His palm was getting sweaty from holding his phone so tightly when another text dinged.
“She’s at a Starbucks!” he roared out to the empty apartment. Glaring at the happy emoji, he shoved his phone into his pocket.
He didn’t move away from the window. Several minutes passed before he finally recognized Ginny’s car turning into the parking lot. Taking out his phone, he noted a car and a truck turning in behind them. He would go out and take down their license plates when she came inside.
Turning from the window when he heard her voice outside the door, he took another look out the window, seeing a black BMW slide into a parking spot across the street, facing the apartment building. He was typing in the make and model onto his phone when Ginny and Nickel came inside.
“No wonder none of the brothers told me about Dirty Dan’s. Stingy bastards wanted to keep him to themselves.”
Yeah, that’s why, Reaper thought sarcastically.
“I told you, you would love it,” Ginny reminded Nickel as they placed several bags of groceries on the counter. Nudging one plain paper sack to the end toward him, she then went behind the counter to put her groceries away.
“Ginny thought you might be hungry,” Nickel explained, nodding toward the bag as he hooked two bags in his hands. “Marty’s a character, isn’t he?”
“You liked him?” Reaper made no effort to go for the bag of food.
“He might be a little rough around the edges, but if I had a problem dealing with dickheads, I wouldn’t be a Last Rider.”
“You can let yourself out.”
Nickel dismissed his suggestion, hooking one leg of a counter stool. “I take it you didn’t like him?”
“He was all right,” Reaper lied through his teeth, opening the bag and scooting the fries to the side so he could count the burgers. “What did you order?”
“Ginny ordered the original sack for me.”
“How many burgers you get?”
Nickel tried to hide his amusement. “Six. How many did he give you in the jumbo?”
“Six.” And the fucker might have put in maybe four extra fries in the bag than the regular. He hated the asswipe’s guts.
“You should heat them up. It has to be cold by now. Ginny wanted to go to Starbucks for a passion tea after the store. Have you had it? It’s amaz—”
“No,” he barked out, “I haven’t.”
Both Nickel and Ginny jumped at the loud crack of his voice.
“Okay … just asked. I better go get my ice cream in the freezer.” Nickel straightened from the stool. “I enjoyed lunch, Ginny.”
Ginny smiled at him from over her shoulder as she put cans of vegetables away. “I’m glad. We’ll have to do it again.”
“Anytime.”
Seeing the warning in Reaper’s eyes, Nickel took off.
Locking the door behind him, Reaper went back to his bag of food. Moving around Ginny, who was removing more groceries from the bags, he took out a plate from the cabinet.
Arranging his food, he placed it in the microwave, and as it heated, he texted Nickel the makes and models of the cars and trucks that were outside and that he wanted their plate numbers. When the microwave dinged, he took his food out, then sat at the table, eating as he watched Ginny work around her kitchen.
He almost asked her if she was giving him the silent treatment but stopped when he remembered the last time he had asked her that question.
“I finished my work.” Stepping up to the plate, Reaper decided to man-up and be the first to break the uncomfortable silence.
Closing the fridge, she started folding the empty grocery bags. “How’s the food?” Ginny’s cool behavior displayed her lack of interest.
“It’s good.” The food tasted more like cardboard with each bite. The coldness she was exhibiting was strikingly different from the way she had been treating him. He should be happy. Instead, he was strangely disappointed and couldn’t explain why.
After placing the empty bags on top of the refrigerator, Ginny made herself a large glass of ice water. Carrying it to the table, she set it down in front of him. “I need to leave in a couple of hours to get ready for the show tonight.”
“Thanks for the food.”
“No thanks needed.” She shrugged. “You didn’t ask for it. If you don’t want to eat it, don’t.”
“I do.” Picking up one of the burgers, he prepared to force another one down. “Did you enjoy your lunch with Nickel?”
“It was okay.”
He frowned at her lackluster reaction. “What was wrong with it?”
“You weren’t there with me.”
Chapter Fourteen
Shoving his plate away, appetite lost, Reaper reached for the computer, opening the folder he made for the questions he had for her.
“You seem to enjoy Nickel’s company more than mine.”
Monitoring her reaction, he saw she seemed more confused than triumphant at the note of jealousy he deliberately injected into the question. Taylor had loved to make him jealous. Hell, to be honest with himself, it was what had drawn his attention to her.