Reaper's Salvation (Road to Salvation A Last Rider's Trilogy 3)

“I was going to tell you this morning. I already told you all this.”

“When?” he said, ignoring her, “I sure as fuck must have missed you trying to start that conversation with me. I could swear on a stack of Bibles that I didn’t hear anything remotely like, ‘Hey, Gavin, by the way, my name is Evangeline.’”

She tightened her lips at his heavy sarcasm. “I will repeat myself again! I had every intention of telling you when you told me you were going to see Taylor,” she snapped back.

“Me going to see Taylor is irrelevant,” he ground out, their noses bumping each other’s.

“It was pretty darn relevant to me.”

“If Taylor was still important to me, why in the fuck would I offer to find us a place to live where you wouldn’t be embarrassed about us fucking under Silas’s roof?”

“Lower your voice,” Ginny whisper-screamed at him. Then she poked her head over the chair in front of them to see if any of the agents were listening.

Gavin rolled his eyes at her. “You’re wasting your time. I’m pretty sure they are recording our conversation.”

She swiveled her head toward him. “Why would they eavesdrop on our conversation? They didn’t know you’d be here.”

An exasperated Gavin made her feel like she had noodles for brains.

“They would want to listen to any conversation between you and Hammer or the FBI talking among themselves. This plane doesn’t belong to the FBI; it’s Allerton’s private jet.”

“Oh …”

“Yeah … oh,” he said snidely.

“You don’t have to be so rude.”

“Evangeline,” Gavin mocked, “if you think I’m being rude now, wait until I get you alone.”

Chapter Eight

Ginny was apprehensive when the plane began its descent onto Sherguevil Island. A confusing array of emotions assailed her—dread, fear, even excitement. She wanted to burst into tears at the thought of seeing her mother and father again, but the growing sense of panic at putting Gavin and herself under Allerton’s control overcame her.

“Will your parents be waiting?”

“I don’t know.”

The possibility of her parents waiting for her to step off the plane added another level of turmoil. Her natural instinct was to want to see them; however, Ginny was unsure how she was supposed to react or how she should feel. She was no longer a child or naïve enough not to wonder why her parents had remained on Clindale Island. The way they had washed their hands of Trudy was a unforgivable offense to her; they had basically chosen Allerton over their children. Even if they had left the island and returned to the States when she was grown, she was uncertain if she would have contacted them. It would have place Trudy in too much danger if her parents realized she was still alive, assuming that information would get back to Allerton. She never wished ill on anyone in her life, but she had hoped age would catch up with Allerton and solve the problem for her. She should have known better. The devil takes care of his own.

“Are they on Sherguevil or Clindale Island?”

“I don’t know.”

Feeling wistful, she tried to catch a glimpse of Clindale Island from the window, but from her viewpoint, it wasn’t possible.

“I guess we’re about to find out.” Her attempt at humor failed miserably.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you nervous before.”

“You want to know the truth?”

Gavin made an exaggerated face, practically rolling his eyes. “That would be a first.”

Lowering her eyes so he couldn’t see the hurt he just inflicted, she was aware she had no one to blame but herself. “I’ve never lied to you … I might had withheld certain facts, but I didn’t lie.”

He brought his hand to his ear to point at the black pearl. “How about this? You stole my earring, let me search around for it, and even waited in the car while I looked in the bar.”

“I didn’t tell you that you lost your earring; you assumed you had. That’s not my fault.”

A frown cut deep grooves across his forehead. “I could swear you used the word lost.”

“You must be mistaken.” She shrugged. “I’ve been nothing but truthful to you.” At least she hoped she had. Omitting certain facts wasn’t technically a lie, was it?

“Okay ….” Gavin sarcastically went on as if he didn’t believe her. “So, what truth were you about to tell me this time?”

Thinning her lips into a line, she showed him her irritation. “Never mind. If you’re going to be sarcastic, I’ll just keep it to myself.”

Gavin looked like he was a hairsbreadth from shaking her.

She decided to sit on her high horse another time—when she wasn’t already in fear for her life.

“I was just going to say, I’m usually nervous when I’m around you,” she admitted, embarrassed.

A soft bump as the plane landed forestalled any further conversation, bringing back the feeling of dread. Even with Gavin here, it was in full force as she uneasily began unbuckling her seat belt as the agents prepared to disembark.