trip.”
“I’m sorry, Ezra … all of you. I should have called. I changed my number. I was going to call and got sidetracked.”
“We can discuss this later,” Silas averted the questions that Ginny’s apology invoked. “Ginny and her guest are tired and don’t need you keeping them up with all your questions. Ginny, you introduce Reaper to everyone before they take off. I’ll go inside and put the food on the table.”
Becoming the center of attention, he felt all of Ginny’s brothers eyeing him. Then, as if in a long-ingrained habit, the brothers formed a line. They were a variety of different sizes and complexions.
Ginny pointed to the left side, giving the man a cheeky grin. “That is Matthew, and the one next to him is Isaac. They’re the hunters in our family and why our freezers are full. Don’t ask him to go hunting. He doesn’t believe in killing animals.”
Reaper couldn’t hold back his eye roll this time—neither could the two brothers.
The brothers had similar brown hair, yet they wore it differently. Matthew’s wore his high and tight while Isaac’s was tied back. Matthew was a couple of inches taller than his six-foot brother, Reaper estimated. Their piercing gazes vetted him, not shying away from his as he looked them over. From their appearance, they didn’t seem much younger than him. Their complexions were tan and weather-bitten, as if they spent most of their time outdoors.
Feeling as if he was under a microscope at the intense way they were staring back at him, it was apparent that Ginny’s comment about his lack of desire to kill was being taken with several grains of salt.
“This is Jody.” Moving down the line, Ginny pointed to a honey-haired man with coffee brown eyes. His expression was the friendliest of the group standing in front of him. The same height as his older brothers, Jody was heavier built than Matthew and Isaac; more brawny and bigger chested than all his brothers, as if he could drive a steel spoke into the ground with little effort. Whatever Jody was doing to develop his upper body strength, it didn’t involve weights or time at a gym.