“So what’s eating your ass, then?” Shade stood up from the table, carrying his dirty dishes to the sink.
“She came back. Sam went to get some lube and saw Beth. The fucking bitch opened my door, and Beth saw me and Train fucking Evie. She took off running before I could get my dick out of Evie.”
Shade sat back down at the table. “Did you go after her?”
“No, but I used the number she gave Evie to try to talk with her. She refused to see me, though. Fuck it. I had already made up my mind that I wasn’t going to see her again, anyway. Too much of a hassle for some pussy.” While Razer shrugged, Shade could tell from his expression he was more upset than he was pretending.
“She offered me a job, and I was supposed to go see her Monday. I won’t be getting it now,” Evie said.
“Why not?” Shade questioned.
Evie rolled her eyes. “Because she saw me fucking a man she wanted. Just because we share doesn’t mean it doesn’t freak other people out. She probably hates my guts right now.”
“Maybe, but she hates Razer more. Go see her Monday.”
“Nope, I’ll find a job somewhere else.”
“Go see her. She was raised in the church, and they love to have an excuse to forgive. They eat that shit up.”
Evie’s eyes stared directly into his. “What’s going on, Shade? First you want me to be friendly with her, and now you want me to take a job with her. What’s up?”
Razer looked up from his coffee cup. “It’s the sister, isn’t it?”
“Who?” Evie asked, staring back and forth between Razer and him.
“Beth’s sister, Lily. I think Shade’s got a boner for her.”
“Shut up, Razer.” Shade cast Razer a warning look.
“Lily’s a looker, but she’s too young,” Razer told Evie, ignoring Shade’s glare.
Evie turned to him. “I see, you want me to get closer to Beth so I can find out more about Lily.”
“Yes.” Shade saw no reason not to tell the truth.
“But, if she’s too young … you know the club rules,” Evie needlessly reminded him.
Club rules or not, he wouldn’t touch an underage girl.
“She won’t be underage forever.”
Evie grinned at him. “No, she won’t,” she agreed. “What’s it worth to you for me to go suck up to Beth to get the job?”
“What do you want?” Shade’s jaw clenched.
“You have to pull my shift at the factory twice a week. It will be hard to hold down two jobs. If I tell Viper you’ll work two of my shifts, it will make him happy, and I won’t have to listen to the others who will have to pick up the slack.”
“Okay.”
“But you hate working in the factory,” Razer reminded him. “Shade…?”
“Stay out of it, Razer. I don’t need your advice.”
“Wasn’t going to give you any. I was just going to tell you I’m going to Ohio for a few days. Wanted to see if you cared to ride along.”
“What do you think?” Shade said, standing up.
“There’s a few bitches who’ve been waiting on our votes,” Razer laughed.
“Let’s not keep them waiting then. I’ll be ready to ride in an hour.”
Chapter 5
Nine months later…
Shade drank his beer while listening to Knox and Rider argue back and forth about who had made Natasha come the most the previous night. Razer was standing at the bar, talking to Mick, while the other brothers took up two tables. The bar had been almost empty when they had walked in the door.
Bored out of his mind, he decided to go back to the clubhouse to find Natasha and prove to both men he held the record for making a woman come. Then the door opened, and Viper came in looking furious.
Only one person could bring out that level of frustration in the president of The Last Riders, and that was his father, Ton.
“Mick, have you seen Ton? I just got back in town this morning, and when I went home, both he and the truck were gone.” Viper’s angry comment had Shade sighing.
There went his fuck session with Natasha. Viper would probably make them search for his father.
“I haven’t seen him today.” Mick’s answer escalated Viper’s anger.
“Mother fucker! I’m going to strangle him with my bare hands when I find him!”
Viper’s cell phone rang just as Shade was about to offer to go look for Ton. From his expression, he had found his father. As he ended the phone call, all the fury on his face was replaced with concern.
“I found Ton.”
Shade stood up, moving closer to the bar so he could hear.
“He was in an accident. He broadsided Beth Cornett’s car on Ivy Hill. They’ve both been taken to the E.R.”
“How bad is she hurt?” Viper and Mick both looked at Razer, surprised by his reaction.
Shade wasn’t the only brother who knew Razer hadn’t forgotten the blond. He quizzed Evie as often as Shade did about what was happening in the women’s lives.
“Don’t know. That was the only information dispatch would tell me. The sheriff told them to contact me and to have me meet him at the hospital.”
His father would have told dispatch to call rather than himself handling it, as if he didn’t know Viper personally. Even when they were alone in public, they were to keep up the pretense of not knowing each other; his father would be able to give them information. That was the only way they had to find Gavin’s murderer and to help Lucky bring an end to the traffickers.
Once Viper ran out of the bar with Razer hot on his heels, Shade went outside to see Razer jump in Viper’s car as he was peeling out. Shade climbed on his bike, determined to follow. Unaware the other brothers were doing the same, Shade wondered if Lily had been contacted about her sister’s accident.
He hadn’t seen her for months. Even though she’d already turned eighteen, she was still too young and innocent for him. Therefore, he had made sure to stay away from places he would see her when she was home from college.
Evie had informed him of the day she was leaving. He had parked his bike on her street in the shadows that morning, watching as the sisters had gotten into the already packed car.
Lily had looked beautiful as hell, but her expression had been unhappy. Her violet eyes had held even more pronounced shadows than usual. Shade had wanted to ask her why she was leaving if she really didn’t want to go. However, he had moved farther back into the shadows when he had seen her glance in his direction.
He was sure she couldn’t see him, since he was too good at hiding in plain sight, but she had somehow sensed she and Beth weren’t alone. If she had sensed a predator was near, she’d been right.
He had remained long after they had left before he had returned to his bike, heading back to the clubhouse where he could douse his desire to chase after her with whiskey and Bliss.
Snapping out of the memory, Shade parked his bike next to Viper’s car then followed the men inside, standing back in case Lily was there. He didn’t want anyone observing him when he saw her; he wanted privacy while he gauged his own reaction to seeing her for the first time since she had left.
Maybe he was no longer attracted to her. Honestly, he hoped his interest in her was gone.
>
He didn’t have to worry about attention, though; everyone was watching Ton fight the nurse to see Beth.
“Let me go, woman. I have to check on that little girl.”
The nurse argued back, trying to keep Ton in his wheelchair. Then Viper tried to calm his father, too, but the man was too upset, trying to convince his son he had not been drunk when he had hit Beth’s car.
Shade felt the air hit his back as the electric door slid open. As Ton demanded Viper shoot him for hurting Beth, Shade was shocked to see Beth come to a stop nearby before moving forward. Shade didn’t understand. Beth was right there, trying to calm Ton down. Then her words hit Shade like a bullet.
“You have to calm down. Remember your blood pressure. You don’t want me to be worried about you, too, do you?”
Shade didn’t hear anything else as he realized only one other person would have been driving Beth’s car—Lily.
Shade forced himself to stand still as Beth convinced Ton to go with the nurse. Then the sheriff walked out of a room down the hall, drawing everyone’s attention.
“How is she?” Beth asked.
“Lucky. She has a concussion, a sprained ankle, and she is going to be sore as hell for a couple of days, but all that research you put into purchasing a safe car paid off.”
Shade went outside, sucking in a deep breath. He didn’t have to question if his attraction to Lily had lessened or not. He had his answer.
Shade paced back and forth outside the E.R. door, trying to keep from going in and demanding to see with his own eyes that Lily was all right. The brothers and his president would look at him like he was crazy, and he was at the moment. Although he had never even spoken to the young woman, she had his insides twisted into a knot.
Since when did he care for anyone? It wasn’t in his emotionless soul to give a fuck, yet something inside her spoke to him. She made him feel human, as if he was real and not a man who lived constantly in the shadows.
Razer strode outside, pausing when he saw Shade. “You know about Lily?”
“I heard. How is she?” Shade asked despite himself.
“Beth is with her. She told the sheriff her brakes didn’t work. It could have been much worse; Beth drives all over the county in that car. She could have driven off a mountain.” His hoarse voice showed Shade wasn’t the only one who was coming to the realization that he cared about someone.