Club Justice (17 page)

Ginny smirked at the comparison.

“Does heavy equipment turn you on, baby?”

“In the right hands.”

“I like your honesty.”

“Funny, so did he until last night.”

“What did you ask him?”

“Nothing.”

Ginny raised a questioning brow.

“You had to say something to spook him.”

G.G. sighed.

“He asked what I was thinking about. I told him I was just trying to figure out who he was and how he fit in. I am not a woman that tiptoes into things. I was just looking around to see where I stood. He said it was dangerous. Shit, I don’t know. I wasn’t digging. I would have waited to ask any questions I had until we were alone. I don’t know what else he wanted from me. He claims not to want stupid but his actions sure say otherwise.”

The older woman’s laughter was a surprise and G.G. wasn’t sure how to take it.

“Did I say something funny?”

“Soulful, artistic, sensitive… but still a man. They don’t like to have to work when it comes to women.”

“We wouldn’t want them if they were sissified.”

“So you’re not giving up on him?”

G.G. rolled her eyes.

“Do I look like a quitter to you? I am just giving the stud some time to think. It is always so much easier when they think things are their idea.”

“Hmphh well, it seems my work here is done.”

“How do you figure? I think I could learn a lot from you.”

“Ah, young grasshopper, you flatter me.”

Both women laughed.

“Can I get you a cappuccino, Irish cream?” G.G. asked, motioned toward a comfy sitting area.

“I’d like that.”

Chapter Nineteen

Ginny closed her eyes as the icy margarita melted on her tongue. This was exactly what she needed, a little fun in the sun with the girls. One of Garrett’s friends had called the night before inviting him to go to Cedar Point for the day and with Zeke back to work, the pool was all theirs. Perfect. Trailing her fingers in the water, she half-assed listened to Kat’s rant about a stupid salesclerk. She could just picture her best friend’s impatience and irritation, Kat hated to shop anyways.

“…How many uses does the jackass think there are for a pregnancy test?”

Jerking upright, Ginny flailed wildly, cursing as she tried to keep her float from capsizing. She hissed as margarita sloshed on her sun warmed thigh, dribbling down her bikini line. Finally grasping Kat’s proffered hand to steady herself, she stared into her friends laughing green eyes in disbelief.

“You’re pregnant?”

“And here I thought you were asleep over there,” Kat teased drawing laughter from the other girls as they pressed close to offer congratulations.

Leaning over Ginny hugged her tight, both rafts dipping dangerously and margarita making its way down Kat’s back.

“Watch it! I’m getting all sticky here.”

“Yeah, you and me both,” Ginny giggled, sloshing water over her lap to wash away the mess. “My God, what did Crux say?”

“He’s proud as punch and scared as hell all at once. I think both of us had pretty much given up thinking about it. We just assumed it wasn’t in the cards after this many years. You and Zeke’s boys and you and Bowie’s girls are almost raised and here we are just starting out,” Kat said waving to Ginny and Amber.

“Have you been to the doctor?” Amber asked.

“I have an appointment Wednesday, but I took four home tests and they were all glaringly positive,” Kat laughed.

“You all know what this means!” Ginny said with a grin.

“Baby shower!” they all shouted in return, talking over one another in an effort to start the planning immediately. 

“Jesus, noooo,” Kat groaned. “I am telling you right now that I will bitch slap the first one that tries to measure my stomach, guess my weight or pin the tail on the pregnant broad.”

“Have we ever done anything that lame?” Ginny asked with an affronted sniff.

“Garrett was the last baby of the group…”

“Exactly, and what did we do?”

“Oh my God, we went to that fabulous spa,” Kat remembered, rolling her eyes in delight before turning to the others. “We had so much fun. An entire weekend of the most incredible pampering and food you could ask for.”

Ohhs and ahhhs dripping with envy sounded from the newer girls. Ginny smiled smugly at Amber.

“As if we would do something as mundane as crepe-paper and pacifier decorations.”

“Oh, please,” Amber drawled, high fiving with her co-hort.

“Can we still buy baby gifts?” Lee asked shyly.

“Of course, Lee. We will have a small party at the spa, only with decadent desserts and sparkling champagne instead of a cake with ‘Baby on Board’ and Hawaiian Punch.”

“You throw the best parties.”

“Isn’t she the best?” Kat asked. “I remember Amber and I both being a bit offended when she told us she was planning her own damn baby shower, but how could we argue with a spa weekend?”

“Who’s paying for this fabulous spa weekend? Or is this another thing you were planning on leaving me out of like today?”

Becca glared at them all from the edge of the patio, hands on her bony hips.

“Would you take the hint then?” Ginny asked wryly.

“Nice, Ginny. How is it fair that you invite all the other girls over and don’t even bother to include me? I have to find out from Rhys that there’s a girl’s pool party? Half of these bitches haven’t been around near as long as I have. I don’t even know who pixie there is fucking. I’m fucking your son! Why can’t you accept that? I belong here!”

“First off, Princess, this is my house. I decide who belongs here. Secondly, just because you keep my son’s dick wet, doesn’t mean I have to like you. I would’ve thought you’d have figured that one out a long time ago,” Ginny said, sliding off her raft and stepping out of the pool. Pausing beside the platinum blond pixie, she held out her margarita glass. “Would you mind holding this for a minute, G.G.? I think Becca might need a refresher on pool safety.”

“My pleasure.”

Becca backed away as Ginny turned in her direction. The other women slowly deserted the pool, all eyes locked on Ginny.

“Don’t you want Rhys to be happy?” The younger woman whined, still backing for the gate.

“It’s exactly because I want my son to be happy that I will never accept you.” The simple truth in Ginny’s words rang with stark finality.

Opening her eyes to the ferocity of a mother’s conviction, Becca turned and fled.

Silence hung over the small group for a moment.

“I was seriously hoping you didn’t contaminate the pool with that skank. There are not enough chemicals to kill that kind of nasty,” Kat cracked.

The girls burst into peals of laughter.

“And Zeke calls Mox the dumb one,” Ginny sighed, holding her ribs. “My son sticks his dick in that. My only comfort is the sheer number of condoms he goes through. I can only hope he is triple wrapping that rascal.”

“Don’t hold back, Gin. Tell us how you really feel.”

“What? Just because you’re preggers, you’re delicate now? You’re the one that started this with the ‘that kind of nasty’ comment.”

“I think it was dear Becca that started our war of blunt, however she did make a really valid point while she was here, crass or not,” Amber said seriously. At everyone’s expectant silence she turned to G.G. “Who
are
you sleeping with?”

They laughed until tears rolled, gasping and holding their ribs. Finally gaining some semblance of sense about her, Ginny waved her hand,

“Amber Cormac meet Gia Graddy, affectionately known as G.G., owner of the new music store in town by the same moniker and sleeping with our resident guitar slinger, Sambo.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you. Oh, and I’m married to and sleeping with, Liam, Bowie, Big Red, whatever the guys are calling him today,” Amber giggled shaking hands.

“You girls are a riot,” G.G. said with a big grin.

“If we are going to go around declaring who we are sleeping with, it’s probably a good thing Becca left and Flo wasn’t invited, because I’m getting hungry and don’t have that kind of time,” Kat said, swiping a carrot stick through the dip.

Smacking playfully at her best friend, Ginny stepped over to light the grill.

“Lee is shacking up with Reaper, Kat is married to Crux, Tamara is Taz’s long time ol’ lady, and Ginny is shagging our club pres., Zeke, at every opportunity,” Amber supplied over the laughter.

“Must be where Rhys gets it from.”

“With Zeke and Gin as parents he wasn’t going to be a monk.”

“I’m not asking him to be a monk, just selective,” Ginny said coming back with the marinated chicken breasts and salmon filets.

“What if Rhys marries her?”

“Nothing changes. I love him, but I wasn’t bluffing. She’s disrespectful to Zeke, downright mean to Mox, talks down to Garrett, and doesn’t make my baby happy. I will continue to do everything in my power to make her life a living hell until she gets the picture.”

“Hell hath no fury like a mother protecting her cub,” G.G. said shaking her head in admiration. Ginny winked at her.

“Well, at least I have some first class mamas to teach me the ropes. Both Crux’s and my mother have passed so we are on our own.”

“You are never alone, little sister,” Ginny said fiercely, giving Kat a squeeze before turning back to the grill.

“Sounds like Becca had a meltdown at the shop today. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?” Zeke asked casually.

Brushing out her hair, Ginny regarded her husband in the mirror. He looked tired. She shrugged.

“I might.”

“What’d you do?”

“I told her the truth.”

“Which truth would that be?”

“That I’m never going to accept her into this family.”

“What was she doing here anyway?” Zeke asked, thumping his pillow irritably.

“Ask your son. I didn’t invite her. He told her about it and she crashed the party.”

“Right, your pool party was today. Who was here?”

“Kat, Amber, Lee, Tamara, and G.G.”

“In other words, her complaint that she was the only ol’ lady not invited has merit.”

“I really don’t give a shit what her complaint was, Zeke. I tried to drown her last time she was in my pool. You’d think she’d get the hint.”

“You’d think your son would get the hint.”

“So now he is my son?”

“The pretty one has always been your son.” Zeke said with a chuckle, ducking the hairbrush hurled his way.

“Is he upset?”

“Nah, I think his ears are still bleeding from her whining, but more annoyed than upset. I swear that kid must have the patience of a saint. I would have strangled her a long time ago.”

“I would still like to know what that skank does in the sack that keeps that boy coming back.”

“Is that a little envy I hear?”

“Don’t tell me you haven’t wondered the same thing.”

“I’m a man. I think about sex at least once every seven seconds.”

“Point taken, but one of us is really going to have to ask Rhys,” Ginny said, flipping off the light and sliding into bed.

“Call me an old dog, but if you’re not already doing it for me, it’s probably not natural.”

Ginny snorted in amusement and rolled to kiss her husband,

“Old goat is more like it.”

Chapter Twenty

“Zeke treated his mother like a queen. You know what they say, ‘watch the way a man treats his mother to know how he’ll treat you.’ He was crushed when she passed away. They said it was pneumonia, but I think she was just worn out. She was such a hard worker, Meg Brawer. It’s probably where Zeke gets it from. After his mother passed, he joined the Marines. Nobody thought he would be back. There was nothing holding him here, you know. I think that he came back to Trinity Falls to do his duty by the Kennedy family, being such a close friend of their son, Trent. That’s when Ginny threw herself at him. I think he still felt so guilty about Trent not coming back, and then her father dying in the fire, that he fell for her tears. She didn’t have anybody with Lillian crazy with grief and in a hospital, and neither did Zeke, so they shacked up. Pretty soon she was pregnant with Rhys and he did the right thing. Any trouble in his life has been a direct result of his relationship with that bitch.”  

Sipping his coffee, Kramer nodded his head in encouragement. It was all the gossipmonger needed to continue her diatribe.

“Anyway, you asked about the night of the fire. It was horrible. You could see the flames shooting up into the sky clear out here at the truck stop. I was working. There are so many rumors but, one thing that several people seem to agree on is Ginny showed up at The Lantern asking for Zeke at the back door late that night. Not the front door like a normal, decent person, but slinking in the back door like she had something to hide. Ginny always was a wild child. Speculation is that her daddy found out she had designs on Zeke, who is four or five years older than Ginny, they got into it and she set the fire before she split. She must’ve told Zeke about it because he and a couple of the other Lords went tearing out of the restaurant shortly after she got there. By the time the fire department got there they managed to get Lillian out, but couldn’t save Bill.”

“In your scenario she would’ve had to disable her father and mother in some way and set the blaze before she fled the house. How far was the house from The Lantern?”

“Their house was about four miles outside of town.”

“That doesn’t add up.  The reports say she arrived on foot and drenched from the rain. It would have taken her roughly an hour to walk into town and everyone says she had already made it to The Lantern, talked to Brawer, and he had left, before the flames were spotted.”  

“You don’t believe the official report that claims the fire was caused by a gas leak, do you?”

“Not at all. Who went with Brawer that night when he left the restaurant?”

“I believe it was Bowie and that Boscelli character. They were practically his shadows when they came back from the Marines. Boscelli’s not from around here, but he came back with Zeke and never left.”