Reaper's Wrath: A Last Riders Trilogy (Road to Salvation Book 2)

by Jamie Begley

He kinda has a point there, Ginny had to admit to herself.

  “If it doesn’t get as bad as I believe it will, I wouldn’t have made a mountain out of a molehill. Some outbreaks aren’t as lethal nor as contagious, depending on where the spread begins and in which climate. They’ve named it CP-20. It’s a type of blood-borne Pegivirus that affects the heart. It starts with a fever, then overtime your heart just stops. There’s no vaccine, and the highest risk is contracting it through blood; however, they are starting to think it could be transmitted through other bodily fluids. That’s why my discussion to Kaden was just a suggestion to stop performing before it reaches the States. You, on the other hand, I had no intention of letting you stay in Nashville any longer than necessary.”

  “Oh. She wasn’t crazy about the high-handed attitude he was taking with her, but she couldn’t deny the warm pit in her stomach that he had considered her welfare.

  “Do you really want to be by yourself if you get sick? Or unable to get to your brothers or to Willa if they do?”

  “No,” she acknowledged.

  Ginny still remembered when her appendix nearly burst at sixteen. Waking alone and frightened after going through emergency surgery wasn’t something she wanted to go through again.

  Gavin didn’t need to go on, and she couldn’t tell him the why she had to go back. If the outbreak was as bad as he thought it was going to be, there was another reason she had to go back other than her brothers and Willa—Trudy.

  Ginny let her shoulders slump, pretending to give in to his coercion. “We can go.” Ginny picked up the bag sitting on the table to throw it away. “You win. I’ll drive.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “What about your motorcycle?” Ginny asked as they approached her car, seeing the large motorcycle parked next to it.

  “Viper will have someone come and take care of it for me.”

  “Are you sure? I could follow behind you,” Ginny offered.

  Gavin continued to the other side of the car. “I’ll ride with you.”

  Clicking the door unlocked, they got inside.

  “Don’t you trust me? I’m going back to Treepoint with you. I won’t take off again.”

  “I’m too tired to ride.”

  Ginny watched as he settled back into the plush seat.

  “Do you need me to give you directions back to the interstate?”

  “No, go to sleep. I have GPS. I’ll wake you if I need to stop.”

  Shrugging out of his jacket, Gavin made a pillow of it to shove against the window to make himself more comfortable.

  Ginny felt terrible. He looked exhausted; dark circles under his eyes, and lines of exhaustion made him appear older.

  Starting the car, Ginny switched the radio from the blasting music to a soft piano concerto. She would be lucky if she didn’t fall asleep listening to it. The only reason she had it programmed into her stations was because she was writing a song with a piano background.

  Finding the interstate was easy, and it wasn’t long before she was making decent time. Every so often, she would check on Gavin. Thinking he was sleeping, she would find him staring out the window. After the fifth time, she slowed down, worried that he wasn’t able to sleep with her going so fast.

  “Are you having trouble getting to sleep?”

  Gavin jerked his head toward her.

  Puzzled at his reaction, she hastened to find out what the problem was. “Am I driving too fast? I can move into the slow lane.”

  “No, you’re fine. I’ve never been able to sleep when someone else is driving.”

  Ginny gave him a sharp look. “Then why did you say you were going to?”

  “I thought I’d give it another try.” He shrugged, sitting up in his seat.

  “Are you afraid you’ll wake up in Nevada?” she teased.

  “Is that where you were going?”

  “I guess you’ll never know.”

  “You’re not going to tell me?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “It does if you’re thinking about taking off again.”

  “Next time I do, I’ll make sure Viper is given the information so you won’t have to come after me.”

  “Why not just tell me yourself?”

  “We both know the only reason you came after me is because of Viper.”

  When Gavin didn’t contradict her, Ginny switched the music to pop. She didn’t need classical music with a harp crying in the background, when that was all she wanted to do. Every step she took toward Gavin, he never let her gain an inch.

  “How did you find me so fast?”

  “Three days isn’t fast. Fast would have been if I had managed to catch you before you hightailed it out of Nashville Marty told me you switched cars, and he gave me the license plate number. Couple of times I was sure I caught up with you, until I was close enough to read the plates. Knox put a BLO for your car. If you hadn’t been pulled over yesterday, my ass would be in New Mexico, which thanks to some fucker’s negligence you managed to slip past the BLO. Thanks for stopping for the pee break back there. If I had. to go another mile, I would have run out of gas and lost track of you until someone else spotted you.”

  Ginny held back her groan. She almost made it to where she had been going. No one would have been able to spot her once she got off the main roads. Oh well … She gave herself a mental shrug. No experience is ever wasted. Next time she needed to take off, she would make sure no one was the wiser about which vehicle she drove, and she’d definitely switch the routes to be more erratic if she was suckered into another speed trap.

  “What are you thinking about?”

  Ginny looked at him guiltily. “About Marty ratting me out.” Giving him the half-truth wasn’t so bad, she told herself. Ginny didn’t think he would appreciate the deviousness of her other thoughts.

  “I was surprised, too, especially since you gave him such an expensive gift to remember you by.”

  “You’re really good at being sarcastic, aren’t you?”

  “Am I?”

  “Yep.” Switching to a slow lane as a semi came barreling up behind her, Ginny waited until it was safe to resume talking. “You seem angry that I gave Marty a vacation, or am I wrong?”

  “I don’t give a fuck that you gave him the vacation, or that you gave those kids money, or you gave Kimmy your old car, or—”

  Ginny grimaced as Gavin’s voice grew louder as he listed her presents.

  “—you even gave Nickel a buy-one-bag, get-one-bag-free coupon for Dirty Dan’s.”

  Ginny reached for her soda cup to help her dry throat. Then she gingerly asked, “Are you angry I didn’t give you anything?”

  “I’m not mad!” he roared.

  Ginny set her cup back down, afraid she would spill it with her shaky hand. “I gave them something to remember me by. I didn’t plan on ever seeing them again.” Ginny noticed Gavin’s anger didn’t ease.

  “If, sooner or later, you planned to go back to Treepoint, then why give Nickel something?”

  “You know it was just a coupon, right?” Ginny tried to not to laugh at Gavin’s unreasonable anger.

  “Then why didn’t you give me the coupon?”

  “Because you hate Dirty Dan’s. Nickel doesn’t. He loves Marty.”

  A sarcastic snort from Gavin had her biting her bottom lip. If she wasn’t so angry at God, she would thank Him for the small sign He was giving her: Gavin wasn’t as indifferent to her as he pretended to be.

  “He doesn’t?”

  “He thinks Marty’s an asswipe, too. He just wants to get laid.”

  Confused, Ginny frowned at him. “Nickel’s gay?”

  “He wants to get laid by you!”

  “Do you have to yell so much? You’re going to burst my eardrums. Besides …,” she blithely went on, “Nickel hasn’t ever been anything other than a gentleman to me. I’m sure you’re wrong. Now, back to the coupon—”

  “Let’s not. I’m done talking about coupons and Nickel.”
/>   Ginny ignored his sarcasm. She was becoming used to it.

  “I have gone back to Treepoint several times and never saw Nickel. So, if I went back, it was iffy if I’d see him. That’s why I gave him the coupon. It was actually the only thing I had on me. I didn’t think he’d like me giving him money.”

  “Next time, give him money.”

  Ginny filed that information away then continued on as if he never said it. “I left the envelope with a letter explaining—”

  “I found it, read the letter. You know what it didn’t have? No coupon.”

  “Gavin, it didn’t have a coupon, or money, or a vacation package, or car keys to remind you of me. Do you want to know why?”

  “No,” he answered grumpily.

  Ginny kept her face forward so he couldn’t see her roll her eyes at him.

  “I was never going to let you forget about me.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “We’ll take one room with double beds.”

  Reaching inside her wallet for her credit card, Ginny held her card out, leaning over the green rope where she was supposed to remain. Gavin didn’t turn around to take it from her.

  Placing the card back in her wallet, she unconsciously started tapping her foot in irritation. He refused to let her pay for anything, even the fuel, despite her objections. She wanted to argue with him but didn’t, concern growing every hour they traveled at how exhausted Gavin was becoming.

  Taking the electronic key from the receptionist, he signed the credit card receipt, then gave it back.

  “Room 333. The elevator is around the corner to the left.”

  Ginny was already shaking her head before Gavin could step away from the desk. “Can you give us another room?” Raising her voice so the clerk could hear her, she ignored the hostile glance coming from Gavin. “One that doesn’t have so many threes?”

  “Oh, sure.” The clerk went to her computer, keyed another card in and gave it to Gavin.

  “Thank you,” Ginny spoke up again, unintentionally drawing attention from the line of people waiting to check in behind them.

  The older woman smiled, raising her voice back. “No problem. I’m a little superstitious myself. Room 732.”

  Gavin glared at her all the way back to her side.

  “What?”

  “Everyone in the lobby now knows which room we’re in.”

  “At least they won’t come looking for us in room 333.”

  Her attempt at humor fell short.

  “What was wrong with the first room?” he snapped at her.

  “Trouble comes in threes,” she quoted. She didn’t know from where, but she had heard it before.

  “Let’s go before I decide to keep on driving.”

  “Are you getting tired of my company?”

  When Gavin stared her down, she decided it was in her best interest to get busy.

  Taking the handle of her suitcase, Ginny rolled it through the lobby then made a left. Seeing the elevator ahead, she turned to make sure Gavin was following her.

  “What?” he snapped.

  “I was just making sure you were following me.”

  Gavin stabbed the elevator button with enough force that Ginny was surprised it didn’t pop out of the wall.

  “Has anyone ever told you that you’re a little cranky when you get tired?” she offered helpfully. A man should know how he was coming across, especially toward a woman. Even more so to the woman who was interested in him romantically. As a romantic hero, Gavin would have failed miserably. At least Nickel would have rolled my suitcase, she mentally criticized the man she loved.

  “No,” he snarled.

  Ginny rolled her suitcase onto the elevator before Gavin could enter, quickly pushing the seventh-floor button as soon the doors closed, afraid she would get stuck in there if he misused the elevator panel like he had outside.

  “Well, you are.” Ginny gave him an affirmative nod of her head. “Just so you know.”

  “Ginny, I promised myself I’d never hurt another woman, but you’re making it damn hard.”

  From Gavin’s ashen expression, he regretted not keeping his silence.

  Ginny almost pretended she hadn’t heard, but his tortured face made it impossible.

  “You would never willingly hurt anyone, Gavin.”

  “What you know about me couldn’t fit in a shot glass.”

  “I’ve been around men who hurt women, and you’d never willingly stoop that low.”

  “Like I said, you don’t know me.”

  Ginny let the subject drop when the elevator opened. Their room was just four steps away, so it was easy to find. She was glad, since Gavin looked ready to drop.

  Keying the door open, he held the door open for her to go inside before he did. Locking the door behind them, Ginny interestedly watched as he removed his belt, then folded it together several times before shoving it under the door.

  “That’s a nifty door stop,” Ginny complimented, rolling her suitcase farther into the room.

  Seeing she was about to lift her suitcase onto the first bed, Gavin stopped her. “Take the other bed. I want to sleep closer to the door.”

  “Gavin, if someone tries to come in, we’ll both hear them no matter which bed we’re sleeping in.”

  When he ran a hand through his hair, she plopped the suitcase onto the second bed.

  “You need to get some sleep,” she advised, as he began prowling around the room as if there was someone hiding under the beds.

  “I will. I want to watch the news first.”

  “Go for it,” Ginny said, unzipping her suitcase. “I’m going to take a shower.”

  Carrying her clothes, Ginny went inside the bathroom. Shutting the door, it took her a few minutes to take her clothes off, imagining Gavin on the other side of the thin wall between them.

  Ginny laughed at herself for being nervous to get undressed. Gavin had not so much as given any hint that he saw her as a woman. She had practically begged him for compliments a couple times, but she might have been wearing jeans and her favorite sloppy sweater.

  Turning on the shower, she washed off, managing to avoid getting her hair wet. She had washed it late last night, and she didn’t want to disturb Gavin if he had fallen asleep by running the blow dryer.

  She slipped into a grey night shirt and pajama bottoms, and tied her housecoat closed after brushing her teeth, then tiptoed out of the bathroom to find Gavin leaning back on his bed. His only attempt to make himself more comfortable was to take his boots off.

  “The shower is yours,” she said, sitting down on the side of her bed facing Gavin, as she started to listen to the international news he was watching. The more she listened, the more afraid she became.

  “Are we going to be all right?”

  “We will be when we get to Treepoint.”

  Watching the news coverage wasn’t as frightening as Gavin’s grim visage.

  “I meant everyone, not just us.”

  “Time will tell. Go to sleep. Worrying about it tonight won’t make it better tomorrow. People have been living through pandemics since time began. We’ll survive this one too.”

  Ginny had to swallow her fear down. If anything happened to any of her brothers, Trudy, or Willa, she didn’t know if she could bear a loss like that again.

  “Ginny ….”

  Taking her eyes off the television, he gave her a reassuring look. “It’s going to be all right. Get some sleep. I want to try to drive through tomorrow without stopping for the night.”

  “Okay. Good night.”

  Taking her housecoat off, she slipped under the covers, expecting Gavin to turn the lights and television off.

  “Aren’t you going to sleep?” she asked.

  “I will in a few minutes. I want to finish watching this special report.” Leaning to his side, he turned the light off, then lowered the volume on the television.

  Rolling onto her side, she closed her eyes. After driving for so many hours, she fell
asleep after a few fitful turns.

  In the middle of the night, her full bladder woke her from a dead sleep. Sitting up in bed, she turned to the side to get up and saw Gavin was still awake. The digital clock on the nightstand between their beds showed it was two in the morning. She had fallen asleep at ten.

  “You haven’t gone to sleep yet?”

  “I’ve been texting Viper. I’m waiting for Shade to call.”

  “He’s probable asleep, and so should you be. You’re exhausted, Gavin.”

  “No, I’m not. I don’t need much sleep.”

  “Keep telling yourself that. Meanwhile, the circles under your eyes look like someone sucker-punched you.”

  Throwing her covers off, Ginny stomped into the bathroom. Relieving her bladder and washing her hands, she came out, prepared to give him hell, only to find he had dozed off, his exhaustion finally winning. She silently took the TV remote and muted the television, afraid if she turned it off, the sudden darkness would wake him.

  Lying back down on her bed, she lay on her side, watching him sleep sitting up. She waited for thirty minutes until she was sure he had fallen into a deep sleep before noiselessly getting out of bed to go to the foot of his.

  Gently taking the hem of his jeans, she pulled the legs down until he was sprawled out on the bed. Moving to the head of the bed, she gently placed a pillow under him.

  The lines of exhaustion on his face tugged at her heart. Unable to resist, she traced her fingertips over his upper lip before jerking back when he rolled to the side.

  Getting back in her bed, Ginny watched him until she started dozing off.

  Waking with a start at the noise coming from Gavin’s bed, she worriedly sat up, seeing him thrashing on his bed, the pillow she placed under his head laying on the floor. Carefully getting up, she moved closer to the bed, unsure whether to wake him from the bad dream or not. He needed sleep ….

  Gingerly sitting down on the edge of his bed next to his hip, she placed a gentle hand on his chest when he gave a heartbreaking groan. “Shh … You’re okay … I’m here,” she crooned softly.

  At her touch, Gavin expelled a deep breath, then started to breathe easier. Ginny sat there until she thought he had fallen into a deep sleep again. Slowly removing her hand, she started to rise, but she didn’t even make it off the bed before he was twisting and turning again, nearly knocking her off the bed. Putting her hand back on his chest, she started talking to him again.