Pulling his gun out of his saddlebag, Razer motioned for the men to leave. Then Shade threw the one he was holding away while lifting his boot. The fake Dwayne shakily gained his feet, holding his throat.
“You going to leave us alone, or do I need to finish things?” Shade moved his hand to his side, slightly lifting the side of his vest enough to show the butt of his pistol.
“Like you said, we don’t want any trouble.” Ace backed away, leading his men back to their bikes.
After Shade climbed back on his bike as Razer put his weapon inside his saddle bag, the bikers avoided glancing in their direction when the women came out together.
Razer and Shade started their bikes as soon as Beth planted her ass on Razer’s. Thankfully, the rest of the trip was uneventful.
Shade memorized the small campus as they rode through it to Lily’s dorm, stopping his bike next to Razer’s as Beth went inside to get her sister.
When the women walked outside hand in hand, Shade could only stare. He was just as awestruck by Lily’s beauty as he had been the first time he had seen her. The difference between the two was stark. One sister was so light and golden, her smile as bright as the sun, her loving nature obvious as she held her sister’s nervous hand. The other, a dark enigma who only let her guard down when she looked at her sister.
The male students walking by stopped, appreciating the beauty walking among them. The female students, on the other hand, were not as appreciative.
“Bet you a six pack those bitches hate her guts,” Shade muttered.
Shade let his gaze catch several of the men and women and they all soon hurried on their way, smart enough to know they were out of their league.
Beth smiled at Razer and Shade.
“Lily, you remember Razer and Shade.”
“Hello.”
“I told Lily we could go eat lunch. Maybe a little shopping if it won’t put you guys out.”
“Not at all. You girls climb on the bikes,” Razer answered.
Beth immediately went to Razer’s bike and climbed on, but Lily stayed frozen. Shade wasn’t going to put up with it. He kept his focus on Lily, ignoring Beth trying to get off the bike to help her and Razer telling her to stay put.
“Come here, Lily,” Shade ordered, easily recognizing the wounded look in her eyes as Lily’s body went taut and she threw a wild look at her sister. His stomach clenched in fury. He had seen the same look before after Evie had first been attacked.
Before Beth could do anything, Shade threw his extra helmet into Lily’s grasp. The only way to get her on his bike was to distract her from her fear.
“Get on the bike. I’m hungry. Move that sweet ass, or I’ll put you on the bike myself.”
Lily hesitantly followed his order, getting on the bike, putting on the helmet as Shade started it up, and then they pulled out with a roar of motors.
The restaurant they chose was small with a family atmosphere. They sat talking after they had eaten until the waitress started throwing them dirty looks. Afterwards, they drove to the small strip mall where the sisters wandered around arm in arm, window-shopping and occasionally going inside one of the small stores. Razer and Shade sat on their bikes, keeping a close eye on the women.
They came out of one shop with several bags. Shade noticed Lily’s laughter die when she saw him, not paying attention to Beth’s frown.
“What wrong?” Razer asked.
“How are we going to get the bags to campus?” Beth asked.
As Razer and Shade split the load between them, stashing the bags of clothes into their saddlebags, one bag dropped and a waterfall of colorful underwear fell to the pavement.
“Oh.” Lily immediately bent, hastily putting the clothes back inside the bag.
One bright red pair fell by Shade’s boot, and before Lily could pick it up he had the silky material in his hands, his dick hardening behind his zipper when he felt the soft material, imagining the panties covering her pussy.
With a face as red as the underwear she had just purchased, Lily could only mutter her response. “Thanks.”
“No problem.” Shade’s response was just as strangled as he regained control over his body. As a Dom, he always had control of his dick. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had an erection, which was beyond his ability to control.
Shade had to grit his teeth all the way back to the campus. Her arms circling his waist and her breasts pressed against his back made him want to keep riding when Razer pulled up in front of Lily’s dorm room. Shade wanted to grab her hands as they fell away from his waist, feeling as if the sun had moved behind a cloud.
Shade pulled out Lily’s bags as the sisters said their goodbyes.
He kept his face impassive when he heard her soft voice addressing him.
“Thank you for bringing Beth. Goodbye.”
Shade’s heart sank further with every step she took away from him.
“Brother, she’s too young.”
Shade turned his mirrored gaze to Razer. “You think I don’t know that? It’s the only reason I’m letting her go back inside,” Shade admitted. Loyalty ran deep with Shade; he wasn’t going to lie to another brother. “I can wait.”
“You sure?” Razer’s doubt-filled voice questioned.
“I’m sure. I won’t touch her until she’s twenty-one,” Shade promised, seeing the dubious look didn’t disappear from Razer’s face. “Have I ever gone back on my word?”
“No, but I’ve never seen you look at a woman the way you do Lily.”
“I can wait,” Shade repeated his words. “But when she turns twenty-one, despite whatever is going on with you and Beth in the future, I expect you to keep out of my business with Lily.”
Razer’s hands went up in surrender. “I wouldn’t think of interfering. Besides, I won’t even be seeing Beth then. That’s years away.”
Shade didn’t reply. His intuition told him the blond had Razer by the balls, but if Razer didn’t realize he was in ass-deep with Beth, Shade wasn’t going to be the one to tell him. He didn’t stick his nose in other brothers’ business, and he didn’t want them in his.
Shade was going to miss sharing a woman with Razer, but he saw the advantage of Razer forming a deeper relationship with Beth.
Shade wouldn’t have to lure Lily into the club. Beth would.
Chapter 8
Shade was woken up by a rough hand shaking his shoulder.
“Beth’s disappeared.” Shade was instantly awake at Knox’s words.
He slid from his bed, taking his jeans off the chair and pulling them on before tugging on his boots. His hand reached for his shirt as Knox strode from the room, and then Shade pulled it on over sore muscles as he followed him up the steps. It had been a while since he had fucked so many women in one night, and his body was feeling the after-effects.
“Who saw her last?” Shade questioned, coming to a stop in the kitchen where all the members were gathered.
“I did,” a pale-faced Razer told him, running a hand through his long hair. “I packed a couple of boxes to my room for her. She said she was going to organize them for Mrs. Langley. I went for a run and when I came back, I went out back to get the work schedule before going to my room to take a shower. She was gone.”
Shade studied the occupants of the room. “Anyone else missing?”
The members stared at each other, trying to figure out who wasn’t there.
“Where’s Sam?” Shade asked sharply, knowing Knox had been with her until late in the night.
“I don’t know.” Knox frowned. “I haven’t seen her since breakfast.”
“Find her,” Shade ordered. “Evie, call the sheriff.”
They were about to search t
hrough the house when Razer’s cell phone rang. Shade froze at Razer’s response to whatever was said to him.
“We’ll be there as fast as we can. Wait for us.” He disconnected the call.
“Viper saw Sam force Beth inside a house he was watching with Bedford in it. Sam had a gun on her,” Razer warned as they ran from the house to their bikes.
Razer took the lead with a trail of bikers following.
As they passed the sheriff’s office, he saw his father running to his patrol car. They rode by in a burst of speed Shade knew it would take him valuable time to catch up.
He nearly lost control of his bike when he turned down an unpaved driveway. The brothers parked their bikes at the end of it, taking off at a dead run. Then they saw Viper and Cash giving the signal to be silent and the brothers lined up beside the house, waiting for Viper’s orders.
Once Viper pointed at him, Razer, and Cash, they moved stealthily to the back of the house, going up a short flight of steps. Viper reached for the doorknob yet paused when the loud voices could be heard clearly from the outside.
“I didn’t have time. The box was closed when I went in the room. How was I supposed to know she was smart enough to take the papers out?”
Shade twisted his body so he could look through the dirty window. It looked like the box in question was sitting on a table.
“You check!” Vincent Bedford screamed at his daughter.
“I can go back and get the papers.” Sam turned to Beth and smacked her across the face. “What did you do with them?”
Shade watched as Beth touched her stinging cheek, refusing to answer. He was surprised she was strong enough not to give in to their demands.
“I will shoot your kneecap. I can look if I have to, but it will be quicker and less painful for you if you tell me where they are,” Bedford threatened.
“I put them in the closet.” Shade could tell Beth was lying, and they knew it, too.
“She’s lying.”
“No shit,” Sam snapped back at her father.
Furiously, she hit Beth again with the gun in her hand and Beth fell, barely managing to catch herself by grasping the end of the table. When her hand cupped her cheek, Shade saw blood on it, and so did Razer. Cash and Shade had to hold him back from storming inside the house. They needed to know what Bedford wanted from Beth. If they stopped it too soon and he was arrested, he would lawyer up. Then they might never have the answers they needed.