Becoming more familiar with the island, it wasn’t long before they were back at the main village. Going through the middle, Ginny showed him a small trail that was only a foot wide; it led them right into the middle of a steep jungle.
“Are you sure you want to go this way?” Reaper used the bottom of his T-shirt to wipe his forehead and face.
“I think so.” Her excitement was bubbling over as they climbed steadily higher, only her memories guiding her way. “Oh yes, it is. We came this way every morning, Trudy used to carry me until I became too heavy. I vaguely remember it; she loved to talk about some of the things we did when Hammer finally let us talk together again. I guess I remember more than I thought.”
By the time he heard the sound of running water, his shirt was clinging to his back.
“You’re going to love this,” she promised, trying to tug out of the grip he had on her hand like a recalcitrant child. “Come on; you can rest when we get there.”
“Why aren’t you sweating? It’s hot as fuck here.”
“I don’t know. I guess I don’t have the right jeans on.” She laughed, tugging on the leg of her thin crop pants. “You should have worn thinner clothing.”
“I’m getting ripped to shreds like it is. How come you’re not?”
“You’re taking the worst of it for me. You want me to go first?”
“No, but it would help if you would slow your roll down.”
“Fine. You don’t have to be so pissy.” She snorted, rolling her eyes at him.
They resumed walking and he continued to clear sections for them to step through. Finally reaching a hidden plateau, Reaper untangled a small grouping of palms, uncovering the amazing beauty of a waterfall. The spectacular height of the narrow waterfall towering above them was another surprise that was hidden from the outside.
Ginny squealed with happiness. “Isn’t it wonderful? Let’s go swimming!” Ginny was already removing her clothes.
Reaper tried to pull her shirt back down, only to find himself grasping for air when she slipped out of his hands like a fucking eel.
“You’re not going swimming naked,” Reaper burst out. He didn’t trust that Allerton wouldn’t send the boat back for them early, and the captain would search for them when they weren’t on the beach.
Ginny tossed him her shirt, showing the white swimsuit underneath.
“You could have suggested that I wear mine.”
“I thought it was obvious we would go swimming somewhere on the island. Quit being a fuddy-duddy and just leave your underwear on. You can let them dry out before putting your clothes back on,” she chirped, toeing out of her shoes.
“Is that what you did when you were a kid?”
“No, we all just swam naked. Most of the children went naked here because of the heat. If we did wear clothes, it was a thin nappy or a pair of shorts.”
“Your parents let you run around the island half-naked?”
“Of course not.” Ginny scrunched her face at him.
“At least that’s one thing I can give your mom credit for,” he murmured just to himself.
“I ran around like the ones my age—naked as a jaybird. My mother tried to keep shorts on me, but I would take them off as soon as she put them on,” she bragged. Then, going to the large pool, Ginny raised her face to catch the spray of falling water.
Reaper was still taking his jeans off when Ginny jumped into the pool of water, swimming toward the middle. He slowly tried to walk into the pool, only to find it was too deep and he had start swimming to keep his head above the water.
“You swam here when you were three?”
“Mmmhmm …” Laying on her back, Ginny did back strokes toward him. Then she straightened to tread water next to him. “This is my happy place. Whenever I wanted to run away from Lisa and Dalt, I would come here in my mind and everything would be okay again.” Drifting closer to him, she wound her arms around his shoulders as she wrapped her legs around his waist, trusting him to keep them afloat. “Do you have a happy place, Gavin?”
“No.”
“Then you do now. I don’t mind sharing it with you.” She laid her head on his shoulder as they idly drifted around.
“You missed this island, didn’t you?”
“So badly … sometimes I just wanted to scream. I’ve told you a little lie. I might as well tell you now.”
From the whispered, laughing way she made the admission, he could tell the confession wasn’t anything to be concerned about.
“What is it?” He placed his hand on her bottom to keep her from drifting away.
“I didn’t give you all the parts of my soul. Clindale has a small part and always will.” Raising her hand, she used her thumb to press on the nail bed of her pinkie. “So itty bitty that you won’t even miss it.” Ginny gave a small, heartfelt sigh. “Can we stay here forever? I don’t want to leave.”
“You would miss your brothers, Willa, and T.A. too badly.”
She didn’t argue back. “Who would you miss?”
“Viper.”
“Aw … I knew it. You do love your big brother.”
“If you tell him, I’ll deny it.”
“Mums the word.”
Suddenly, she raised her head, pretended to zip her mouth shut, and then threw away the key before she wiggled out of his arms to climb out of the basin. Reaper lazily lay back to float when he saw her start climbing the rocks on the side of the waterfall. Loose stones fell down as she climbed higher.
“Ginny … get your ass back down here!” he bellowed out, frantically swimming to where he could climb out.
He braced his arms, leveraging his body out of the pool, then took off at a run as she went up the rocky incline like quicksilver.
“Wait for me. I’ll help you back down!” he yelled, reaching the bottom of the incline, then hesitating when she slipped from his eyesight. “Ginny!”
She came into view at the edge of waterfall.
His heart stopped midbeat as Ginny jumped off the high waterfall, plunging down at a breakneck speed. He watched her fall as if in slow motion as she hit the water in the basin below. He took a halting step forward, his heart still unable to beat in terrorizing fear she was hurt… until her head popped up and her laughter filled the air.
“Evangeline …,” Uncaring his voice sounded as though it went through a cheese grater, he continued, “come here.”
“Uh … no. I don’t like the way you’re looking at me.” Ginny started backstroking farther away from where he was standing.
“How many of your brothers did Freddy have to make watch you to keep you from getting your ass killed?”
“I’m not gonna tell you.” Ginny quit swimming long enough to stick her tongue out at him, then went back to swimming. “I don’t like your tone of voice,” she said haughtily.
Reaper went to the pool, diving into the water to swim under the surface. Ginny swam like a fucking seal to the other side to get away from him.
Doing a sidestroke, Reaper tried to block her escape by getting in front of her, only to feel the strong kick of her foot when she did a fucking flip, turning to go in the other direction. He cursed at finding another little detail that Shade and Rider had neglected to tell him—Ginny was an expert swimmer.