Shade had been about to get up from the table but he sat back down, deciding to finish his coffee.
“Actually, no. Lily doesn’t seem interested in any of the boys she’s met at college, and with Charles running his father’s restaurant, they practically never see each other anymore. She says they’re just friends, anyway.”
“I think she’s attracted to older men. When I interviewed Conner, I almost couldn’t get her out of the room.”
Shade choked on his coffee.
“He’s from Texas, and he promised to teach her to ride a horse. Now that the weather is getting warmer, I’m sure he’ll keep his promise. I’ll be happy for her to spend some time with the opposite sex, and I like Conner. He’s a nice guy. I checked all his references myself. Lily will be thrilled when Conner takes her riding.”
“I bet she will be. I know I would.” Jewell snickered.
Shade’s chair scraped back from the table. He walked away, taking his dirty dishes to the sink, not caring that his coffee cup broke from the force. He then strode toward the kitchen door.
“Where you going, Shade?” Razer taunted with an evil smile.
“I need to buy a plane ticket. Someone I know needs to go home as soon as possible.”
“Oh, I hope it isn’t serious?” Beth’s voice was filled with concern.
“It’s a medical emergency,” Shade replied, going out the door.
* * *
Shade leaned nonchalantly against the kitchen counter, waiting for the club meeting to begin. He wished Viper would give them their punishments instead of making them draw them weekly.
“Where’s Viper?” Shade had been late for the meeting because he had been held up finishing an order at the factory, making up time for being late that morning.
He was fucking tired. His nights were getting longer, and nothing seemed to be working to keep Lily off his mind. And he had tried it all.
“He’s in the backyard, fighting with Winter,” Bliss explained. She was standing on the opposite side of the counter.
“What over?” Shade asked without turning around.
She lowered her voice so only he could hear her in the crowded room. “She seems to think either Razer or Viper are the reason I’ve been late to work at the factory lately.”
Shade’s face darkened. He liked to keep his business private, especially from Winter and Beth, but he didn’t expect his brothers to take the blame for something he had done. He was about to go outside when they returned.
Winter sat down at the table, and Bliss took an empty seat as Viper went into the large room connected off the kitchen where Cash handed him the red punishment bag.
“Bliss,” Viper called.
Bliss got up from the table, going to Viper. He held the bag out to her, and Bliss put her hand out and dug inside the bag. When her hand came out, she was holding a folded piece of paper.
“Rider.” Rider, who was leaning on the kitchen counter next to him, walked to Viper. He also pulled a piece of paper from the bag.
Viper repeated the procedure seven more times. “That’s everyone.” Viper handed the bag back to Cash before going to the counter to grab himself a beer while everyone read their punishments.
Shade unfolded the slip of paper he had drawn.
“I got the worst one,” Bliss complained.
“What did you get?” Natasha asked.
“Laundry for two weeks.” She pouted.
“That’s not bad. I got dishes for three weeks. Want to switch? I don’t mind the laundry if it’s for two weeks,” Natasha bargained.
“I don’t want to pack everyone’s laundry up and down the stairs for two weeks. I may be willing to switch.”
“Seed inventory,” came from Winter, and Natasha and Bliss switched papers.
Nobody wanted seed inventory.
“Mine seems the easiest.”
Shade almost felt sorry for Winter. If he wasn’t such a bastard, he would offer to switch with her. However, he was, so he held onto his own punishment.
“Dinner’s ready,” Evie called.
Shade got in line behind Evie and Stori.
“I’m surprised Viper made her pull a punishment after she found out from her aunt that Sam’s baby isn’t Gavin’s,” Stori remarked.
“Viper plays fair.” Evie shrugged.
“Have they been able to find any trace of the baby yet?” she asked.
“No. Viper said the sheriff is working to find out, and he ordered the brothers to help run down the clues,” Evie answered.
The line moved fairly quickly with Shade and Rider last in line.
“You want to go over today’s orders?” Shade asked Rider.
“Yeah, give me a minute,” he said, going to the table Winter was sitting at.
“What punishment did you get?” Rider asked Winter.
“What did you get?” she asked first. Winter was a fast learner.
“Cooking, two weeks,” Rider answered. Winter looked at Shade.
“Cleaning the stove, fridge, and pantry,” Shade answered, despite having already made up his mind. He wasn’t switching punishments with her.
“I got seed inventory.”
Shade turned away when Rider did.
Chapter 21
Shade and the original members stood outside, waiting for the brothers to eat their dinners. Many had started riding from Ohio right after work on Viper’s orders.
“You better be right about this, Shade, or we’ll be walking into a trap in the morning,” Viper warned.
“I’ve checked out The Blue Horsemen’s president. Stud keeps the club clean of drugs, but he does run a chop shop which is lucrative. His brother Calder is the wild card; he has a bad habit which Stud is trying to help him break. I don’t think he’s going to succeed, but it’s his brother, and he’s not the type of man to turn him out in the cold.
“Like he told you this morning, those assholes belonged to The Blue Horsemen until they robbed a grocery store in West Virginia. Then they were cut loose, but they didn’t return their colors and kept bragging about belonging to the club. That club may be a lot of things, but they don’t condone their men attacking women.”
“We’ll stick with the plan, then.” Viper paused before he continued. “There’s another piece of business we need to discuss before we go inside.”
“What?” Cash asked.
“Joy.” Shade waited impatiently for Viper to get to the point, and then understanding came when he and Razer exchanged looks.
“The votes?” Shade asked intuitively.
Viper nodded his head. “She has Rider’s, Knox’s, and Cash’s. She needs three more to become a member.”
Shade leaned his hip against the picnic table. Joy required six votes from the original eight members to become a full fledged member of The Last Riders. She needed three more from either Shade, Train, Lucky, Razer, or Viper.
“Razer told me he wants to relinquish his voting rights.”
“That’s not a problem. That still leaves enough men for the women to get six votes,” Train reminded Viper. Train didn’t get what Viper was beating around the bush about instead of coming out and saying it.
“I want to relinquish mine also, and since Lucky won’t vote while he’s committed to his job, right now that leaves us one short of voting in new members.”
“Fuck,” Knox growled.
Rider didn’t look any happier. The men both enjoyed breaking in the new members.
“You could always give them your markers,” Shade suggested.
“I don’t like giving out my markers for new recruits. We came up with this idea so we would know the women were loyal to the club, not just a few brothers they fucked. It’s about building trust and loyalty.”
“Then give them your votes.” Shade shrugged. “I don’t see the problem.”
“I won’t betray Beth,” Razer snarled, taking a step toward Shade.
“I won’t betray Winter,” Viper said grimly.
“S
ettle down. There are two ways to give them your vote; do I need to remind you? You could both fix it that you’re near with your women when another member is giving their vote. From what I hear, both Beth and Winter like to watch.” Shade could tell Rider, Knox, and Train liked that suggestion. Those three were the biggest show-offs in the club. Cash didn’t look like he gave a shit.
Razer and Viper relaxed.
“That might work,” Razer agreed reluctantly. “But what if it doesn’t? I’m not going to jeopardize my relationship with Beth to watch Joy get fucked.”