“Rachel told me she saw you at the diner. I thought you would have already gone home.” Lily smiled up at him.
“I thought I would stop by and see if you wanted to close the store early and take a nap before the party.”
Rachel was throwing Mrs. Langley a birthday party. She was Winter’s aunt, so she was basically extended family to The Last Riders, and Beth cared for her; therefore, they had all been invited.
Lily bit her lip. “We haven’t had a customer in two hours.”
“Go ahead, Lily. I’ll stay,” Rachel offered. Shade noticed she hadn’t missed the look of envy Brooke had quickly concealed.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course. Go. I have to stay in town anyway,” Rachel urged.
“All right then.” She gathered her purse.
“Go ahead. I’ll be right behind you,” Shade said.
Lily shot her husband a curious look yet left without question.
“Do you mind excusing us, Brooke?” His tone implied he really didn’t give a damn if she did. Brooke wouldn’t expose her true colors in front of Rachel. She wanted to keep up the pretense of being the sophisticated wife of a pastor when she was nothing more than a snake in the grass.
Brooke’s face blushed bright red. “Not at all.” She turned on her high heels, leaving with an expression that said she would pay him back for being rude to her.
“Anything wrong?” Rachel asked.
“Could be. You tell me.” He said anger tightening his lips.
“What about?”
“The men you had lunch with, how long have you known them?”
“An hour. Willa and I were having lunch and the restaurant was crowded, so they asked if they could sit with us. Is there a problem with that?”
“Those men are bad news, Rachel. Stay away from them,” Shade warned.
“Let me get this straight. You’re telling me not to talk to them again?” she snapped.
“Yes.”
“Shade, I can talk to anyone I want. I don’t even let my brothers tell me what to do anymore,” Rachel argued.
“Listen, Rachel. They aren’t someone to get involved with. You’ve never dealt with men like them before. You’re a friend of Lily’s, so I’m giving you a heads-up.”
More calmly, Rachel said, “As Lily’s friend, I’ll take it under consideration. Willa and I shared our booth with them. We ate, we left. It was that simple.”
“And Willa gave them her card?” he probed.
“They want her to make some desserts for them for their next cookout.”
Shade nodded.
“Satisfied?”
“Not really, but I guess it’s all I’m going to get. You might drop a word and tell Willa to think twice about going out with one of them. You’ll handle it better than me.”
“Of that, I have no doubt.” Rachel gave him a wry smile.
“All right, then I’ll see you tonight.”
She was a friend of Lily’s, and without her using her gift on Lily, he didn’t know if her mind would have remained intact, so he had tried. However, she wasn’t going to listen, and like her brothers’ stubbornness, it was going to get her in trouble.
“Bye, Shade.”
Shade nodded then left the store, crossing the street back to the diner’s parking lot where the brothers were waiting for him on their bikes. Viper had showed up while he was in the store.
“What did you find out?” Cash asked impatiently as he approached.
Shade came to a stop by his bike. “That Rachel and Willa have never met them before. They were having lunch, and the Freedom Riders asked if they could sit because the restaurant was busy,” Shade repeated what Rachel had told him.
“That was convenient,” Cash snarled.
“We didn’t have trouble finding a table,” Lucky agreed.
“You warn her?” Viper spoke up.
“Tried to.” Shade shrugged.
“She didn’t listen, did she?”
“Nope. Willa gave them her business card because they want her to make desserts for their next cookout.”
“Fuck.” Lucky’s hands tightened on his handlebars.
“Let’s go back to the clubhouse. I don’t like that they came into Treepoint. Curt might have turned their offer down by now, so they may have come into town to scout for new property,” Viper said grimly, pulling his bike out in the lead.
Shade climbed on his bike, starting the motor. “Looks like someone is going to steal your cupcake away,” Shade needled Lucky and Rider. “Look on the bright side, though.”
“Shade….” Lucky warned.
Shade gave him a mocking grin. “When they’re done with her, she won’t be a virgin anymore.” He gunned his motor, riding away from the furious brother.
* * *
“I better go break this up,” Rachel excused herself, rising from the table as Shade approached his wife.
“What’s going on?” Shade asked, sitting down next to her then taking the remaining piece of hotdog away from her, popping it into his mouth.
“I think Holly doesn’t like the way Greer’s new girlfriend is acting in front of Logan.”
“Greer’s an ass.”
“I think everyone in town shares that opinion.”
“You don’t?”
“I don’t know him well enough to cast judgment,” she said reprovingly. His wife was determined to find the best in everyone.
“I do. He’s an ass,” Shade remarked.
The escalating argument between the two was easily heard in the backyard in direct contrast of the balloons and fairy lights which had set a party atmosphere.
“You deal with her!” they heard Greer yell at Rachel, who was trying to get him to shut up. “I’m done listening to her sanctimonious bullshit.” Greer jumped back into the pool, spraying both women with water.
“I told you he was an ass,” Shade said, seeing Lily’s angry expression. “Come on, they want to cut the cake.” Shade took Lily’s hand as they walked toward the large table which had gathered a crowd to watch Mrs. Langley cut her cake.
Beth was standing with the knife, but she was motioning for Rachel to do the cutting. Shade turned to see what the holdup was, spying Rachel heading to another argument which was building between Greer and Cash.
“Be right back, angel,” Shade told Lily, giving her hand a squeeze before moving toward the end of the pool where Cash was sitting.
Greer’s new girlfriend Diane, who he easily recognized as having attended several of the Friday parties, was sitting next to Cash. The stupid bitch was trying to start a fight with the way she was pressing up against him.
“You never could keep your hands off another man’s woman. What is it with you; can’t you find one of your own?” Greer climbed out of the pool to glare down at Cash and Diane.
When Cash stared back impassively at Greer’s tantrum, Shade stepped closer so Cash could see him give a warning shake of his head.
“I know it’s hard, Greer, but be smart. Go have a piece of cake and leave me alone.”
Tate and Dustin came out from the house, coming closer to see what had Greer’s voice raised loud enough to be heard inside.
“You just can’t leave women alone, can you, Cash? Like father, like son,” Greer jeered.
Shade sucked in his breath as Cash got to his feet. Then Shade and the other Last Riders moved closer to back him up if he needed it.
“Keep cool,” Shade muttered to them under his breath.
“This is a birthday party! Let’s go eat some ice cream and cool down.” Rachel tried unsuccessfully to end the fight, but Greer wasn’t having it.
“Shut up, Rachel,” Greer snarled at her attempt.
“Don’t talk to her that way,” Cash growled.
“I can talk to my sister any way I want to.”
“Talk to her that way again, and I will—”
“What are you going to do? Rachel is none of your business. She’s the only woman in this town of o
urs you haven’t fucked.”
“Wanna bet?” Cash grinned. “I fucked her under your own roof.”
The horrified looks on Rachel’s brothers’ faces as they turned to her had Rachel taking a step back. Shade tensed, knowing the three brothers weren’t going to take Cash’s comment without retribution.
“You son of a bitch!” Greer threw himself at Cash, nearly knocking him into the pool, but Rider managed to grab his arm and steady him. After Greer’s fists flew out, one nailing Cash in the stomach, Shade moved, blocking Cash from returning the blow.
“This is how you repay us for saving Lily’s life? You motherfuckers can go to Hell!” Tate tried to go for Shade, who went stiff at his damning insult.
“We are paying you back. We’re not beating the shit out of you right now! Back off.” His brusque order was ignored.
Rachel made an attempt to stop her brothers one more time, grabbing Tate by his arm when he moved toward him again. “Tate! Stop. Please!”
Shade restrained himself from knocking the fucker in the pool, aware of Lily watching. Beth had placed a hand on her arm, keeping her away from the fight.
“Don’t fuckin’ touch me.” Tate shoved Rachel from him, jerking his arm away.