“You want to bust my nuts? Go ahead. But be prepared. If you want to talk like you have game, you fucking better be prepared to have game.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that I won’t watch what I say, especially when you do something stupid as shit.”
Ginny made a comical face at him. “Since when have you ever held back what you wanted to say to me? If you want to call me the B word, then call me the B word. I’d rather be called a bitch than sweetie.”
“The B word wasn’t what I was trying to avoid. Try reckless and irresponsible.”
Ginny winced as if he’d struck her, but Reaper was ruthless.
“And I won’t be the only one saying the same thing. Sex Piston and Dalton will agree when you come back. T.A.—”
“Stop, Gavin.” Ginny buried her face in her hands. “I can’t do what I need to do if I’m worried about Trudy.”
Taking the opening he finally found, Reaper moved in before she could regroup. “What do you need to do?”
“I have to defeat the monster.”
“Allerton is the monster?”
“Yes.”
“How do you plan to beat him?”
“I have to turn the table on him, and make sure he can’t hurt anyone else.”
Reaper reached out to pull her hands away from her face so he could see her. He expected to see tears, but what he saw shook him to his core.
Fear.
He had become intimately familiar with that emotion, even before his kidnapping, back when he had served overseas in war zones.
Reaper tried not to think of the terror-stricken people he’d come into contact with during his time in service. Many were either running or in hiding when his company moved in, despite the fact the soldiers sought to help.
What stuck out the most was that Ginny wasn’t hiding. She made herself a visible target in Allerton’s scope.
“Who has he hurt?”
She didn’t try to pull away from his touch. Instead, Ginny swayed toward him.
Loosening his hold on her hands, Reaper gathered her shaking body closer, giving Ginny the heat of his body.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” she whispered so low that he had to tilt his head down to hear her.
“Try me.”
“He hurts thousands of people every minute of every day.”
“That’s a tall order for a man who is retired and lives like a recluse on a private island without any internet.”
“Allerton wants to have the entire world at his feet, and he has enough money and power to accomplish his goal.”
Reaper took what she said with more than a grain of salt. “No man I know of has that type of power. But if that’s true, how in the fuck do you think you can be the one to stop him?”
“I have to find something that will expose him and cohort of others who have been helping him.”
That revelation stopped any doubt he had. It explained why Ginny and T.A. were so frightened, and why Hammer pulled himself back into something when he’d just retired from active duty as a Ranger. Hammer believed Ginny was in danger.
“Is this something what you took off the boat when you were three years old?”
Reaper felt her shudder in his arms.
“What did you steal?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Did you hide whatever it was on Clindale?”
She nodded against his shoulder.
“I think so.”
“Is it still there?”
“I don’t know,” she murmured.
“Is there anything you do know for sure?”
“I know I’m going to find it.”
“And destroy Allerton?” Reaper asked, wanting confirmation on the few details she told him.
“Yes.”
“Swee—” Reaper started over when she lifted her head from his shoulder. “Ginny, you’re fucking bonkers. You started all of this without having what you need to make the plan a success, and you have no idea where it is … or what it is?”
Ginny smiled happily with his understanding of her bizarre plan. “Exactly.”
“We’re in trouble.”
Chapter Thirteen
Reaper found himself grasping at thin air when Ginny tore herself out of his arms.
“Are you making fun of me?”
“Does it look like I’m laughing?” Wanting to curse a blue streak would have been a more accurate description of what he was feeling.
Taking two long strides before she could escape inside the bungalow and ignoring her attempts to dodge his arms, Reaper enclosed her in a hug while pinning her arms to her sides. Then lowering his head to her ear, he whispered, “Chill. I believe you. Look around you, little thief. This might be a private patio, but we’re being watched.” Nuzzling the side of her jaw, he used his chin to turn her head in the direction he wanted. At her withdrawn breath, he nuzzled her jaw higher. “Two at your left and three on your right.”
Wanting to keep the appearance of a loving couple to spying eyes, Reaper let her spin in his arms when she sighted the soldiers.
“They were watching me.”