“I haven’t been called a gentleman in more years than I can count.” Gavin put on the blinker to turn into her driveway.
After parking the car, he shut the car off and turned to face her. “Thank you. I enjoyed dancing with you, right up until the part I made an ass of myself.”
She removed her hand from the door handle.
“You’re really sweet when you want to be. Can you hold onto that sweetness for a couple of seconds? Do me a favor and close your eyes.”
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
Gavin closed his eyes. Ginny pressed a fleeting kiss on his lips.
“You’re welcome.” Pulling back she got out of the car while he was still trying to regroup. Leaning in the window she broke the news to him with the safety of the car door between them.
“By the way, I was meeting Marty at the bar. He bought the diner, and he wanted to have a taste for who made the best burger in town and who would be his biggest competition.”
“Marty bought the diner?” he growled.
“Look on the bright side, how often do you eat at the diner?” Ginny took off with a squeal of fright when Gavin jerked himself out of the car. Laughter trailing behind her as she headed for the porch.
Running full tilt to reach the front door first, Ginny pulled on the door knob only to find it locked. Warily she looked over her shoulder to see a satisfied Gavin standing on the bottom of the steps jiggling the house keys in his hand.
“Wow, how the tables have turned.”
Saucily strolling toward the end of the porch, she gave him a plaintive pout.
“How was I supposed to talk him out of buying the diner? He said I was like the daughter he never had, and he missed me.”
“What happened to his business in Nashville?”
“The tornado wiped it out, and the only thing he was able to salvage was his grill. Marty said he wouldn’t have managed to save that except a little birdy warned him to sell before the epidemic hit, and he put the grill in his house and bought a new one for the restaurant. Crazy how it worked out, wouldn’t you say?” Holding back her laughter, she knew Gavin had been the one who warned Marty to get out of restaurant business with the outbreak beginning to spread.
“The only thing I can say,” he said wincing as he handed the house key over to her, “is no good deed goes unpunished.”
Chapter Fifty-Five
Ginny was carrying her laundry basket out the front door when a motorcycle pulled up the driveway. Staying on the porch to keep her distance, she waited for Viper to get off his bike and remove his helmet.
“Is Reaper around?”
Ginny pointed toward to the outbuilding nearby. “He’s at Matthew and Isaac’s forge.”
“Mind if I go talk to him?”
Ginny’s heart went out to Viper. The last two weeks had to have been hard on him. That awful day still had her shaken at how close they had come to losing Gavin.
In a million years, Ginny would never forget the fear she had gone through waiting for Silas to come back. Every moment she had been in agony that Silas wouldn’t reach him in time, or that he wouldn’t be able to convince Gavin not to end his life.
Ginny gave Viper an encouraging smile. “Go ahead. I think he’d like to see you.”
Her heart broke at the twisted look of pain transforming Viper’s arrogant features at her words.
“It’d be the first in a long time.” His expression was strained, as if he didn’t believe her assurances. Then Viper started toward the building with slow steps, as if dreading what he would find. His faltering steps halted as he turned toward her infinitesimally.
Smiling, she came off the porch, going to the clothesline. “He’s doing well, Viper. Go see.”
“I’m afraid I’ll say the wrong thing.”
“Say anything you want. There’s no right or wrong way to talk to him. Just treat him the same way you do Shade and Rider.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“I want to make sure he’s doing well. Then I want to rip him apart for taking twenty years off my life.”
Ginny understood the mixed emotions of grief and anger. She had lived through that terrible evening with the same ones tearing her apart.
“He wasn’t even going to tell me good-bye,” Viper continued. “Reaper planned all along to take his life when he found Slate. He even bought each of the brothers a good-bye gift!”
Ginny winced.
Viper gave her a grim smile. “Yeah, the brothers want to return the favor by kicking his ass.”
Ginny bit her lip, trying not to laugh. She could imagine how a few of The Last Riders would react. No gift would replace Gavin or make them feel them better if he had succeeded.
“I bet,” she remarked only.
“He left me jack shit.”
Uh-oh … Ginny saw what was coming.
“He gave Rider and Shade fucking Rolexes. You know what he left me? His last will and testament!”
Ginny didn’t have to ask what he had done with it. Trudy had called her after Killyama phoned her. Killyama said Viper had lost it and had gone through a rampage through the club after tearing the will to shreds. The Last Riders were still finding pieces of the paper that had been flung everywhere.
“Viper, deep down, I don’t think Gavin would have been able to take his life. That’s why he didn’t have a gift for you … Buying one for you would have been his final good-bye.”
Viper remained unconvinced. “He didn’t even care how bad it would have hurt me if he succeeded.”
“Gavin felt as if you and The Last Riders were better off without him. He was trying to spare you from more pain, not cause you more.”
“How do you know?”
“Gavin told Silas when I asked him the same thing.”
“Thank God for Silas.”
Ginny repeated the sentiment to herself.
“He’s been calling me to give me updates on Reaper. I wanted to come that night, but he told me to wait.”
“You were tired of waiting?”
“I couldn’t wait any longer. Silas around, by the way? I want to thank him.”
“He and my other brothers went out for the day. They drove to Louisville to pick up some brass. They’re making a day of it to keep Fynn from feeling so isolated. They’re going to hit a drive-thru before going to a drive-in.”
“The drive-in is a good idea. We should organize a day for the kids at our place. They’re going stir-crazy. Chance and Noah are driving Razer bonkers.”
“I can imagine.” Ginny laughed. “They were constantly in trouble when I worked there. I can’t imagine what turmoil they’re getting into with school being out so long.”
“Put it this way; Lily was suffering with morning sickness yesterday when she was letting the boys finger-paint. When she came back, they were covered in paint. They told her it was the tattoos they were going to get when they’re older.”
“I miss seeing them. I made some more jelly for Lily and Beth. I’ll set them on top of your seat, if you don’t mind taking them for me?” she asked.
“I don’t mind playing messenger, if you send an extra jar for the club. We’re out since Reaper confiscated the last jar and took it to his room.”