Her eyes moved over the familiar faces in the crowd, drawing them in with her heartache to lighten the sorrow that was growing like an ink stain on her heart.
Her eyes went to the door to see a man walk out; his eyes met hers.
He wasn’t dressed like the other men at the wedding, wearing black jeans and a black T-shirt. Even under the dark color, his massive shoulders and chest strained the material, showing the immense size and strength contained within his body. She didn’t notice the numerous tattoos that covered his hands, arms, neck, and traveled up the side of his face to where he had shaved his head to show the tattoos there. Her eyes were lost in his … clinging to his, as he moved around the pool.
“Can you hear me?” she sang out to the crowd while silently begging him … only him.
Her voice broke, afraid he didn’t know the song was meant for him. “Oh ….”
Ginny closed her eyes, terrified he couldn’t see she was meant for him.
A brush of wind had her opening her eyes again as he moved around a woman to face her across the expanse of the pool.
“Why can’t you hear me?”
Taking the microphone off the stand, she took a small step forward. Looking down to make sure she didn’t fall into the pool, their reflections swirled from the increased wind picking up speed, merging their reflections so they were dancing … touching … kissing ….
* * *
Reaper pulled his phone out from his jeans pocket after he felt the ding of the vibration.
Need a ride.
He quickly typed his answer.
Ask someone else.
He went back to looking over Ink’s past records that Jonas had managed to score for him. His brief text hadn’t worked when the next ding came in, breaking his concentration.
Come and get me from the reception.
I can see where you are. Give me five, Reaper sarcastically texted back before getting up from his desk, taking his cell phone.
Why in the fuck did Shade need a ride? He had taken his own vehicle with Lily. Not only that, but most of the club was at T.A. and Dalton’s wedding.
Taking the spare keys off the wall for Train’s truck, he went out the door and headed into town.
Fuck. The brother couldn’t have waited outside for him?
Reaper found a parking space, getting a dirty look from T.A.’s nosy-ass neighbors who were sitting outside in lawn chairs. He glowered back until the fuckers decided it was more advantageous to get their asses in gear to go back inside.
He saw Shade talking to Dalton on the stairs when he came in the door, forced to wait at the bottom of steps. He hadn’t bothered to close the door, expecting to go right back outside.
“I’ll be right back,” Shade said as they reached the bottom of the stairs.
“I don’t have all day,” he ground out.
Waiting for his return, all he wanted was to get the fuck out of there. The last place he wanted to be at was a fucking wedding. It was as if God were rubbing His heel in the crushed dreams that he had planned for him and Taylor. That most of The Last Riders were there to celebrate just added salt to the wound.
He didn’t begrudge T.A. and Dalton their day; he just didn’t want his nose rubbed into what would never be for him.
Fed up with Shade, Reaper couldn’t take it any longer and was about to go back outside when the wind swept the door closed. He was reaching for the doorknob when a voice came over a loudspeaker from outside.
“I’m searching for you…”
Every fucking hair stood on end on his body. It was the same experience he felt on a beach so many years ago, filling him with despair.
“Calling for you …”
The tenderness in her voice had his feet blindly walking to the backyard door.
“Hoping for you, praying for you …”
It was as if she held a power over him, putting him in a trance, as he moved through the crowd, all by hearing her sing.
“Can you hear me?”
The pounding of his heart clung to her every word, like an instrument being played in the background.
Right before he moved the last person out of the way, the pure rawness in her voice struck him with a powerful force as he heard her voice slightly break, as if it was her heart breaking instead.
“Oh …” the woman cried before she broke off, opening her eyes. “Why can’t you hear me?”
Their eyes locked immediately, and his heart seized into a fist when he was finally able to see the woman clearly without everyone blocking her face from him. At last, the only thing that separated them was the ten-foot-wide dazzling pool between them.
His amber gaze traveled down to the glistening water to see what she was staring at, seeing their reflections in the pool. There might have been a ten-foot difference between them, but the water showed a different story. She took a step forward and their reflections finally met as the water glowed around them.