by Jamie Begley
“I’ll radio ahead. Owen would have caught you when you crossed the state line. He takes it as his personal mission to catch any BOLO going through his section. Anytime one of his ex-wives needs a new car, he has his brother, the judge, make sure it’s up for auction. I’ll give you my card; if you get pulled over again, dispatch can fax them that the BOLO was removed.”
Ginny promised herself to pay attention to the name of the next county they passed through so she could make an anonymous call to the FBI to report the shakedown going down in the small town.
“You can return to your vehicle.” The officer’s permission wasn’t given with the same good, old-boy friendliness he gave to Gavin.
Pretending a dignity she didn’t feel, Ginny got back in the car.
Flashing lights behind her car illuminated the interior, showing Gavin’s locked jaw.
“I don’t know what you’re so angry about. I was the one being laughed at.” Offended, she mimicked his locked jaw.
“One more word … Just one,” he threatened.
Her lips opened, preparing to further air her grievances.
“Do it”—he narrowed his eyes on her—“and see what happens.”
Sitting forward in her seat, she thought about zipping her mouth and throwing the key away again, but she didn’t want to chance her luck. So far, today sucked … other than the hours she spent enjoying every second she was spending with him.
Losing her self-righteous indignation by the time he was doing seventy on the interstate, Ginny turned the music on, bopping her head to one of her favorite songs.
“You’re going to give yourself whiplash,” he warned.
Taking it as a good sign that he was talking to her again, Ginny broke her vow of silence. “Can you name the singer before I count to ten?”
“No.”
“Come on … You’re not trying,” she heckled.
“Billy Idol.”
“Lucky guess.” Ginny playfully turned toward him. “The next one is mine,” she told him as the music ended and another one started playing. She only had to listen to the first beat. “Cher.”
“You’re cheating.”
Placing a hand on her chest, as if she were offended, Ginny didn’t miss the flash of his white teeth as he tried not to smile. It was more like a grimace, but she wasn’t above taking what she could get out of him.
“I don’t call it cheating. I call it winning.”
“Still cheating.”
“Nope, I disagree,” Ginny said in a sing-song voice.
She turned serious when Gavin slowed to take an unlit exit.
“This is where you’re meeting Jesus?” Ginny apprehensively watched the dark, winding road ahead as Gavin drove. She didn’t see any lights from businesses or homes. The spooky factor had her rubbing one of her little charms as Gavin decreased his speed to pull off the two-lane road and into a closed gas station. The outside was boarded up with sheets of wood on the front windows. Gavin parked next to one of the pumps that didn’t have a digital cover.
“How well do you know this Jesus?” she whispered when he brought the car to a standstill.
“I’ve met him a few times. You’re safe, Ginny; he’s a Last Rider.”
Gavin gave her a surprised look at her sigh of relief. “You trust him just because he’s a Last Rider?”
“Shouldn’t I?”
“Most of The Last Riders aren’t sterling citizens.”
“Most sterling citizens have feet of clay.”
Looking over her shoulder as headlights came up behind them, she wasn’t aware of the penetrating way he was watching her.
“Is that him?” Turning her head back to Gavin, she found his gaze on her.
“Yes. He has Neon with him.” Taking leather gloves out of his jacket, he put them on before reaching for the door handle and getting out of the car, leaving her alone inside.
With the music playing, Ginny couldn’t hear what they were saying as she saw two men get off their motorcycles, wearing Last Rider jackets and black gloves. One of them went to the gas pump next to her car and slid a key into the side. Taking the nozzle from the pump, he handed it to Gavin, who was standing by her tank.
As Gavin pumped the gas, the men returned to their bikes, taking out plastic bags that they placed on the trunk of her car.
Ginny felt the car move when Gavin removed the nozzle from the gas tank. She watched the entire interaction between the three men, noticing how Gavin didn’t speak two words to the other men and the space they kept from him.
Gavin took the bags from on top of the trunk as one of the men placed his key back into the pump. Then Gavin waited until the two men were riding away before opening the door. Inside, he handed her the bags before starting the car.
Sorting through the bags, Ginny divvied up the contents. Placing two bottles of water into the cup holders, she took out one of the prepacked sandwiches, a bag of plain chips, and a chocolate bar, giving the rest of the bag to Gavin.
“I thought you were starving?”
“I am.” Opening the sandwich, she took a bite as she opened the chips.
“There’s more sandwiches and chips.”
“I’ll take what’s left after you pick.” Taking a chip, she opened one of the bottled waters.
“What if I wanted the turkey that you took?”
“There are two more in there. You can have them.”
Gavin took out the only club sandwich that was easily twice the size of the one she had taken. Breaking it apart, he handed half to her.
“No, thanks. I—”
“I know you like subs. Take half.”
“How do you know I like subs?”
“Dirty Dan’s isn’t the only place you frequent. You like Geno’s Subs.”
“I take it Shade filled a notebook of everywhere I went in Nashville?”
“In Queen City and Treepoint too.” He opened a bag of barbeque chips and gave them to her.
Setting the rest of the plain aside, she took the barbeque chips.
“It sucks having everyone know so much about you.” Another swirl of heat hit her stomach at the sweet gesture of his unknowingly revealing he had observed something so mundane as her chip preferences.
“Yes, it does,” he agreed.
“Could be worse,” she said, digging for another chip.
“How?” Scrunching the empty bag of chips he just devoured, Gavin took the half-eaten ones away from her.
“The advantage is none of the sandwiches have cheese or onions, which I hate. I also got my chocolate fix for the day.”
“Do you have to look on the bright side of everything?”
“Better than being a Gloomy Gus, like someone who will remain nameless. Especially since neither of us will be breathing in onion breath for the rest of the night.”
Gathering the remains of their meal in one bag, Gavin placed the uneaten items in the other one. Gavin took a shiny object from the bag and handed it to her. “You need a pit stop before we leave?”
Ginny glared at him. “You knew there was a bathroom here?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” She narrowed her eyes at him in suspicion. “You were going to ditch me in the woods, weren’t you?”
“Neon and Jesus were behind us. One of them would have given you a ride.”
The big jerk wasn’t the least embarrassed at being found out.
“What made you change your mind?”
“Ohio’s finest.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
“How long are you going to stay mad at me? You haven’t spoken a word in over an hour. While I’m enjoying the peace and quiet, it’s getting old with you staring daggers at me.”
Ginny pressed her lips together, determined to give him another hour of silent treatment.
“Okay …,” he drawled out. “Can you at least hand me the bag from the back seat. I saw a bag of candy in there.”
Reaching behind Gavin’s seat for the bag, she
held it open for him to take out what he wanted. When he pulled out everything but the candy, he took the bag from her, taking his eyes off the road to see it was empty.
“Jesus must have left them out,” Ginny offered an explanation.
Gavin gave her the empty bag back to repack the items he had tossed aside.
Putting it in the back seat, she resumed drumming her fingers on the door. Becoming bored, Ginny took out her cell phone and started working on a song she was writing.
“What are you eating?” Gavin suspiciously took his eyes off the road.
“Nothin’.”
“Hand it over.”
Ginny ignored the hand he held out. “No.”
“It was a big bag. You’re not going to share?”
“I wouldn’t consider the bag big, and no, I’m not.”
“So, you do have the candy.”
Her big mouth had let her walk right into that trap. “No.”
“Why aren’t you sharing?”
“I don’t know,” she said sarcastically. “Probably because you were going to leave me in the woods if a cop hadn’t stopped you.”
“How many times do I have to tell you that you would have only been left for maybe two or three minutes at the max?”
“Okay,” she mocked, swinging her head sideways while keeping her eyes forward. “You’re really not getting any candy. They’re all mine. And they’re good, too.”
She deliberately bit down on the hard-cherry candy to crush it between her teeth, knowing the big jerk would hear what she was doing. Loudly twisting the plastic covering on another piece of candy to open it, she popped it in her mouth.
“How did you sneak the candy out the bag, anyway? I saw it in there when I tied the bag.”
“I don’t know. Maybe you were too preoccupied being a big jerk to notice.”
“I’m not a jerk.”
“No, you’re not. You’re a big one.”
Gavin took one of his hands away from the steering wheel to go to his jacket pocket.
“What are you looking for? The way you’re swerving, we’ll get pulled over again,” she berated him.
“I’m trying to find my cell phone. I’m going to call Jesus to come and get you.”
“He’s over an hour away.”
“I know.”
“Are you joking?”
“Are you going to give me a piece of my candy?”
“Fine.” Ginny reached in her pocket to take one out to give him. “Satisfied?”
“Yes. You can go back to giving me the silent treatment.”
“I’ve lost the desire. It gave you too much enjoyment.” Placing her phone in her pocket with her candy, she twisted her body to the side to face him more fully. “Do you want to play another game?”
“No—”
When Gavin cut off what he was about to say, Ginny looked out the windshield. A car had their hazard lights on. Straightening in her seat, she felt the car start to slow.
“Is it safe?”
“Probably not, but I can’t leave them stranded.” Easing onto the shoulder behind the car, Gavin parked.
“I want you to crawl over the console and get behind the wheel when I get out of the car. If anything goes wrong, I want you to get the hell out of here and call Viper.” Taking out his phone, Ginny saw him text Viper the license plate number of the car in front of him.
“I’m not going to leave you.”
Gavin reached over the console to take her by the face. His firm clasp had her staring into his flinty eyes.
“You fucking do what I’m telling you.”
Ginny lowered her eyes. “I can’t,” she whispered.
“Unless you promise, I’ll drive away and leave them.”
“Then let’s leave. No one is more important than you.”
“Fucking hell …,” Gavin swore, releasing his grasp on her to open the door as a man got out of the car, frantically waving toward them. Swinging away from her, he got of the car. “Lock the fucking door. Ram the back end of his car if I raise my hand in the air.”
Ginny started climbing over the console. “That I can do,” she promised.
Gavin slammed the car door as he walked toward the man who was urgently motioning inside his car.
Ginny gripped the steering wheel when Gavin ran around the car, opening the passenger door and bending down.
Fear for Gavin had her watching the other man to make sure Gavin wasn’t being blindsided. Alarm filled Ginny when her headlights illuminated Gavin pulling an unconscious woman out to lay her next to the car. When the stranger fell down to his knees beside her as Gavin began doing chest compressions on the woman, Ginny couldn’t stay in the car. Jerking the door open, she ran to kneel next to the man who was watching Gavin try to resuscitate the woman.
“Get back in the car!” Gavin yelled, his experienced movements not breaking the pumping rhythm he was using on the unconscious woman.
“Have you called an ambulance?” Ginny asked calmly, trying to help the only way she could and defying Gavin’s command.
“They’re on their way. I missed the turn-off to the hospital.” The man sobbed. “We were on our way to Krista’s mother’s house. She wanted to stay with her until the baby comes. She started to feel lightheaded right after we left… We’re not from around here ….”
Ginny patted him on his back, showing her understanding of his distraught explanation.
Stopping the compressions, Gavin lifted her chin and held her nose. “Cover her mouth completely with yours and give two slow breaths. Now.” He instructed the husband to quickly do as he asked.
The man didn’t question him, quickly doing as Gavin instructed. “Please don’t let her die …,” the man sobbed as Gavin continued with the compressions. “She and the baby mean everything to me.”
Ginny kept her eyes on Gavin as she comforted the crying man.
His blazing eyes were promising her retribution for getting out of the car. He could do his worst, but she couldn’t just leave the distressed man who was watching his wife and child die in front of him, any more than he could.
Gavin continued to work tirelessly at trying to the revive the woman, leaving only the breathing up to the husband.
Seeing flashing lights hitting the trees, Ginny rose, waving to be seen. Then she helped the man to his feet as the EMT came running toward them, attempting to move them out of the way.
“We need to give them room to work on her,” she explained to the panic-stricken man when he tried to shove away from her.
Going with her when he finally understood what she was trying to do, they stood on the grass, watching the paramedics take over. Ginny couldn’t imagine the horror that the husband was going through with his wife’s and child’s life hanging in the balance.
The area around the car quickly flooded with arriving personnel to give assistance to the couple. Three police cars arrived, one blocking the traffic lane that the ambulance was using.
Talking softly to the man, Ginny told him that his family was going to be okay, that so many people were here to do their best to save his wife. She told him everything and anything to keep him by her side.
Gavin moved toward them when the paramedics readied the woman for transport.
“They’re sending for a life flight,” Gavin related to him what he had been told. “We can go on, Ginny. They want our car moved.”
“I don’t want to leave him …,” Ginny began to argue.
“A police officer is going to drive him to the hospital. He can’t fly with her.”
When Ginny saw one of the police officers who had been talking to Gavin approach, she gave the distraught man a brief hug. Ginny released him when Gavin’s jaw went rock hard, yet he held back the shout she could see he was wanting to give.
“We need to move the car.” Gavin’s lips barely moved as he spoke.
“I’m coming.”
Watching where she walked on the gravel, they returned to her car.
St
aring out the window as Gavin drove away, she saw the man get in the back of the police car. Ginny felt terrible that the couples’ excitement about their upcoming baby had taken such a devasting turn.
Stony-faced as he drove, Ginny started to break the oppressive silence, then didn’t. Gavin wasn’t ready to be reasonable.
Her nerves went haywire when Gavin turned on the blinker to turn into a rest area. Taking the lane meant for cars, Gavin parked in the first spot. Ginny wiped her sweaty palms on her thighs, noticing the spot was also the most dimly lit one in the area.
“Gavin …,” Ginny started to plead her case when he unbuckled his seatbelt so hard the metal clasp gave a pop when it hit the casing.
Cool air met her face when he tore himself out of the car, slamming the door behind him.
Ginny let him have a few minutes, then she got out of the car. The parking area was empty. No one would be able to rescue her from the wild man who was stalking his way toward her.
The fear in her chest loosened as he drew closer. The man who had worked so tirelessly trying to save a woman he didn’t know would never be able to harm her. Her wild man had a gentle soul shining through the anger that he was feeling. Not even the evil he had been exposed to could diminish the light from within Gavin. She could see it from where she was standing. God hadn’t allowed it to be destroyed, shielding the light even from Gavin, protecting the beautiful heart that had been gifted to him. A heart created to be a match for hers, only for her.
As Gavin grasped her arms, jerking her toward him, her eyes went heavenward, relieved she had made up with the big guy in the nick of time.
The Reaper had come for her.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“What were you thinking?” he yelled. “I told you to stay in the car. If shit goes fucking down, I have to know you will fucking do what I say!”
“Lower your voice.” Ginny placed her hands on his chest as he tightened his grip on her arms, letting her weight fall into his body and sending him back to the side of the car. “All I was thinking about was that poor man losing his wife and child, and if anyone could save them, you could.”
Gavin’s face twisted in anguish. “I didn’t save her; she died. I was trying to keep the baby alive.”