Prologue
Shade watched from a seat in the darkened corner of Evie’s living room, as she came through the front door, her startled eyes meeting his as she stepped into the room.
“Shade?”
Shade stared back at the woman who had been his friend since high school. Evie, her boyfriend at the time, Levi, and he had been an unbreakable trio that had gone on to join the military together. He and Evie had remained close friends throughout the years, even after Levi’s death. When she had made it known that she intended to join The Last Riders, he had tried to dissuade her, knowing it was a emotional reaction to losing Levi. Meeting her now husband King, Lily’s father, had been good for her. Every day, he saw a little more of the woman she used to be, before she had been raped and lost Levi.
“We need to talk.” Shade kept his face impassive. It was because of their friendship that he was there in her home.
Shade watched as Evie carefully placed her purse down on the coffee table. “I guess I don’t need to ask what about. How’s Mag?”
Shade’s expression didn’t alter at her question. Mag was Cash’s grandmother, who was recovering in the hospital after unknowingly eating poisoned beans intended for Lily, at the yearly town festival.
“Better. She’ll be at the hospital for a couple more days,” he said grimly.
“I’m surprised Cash didn’t come with you.”
“I told him it was my problem to deal with. He doesn’t agree. He wants to take Brooke out himself, but I told him no.” Shade got up from the chair and walked to the window, staring out at the small town. “He doesn’t need the death of a woman with a small child on his conscience.”
“You’re not worried about your own?” Evie asked.
“I don’t have one.” Shade shrugged.
“Shade, you have feelings. I don’t know why you think you don’t. Lily shows you’re capable of loving someone.”
“She’s the exception.”
“I don’t believe so, or you wouldn’t be here,” Evie said softly.
Shade turned to face her. “I’m here because you’re a Last Rider, and we’ve always been honest with each other, Evie. Brooke’s not going to stop until she hurts Lily, or I stop her.” He stared into her eyes, seeing the flash of pain she couldn’t hide.
“She’s my fraternal twin; I grew up with her and know her better than anyone else…” As Evie paused, taking a deep breath, Shade braced himself for her to ask for mercy on her sister’s behalf. “There is nothing redeemable inside of her. You think you have no conscience and can’t feel for anyone?” Her lips gave a mocking twist. “I begged my father for a cat when I was younger, and he finally allowed me to pick one out from the shelter. I was surprised when Brooke actually seemed to like it. She played with it all the time and even let it sleep curled up against her. We had that cat for six years, and it ended up being more hers than mine.
“One night, a boy she had been dating for a couple of weeks came over and had an allergic reaction to the cat. He wouldn’t come inside after that. A month later, the cat disappeared. I searched all over the neighborhood for it, kept going into the backyard thinking it would come back. I finally noticed a mound of dirt had been dug next to our garage. I dug it up and found my cat. Its throat had been slit, and it was wrapped in the blanket it always slept on. When I told Brooke, she never shed a tear and never admitted she had done it, but I knew she was the one who had killed it.
“Believe me, she’s the true psychopath. Do what you have to do.”
Shade gave a brief nod before asking, “What about your nephew?”
“He’ll still have a father, who’ll be better off without Brooke. Besides, it’s only a matter of time before she hurts one of them if they get in her way.”
“I can’t wait long. It’s not going to be easy to hold Cash back.”
Once Evie nodded, showing she understood her sister’s death was imminent, Shade went to the door.
“Shade…?”
He turned back to face her.
“Let Cash handle Brooke. You don’t need her death on your conscience.”
Shade gazed back impassively at Evie. “Cash is the one with a conscience. Me? I won’t feel a thing when I pull the trigger. I never do.”
Shade saw the doubt in Evie’s eyes.
“Your love for Lily shows you’re not as emotionless as you say.”
“Brooke claims she loves me. That’s why she tried to destroy you and kill Lily,” Shade mocked.
“You’re nothing like Brooke.”
“Aren’t I?”
* * *
The cold had been getting to him lately. I must be getting soft, Shade thought wryly to himself. He would have to remedy that soon; he couldn’t afford to be soft.
Protecting Lily kept him on his toes. He had never known a woman who managed to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time as often as her. She needed his skills and strength to keep her safe, and keeping Lily safe was his number one priority. Without her, he didn’t want to think what life would be like for him or others who would be unlucky enough to be near.
He stomped the snow off his boots before going inside the small office building. It was late enough that there wouldn’t be anyone to see him enter.
Making his way to the office of Knox’s wife, he bent over the lock, taking a few minutes to open the door. Then, sliding inside, he made his way into her private office and went to the window which gave him the view he had come to observe.
As he watched Brooke lay her son down in his crib to sleep, in hindsight, Shade thought he should have known Lily would change his life. It had taken two women to satisfy him the night after seeing her for the first time and then hours before he could purge her from his mind enough to sleep. And that had only been the beginning.
Standing in the darkness, staring at the church across the street, his mind played back over the series of events that had led him to that place in time…
Chapter 1
“What are you staring at?” Razer asked, turning away from the sheriff who was pretending he didn’t know them while inspecting their motorcycles.
Shade nodded toward the two women standing on the sidewalk across the street. His dick grew hard while staring at the young woman delicately eating an ice cream cone, imagining her tongue flicking against his cock as she sucked on him.
A low whistle had Shade glancing at Razer, who was staring as avidly as he was.
A reaction he had never had before flooded through his
bloodstream. At first, he didn’t recognize it, but the longer Razer stared, the feeling became stronger.
Possession.
Shade managed to gather control long enough to notice the details of the woman who had stopped his breath. Her long, black hair fell in waves down her back, almost touching the curve of her ass. She was tall and slim, which was different from the women he usually fucked. He liked curvier women. They didn’t break as easily from his demands. He also preferred large breasts, which the woman seemed to have from what he could tell under her loose dress. What held his attention, though, were the violet eyes which seemed to hold a wealth of pain he wanted to soothe away.
“Damn, I need to take that ice cream away and give her something better to lick,” Razer hissed in a lust-thickened voice.
Shade stared at him sharply, about to slam his fist into his face.
“Wonder if that blond hair is real or if she dyes it?”
Shade’s fury evaporated at his question. He had barely noticed the blond. The women were complete opposites—one as fair as the other was dark.
“Those two are hands-off.” The sheriff’s quiet remark drew his attention. “That’s Beth and Lily Cornett.”
Shade’s stomach sank. They were the women responsible for them being in Treepoint, Kentucky. When Cash, a brother from The Last Riders, had asked Shade’s father to check on the women, it had led to the club taking an interest in the town. Then he had learned the innocuous town was a vital part of a highly sophisticated system of drug trafficking, and Viper, their club president, had sent his brother Gavin in to set up a factory, which they would use as a front to establish themselves in community. At the same time that was going down, Lucky had been instructed to go undercover with the ATF, further increasing their odds of stopping the drugs flowing through the town. The result had been something none of them had anticipated.
Gavin had been murdered.
The Last Riders moved into the large home, and Viper was determined to find his brother’s killer. Each of the brothers had his role to play in the small community until Viper had the information he wanted, one being the secrecy of Shade’s relationship with his father, who happened to be the sheriff.
Shade saw the blond glancing furtively at Razer, but the dark-haired one never looked in his direction.
“Which is the one with dark hair?” Shade didn’t take his eyes off her.
“Lily, and she’s too young for you. She’s only seventeen.”
Shade didn’t do kids. He forced his gaze away, not looking back at the young woman again despite the constant pull he felt.
They followed the sheriff into his office for their new motorcycle licenses while Shade reminded himself she was too fucking young to deal with a man of his experience and desires. By the time he came back outside, the two women were gone.
Razer climbed onto his bike, not looking any happier than him.
“Which one did you have your eye on?” Razer asked casually.
“Does it matter? You heard what the sheriff said.”
“Not going to make a move on her, just curious.” A casual shrug couldn’t hide the fact Razer was just as interested in the blond as he was in the dark-haired one.
“Lily.” Shade felt a chill slide down his back as her name left his mouth.
“Cool.” Razer started his bike.
He gave a short laugh. “You don’t stand a chance with her.”
Razer gave a grin. “It’s a small town. Sooner or later, I’ll see her again.”
“And when you do?”
“She’s not underage, so there’s no reason I can’t talk to her.”
“You mean fuck her.”
“You think I stand a chance?”
Shade remembered the furtive look the blond had shot at Razer. “Yeah, but a woman like that doesn’t play like we do,” he warned. “Bitches like that get serious after they get your dick in them.”
“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.” Razer ignored his warning as he pulled out of the parking lot.
Shade started his own bike, thinking he wouldn’t interfere with Razer going after Beth Cornett. Because, despite his best intentions, he did want to see Lily again, and letting Razer pursue her sister just might give Shade the opportunity.
He rode his bike back to the clubhouse, parking next to Razer. Both men were quiet as they entered the front door. The other members were sitting around, talking and drinking.
Shade watched Sam get up from Memphis’s lap when she saw Razer, sidling up next to him. The blond slut had found her way into the club by getting friendly with one of the women members then started fucking her way through both the males and females.
Razer’s hand went to her ass, pushing her toward the steps as Sam stupidly giggled.
“You miss me while you were in town?”
Razer didn’t reply, following her up the steps.
“Coming, Shade?” Razer paused on the steps as Sam turned around to twine her arms around his neck, trying to kiss him. Razer didn’t let the woman have his mouth; instead, he picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder.
Shade chose to follow them and as he entered the doorway, Razer already had Sam’s shorts off and was bending her over the side of the bed. Shade watched as Razer put on a rubber then pounded his hard dick into the moaning bitch. Then he walked farther into the room, taking off his clothes before climbing onto the bed where he knelt in front of Sam as Razer pounded into her from behind.
Sam licked her bottom lip as she watched him take his cock in his hand, sliding it up and down his shaft.
“Want it?” he taunted her as his thumb slid over the crest, smearing a drop of his semen.
“Yes,” she moaned, lowering her head.
She licked at the top of his dick, causing Shade to groan as he pictured a dark-haired woman over him instead of the one using her experienced mouth to make him harden further. He thrust in and out of her mouth as she sucked, using the skills she had perfected on the other brothers in the club to have him coming in her mouth.
“You never come that fast,” Sam moaned as his cock slipped from her lips.
He didn’t reply as he sprawled back on the bed to watch Razer come in her greedy pussy. Her screams filled the bedroom as she orgasmed, making him wince, and Shade almost climbed out of the bed to leave, but he was already getting hard again.
When Razer pulled out and went to the bathroom, Sam lay down next to him, her hand going teasingly to his cock.
Shade jerked her hand away. “You know the rules. You don’t touch without my permission.”
“I’m sorry.” Sam pouted.
“You don’t look sorry.” Shade narrowed his eyes on her unrepentant face. “But you will be. Go downstairs to my room and get my flogger.”
She jumped off the bed without bothering to put on any clothes and was out the bedroom door in a flash.
Razer came out of the bathroom. “She doesn’t seem too worried,” he laughed.
“She likes to be flogged as much as she likes to fuck. You up for another go-around?”
“Might take me a couple of minutes, but I’m game.”
Sam came bounding into the room minutes later with the flogger, handing it to him. He watched as she climbed on the bed, getting on her knees and thrusting her ass up to him.
He used the flogger on her sparingly because she simply got too much enjoyment from it, and he enjoyed not giving her what she wanted. He waited to fuck her until she was begging for his dick, and then he fucked her until she begged him to stop.
He didn’t let himself come inside her, though. Even with a condom on, he never let himself come inside any of the women.
When he was finished, he turned to Bliss who had entered the room to wait her turn.
“Want to take a shower?”
“What do you think?” She grinned, pulling off her clothes then following him into the bathroom.
Shade showered, letting Bliss run her soap-covered hands over his body, washin
g the scent of sex off. Then she kneeled at his feet and sucked him off; she had managed to get him hard again. The brothers called her Bliss because that was what it felt like when you fucked her. Shade personally thought she was just as good giving a blowjob.
Shade wrapped a towel around his hips, leaving both women in bed with Razer as he went to his own room. Lying in the bed, he stared up at the dark ceiling for hours before he finally managed to find sleep.
Chapter 2
Razer had been right; it was a small town, and he saw her again much sooner than he had expected. The weather was warm, and several of the brothers wanted to go for a swim at the nearby lake. The women packed a couple coolers with beer before they headed out.
Shade was starting his bike when Sam climbed on behind him. He almost told her to get off then noticed the other brothers already had bitches on the back of their bikes. He would have preferred Evie or Jewell; at least they wouldn’t cling to him like a fucking leech. Regardless, the ride to the lake relaxed him despite Sam’s presence.
As Razer slowed down, making the turn onto the isolated spot where they could party in private, Shade was surprised to see Beth Cornett kneeling on a blanket while her sister swam.
He climbed off his bike without taking his eyes off Lily, who had frozen when she saw the motorcycles pull into the small lot. Shade swallowed hard as his eyes slid down the curves of her body while she merely stood in the water, her hands going to her breasts to cover the flesh left exposed by the pink bikini she was wearing. He was grateful the sunglasses he was wearing were dark enough to hide the lust he was sure would be visible, until he saw the terror in her beautiful face.
With so many eyes on her, she was petrified.
“Mind if we join you?” Razer asked as he walked up to Beth.
“Not at all, but as you can see, we’re about to leave.” Beth looked worriedly at Lily.
“We can’t tempt you to stay?” Shade heard Razer ask.
“No. We’ve been here awhile, and the sun is getting to us.”