Page 123 of Reaper's Rival

I stepped out of his embrace and took his hand.

“Come on Abby, let’s get you a drink.” He tugged on my hand and I followed him out.

I couldn’t face that room full of people on my own, but I could under Reaper’s arm.

“Reaper?” I stopped him just before he opened the door.

“Yeah?”

“We will have more children, won’t we?”

He brushed my blonde hair to the side and looked at me intently. “Yeah, babe, we will.”

Chapter 32

Abby

Reaper had kept his word. He was holding up the conversation, and it seemed everyone wanted to talk to us. We were standing in the middle of the bar, and he had me wrapped under his arm and his fingers were running a small circle on my hip.

It was comforting.

“Hey Dad.” I smiled, seeing him approach. He had been kept busy with the charter guys. It seemed every member had a problem tonight. I had watched him talk to each and everyone from across the room.

“Hey, sweetheart.”

I stepped out of Reaper’s grasp and wrapped my arms around his neck. “I haven’t told you this. Thank you for what you said at Matthew’s funeral.”

“It was nothing, sweetheart, only the truth. I wanted to see how you were coping; I’ve meant to get over here all night.” He looked guiltily down at me, and I pulled my arms back and stood in front of him.

“I’m fine, Reaper’s looking after me.”

“Is he just.” Dad’s eyes looked behind me at Reaper. “Good to hear he’s looking after his future wife.”

My mouth dropped. “How did you know?” I sure as hell hadn’t told him!

“You don’t honestly think he would ask you without asking me first?”

“But he did it in the moment. I could tell he wasn’t prepared.”

“He asked me before Matthew’s funeral this morning.”

Oh. That made more sense.

So Reaper was seeking my father’s permission even when I wasn’t talking to him.

Maybe he just wanted Dad to know he was serious about me. I glanced over my shoulder at him, and he was keeping his eyes on the ground. So that must have been when he found out they were leaving, and he just assumed I was going with them.

Knowing Dad, he would have given that impression too.

“Well, now you know, I guess everyone will know.” I smiled at him.

“Didn’t expect you to ever get married. Never expected you to be a parent either. But like always, you surprise me. Always were the one that kept me on my feet.”

“Come on Dad, we all know Kim was the troublesome one.”

“Yeah, but you were the quiet one. The one to watch. Proves my point, look at the man you fell for. You couldn’t just hook up with any one of my members; you had to hook up with the only one I couldn’t control.”

“Reaper isn’t that bad.”