“You don’t have to be afraid.”
“I don’t? We don’t stay in one place. Raising a child, a baby like this, it’s not practical. I want to be happy and positive, but how can I be? Especially when all of this was for revenge.”
“I love you,” Reaper said.
This made her drop the glass.
Several waiters came to assist with the broken glass, and she was still shaking from his revelation. She thanked them all for their help before turning toward Reaper. “What?”
“I’m in love with you. I know this started out as … revenge. I wanted to hurt you and I did. You have no idea how much I regret harming you. You didn’t deserve it. I’m in love with you and there’s no way I would ever want to hurt you.” He took hold of her hand. “This baby, it’s a chance for us. I never thought I wanted to be a father, but with you, I want it all. It’s why I’m looking into buying a house, settling down. We’ll be surrounded by the club, and I’m already making contacts to secure our life. I want you to be happy.”
“What about you?” she asked.
“What about me?”
“The road. The club. Never settling down. I don’t want you to give up all of this for me.”
“I’m giving it all up because you’re worth more than a few stretches of open road. Robin, you’ve given me a chance to feel something I never knew existed. I’m in love with you, and that’s not something I’m ever going to find alone on the open road. I want to share the rest of my life with you. I want to marry you.”
“You can’t marry me. Not … not without getting a divorce from Bishop.”
“I’ll take care of that little shit. Don’t you worry.”
“It’s kind of hard not to. He helped you.”
“And he’ll know what to do to deal with me. I can end his miserable existence, if you ask me to do it. It’ll be quite easy to do as well.”
“No, I don’t want him dead. At least not yet.” She looked down at her lap before returning her gaze to his. “I think I’m in love with you as well.”
Reaper pulled her onto his lap, sinking his fingers into her hair and kissing her hard. “I know you’re not over Preacher and will probably never will be, but I love you and I’ll take whatever it is you can give me.” He kissed her again. “Come on, let’s go and dance.”
****
Present day
Telling Preacher the truth was one of the hardest things Robin had ever had to do. The look on his face, no matter how much he tried to mask it, she would never forget it. He’d been hurt by her revelation, and it killed her inside.
Knowing everything now, and especially with all of his honesty during her time of not knowing who she was, made it all even worse. Preacher loved her and she knew it, felt it right down to her core, only, she wasn’t the same person. Not even close, and he had believed she was hurt so badly.
Robin hadn’t wanted to escape Reaper. Even now, knowing he was close somewhere, she was desperate to see him, but first, she had to take care of another little problem. Preacher hadn’t known how to contact Bishop to bring him out of hiding, but she had. All it had taken was a single text. She stood alone in the park, waiting. Bishop had a problem when it came to his father and his own ego. He liked to believe he was this big, tough guy who could face anything, who could do whatever the hell he wanted because people feared him.
What Bishop refused to believe was he was no one without his father. He would always be Preacher’s son, and now that she’d seen what real men were like, she had come to realize Bishop was just a cowardly bastard.
She shouldn’t have given in to his needs and his belief he could have anything he wanted was her fault. Rather than beat the crap out of him, she’d pacified him. She could have started in the creation of a monster, but no more.
“One of our many old hangouts,” Bishop said, coming out from behind one of the trees.
“Hello, Bishop,” she said.
“You want to tell me what all of this is about? I already see my dad’s truck over there. I’m guessing he’s got a whole load of men waiting for him to take me in. Huh?”
“Why did you do it?” she asked.
Preacher hadn’t wanted her to stand alone, but she had to face Bishop, especially now. He’d tried to manipulate her without her memories. He’d wanted her to forget, but there were even factors that had happened during her time with Reaper that Preacher didn’t know.