wasn’t, but he could pretend he was … for now. Being sent home because Ginny refused protection from The Last Riders due to his behavior would be even worse.
“Good.” Ginny leaned closer to him, and Reaper stiffened when her hands went to the sides of his hips.
“Don’t touch ….”
Ginny expertly drew the sides of his seatbelt toward his abdomen, clicking it into place. “Safety first.”
Lowering his lashes to glare at her threateningly, he clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth, the sound making her lift her brows at him.
“I’m still chill,” he said behind clenched teeth.
“You don’t look it.” She raised her brows higher.
His hands grasped the armrests tighter to stop himself from tossing her through the tiny window. “I am. So, where do you want to eat?”
“Dirty Dan’s. I’m dying for a bag of burgers and fries.”
“Dirty Dan’s?”
“Don’t worry, you’ll love it,” she assured him chipperly as the wheels bounced down onto the landing strip.
“I prefer not to eat at a place called Dirty Dan’s.”
“I’ll remind you of that when you want to go back.”
Everyone waited in the seats until Cross came out of the cockpit. As he opened the door, the others on the plane began gathering their things from the overhead compartments.
Ginny unfastened her seatbelt to stand. “I won’t be a minute to grab my purse.”
“Take your time.”
Unfazed by his lack of eagerness, she went back to her original seat.
As he stood to retrieve his duffle bag, he caught the signal that Nickel would be outside.
“Want to catch a bite to eat, Ginny?”
Closing the overhead bin, Reaper turned to see D-Mon come up behind Ginny to take out the leather purse she had stowed.
Turning, Ginny placed a hand on the seat to brace herself to maintain distance from D-Mon. “No, thanks.” Taking the purse from D-Mon, she frowned and indicted she wanted to get past him so she could walk down the narrow aisle.
“I’m only talking about catching a quick bite.” D-Mon placed an arm along the overhead bin, effectively keeping Ginny from leaving.
“No. I like our working relationship just as it is, don’t you agree?”
“You don’t have a problem hanging with Kaden or Ax. Why not me? Could it be I’m just the low man on the totem pole?”
Shrugging the strap of his duffel bag onto his shoulder, Reaper didn’t interfere, curious to know if he was the only man she had no problem holding her own with. If D-Mon tried to get out of hand, though, he was close enough to bash the guitarist’s face inside out if she got in trouble. Hell, he might do it, anyway. It would be the perfect way to get sent home by defending Ginny’s honor. Viper wouldn’t be able to blame him when Cross sent him back.
“I don’t hang out with Kaden or Ax. What we do is work. Which is more than I can say for you. If you worked as hard as you played, we wouldn’t have such long rehearsals. I’m sure your bandmates, as well as the crew and I, would appreciate that.
“You’re a big boy. You should be able to hear the word no without turning nasty. If not, you can be the one to explain to Kaden why I won’t be practicing with the band anymore.” Straightening, she took a step forward, forcing D-Mon to remove his hand from the bin.
He put both hands in air, backtracking at the frostbitten look Ginny was giving him. “I was just playing around.”
“I was never good at playing those types of games, and I don’t plan to start now, especially not with you.”
Reaper had to give her credit; even though he was standing just a few inches away and the other band members never once looked at them or told D-Mon to back off, she handled the amorous guitarist herself. He had lost count of the number of times Taylor had turned to him or one of The Last Riders when she hadn’t wanted to be bothered.
“Message received. Can’t blame a guy for trying.” Moving aside, he went down the aisle and toward the front of the plane where the others were getting off.
“Ready?” Spotting him, Ginny’s annoyance with D-Mon melted into the same unreserved friendliness she continued to treat him with, as if they were best fucking friends. The only time she hadn’t acted like that was when he tried to lay down the law. Even then, she managed to turn the tables on him.
“Yes.” Reaper went down the aisle, leaving Ginny to