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It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see her, but days ago he’d done his best to fuck her out of his system. He’d gone there with the intention to apologize, ended up fucking her on every flat surface they could find and then snuck out early in the morning. Instead of getting her out of his system, she was embedded so deep and he didn’t know what he would do once he saw her.
The problem was, Gavin didn’t know how Ginny felt about him, especially since he knew exactly how he felt about her. Begging for him to fuck her harder, faster, deeper didn’t really answer that question either, it just confused him even more. When he left her house hours before the sun came up, Gavin knew that he’d made a mistake by sleeping with her. Not because it was bad, but because it was so good, he was reminded of all the reasons why he’d fallen for her in the first place.
Gavin knew he was being immature by avoiding her, but he needed to get his head on straight. Sex did not translate to anything more, he’d learned that the hard way the first time with Ginny. And even though he kept pretending like he wastotally fine, he wasn’t. It would be so easy to say that he disliked Ginny, which was so far from the truth. He would always love her, he just hated the way loving her made him feel. He did stupid shit like this—arguing with her, then kissing her and finally fucking her. And the things they said to each other between all of that didn’t really help either.
But the sex had been so fucking good, though. Nodding to himself, Gavin sighed heavily. His eyes did another sweep of the room and when he didn’t see Ginny anywhere, he allowed himself to look at the space properly. Bronte had sent him photographs as Ginny’s team had been setting up, so he had a vague idea of what it would look like. But seeing it in person and in its entirety was a whole other thing. He knew what she was capable of, he’d been up close and personal with Ginny’s work ethic—and every inch of her body too—the past few weeks. Once she set her mind to something, she pushed herself until she could cross it off her list.
When someone bumped into him, Gavin glanced to the side and found his four brothers smiling at him proudly. As the youngest of the Rhodes boys, he looked up to his big brothers. They were incredible men and four of his favorite people, so to have them be proud of him made his heart soar.
“You did good, kid,” Graham told him, gripping his shoulder tightly as they hugged.
“It’s all Ginny, really. I just paid for everything.”
Spencer snorted and punched him in the arm. “You know we’re not talking about the party, moron. You built this whole thing yourself, that’s something to be proud of.”
Swallowing the ball of emotion lodged in his throat, Gavin grinned at his brothers. “Got really lucky to have four big brothers who were fantastic role models.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Simon muttered, blinking back tears. “I’m already so emotional, don’t make it worse.”
All of them laughed, wrapping Simon in a hug as he got himself together. Apparently that morning, just before Simon dropped him off with his ex-mother-in-law, Arlo had said “dada” for the first time. To hear him tell the story, he’d collapsed on the front porch and sobbed while Arlo giggled and hugged him, repeating “dada” over and over again.
“Let’s get you a drink,dada,” Noah teased, getting a punch in the arm in response. Spencer gave Gavin’s shoulder another squeeze and joined the other two, leaving Graham behind.
“Are you okay?” his big brother asked, arms crossed over his suited form as he looked around the room.
“We slept together,” Gavin whispered, shoving his hands into his pockets as he took in the space as well. He could feel Graham’s eyes on him, but Gavin didn’t look at his brother. Because honestly, what could he even say?
The decorations were classy and subtle, yet everything popped so effortlessly against the cream walls of the room. Soft music filtered through the sound system and the lights were kept low, but bright enough that everyone could see where they were going and each other. Scattered around the ballroom were easels with the profiles that Ginny and Bronte had put together for the dogs that were up for adoption. A low platform had been set up at one end and round tables were placed in front of the stage.
“Wanna run that by me again?”
“We fucked. It was great, but now I also hate myself.”
Graham groaned and Gavin finally chanced a look at his brother to find him stroking his beard. “Every time I think you’re doing the smart thing, you go and do something stupid.”
“What? Sex isn’t stupid.”
His brother slapped a hand on Gavin’s shoulder and squeezed a little harder than was polite. “Why do you keep getting yourself into shit like this, baby brother?”
“Look,” he said, sighing heavily as he extracted himself from Graham’s grip. “We were annoying each other, I kissed her and I went to apologize, but she’s got me all twisted up.”
“I need a drink.” Graham released him with a frustrated sound and walked off. Gavin twisted his lips to the side and focused on the party just as people started walking up to shake his hand.
* * *
By the time he made it to the bar, Gavin was exhausted and he hadn’t even given his welcome speech. The number of people that had RSVP’d and replied to his personal invites was staggering. Gavin was blown away by the support this event was getting. He wanted people to genuinely care about these animals, he wanted to raise enough money to be able to keep the shelter running and expanding over the next few years. He wasn’t doing it just for the pats on the back. He ran his business the way he did because he genuinely cared about animals that no longer had homes.
His gaze swept through the ballroom, taking in the large numbers of people who’d come out to support the shelter and the fist around his lungs loosened its grip. And these weren’t just the rich and famous of Delaware. These were regular folk who wanted to give a dog or cat a home and Gavin appreciated them showing up.
Gavin smiled when he saw his parents, clinging to each other and clearly talking him and his brothers up. There was no one more proud of their kids than Juniper and Elijah Rhodes and Gavin was so grateful for them. He saw his brothers making their rounds too, all of them wearing their best formals and he chuckled as Bronte’s words filtered through his mind—“Not my fault that Papa and Mama Rhodes combined their genes and produced beautiful men.”
While the invites had specified a dress code, Gavin had instructed the staff manning the front desk not to turn people away if they weren’t wearing formals. This wasn’t an event meant for only those who could donate money, he wanted everyone to have a chance to show up. However, they weren’t letting in walk-ins, because the last time they did that those guests ate all the food and drank up all the alcohol too.
Gavin patted the pocket of his jacket to make sure he had his phone, smile firmly placed on his face. He’d traded in his Vans, shorts and tank for this all-black ensemble so he looked presentable. It was so rare to put in this much effort, but he was proud of himself for doing it despite the way his shoes pinched his toes. This was forhisshelter and Gavin wanted to show their guests that he was a professional, not just good at getting his hands dirty.
Which then brought Ginny back to the forefront of his mind.Look away, don’t acknowledge it.But it was too late, he already had the visual of her lying back on her bed, dark hair fanned over the light sheets with her legs spread open for him. He’d spent more time with his head between her thighs that night than with his dick inside her, and it had been so fucking worth it. Gavin licked his lips, like he might still be able to taste her on his mouth.
Sadly, that was not the case.
