The waitress came to take the orders of the new arrivals. It didn’t take long before the food was served. Shade had eaten earlier, but he got a refill of his coffee as the others ate.
When the door to the diner opened, Shade nodded to Viper so he would notice the men coming inside. The table went quiet.
“What’s going on?” Lily looked up from her salad to ask Winter.
“The bikers from last night just came in,” Winter answered.
“Oh.”
The women began talking to cover the silence, but Shade and the men remained quiet as they watched the bikers take a table. There were more of them, they had brought in their own reinforcements.
As the women finished, The Last Riders rose to leave. Shade couldn’t understand why Lily stopped at the cash register, opening her purse to take out some money. He was about to say something when Beth spoke up.
“What are you doing? Razer already took care of the check.”
“I know.” She gave her money to the cashier. “I want to pay for the men’s ticket by the window.”
After the cashier’s mouth dropped open like his own did, she waited for Shade to nod before reaching out to take the cash from Lily.
“Lily, what are you doing?” Beth questioned in a lowered voice.
“Paying back a favor,” Lily said, taking a deep breath.
Then, before he could stop her, she approached the men sitting at the table.
“I wanted to thank you for what you did last night. It could have gotten bad without your help.”
Shade walked to stand behind her as she spoke to the man he knew for a fact was the president of the motorcycle club.
“Anytime, sweet thing.” The man’s hard eyes softened briefly when he looked at Lily, yet they resumed their hardness instantly. Shade’s instincts kicked in, telling him something wasn’t right.
Lily turned to leave, but her attention was caught by one of the men sitting at the table. Reluctantly, Shade had to admire the biker’s ink work. It was some of the best he had seen.
“Hi, I’m Colton.” He put out his hand for Lily to shake.
“Hi, I’m Lily.” She placed her hand in his.
Shade glared at him, letting him know he wasn’t happy with him touching his woman.
“Hi, Lily. That’s Ice.” He nodded toward the blond, telling Lily what Shade already knew.
He had found out who they were before he had lain down to grab an hour’s sleep before getting up to come to the diner.
“The big guy there is Max, and the ugly one next to him is Jackal.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” Lily smiled. “I didn’t mean to disturb your lunch. I wanted to thank your friends.”
“I’m sure they enjoyed it, knowing them. Take care, Lily,” Colton said, putting out some strange vibes which Shade picked up on.
“I will,” Lily replied, moving away and almost bumping into Shade.
He ignored her angry attitude at his interference, leading her away from the table and back to The Last Riders who hadn’t moved away from the door.
They waited until she was outside before giving her hell.
“What were you thinking, Lily?” Beth started.
“I was thinking that I would do the polite thing and thank them for helping me out of a difficult situation,” she explained.
“You can’t get friendly with another motorcycle club,” Evie said, taking the words out of Shade’s mouth.
“I don’t know why not.” When several would have opened their mouths, Lily put up her hand. “I wasn’t getting friendly. I was thanking them. I can be friends with anyone I want. I’m friends with Stud.”
Shade lifted a brow at her lame excuse. She was no more friends with Stud than he was.
“They have more in the parking lot,” Shade told Viper.
“I saw,” Viper replied grimly.
“What do you want me to do?” Shade knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to get rid of the women then beat the living hell out of the mother fuckers. It showed disrespect for them to stay in town, wearing their colors. However, Lily and Beth were waiting for Razer.
“You two go ahead. I’ll be there in a few,” Razer told them.
Lily hesitated, moving toward Viper and touching his arm. “Leave them alone, please, Viper. They don’t want trouble, and I approached them.” Her purple eyes pleaded with his president.
“They came inside seeing our bikes were outside,” Viper replied.
“Please, Viper.”
“I’ll give in this time, Lily, but don’t ask me to back down again,” Viper replied.
Shade wanted to rant at his president for giving in to her, the weak fucker. The woman needed to learn she couldn’t use those eyes of hers to get her way all the time.
Lily reached up, kissing Viper on his cheek. “Thank you,” she said before moving away.
Shade became even more pissed at her. First, she had talked to the other club, showing them her gratitude. Hell, he was the one who had beaten the hell out of Gaige. Now she was fucking kissing Viper for something he shouldn’t have agreed to. He had been chasing after her for three fucking years, making an ass in front of the brothers numerous times, and she had fucking kissed Viper before him?
“Let’s go home.” Razer’s voice was amused as he guided the women toward their home.
As soon as Lily’s back was turned, Shade punched Viper in the stomach.
“Shade!” Winter grabbed her husband’s arm when he would have punched Shade back.
“I just wanted to show him my gratitude for letting Lily kiss him.”
“She was just being sweet, thanking him for—”
“Don’t care,” Shade snarled. “It should have been mine. If any other brothers decide to let her show them her gratitude, I’ll show them my foot up their ass.”
* * *
Shade watched the two men through his sights as they fueled their bikes. He debated firing a bullet in Joker’s gas tank when he placed the nozzle in. He had the ability to make the shot from his custom-made Barrett rifle. It had been built to his specifications—with a range longer than any known rifle and a certain weight so it could be broken down in seconds. Shade knew the feel of every inch and could take the rifle apart in the dark as easily as in the sunlight.
He waited patiently for Joker and Dale to get back on their bikes. As much as he wanted to see them consumed in burning flames, he didn’t want to endanger anyone inside the gas station. Besides, he never deviated from a plan once it had been made.
Shade had made it a point to find out about everything and everyone connected to the two.
Crazy Bitch had spent several hours giving him all the information she had on Dale. She hadn’t paid much attention when she had mentioned Dale’s cousin, but Shade had. He had contacted Jake, Dale’s cousin, offering him more money than he would make in ten years strip mining to call him if Dale got in touch with him. And Jake had called yesterday.
Shade had already scouted out the area, his experience telling him it was the most logical place for the men to hide. When Jake had called, Shade had been ready, taking out his duffle bag from the place where he kept it hidden. Then he had ridden to his chosen spot to lay in wait, knowing it was the perfect place for them to refuel on their way. With his bike parked three miles away, he would jog there through the woods and eliminate all traces of his presence before leaving.
The two bikers who had almost caused Lily’s death while trying to rob Sex Piston’s shop rode back onto the curvy, mountainous road, and Shade’s finger tightened on the trigger as Dale went around the sharp curve. He heard the bike spin out as the front tire exploded, sending Dale’s bike spinning. His scream could be heard from where Shade was lying. Shade was an expert rider; he had known exactly how the bike and rider would react. It was unrecoverable. The bike hit the guardrail, and Dale went flying over the mountain’s edge.
Shade didn’t watch; he was changing the direction of his scope, pinpointing Joker’s motorc
ycle. Again, with the slightest movement, a bullet left his rifle, hitting the targeted front wheel and causing it to explode. Joker didn’t scream; he didn’t have time. He was a better rider, but even he couldn’t save himself. He died like Dale—flung from his motorcycle over the mountainside. The two bikes lay crumbled in a heap by the guardrail.
Shade sat up, tearing down his rifle then placing it carefully into his canvas bag. Standing, he placed the straps on his shoulder, his boots going to where he had been lying, stirring the leaves and twigs together before he tossed several rocks around. Even if someone guessed a sniper had taken them out, they wouldn’t look that far away. No one could make a kill shot from that distance. Except him.
* * *
“Lily.”
For the first time since she had begun eating lunch with him, she didn’t have a mutinous expression on her face when she entered his office.
Shade closed the door after she entered, going to sit at the chair beside his desk where he handed her the chicken salad.
“Thanks, Shade.”
“You look tired today,” Lily probed at his silence.
“Late night.”
He had driven to Ohio so he could be seen there then had driven back during the early morning to be there when the factory opened. His ass was killing him from riding that many hours on the bike.