Reaper's Salvation: A Last Riders Trilogy Jamie Begley (fb2 epub reader .txt) 📖

out the thick slice of French bread. “You haven’t eaten since yesterday afternoon, so eat. The bread will help settle your stomach.”

Making a face at him, she took the bread, nibbling on it as she stared out at the ocean.

Rolling the inside of the sandwich together, he ate it as he monitored her eating. After taking small nibbles, she took bigger bites, then took the other piece of bread when she finished the first.

“Why didn’t you put the charms I gave you on your bracelet?” Reaper refused to admit the ache in his chest was pain from not seeing the charms swinging on her dangling bracelet.

Ginny finished the bit of food in her mouth before answering, “I gave them to Silas to keep them safe. I didn’t want to chance anything happening to them.”

Her explanation assuaged his unease. “Any other places you want to explore before we go back?” Repacking the backpack with the empty sandwich wraps and empty bottled waters, he zipped it closed.

“Just one.” Ginny reluctantly put her shoes back on, as if she didn’t want to leave the beach. “I’m hoping I can find my favorite spot on the island.”

Reaper followed suit, putting on his shoes before reaching to pull Ginny back to her feet. “Stay close.”

“I will,” she promised.

“Which way?”

“Back the way we took to get to the village.”

It didn’t take her two minutes before she was trying to run ahead of him. Taking her hand, he forced her back to his side. He had a new appreciation of how hard it must have been for her parents and T.A. to keep up with her as a child.

Becoming more familiar with the island, it wasn’t long before they were back at the main village. Going through the middle, Ginny showed him a small trail that was only a foot wide; it led them right into the middle of a steep jungle.

“Are you sure you want to go this way?” Reaper used the bottom of his T-shirt to wipe his forehead and face.

“I think so.” Her excitement was bubbling over as they climbed steadily higher, only her memories guiding her way. “Oh yes, it is. We came this way every morning, Trudy used to carry me until I became too heavy. I vaguely remember it; she loved to talk about some of the things we did when Hammer finally let us talk together again. I guess I remember more than I thought.”

By the time he heard the sound of running water, his shirt was clinging to his back.

“You’re going to love this,” she promised, trying to tug out of the grip he had on her hand like a recalcitrant child. “Come on; you can rest when we get there.”

“Why aren’t you sweating? It’s hot as fuck here.”

“I don’t know. I guess I don’t have the right jeans on.” She laughed, tugging on the leg of her thin crop pants. “You should have worn thinner clothing.”

“I’m getting ripped to shreds like it is. How come you’re not?”

“You’re taking the worst of it for me. You want me to go first?”

“No, but it would help if you would slow your roll down.”

“Fine. You don’t have to be so pissy.” She snorted, rolling her eyes at him.

They resumed walking and he continued to clear sections for them to step through. Finally reaching a hidden plateau, Reaper untangled a small grouping of palms, uncovering the amazing beauty of a waterfall. The spectacular height of the narrow waterfall towering above them was another surprise that was hidden from the outside.

Ginny squealed with happiness. “Isn’t it wonderful? Let’s go swimming!” Ginny was already removing her clothes.

Reaper tried to pull her shirt back down, only to find himself grasping for air when she slipped out of his hands like a fucking eel.

“You’re not going swimming naked,” Reaper burst out. He didn’t trust that Allerton wouldn’t send the boat back for them early, and the captain would search for them when they weren’t on the beach.

Ginny tossed him her shirt, showing the white swimsuit underneath.

“You could have suggested that I wear mine.”

“I thought it was obvious we would go swimming somewhere on the island. Quit being a fuddy-duddy and just leave your underwear on. You can let them dry out before putting your clothes back on,” she chirped, toeing out of her shoes.

“Is that what you did when you were a kid?”

“No, we all just swam naked. Most of the children went naked here because of the heat. If we did wear clothes, it was a thin nappy or a pair of shorts.”

“Your parents let you run around the island half-naked?”

“Of course not.” Ginny scrunched her face at him.

“At least that’s one thing I can give your mom credit for,” he murmured just to himself.

“I ran around like the ones my age—naked as a jaybird. My mother tried to keep shorts on me, but I would take them off as soon as she put them on,” she bragged. Then, going to the large pool, Ginny raised her face to catch the spray of falling water.

Reaper was still taking his jeans off when Ginny jumped into the pool of water, swimming toward the middle. He slowly tried to walk into the pool, only to find it was too deep and he had start swimming to keep his head above the water.

“You swam here when you were three?”

“Mmmhmm …” Laying on her back, Ginny did back strokes toward him. Then she straightened to tread water next to him. “This is my happy place. Whenever I wanted to run away from Lisa and Dalt, I would come here in my mind and everything would be okay again.” Drifting closer to him, she wound her arms around his shoulders as she wrapped her legs around his waist, trusting him to keep them afloat. “Do you have a happy place, Gavin?”

“No.”

“Then you do now. I don’t mind sharing it with you.” She laid her head on his shoulder as they idly drifted around.

“You missed this island, didn’t you?”

“So badly …