Gavin's Song: A Last Rider's Trilogy (Road to Salvation Book 1)

by Jamie Begley

  “Depends which team you’re rooting for.”

  “Which one are you rooting for?” she asked as she watched the gangly boys run on the gym floor.

  “Neither.”

  Tilting her head to the side, she looked away from the game. “Then why are you here?”

  “None of your fucking business. There’s a whole gymnasium of other seats, find one.”

  “I wondered if you were just rude to Willa because she is married to Lucky.” Ginny laid her purse casually down next to him, feeling Bridge direct his flinty gaze at her instead of the game. “Thanks for answering that question for me.”

  “Who the fuck are you?”

  “A friend of Willa’s.”

  “Lucky send you?”

  “You know Lucky better than that, or you should since you’ve made it your life’s mission to kill the woman he loves.”

  “Let me guess; you’re wired, so I’ll incriminate myself.”

  “No. Sadly, Willa doesn’t want you in jail. That’s why she didn’t press charges against you. Why haven’t you taken Lucky’s advice and leave town?”

  “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Or not until you’ve managed to make Lucky pay for your brother’s death, which we both know he wasn’t responsible for.”

  “Shade sent you, didn’t he?”

  Ginny shook her head. “No. I told you, I’m a friend of Willa’s. Technically, she’s really my boss, but she’s more of a friend than a boss.”

  “Like I give a fuck?” Bridge reached out, placing his hand on her thigh. “Is this to put me off my guard and give Shade a chance to take me out?”

  “No. I came here to offer you this.” Ginny reached inside her purse to take out a card, she then gave it to Bridge. “I’ve arranged for you to receive counseling to help you deal with your brother’s death. The sessions are already paid for ….”

  Bridge flipped the card away, sending it falling to the bleachers below.

  Ginny stared at it dispassionately. “You don’t want to hurt Lucky because of your brother, it’s because he’s everything you’re not.”

  She didn’t flinch at the fury darkening his features.

  “Piss off. If I don’t listen to Lucky’s fake sermons, then I fucking don’t want to listen to one coming from another whore of the Last Rider’s.”

  Taking her purse, Ginny stood up to leave. “I feel sorry for you,” she said sincerely.

  “Don’t feel sorry for me.” He sneered at her contemptuously.

  “Fine. Then I won’t.” Making her way down the bleachers, she went out of the gym to the parking lot, where she climbed in the front seat of a black SUV.

  “I can tell from your face that he didn’t take you up on the counseling sessions.”

  “Do you ever get tired of being right, Hammer?”

  “No.”

  Ginny had known it would be a futile endeavor to try to talk some sense into Bridge, but she had wanted to give him a chance. When Killyama told her about how Willa’s shoulder had been hurt, she’d been terrified at how close she had come to losing her friend.

  Bridge had lured her to the side of a cliff and where he’d held a girl at gun point. She’d once been Willa’s a foster child. He’d threatened her life if Willa refused to jump off the cliff. Willa would have, but the girl bit Bridge. In the scuffle of knocking her off him, she fell off the cliff. Willa caught her in time, but sent them spiraling down the side. If Lucky hadn’t hired a private bodyguard for her, they both would have died. She’d been very fortunate to only have sustained a shoulder injury.

  “You sure you want me to do this?”

  Ginny stared out the windshield at the school where Bridge was sitting inside, still not giving a damn that he nearly caused two deaths. Willa was a sitting duck against a man like Bridge. Her gentleness and caring would make her an easy target. Pastor Dean knew that as well as she did. Bridge’s life was on borrowed time, and Ginny owed Pastor Dean too much to let him live the rest of his life with a former friend’s death on his conscience.

  “I’m sure.”

  At her assurance, Hammer pressed the button on the side of his radio. “It’s a go.”

  They watched when the crowd began leaving the gym. Ginny spotted Bridge when he came outside, walking toward his motorcycle. Just as she put his leg over the seat, several men sprang from the nearby cars.

  He was handcuffed and stuffed into the back of one of the cars. It was over in less than sixty seconds.

  “He’s not going to appreciate being called back on active duty,” Hammer remarked.

  “Where will you send him?”

  “I haven’t decided. If he ever gets his head back on straight, I want him on my team. Before his brother’s death and this need for vengeance, he used to be a hell of an officer.”

  “You’ll get him the help he needs?”

  “Yes,” he assured her. “On another note, I couldn’t find anything on the Wests—just like Will and I told you. They keep a pretty clean reputation.”

  “Thank you for trying. If you don’t mind driving me to my car, I have an early day tomorrow.”

  Hammer started the SUV, then drove them the thirty-minutes back to her car without any idle conversations, both lost in their own thoughts.

  When he pulled his vehicle alongside hers, which she’d parked on a dark road out of sight and sound range, she grabbed the door handle.

  “Kid?” His quiet voice stopped her from getting out. “Stay out of trouble.”

  Ginny turned to look at him from over her shoulder, giving him an innocent look. “I don’t know what you mean.” After a roll of his eyes, she said sincerely, “Thanks, again. I appreciate your help.”

  Hammer wasn’t buying it. “All I’m asking is don’t get caught.”

  Ginny jauntily pointed two fingers to her forehead in a salute. “Yes, sir.”

  “You’re the reason I never had kids,” Hammer complained, putting the SUV back in gear.

  “Aw,” Ginny laughed. “You know you love me.” Quickly shutting the door before he could tell her what a pain in his ass she was, Ginny slipped into her car, giving him another salute as he waited for her to pull safely away. Her headlights beaming into the front of his vehicle highlighted the one-finger salute she received back.

  Ginny sat at small table in the diner beside the window that gave the view of the street in front of the sheriff’s office. Sipping coffee in lieu of breakfast, she watched traffic pass. Seeing one of the cars she was looking, Ginny rose from the table to go to the register to pay. Carly took her money as if it were contaminated. Letting the woman’s dislike roll off her back, she was pushing the restaurant door open to leave when she saw the second car she was waiting for drive by.

  She started moving, tennis shoes going faster as she sprinted around the side of the building, walking past her car, and making her way to the dumpster. Nimbly climbing the fence, she dropped down to the other side and kept to the trees, as she made her way around the side of the house. When she got reached the back of the house, she just casually walked out of the tree-lined yard as if she was supposed to be there. Ginny didn’t think the neighbor on the other side would be able to see her, but she didn’t waste time inserting the key she’d kept into the back door.

  Entering the Wests’ house, she took her tennis shoes off and carried them under her arm as she went upstairs. The sight of her old bedroom in the same pristine shape that she’d had to keep it in when she was younger had her heart beating in anger. The motivation of getting Darcy out of their house had her wanting to scream when she couldn’t find anything.

  Going to their bedroom, Ginny had to fight back years of being told never to never enter their bedroom. She took a second to glance around before she began searching through the drawers and closets, looking for something to use against them.

  Ginny exited the closet, placing her hands on her hips as she stared around the bedroom once again. “Think, Ginny, think,” she told herself. There ha
d to be a reason she was never allowed to clean their room. Two days a week, she’d had to clean their house from top to bottom, except for this one room. Lisa had lifted her stricture about staying out of other rooms in the house when she had fired a housekeeper that used to come regularly. Why pay someone when Lisa could make Ginny do it for free? Lisa had nitpicked every chore she had been given and had made her dread cleaning days with a passion.

  “Dammit.” Glancing down at her watch, she saw she needed to leave before Lisa returned back from dropping Darcy off at the daycare. Lisa was a creature of habit, and Ginny had seen her dropping of Darcy off at the daycare when she was still working at the diner.

  She was about to give up and was closing the closet doors behind her when felt a metal grate under her foot. Bending down, she used her fingers to pull the heating vent upward. Disappointed, she closed it but searched for another. Opening the closet again, she grinned when she saw a tip of one peeking out from under a shoe box.

  “Please … please …,” she chanted as she opened the grate in a desperate attempt to find something and nearly gave a cheer when she saw a shadow.

  Sinking down on her bottom, she lifted the metal top and pulled out a box out. Unfastening the lock, Ginny wanted to crow in triumph. Making sure she remembered the position of the objects, she searched through them, her triumph slowing turning to failure at only finding sex toys. Hell, Ginny couldn’t even blame her for that with a little girl in the house.

  She closed the box in disappointment, though, glad she had worn gloves. When she reached out to slide it back in the hole, a metal hook on the base of the box caught her eye. Laying the box on its side, she pulled the hook and closed her eyes in relief.

  Flipping through the stacks of pictures, she found several t multiple prints. Taking one that had Lisa having sex with a man she recognized, she closed the box then slid it back in its hiding spot. Putting the picture in her back pocket, she then made sure everything was how it was when she entered.

  She was passing Darcy’s door when she stopped and went inside. Removing a glove, she placed the glass of water on the coaster on the little girl’s nightstand, left the room, and went downstairs to let herself out the back door.

  After putting her shoes on, she returned the way she had come, throwing the gloves in the back-alley dumpster.

  She was unlocking her car door when she saw Lisa’s car pass, heading toward her home. Once inside the car, she took out the picture. The woman who had called her trash too many times to count had numerous lovers; it had been hard to choose which one to take, but the one she was staring at showed who the real trash was.

  Disgusted at Lisa’s choice of lover, she reached into her glove box and found an empty envelope to seal it inside. Locking the picture in her glove box, Ginny started her car. She started singing along with the song on the radio, swinging out into the early morning traffic, and headed to work all while deciding who would be best to bring Lisa to her come-to-Jesus moment. She’d always planned to give any evidence she could find to Pastor Dean, but she needed someone a little more cutthroat than the good pastor. She didn’t want to give Lisa the ability to explain the picture. No, she needed someone less holy ….

  “Anyone need a refill?” Raising the coffee pot over the table in the kitchen, she interrupted Viper as he talked to Shade, Rider, and Cash.

  Rider and Cash motioned for her to refill theirs.

  “Sorry to interrupt you, Viper,” Ginny apologized. “I’ve been promising myself to clean the coffee machine for the last week, and I want to today if no one wants anymore.”

  “No, go ahead.”

  Moving away, she pushed the button for the clean cycle, then went back to unloading the dishwasher.

  She was laying food out for to prepare cooking lunch when the men stood to leave. Through her lashes, she saw Shade reach for his leather jacket, his hands going to his pockets as Cash held the back door open for the men. Letting Viper and Rider go first, she saw Cash give Shade a curious frown when he didn’t immediately go out the door.

  “What’s that?” she heard Cash say to him, and her heart stopped beating, waiting for Shade’s answer.

  “Nothing.” Motioning for Cash to go ahead, Shade placed his hand on the door as he used his other hand to slide the picture into his back pocket.

  Raising her head, she felt her heart restart now that no one was looking her way.

  Shade went out the door, and then her heart stopped again when he turned. Ginny nearly dropped the bag of potatoes she was carrying to the counter when his eyes met hers.

  “Did you forget something?” she asked, holding the potatoes closer to her chest. Even though she’d left the picture for him to find, the man scared her to death.

  “I was about to ask you the same question,” he said, raising a quizzical brow.

  Deciding to dive feet-first into an unholy alliance she hoped that Shade would accept, she laid the potatoes down on the counter. “Are you a holy man, Shade?”

  “Do I seem like a man of God to you?” his face was impassive as his question was more of an answer. “What are you wanting, Ginny?”

  Ignoring the foreboding chill that almost had her second-guessing herself, Ginny bluntly told him her tale. “I went through a lot of trouble for that picture to make it impossible for the West’s to continuing being foster parents. I want it placed in the right hands.”

  “So you want me to give it to Knox?”

  “I could have done that myself. No, I want you to give it to Tate Porter.”

  “Why Tate, and not the sheriff?”

  “Knox will have to give it to Ms. Tackett, and she and Lisa are friends. Little Darcy will be eighteen before she gets around to removing her.”

  “Why Tate, then?”

  “Lisa has a bad habit of lying. I heard her laughing with Dalt about one she told to Sutton Creech. She bragged that it sent Sutton running with her tail tucked between her legs. She’s back in town, and I think that picture will give Tate a bargaining chip to keep Lisa out of his and Sutton’s life forever. In reward for giving him that picture, I want you to get his promise that he’ll get her to stop being a foster parent.”

  “Why not confront Lisa yourself?”

  “She’s going to be furious. I don’t want her taking it out of Willa when I’m not around since I work for her. She’ll be afraid to mess with Tate.”

  He astutely watched as she began washing the potatoes. “Why don’t you give it to him instead of involving me?”

  “I can’t. The Porters and the Colemans are feuding.”

  “I didn’t think you were still close to your family?”

  “I’m not,” Ginny acknowledged. “But I’ll always be a Coleman.”

  “I’ll see what I can do. I’m going to town; do you need anything while I’m out?”

  “No, I’m good.”

  Once the potatoes were cleaned, she set them aside, then started cleaning the house. The rest of the morning flew by. When she saw Shade in line for lunch, neither mentioned that morning.

  The kitchen was still full when it was time to leave for the bakery. Making sure Beth and Lily had everything they needed to finish lunch, she left. Opening her car door, she paused from getting inside at the sight of a plastic bag sitting on the bucket seat. Picking it up, she got inside, and once the door was closed, Ginny reached inside to pull out a bag of candy. Grinning, she opened the bag and took out her favorite. Unwrapping the sweet treat, she popped it into her mouth, then opened her purse to dump the rest of the candy inside.

  “Darn it, Shade,” Ginny muttered out loud to herself as she started her car. “If I get a cavity, I’m sending you the bill.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Ginny 20 / Gavin 33

  Ginny placed her clean juice glass back in the cabinet, in the neat row of the same glasses.

  Grinning down at the kitten that was rubbing against her leg for attention, she couldn’t resist picking her new baby into her arms. “I can’t pl
ay with you now, I have to get ready for work.” She cooed, carrying the kitten into the living room to lay her onto the couch. “Play with your toy.” Laying a plastic mouse within the cat’s reach Ginny laughed when the toy was ignored in favor of kneading the couch cushion. Glad it was a secondhand couch, she could see another one was in her near future. Taking her cell phone, she then went upstairs to the hallway bathroom to finish getting ready for work.

  She could have easily moved into the bedroom with the en suite bathroom now that Bliss married Drake and was the new mother of the Wests’ former foster child, Darcy. Ginny had no idea how Shade had accomplished that, but the next morning, when she had gone to work after giving him the picture, Willa had told her that Darcy had been placed in another home. She hadn’t stayed in foster care for long. Then Drake had asked Bliss to marry him, and they had become a family before Christmas.

  Ginny hadn’t taken Bliss’s larger room, deciding to save it for Trudy for as soon as Hammer gave the go-ahead and allowed her to spend the occasional night. They were just waiting to live together permanently until he felt confident enough that Trudy was no longer on Allerton’s watch list.

  Both she and Trudy thought Hammer was being overly cautious, but their concerns with the other’s safety had them agreeing to wait. Trudy had already tested Hammer’s patience enough by telling Sex Piston, Killyama, Fat Louise, and Crazy Bitch their secrets.

  He willingly admitted he screwed up by placing both Killyama and Trudy in the same town, making it easier for him to monitor them. Their grandmother had wanted to give Trudy a fresh start without the memories of before, so he’d moved them to Jamestown. It was also where he’d relocated Peyton and Killyama. Knowing the town was small, there was likelihood that they would meet, but them forming a friendship hadn’t been on his radar.