Reaper's Salvation: A Last Riders Trilogy by Jamie Begley (read a book TXT) 📗

position. That’s all I’ve ever been since I was three.”

“What in the hell does that mean?”

“I was working for the club when Viper and The Last Riders believed you were dead. Did you know I wasn’t even allowed to touch your jacket when it was hanging in the closet? You weren’t an afterthought, even years after you were gone.

“Did you know your father became a drunk and was constantly in fights at Mick’s? Viper would bring him into the diner a couple times a week just to make sure he was eating, and they would do nothing but talk about you, missing you, and how they would do things differently. They might have been surviving without you, yet each of them clung to their memories to still connect with you, as if you were still a part of their lives. Neither of them were willing to let you go entirely and to move on without you. You might not have been visibly present, yet you were there.

“The few times I was able to see Trudy, I had to pretend we were just casual acquaintances. The same with Sex Piston, Fat Louise, Killyama, and Crazy Bitch. We’d sneak around to hang out in a Lexington in hotel room. When I went back to Treepoint, and they returned to their families, do you think I was a blip on their radars?

“I love my brothers, but they have always had each other. My presence, or absence, has never made a difference in any of their lives, unlike you with Ton, Viper, and The Last Riders. Do you know why?”

“No.”

“Because I was never there. I’m expendable. If I disappeared off the face of the Earth, I would be missed, but never to the extent you were. I’m tired of being invisible, to only being there when it’s safe or if that person makes the effort, because I’m the one who initiated the contact. It’s painful to just take up space in their lives and not be a part of the whole picture. I refuse to deny Trudy being my sister any longer, and I’ll be damned if I have to pass my niece or nephew on the street and pretend I’m not their aunt. I need to be seen.”

As hard as she tried, she couldn’t prevent the tears from welling up in her eyes. “I just can’t do it anymore. Please try to understand, Gavin. As much as I love everyone in my life, I just can’t do it anymore. When I was singing with Mouth2Mouth, there wasn’t a night that I didn’t go out and think “Is someone going to recognize me? Will this be the moment Allerton finds me?” Every time I spoke with Hammer about contacting the FBI, he kept putting me off because I couldn’t remember what I had taken or where I put it. You just gave me the excuse to do what I needed to do.”

“Thanks,” he said snidely.

Gavin started unbuttoning the front of her dress, exposing the light-cream-colored bra she wore underneath.

“What are you doing?” Ginny asked before she sniffed hard to clear her stuffy nose, intent on not breaking down in tears after baring her soul.

“I’m about to show you that you’re not invisible.”

“I don’t want to have sex when you’re angry with me.” Ginny pulled the two parts of her dress back together to rebutton it. However, Gavin relentlessly lifted her and pulled it out from under her, leaving her in her bra and panties.

“Ginny, I’m so far beyond angry that it’s not even in the ballpark of what I’m feeling.”

“Then I definitely don’t want to have sex.”

“Good, I don’t either,” he said stonily.

If he didn’t want to have sex, then why was he removing her clothes? Realization dawned on her when Ginny felt the belt being removed from her foot. Not liking the expression on his face, self-preservation kicked in and she tried to wiggle out from underneath him.

“Nope, you have a lesson to learn, and you’re not getting off this bed until you learn it.”

Unwisely, Ginny gave him a haughty tilt of her head to jut her chin out at him. “I really don’t appreciate this caveman tactic.”

She was given a second of satisfaction when Gavin leveraged his body to the side—until she found herself face-planted in the mattress as he flipped her over.

Turning her head to the side, she saw his hand come up. “You wouldn’t dar—”

The smart smack to her bottom proved he would.

The thin material of her panties didn’t provide any protection as she remained frozen in amazement that he had actually spanked her.

“Oh, hell no ….” Ginny started to get to her knees, only to feel another hard smack on her bottom.

“You try to get up, I’m only going to give you more,” he warned.

She screeched at him, “My daddy never even had the nerve to—”

“Yeah, well, he should have,” he replied, spanking her again.

Red-hot pain flamed across her bottom.

“This is so childish! I will not be treated like this!”

Were the smacks getting harder? she wondered as another steak of fire lit upon on her ass.

“Did you yell at Silas when he spanked you for being on the roof?”

Another whack of his palm landed for her stubborn silence.

“Did you?”

“No,” she mumbled. Pride gone out the door after the stinging in her bottom became more pronounced.

“Why not?” Gavin raised his palm from her bottom, keeping it poised in the air as he waited for her answer.

“I scared him.”

The palm came down again, and Ginny let his hand connect two more times before turning to curl against his knees.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Giving a ragged groan, he lifted her to hold her alongside him. Ginny felt the rough texture of his breath against her throat.

“Gavin, do you like me?”

“I’m still deciding.”

Her lips curled up in a smile. At least it wasn’t a flat-out no. “I think you like me a little.” She wanted to wrap her arms around his sides, but she kept her arms pressed between them,