Bliss was still in mourning her loss of The Last Riders; it wasn’t something she was going to get over in a single a day, if ever.
Silas and her other brothers still remained aloof. Even when she occasionally saw them around town, they’d say a quick hello or avoid her altogether. She’d been lucky to reunite with Trudy, and having re-established that relationship, she’d forgiven Silas and made numerous attempts to reestablish their ties but, like Bliss, each and every overture was rejected. But deep down she hadn’t tried to bridge the gap between them, because she knew they were safer without her. Still, it was sad that she’d never had the opportunity to talk to Silas.
She left the note where Bliss would see it. Her new roommate was still in the healing stage, wary of being burned, like she had all those years ago. Ginny had to earn her trust, and she was good with that—she had the same habit.
Driving to the clubhouse, she cranked the volume up on her radio, happily singing in the privacy of her car.
Entering the back door of the clubhouse, she saw Viper and Winter sitting at the table, drinking coffee. “Hello,” she greeted them, going straight to the refrigerator to take out a massive package of hamburger.
“Hi,” both of them greeted her back as Winter stood up, carrying her cup to the counter.
“I saw you were making meatloaf and potatoes for lunch. I already have the potatoes boiling, and I cut up the vegetables. What else can I help you with?”
“If you could pull the ingredients out for the chili and start frying some of this hamburger, I can put it together once I get the meatloaf in the oven,” Ginny said as she briskly moved around the kitchen. During each of the meals, someone was always there to help her.
With the two of them working together, it didn’t take long to have lunch ready and set out on the counter for the men and women to line up and fill their plates.
Constantly pulling rolls out of the oven and refilling empty platters, she didn’t have time to catch her breath until Train, Rider, Razer, and Beth were eating at the table.
“Why don’t you take a break and join us?” Beth asked as she started loading the dishwasher.
“Thank you, but I ate lunch before I came.” Picking up what was left of the meatloaf, Ginny carried it to the table, setting it down in the middle. “You guys can finish it off.”
Rider stabbed his fork into the meatloaf, putting it on his plate before she could move away. She shook her head as Train used his fork to steal half off Rider’s plate. Sharing an amused look with Razer’s wife, she stepped away from the table to finish loading the dishwasher.
Other than brief, friendly comments, none of the bikers made an effort to talk to her. Willa told her that Viper and Lucky had warned the men that if they said anything that could be considered flirtatious or inappropriate to her, they would be sent back to the Ohio Charter.
The men didn’t give her a second look. Personally, she didn’t think it was because they’d been threatened. Compared to the women available to them at the club and those accessible to them in town, she wasn’t worth risking Viper’s and Lucky’s anger. All she had to do was look in a mirror to see that there was nothing about her that deserved another look from a man.
She wasn’t pretty, but neither was she ugly. She wasn’t tall or skinny; her body was on the “eh” side, she didn’t have any noticeable curves either, other than the small pouch of stomach that was the bane of her existence. Her hair was just plain brown, like everything else about her—all plain.
The great thing about being plain was that she went unnoticed. Unless it’s Carter Dawkins, she corrected herself. She knew from the moment Dalt introduced her to him that she should have refused the job offer.
Dalt and Carter were friends, and he had told Dalt that he needed a new receptionist when his current one left on maternity leave. Wanting a job so she could finally move out of the Wests’ home, which Ginny knew was why she had been introduced to Mr. Dawkins, she said yes.
She had no more than started the job and moved into the Toby’s spare room that she noticed Mr. Dawkins was lingering excessively long at her desk to explain the job. She was a quick leaner and hadn’t needed him standing over her shoulder to the extent he had. When he started giving her small touches on the shoulder and arms, she moved away. Then, two weeks into the job, after they closed the office and the other workers had left, he’d nearly raped her, but she’d managed to get away.