Giving Shade his phone back, Train climbed back on his bike. “I have to see her.”
“No. She made me promise not to tell you or any of the brothers that she helped. Think about it, brother. Why did she go through so much to help Sasha out? And why go through the trouble to keep us from finding out?”
The brothers stared at each other, all trying to figure out Killyama’s motives.
“I might know,” Knox spoke up in the extended silence. “Diamond has been on my case to talk Sasha into turning herself in when she found out a warrant had been taken out for her in Ohio. I told her there wasn’t anything to be worried about. Then, remember about a month ago, when I received a call from the DA? He wanted me to stake out the clubhouse to see if she was there. Diamond was also called, asking her to convince Sasha to turn herself in, and was asked if she knew where she was. We both lied, saying she was hiding out with family in Wyoming.”
Knox’s thoughtful expression and the account of the increased interest in Sasha’s whereabouts had all the brothers starting to connect the dots.
“Sex Piston,” Train stated, staring at the large hospital.
Killyama was behind one of those windows. She had deliberately put herself at risk to relieve Sex Piston’s fear that her sister would be held culpable for lying to the courts.
“You think Sex Piston told her to do it? Or did she do it on her own?” Train asked the question more to himself than the men.
“On her own,” Knox answered. “I think Diamond confided in her sister that she was worried about losing her license and me losing my job as sheriff. Then Sex Piston bitched about it to Killyama. I can see her throwing herself under the bus to protect them.”
“I can, too,” Viper agreed, looking at the cell phone with the blood she had shed to protect those she loved. “She did nearly get herself killed when she protected Lily and Winter. With Sex Piston, she would try to walk on water to protect that bitch.”
Train’s heart was so heavy he had to sit down on his motorcycle to get his strength back.
“That’s why she waited to call my debt in. She waited so Sex Piston couldn’t be blamed. She didn’t even tell Stud, so it wouldn’t cause a rift between him and Sex Piston.” Viper was taking her sacrifice as hard as Train was.
“And between me and Diamond.” Knox didn’t leave his own guilt out of the conversation. “If anyone found out that Diamond had confided in Sex Piston, she could have lost her law license for breach of privacy.”
Train laughed so hard his head fell back. Staring upward at sky, he saw the sun was beginning to rise. “I am such a dumb fuck,” he castigated himself. “When she came to Rosie’s, she told me that if I broke my rule of not fucking anyone who didn’t belong to The Last Riders, she would give me the go-ahead to fuck the club women. Deep down, I knew she was lying to me. Killyama would never put up with any man who slept with others, even if it was a casual hook-up.”
Train was a man who knew when he was beaten. Instinctively, he had known Killyama wasn’t as laid back about their arrangement as she had pretended, but he had believed it because it achieved his own goal. He had wanted her on his terms: no relationship, no caring, and especially no love. She hadn’t been the only one lying to him. He had been lying to himself.
“Brother, I could have warned you if I had known she said that. Those bitches don’t even share clothes. If Diamond asks to borrow something from Sex Piston, she tells her no, or that she doesn’t want it anymore.”
Knox rarely talked about the dynamic between Diamond and the bitches. Train thought it was because the antics they got into grated on his more reserved personality. Now he could see that Knox had grown to like his sister-in-law and her friends.
“When Killyama asked Lily to borrow those high-priced heels I bought her, she told Lily she wasn’t getting them back.”
“You like her, don’t you?” Train asked, knowing Shade would rip off anyone’s head who denied Lily what she wanted.
“It’s hard not to like the woman who saves your wife’s life.” Shade didn’t admit nor deny it, which meant he technically admitted it.
“Like is a strong word for how I feel about her, but I can respect why Killyama did what she did,” Viper conceded. He clearly wasn’t going to get over his hurt pride anytime soon.
“I don’t think Sex Piston was the only one she tried to protect.” Train replayed the words that Winter had told him. “Winter tried to tell me that Killyama is in love with me. I blew it off when she told me, but I think she’s right. Getting the charges dropped against Sasha is her way of saying she is sorry.”