Reaper stood beside the cash register as Ginny talked. The chitchat went on so long that Reaper picked up the boxes. “Nickel is waiting,” he reminded her.
“Oh … you’re right.” Smiling at the teenagers, she reached into her jeans pocket and took out some cash, giving it to the girl behind the counter. “That’s for you two to share. There should be enough in there for you to get the prom dress you wanted, Annie. Jason, you can get those tennis shoes you’ve been saving for.”
Both teenagers looked shell-shocked at Ginny’s generosity. They weren’t the only ones.
“You’re kidding?” The young girl, holding the thick wad of bills in her hand, was able to get her wits together to respond.
Reaper felt for the pimply-faced boy who was staring at Ginny as if she hung the moon.
Ginny gave them a sweet look. “No. You two are working every time I come in here. You deserve to have something nice done for you. I’ll be leaving Nashville soon, and I wanted to give you something to remember me by.”
“You’re leaving?”
Ginny gave the boy another gentle smile at his stricken expression. “Yes.”
“You won’t be coming back?”
“No.”
Reaper liked the way Ginny didn’t give the boy false hope.
“I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss both of you,” she stressed, not singling Jason out. “In a few months, you won’t even remember my face.”
“I’ll remember.”
Reaper bet the boy would; it was hard to forget a first crush.
That Ginny was aware of the boy’s feelings was plain. She wasn’t overly friendly, nor did she come across as anything other than a good customer who appreciated their work.
“Can I—”
“Ginny.” Reaper broke in, knowing what the boy was gathering his courage to ask.
Ginny gave him a grateful look. “We should be going. A friend of ours will be wondering what is taking us so long. Bye.”
Holding the door open for Ginny to walk through, Reaper caught the envy and resentment from the teenager.
Reaper let the door close after them. “You have an admirer there.”
Ginny waited until they were back in the car before she acknowledged the crush. “He’s a really sweet guy. The first month Jason started working here, his mother sat across the street in her car, watching him, afraid he was going to be robbed. His dad passed away when he was just a baby, so it’s just the two them.”
While listening to Ginny, he took out his cell phone. “That’s a lot to learn in the few minutes it takes to get a pizza.” Shifting in his seat, he tilted his phone to the side as he started texting Shade.
Ginny turned her head to the side. “If you’re texting Shade about Jason, save yourself the trouble. Jason has never been out of Nashville.”
He put his cell phone back in his pocket.
“Did you seriously think Jason could be my stalker?”
“No, but it wouldn’t be the first time I was wrong, either.”
“I’m sorry.”
He jerked his head to the side. “What for?” he snapped. Reaper didn’t want Ginny’s pity.
“For talking so long. I’ll tell Nickel it was my fault.”
Every single time he expected Ginny to say something to piss him off, she managed to take the wind out of his sails. Everything in him told him that she was just that fucking nice. Ginny was the type of woman you could take home to meet your parents, who your friends would be fortunate to catch.
He had never been attracted to a woman like her. No, he had set his sights on the ones who had a certain oomph, and he wasn’t talking about looks. It was the type of oomph that screamed one word… sex. The type of woman who could handle the freestyling exploits within the club, feminine enough to give in to him when he was determined to have his way. A woman who, when you made her yours, made you feel as if you scored the winning touchdown during the Super Bowl when you fucked her. He had a woman like that once and lost her. His thoughts turned morose.
A sarcastic voice in the back of his mind had his fingers curling into fists so hard his short nails dug into his palms. So, how well did Taylor work out for you?
Chapter Nineteen
Reaper groggily turned the handle of the shower on. Stepping closer to the tile wall, he let the driving force of the cold water hit him in the face. The freezing temperature accomplished what two cups of black coffee hadn’t—clearing away the fogginess and making him feel twice his age.
Becoming more clearheaded, he turned the water to lukewarm and started shampooing his hair. Running his hand over the smooth portion of his scalp, he felt the small stubble beginning to grow. He would run his electric razor over it when he got out of the shower. With Ginny gone with Nickel to meet Kimmy at the nightclub to try some new clothes, he had time to kill before she came back.