He had to scout out several locations and thought the road trip would be a perfect honeymoon. Now he could see his half-baked idea would have met failure from the get-go.
Maybe he should ask Rider if he was up for a road trip? As soon as that idea came to his mind, he squashed it. He didn’t want to spend the next few weeks reassuring Taylor that Rider wasn’t secretly trying to break them up. He would miss having Rider as his sidearm, but Gavin would rather come back to a happy fiancé versus one who questioned every move he made while gone. Or one who would break up with him before he could get the car packed for the trip.
Starting his bike, he knew both Rider and his bike would be left behind. Not having Rider was going to suck, but not having his bike was going to be just as bad.
The trip was starting to be more than he bargained for when he had come up with the idea. Fortunately, he wouldn’t be gone long, and he and Taylor wouldn’t be apart again afterward. They would spend the rest of their lives together.
Chapter Seven
Gavin cursed as he parked his bike, then glanced down at his watch. He had spent too long placating Taylor.
Getting off his bike, he nodded to several brothers hanging outside the clubhouse. The building had once been a broken-down tavern that he and Rider had managed to buy off the owner, who’d been more than ready to head to a warmer climate. He practically had to drag Rider inside when they pulled up, and after they had gone through the guest rooms and the bathrooms, he literally had to pull him back off his motorcycle before he could talk him into the bar area. Built in the 1870s here in Ohio, it had been passed down from son to son, and the only things changed were the tap heads on the kegs.
He bought the tavern while Rider drank the beer the owner handed him. Gavin laughed to himself at the memory. Rider hadn’t stopped crying until the renovations were finished. He still thought half the tears were to get out of most of the work and the other half were for the money he had coughed up to make The Last Riders clubhouse a reality.
Striding toward the door, Moon held it open as he approached. Grinning, Gavin gave him a pat on the shoulder before going inside.
Glancing around the large room, he then made his way past the long bar to the table at the end. Gavin’s smile didn’t slip at Shade’s expression. He hated to be kept waiting, and Gavin knew the stone-cold brother wouldn’t count him trying to keep Taylor happy as a reason to keep him cooling his heels until he could get there.
Gavin didn’t think he would live long enough to see that mean fucker fall in love. If Shade had an ounce of emotion in him, he had yet to see it. They had become friends in the service, if it could be called friendship. Friendship was a two-way street. While he called Shade a friend, Gavin didn’t think Shade felt the same way soul deep. He didn’t think Shade felt anything for anyone. Hell, the brother could fuck like there was no tomorrow and still leave more than one woman begging for more.
His grin widened when he saw who was sitting with Shade, obscured by the corner of the bar. As the man rose to his feet with a returning smile, Gavin held his hand out when he got close enough.
“Will! Shade didn’t tell me you were in town!”
“Got in last night.” Shade’s father shook his hand with twinkling eyes. “I would have called and told you to get your ass here, but Shade told me that you were busy proposing to that pretty gal you introduced me to the last time I was in town.”
“I would have waited if I had known I could have missed out seeing you,” Gavin teased, dropping Will’s hand to give Shade’s father a bear hug. “Damn, it’s good to see you, old man.”
Will hugged him back before loosening his hold to stare at him critically. “She must have said yes. You look too happy for a man who’s been told no.”
“Unless he’s relieved she said no,” Shade broke in before taking a drink of his beer.
“Ignore him, Gavin,” Will said, sitting back down. “My son doesn’t have a romantic bone in his body.”
Gavin took a seat across the table from the two men. “The whole club is aware of that fact, sir,” he joked, turning to give the woman behind the bar a carefree wink. “Isn’t that right, Jewell?”
“Bliss and I were just talking about that a couple of minutes ago, when he was going to call you back to see what was taking you so long.”