by Jamie Begley
Turning the dim nightlight on beside the bed, she turned the covers down, messing the bed up. Putting her hands on her hips, she glanced around the room, satisfied.
She wheeled her suitcase to the connecting door, opened it, and went into the empty room, locking the door.
She looked at the television facing the two beds. “Who’s winning?” she asked the two men who were each sitting on the beds.
“It’s tied,” Hammer told her, reaching for a handful of popcorn from the bag sitting on his lap.
“How was the drive?” Jonas asked, eating from his own bag.
“Fine.” Walking to the other connecting door, she reached out and opened it. “Don’t forget to put the safety lock on the door before you go to sleep,” she reminded them. “Night, guys.”
“Night.”
Ginny was greeted to the sounds of squeals as five women jumped from the bed to take turns hugging her.
“I brought my scissors. Your hair is a mess.”
“My hair is fine, Sex Piston. I’m trying to let it grow out.” Seeing her disappointment, Ginny caved. “You can trim the ends.”
“Girl, when you going to stuff your bra the way I told you to? Those puppies on you aren’t going to get you laid.” Ginny smacked Crazy Bitch’s hands away from her breasts.
Giving Fat Louise a kiss on the cheek and a hug as she patted her baby bump, she then turned to Killyama.
“Don’t even think about it.”
Ginny gave her a mischievous look and did it anyway. Killyama stood stiffly as she received her hug and peck on the cheek. At least she didn’t beat the hell out of her. Giving her friends the chance to say hi first, T.A. stepped forward, holding her arms open. Ginny threw her arms around her, hugging her back.
“I missed you.”
“I missed you more,” Ginny whispered back. “Trudy, your hair looks amazing.”
“She looks hot, doesn’t she?” Sex Piston bragged.
“We’re missing the game,” Killyama said, going back on the bed and taking a slice of pizza from one of the gigantic boxes sitting in the middle. The hotel room had two queen-sized beds and a couch. There were pizza boxes on each of them and several bottles of tequila sitting around the room.
“Kentucky is losing.”
“They’ll catch up,” Ginny said as she and T.A. held hands and sat on the edge of the bed.
Giving them writhing glances, Ginny took her shoes off, then climbed onto the bed. “You guys started without me?”
“Bitch, tequila waits for no woman.”
Ginny nabbed two chicken wings and two pieces of pizza, putting them on her paper plate. “Who was suckered into buying this time?” Ginny leaned sideways to grab one of the tequila bottles just out of Killyama’s reach.
“We all bought our own.” T.A. snatched another bottle away from Killyama’s reach.
“Since when? Not one of you bitches have paid me back.”
“I told you I’d pay you back when I find an ATM,” Trudy said, trying to sneak another one away from Killyama.
“You don’t even have an ATM card.” Killyama snorted in disbelief.
“Yes, I do.”
“Then let me see it,” Killyama said, calling her bluff.
“I left it at home. Come on, let me have one of the bottles.” Her sister gave a pout that made Fat Louise proud, sneakily trying to reach for the bottle again.
“Don’t make me take out my taser. I’ll let you have one when we get home,” she said snidely.
“Be nice, Killyama. Let her have it,” Ginny said, opening her own bottle to take a drink.
“Why should I?”
“Being nice has its own rewards,” she said piously.
“Who in the hell told you that shit?” Sex Piston angrily pointed a slice of pizza at her.
“Pastor Dean.”
All in the hotel room started cracking up.
“That’s convenient.” Wiping a tear of laughter away, Crazy Bitch continued a game of tug-of-war over the tequila bottle with Trudy.
Ginny settled herself comfortably on the bed next to her sister, sitting cross-legged and propping the tequila bottle on the inside of her thigh. Taking a bite of her pizza, she gazed lovingly at the women gathered around her.
“I heard you had fun at your graduation party, Crazy Bitch.”
The women stopped laughing and drinking.
Ginny swallowed her bite of pizza around the lump in her throat. It wouldn’t be first or the last milestone she had missed since being reunited with Trudy. Ginny had to constantly remind herself that it was yet another price she had to pay for her actions when she had been too young to understand some ramifications were lifelong.
“Willa told me that thumb trick worked like a charm on Jenna.” Ginny gave a small laugh, trying to lighten the atmosphere.
“Didn’t work as well as biting a motherfucker’s lip off, but you have to work with what’s available.”
“Yes, you do.” Ginny took another drink of her tequila, trying to wash the memories of Carter Dawkins away.
“How are you liking working for The Last Riders?” Sex Piston astutely changed the subject.
“I love it. It’s less work than the diner and I get to work with Willa most of the time.”
“She make some more off those bourbon cupcakes? Crazy Bitch and Killyama both swear they were ninety proof.”
“More like a hundred.” Ginny informed them, thinking of the innocent woman’s reaction when she had suggested that she should buy a lower-proof bottle or a flavored extract after two more batches had failed. Crazy Bitch, Trudy, and Killyama had reaped the rewards from the failures. Fat Louise was pregnant, and Sex Piston was breastfeeding and had complained about having to miss out on the cupcakes that Ginny had renamed from drunken to obliterate.
“You like her a lot, don’t you?”
Ginny heard the faint tinge of jealously in her sister’s voice.
“It makes it easier when we have to go long periods without seeing each other.”
Trudy reached out, placing a hand on her knee. “At least it’s better since we’ve become friends with Beth. Hammer nearly killed us when he found out about the stunt we pulled at the gas station, becoming friends with her. He still gives us hell about it.”
“He was only letting you meet a couple of times a year. I told him I was tired of my bitch missing her baby sister.” Sex Piston shrugged. “It works a hell of a lot better this way. You get to see each other more, and we can keep track of what’s going on with each other. Plus”—her expression softened—“I was able to add another bitch to my arsenal.”
Ginny knew the women had grown close to Beth. While Trudy was jealous of Willa, truthfully, Ginny felt the same toward Beth. She had the relationship Ginny wanted and was able to share those momentous occasions that Ginny had missed—weddings, births, graduation ceremonies—and would never get a chance at. The time she was able to spend with them was always too brief and spent joking around, like when they would meet at one of the dirt roads on the way to Jamestown to pass things off to each other like the cupcakes or when Hammer organized a night for them to spend together within the safety of Jonas and his presence.
Ginny took another drink of her tequila, letting the burn dry the tears she wanted to shed each time she missed a memory with her sister, like a precious stone that was given to someone else.
“How’s Lucky enjoying being pastor at the church again?” This time it was Trudy who initiated the change in conversation.
“From how happy Willa looks when she comes in to work in the morning, it’s working out for them.”
“How’s her shoulder?”
“She says it’s fine. I’m still careful making sure she doesn’t lift anything too heavy.”
The group burst into laughter when Fat Louise almost toppled off the bed after Trudy tried to do a sneak attack to get her bottle away from Killyama.
“Give her the bottle. I’ll lend her the money.”
“I�
��ll pay you back, Ginny. I promise.” Her sister winked at her. Money went through her sister’s hands like water. If someone needed money more than she did, Trudy had an open heart and wallet.
“Yeah … when Hell freezes over.” Killyama started to hand the bottle to Trudy, then stopped, pulling it back to tuck it under her armpit. “I’ll give it to her for free if you do a little reconnaissance mission for me.”
Ginny raised her eyebrows at Killyama. “What do you want me to find out.”
“Ask one of those Last Rider bitches how low Shade’s tats go.”
Tracing the lip of her bottle, she gave her a steady stare. “I’ll find out for you, if you take on a mission for me.”
Killyama’s interest piqued, she leaned forward eagerly. “What you want me to find out?”
“How Willa’s shoulder was really hurt.”
“Little B, you’ve got a fucking deal.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Do you ever get jealous of Beth and Lily?” Laying her head on Trudy’s shoulder, Ginny stared up at the ceiling.
“Sometimes.” Trudy kept her voice just as low as the other women were sprawled out on the two beds.
“Willa offered to co-sign for me to buy her house. We’re almost there, Trudy. We’ll have a home to call our own.”
“Bliss might have something to say about that.”
“She’s had it rough. I like her a lot.”
“Baby sister, you like everyone a lot.”
“We’re almost there.”
“Evangeline ….”
“I told you not to call me that anymore.”
“Ginny, a home isn’t everything.”
“It’s everything to me. You belong when you own a home. If you want to move, it’s because you want to move, or you can’t afford it. You have the power to stay or go. It doesn’t matter what someone else wants you to do.”
“You belong.”
“No, I don’t. But I will,” she vowed.
“You really like working for The Last Riders? You sure it’s not too much?”
“It’s not. They share the work. Even the guys do as much as the women. The only trouble I had is when I accidently moved Reaper’s jacket.”
“Reaper?”
“Viper’s brother. I didn’t know he lost his brother.”
“He was the one who disappeared in Treepoint when you first went to live with the Wests.”
“That was Viper’s brother?”
“Yes.”
Ginny continued to stare up at the ceiling. “It has to be hard on the others in the club, as well. They all seem close to me.”
“Closer than you think.”
Ginny turned to stare at her sister. “What does that mean?”
“It means, stay downstairs like Willa told you to.” Trudy rolled to her side, displacing her head to raise onto her elbow so she could look down at Ginny. “Don’t get interested in the men in the club.”
“I won’t.”
“I mean it, Evangeline. They don’t have relationships like most people do.”
“I told you I won’t. Don’t worry.”
“It would be hard not to; you’re around them a lot. They have a lot of hot going on there.”
Ginny shoved a pillow under her head. “You think some of The Last Riders are hot?”
“I’d give out to a couple of them … or four.”
“Which ones?”
“Rider. Come on, tell me there has to be one that gets a one or two looks from you. All those tats and hard bodies … Tell me which one?”
Ginny considered the men she’d come into contact with, including those who weren’t The Last Riders and drew a blank.
“Do you believe in soul mates?” she asked her sister, hearing Fat Louise snoring on the other bed.
“Soul mates? You mean someone who’s meant just for you?”
Ginny knew she sounded ridiculous. “Kind of. Someone not only meant for you, but they’re the reason you were created.”
“If there is, I’m in trouble,” Trudy joked.
Ginny turned her head on the pillow. “I do, and I think he’s dead.”
Trudy’s smile disappeared at Ginny’s seriousness. “Evangeline, you’re just over-romanticizing love.”
“He’s dead, Trudy. I feel it. I don’t feel anything toward men that I should feel. I’ve always felt different. When other girls talk about guys, even when you do, I don’t feel anything. I just feel sad.”
“Maybe there’s another reason that you don’t feel that way. Could it be possible that your soul mate isn’t a man?”
“I thought of that, but no. I just know it felt as if he was out there waiting for me to find him. Then … nothing. I think he was in a car crash or something, but that wasn’t meant to happen to him. I think some people have lost their soul mates, and that’s why they can’t be happy with who they’re with.” Ginny gave a soft, self-depreciating laugh. “You don’t have to tell me. You think I’m crazy, don’t you?”
“I don’t think you’re crazy. If you believe in soul mates, then I do.”
“I’m probably wrong—”
“I don’t think you’re wrong. Stud is my soul mate. There isn’t another man on earth who would put up with me,” Sex Piston said from her other side.
“I know who mine is, but the fucker doesn’t realize it yet,” Killyama said from the other bed.
“You all are full of shit. There’s no such thing. Listen up, cupcake, there are only two things you need to know—there’s good sex, and there’s bad sex. If you have good sex, then you’re golden. Don’t worry about that other shit.” Crazy Bitch tilted her bottle to her lips after she finished giving her opinion.
“How about the third alternative?”
Ginny could tell that Trudy was trying not to crack up.
“What’s that?” Crazy Bitch took the bait.
“Really bad sex, which is what you usually have,” Killyama said roasting Crazy Bitch’s sex life.
Crazy Bitch didn’t argue on that point. “Three things, then.”
“Cade is mine,” Fat Louise mumbled.
“There’s no such thing. Now roll over; you’re hogging my part of the bed. And Killyama having a soul mate is the biggest crock of all. I’ll kiss her ass if she has one.”
“Pucker up, bitch, because I do—”
The connecting door flung open, and Hammer’s body was silhouetted in the darkness. “Shut the fuck up before Jonas and I blow our fucking brains out!” he snarled.
“You should ask him. He’s a man; get his opinion,” Trudy egged her on.
Ginny decided to take her sister’s advice. “Hammer, is there—”
The slamming door was the only answer she received.
“He’s an asshole when he’s tired.” She found that out when she was three years old.
Trudy covered her mouth to keep from laughing.
Killyama snorted. “He an asshole when he’s wide awake.”
“Maybe you should go ask Jonas,” Trudy egged her on again between giggles.
“Trudy …” Ginny rose straight up in bed. “Do you hear that?”
Her sister’s protective instincts had her hastily rising next to her. “No, I—”
Ginny whacked her with a pillow before she could dodge it, but before she pulled it back, Trudy jerked it out of her hand and whacked her back.
“What the fuck …?” Sex Piston snarled. “Give me that fucking thing.”
“Get her, Sex Piston!” Crazy Bitch yelled. “Show her who’s boss—”
The sound of the connecting door being flung open had all the women dropping like stones to the mattresses, unmoving. When Hammer turned the lights on, everyone pretended to be asleep.
“I hear one more squeak from this room, I’m going to make Ginny go sleep in the other room,” he growled. “Not one … more … sound!” Turning the light off, Hammer slammed the door behind him.
“He has issues,” Killyama excused, loyally trying to defend him.
“Yeah …” Ginny smothered her laughter with the pillow, afraid he would come back. “He doesn’t have a soul mate.”
“They’re gone. Wait an hour, then you can leave.”
“Okay. Wait. I need a favor,” Ginny said before he could leave.
Hammer pushed off the connecting doorway, coming farther into the hotel room. “What is it?”
“I want you and Jonas to find me something that I can use against the Wests. They shouldn’t be foster parents.”
Hammer stiffened. “I wouldn’t have put you in a home where you could have been hurt. Neither would Will.”
“I told you that I don’t want to talk about what happened after I had to leave the Coleman’s.” Despite saying she didn’t want to talk about it, she couldn’t resist adding a hurtful reproach. “You or Will could have fixed it for me to stay if you wanted to.”
His lips tightened in a grim line. “It wasn’t up to us.”
“Who was it up to, then?” she snapped. The hurt at leaving the Colemans was just as strong today as it had been when it happened.
“Silas.”
Ginny turned her cheek away as if she had been smacked. “Can you do it or not?” Pushing her hurt feelings aside, it was too late to make a difference in her life but the information could help another. She hated to play dirty, but for another little girl, she would.
“I’ll see what I can do. What are you going to do with the information once you have it?”
Ginny was aware she couldn’t show a connection to Hammer, but there was one person who she trusted wholeheartedly who would do the right thing.
“Give it to Pastor Dean.”
“How’s the game going?” Ginny grimaced as she took a seat on the bleachers as a middle-schooler took a shot at the basketball net, missing it and letting the opposing team take control of the ball.
The man coldly turned his head at her question, taking her in, then dismissing her. Ginny didn’t hold his rebuff against him; she had heard which physical assets attracted Bridge, and her double AAs were nowhere in the vicinity of the size of Willa’s, which he had insultingly remarked on to hurt her kindhearted boss. The coldness Lucky’s former military friend displayed toward Ginny paled in comparison to how he had behaved toward Willa. Treating her to crude insults was nothing compared to the damage he’d caused Willa when he’d injured her shoulder.