“Like you said, I can’t take the jewelry.”
“You won’t have to. Just arrange for it to be seen easily. The cops won’t need a search warrant if the jewelry is in plain sight when the police and the fire department put out the fire you set.”
“Sounds like you have everything all planned out. What I don’t understand is what you need me for? You, Hammer, and Jonas can do this on your own. If you think you’re going to win points from Train, you won’t. He hates you right now. The whole club does. You’ve broken a friendship with the Destructors, and the fallout will affect Beth, Lily, and Diamond, too. Viper ordered them not to have any association with you.”
Killyama didn’t blink an eye, knowing any response she made would be recounted to The Last Riders.
“Dude, is that supposed to get me upset? I don’t give a fuck about The Last Riders, and if Beth, Lily, and Diamond listen to Viper, that’s on them, not me. The only fallout I need you to care about is when the shit hits the fan, and daddy big bucks comes racing back from his vacation. Then you make sure it doesn’t get swept under the rug. To do that, it’s going to take lots of money and finesse. You wouldn’t have caught Lily’s attention if you couldn’t handle that. The dude whose card I gave you can help you and will point you in the right direction.”
“I take it he wants his own cut?” Shade took the card out of his pocket to look at it. “He’s not a lawyer? How can a Professor of Economics at the university help?”
“He has money and connections, and he’s running for mayor. He’s trying to get into politics, but two things have stopped him: Kane’s father and the current mayor. If Yates helps us, it eliminates daddy big bucks who holds the mayor’s purse strings. One thing Kentucky and Ohio have in common is the good ol’ boy system. Yates wants to prove corruption in the courts system and slide into home plate. But does it really matter as long as Sasha gets out?”
“Moon will be all over this plan. The mayor has been breathing down his neck ever since he found out his daughter wasn’t the virgin she was pretending to be.”
Killyama laid her hand over his when he would have reached for his cell phone. “No. You’re the only one I want to know what’s going down … now and when it’s over. I don’t care how you explain it to The Last Riders; just keep me out of it. That’s my price … Take it or leave it.”
Shade scrutinized her expression, pulling his hand away from her touch. “Why?”
“As long as you come out looking and smelling like a hero, and Sasha goes back to fucking everyone’s brains out, we all get what we want.”
“I’ll play it your way, but you’re making a mistake you’re going to regret.”
“What am I going to regret? That The Last Riders can’t stand me? They never did. The Destructors? Hell, Stud is going to be just as mad at me as The Last Riders. The women? They’ll work it out by telling Viper to shove his order up his ass.” Killyama sidestepped around his bike, going to her ride.
“Will you at least tell me why you did it?”
She stepped up into the black Escalade. “I was bored.” Slamming her door closed, she drove away.
Train was the only one who mattered, and he wouldn’t care that her heart was breaking at the lie she had told Shade.
She turned the window wipers’ speed up faster when the drizzle turned into a downpour. She drove easily as the streets to the hotel were beginning to flood. She wasn’t timid on slick roads; she liked everything about rain—the way it made everything smell new, the way it sounded on a roof, the way it felt on your skin … the way heaven could weep the tears she refused to shed.
Shade watched the taillights until she was out of sight before taking out his phone again.
“Any news?” Train’s low voice answered.
“You alone?”
“No. What do you need?”
Shade heard Jewell mutter something in the background.
“Never mind. I’ll talk you later when I find something out.”
Hanging up, he started his bike, riding back to the clubhouse. Once there, he shook off the rain as he ran into the clubhouse where Rider was waiting for him inside.
“What did Killyama want?”
“Wake Moon up. We have work to do.”
14
Crash raised his eyes from his cards. “Who was that?”
Train set his cell phone down on the kitchen table. “Shade.”
“What did he want?”
“He didn’t say. He was acting weird.”
“Shade weird or weird-weird?”
“I don’t know. I can’t explain it. Call him back and ask him.” Using the tip of his cards, he shoved his cell phone toward Crash.