The momentary pain in his chest gone, Reaper gave chase after the water nymph, his own laughter filling the air as he pursued her. Reaper had to admire her, it took all of his skill to keep up with her. He had a natural affinity for water as did Ginny.
In olden times, sailors had been warned about sirens and their ability to steal a man’s soul with the sound of their voices. Reaper knew his thoughts were fucking ridiculous, blaming Ton who had spoon fed him old legends from Greek mythology of sirens who had healing powers derived from the water to heal the warriors they protected.
Using the rocks near the base of the waterfall, he was able to corral her by the waterfall, rocks, and him. Inwardly congratulating himself that he had her boxed in and would be able to outswim her to the open side, Reaper drifted closer to her.
His win of their game was within reach, until the water nymph spun in the water, her hands going to a large rock, intending to clamber up it.
“No.” Reaper’s voice sternly rang out to bring the game to an abrupt end. “Come here.”
Ginny paused, turning her head to look at him from over her shoulder.
“I don’t want you climbing on those rocks. They’re too slick.”
Ginny turned back to the rocks as if to ignore his warning.
“Come. Here.” His voice went deeper, darker. “Now.”
Ginny made a face at him, turning in the water to swim toward him. “I wasn’t going to get hurt.”
Reaper hooked a hand around her neck to pull her closer to him. “So we don’t have to keep arguing over this, I’m going to make this rule plain and simple. It doesn’t matter what you think, it only matters what I think when it comes to your safety.”
“I’ve already told you I disagree with your high-handedness.”
“Are you already breaking your promise to me?”
“Huh? What promise? I promised not to jump off the waterfall—”
“Is it too much for me to ask that anything concerning you getting hurt falls under the one and only rule I’m asking for you to follow—if I’m willing to give you the same say-so in regard to me?”
Her disgruntled expression cleared. “You mean it?”
“Yes. I swear, I won’t do anything that will endanger my welfare,” he promised, then made an important clarification. “Unless I need to protect you.”
“Then I promise the same … with the same condition.”
Reaper frowned. “No.”
“Then no right back at you.”
Reaper gritted his teeth. “If you become so afraid of something happening to me and you feel the need to step in, then you have to go to Viper first.”
“That doesn’t seem fair to me.”
“I’m a Last Rider; each of the brothers’ wives have a replacement brother to turn to. I want Viper to be yours … unless you want one of the other brothers?”
“That wouldn’t bother you if I picked someone other than Viper? What if I wanted Shade or Rider?”
His expression was deadpan. “No.”
“I don’t see Killyama going along with this.”
“She did.” However, Reaper neglected to tell Ginny about the chaos that erupted within the club when Killyama found out about the brothers having replacements.
Ginny glared at him distrustfully, as if she didn’t believe him. “Who did Killyama pick?”
“Rider.”
“It seems to me that’s another rule, which would make it two.”
“No. Just one rule. You won’t even need to go to Viper if you just follow the rule of not getting into any situations where you can be hurt.”
“Okay. Then if I get a replacement for you, you get one for me. Killyama can be mine.”
“Fuck no!”
“I thought you liked Killyama. You’ve given her roses.”
“I meant I’m never going to need a replacement. Nothing is going to happen to you. I won’t let it,” he said confidently.
“There’s something extremely sexy about you right now.”
“It’s all the tattoos,” he teased.
Her eyes flickered over the tattoos scattered over his body and skull. “I can’t disagree with that. Are any of them for Taylor?”
A red alert went off in his brain, but he gave her the truth anyway. “No.”
“Why?”
“Because good cover-ups are a bitch to find.”
“Are any of your tattoos for other women you’ve been with?”
“No.”
“Good.”
He rolled his eyes at her satisfaction. “Why?”
“If any woman is going to leave a mark on you, it’s gonna be me. You make me want to get a tattoo.” Ginny ran a hand lovingly over his shoulder.
“No.”
Ginny raised her eyebrows in confusion. “Why not?”
“Getting a tattoo hurts.” Reaper gave her the simplest answer, withholding the real truth.
“I can take a lot of pain.” She stopped moving her hand to cup the ball of his shoulder. “Getting a tattoo would be child’s play,” she scoffed.
“Okay …,” he scoffed back. “In regard to what?”
“Loving you.”
Reaper broke away from her to swim toward the bank to get out and shutting down any opportunity to illuminate her about his own feelings.