“I guess he didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”
“It’s my fault for always getting someone else to take my kitchen chores. Payback is a bitch.”
“That’s for sure.” Evie grinned. “Next time, pick a restaurant he doesn’t eat at every day for lunch.”
“Do you have more of the ingredients? We could help you make a batch,” Willa offered, taking off her coat.
Bliss swallowed the lump in her throat. Willa wanted to help her out when, once upon a time, she wouldn’t have thought about helping the woman if the roles had been reversed.
Willa caught her ashamed look, placing her hands on her hips as she glared at Bliss. “Don’t you dare. This is Christmas Eve, and we’re going to have fun. Got it? Now, where are the extra ingredients?”
Bliss smiled. She had definitely learned not to poke Willa’s temper.
“Here.” Bliss went to the cabinet to pull out more of the ingredients, and then the women went to work baking cookies.
The kitchen filled with laughter when Beth found the cookie sheet in the trash can.
“I can take care of that.” Lily took it away from her sister, going to the sink.
Bliss didn’t know what to say to the women as they made the cookies. It reminded her of the many Christmas Eves at the clubhouse when they would make them and spike the hot chocolate.
Lily opened the door to the oven when Bliss carried the sheet over.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Bliss slid the cookies into the oven then closed the door before turning to Lily. “Lily, I don’t know how to say how sorry I am.”
“You already did. I’m glad you’re back in the club. None of us wanted you gone.”
“You didn’t?” Bliss found that hard to believe. They might have forgiven her for being a bitch, but she was sure it was long after she had left the clubhouse. She looked around the room at the women skeptically. “Wait, The Last Riders are letting me back in?”
“Yes,” Winter answered. “Didn’t Drake tell you? He talked Viper into letting him in the club without prospecting, and he passed the initiation today. Then he used markers the club owed him to get you voted back into the club.”
“That’s why he was so busted up!” Bliss exclaimed, her mind going back to the men as they came through the door. He had fought Viper, Train, Rider, and Razer.
“Yes.” Beth scooped more dough onto the extra cookie sheet.
“Cash said welcome back, by the way. He couldn’t come tonight, since he’s drunk off his ass. We dropped him off on the way here, which is why Drake got here before us.” Stori turned on the light in the oven. “They’re almost done.”
“He was the drunkest I’ve ever seen him.” Raci giggled as she wiped the kitchen counters. “He kept repeating, ‘It’s the best Christmas ever.’”
“The cookies are done.” Willa handed Bliss the oven mitts, and she pulled out cookies that were the perfect color.
Setting them down on the counter, she stared at the chocolate-chip cookies that had defeated her numerous times before.
“They’re perfect. Thank you.”
The women all had to have one to taste-test the batch. Then Bliss slid the tray Beth had prepared into the oven.
Drake and the rest of the men came in as the last batch was baking. She gave Drake worried glances, but she was relieved when he gave her a reassuring smile, grabbing several cookies for himself when Rider, Shade, and Train began devouring them.
“You don’t want any, Viper?” Bliss felt awkward around the leader, still finding it hard to believe she had been accepted back in the club.
“No, thanks.” Viper winced when he tried to offer a smile. “My jaw is too sore.”
“Poor baby,” Winter crooned with mock sympathy. “I’ve told you that you should find a better way to vote in members.”
“Nothing else would be as much fun.”
“I don’t know about that. The way we vote in the women is pretty damn fun for me.”
“Rider, if you want to vote in men the way we vote in women, go for it.”
As Rider took another cookie and moved away, the women all burst out laughing.
Razer and Train both looked like Drake hadn’t been any easier on them. They reminded her of the night they had gotten in a fight with the Destructors at the Pink Slipper, but it had taken several of the bikers to give them the beating Drake had. She wondered how Rider had managed to get through the fight seemingly without a mark on him.
Evie had called King and asked him to increase Bliss’s order substantially. When it arrived, it reminded Bliss of old times, when they sat around the kitchen and tried to grab the food before it was gone then sat and talked until late in the night.
Drake leaned back, placing his arm around Bliss’s waist. “Having fun?”
Bliss leaned tiredly against him, yawning. “It’s the best Christmas Eve I’ve ever had. Thank you. I’ll always remember it.”