“Wait, I have the other children … I can’t just leave.”
“They’re at the sheriff’s office.” His statement had Willa’s protests dying on her lips.
“I’ll be ready.” Willa disconnected the call before hastily punching in another number. Thankfully, her neighbor from across the street agreed to come over.
Willa was stepping out her front door when Drake pulled up in her driveway.
“What did they do?” Willa asked as soon as she closed his car door.
“You know as much as I do. Knox told me he would talk to both of us when we reached his office.”
“Do you think it’s really bad?” Willa asked worriedly, never having dealt with a problem like this before.
Drake took his eyes off the road for a second. “Yes, Willa, I think it’s bad.”
His grim response had her apprehension increasing until her nerves were wrung tightly. When they arrived at the sheriff’s office, she followed Drake, who seemed much more familiar with the situation than she was.
They took a seat until Knox called them into his office. Then Drake demanded answers as soon as Knox closed his door, confirming her suspicions that Drake had been in this position before.
“What did Jace do this time?”
Knox motioned for them to take a seat. When they were both seated, the sheriff took the chair behind his desk.
“Jace, Cal, and Sissy were caught breaking into the factory of The Last Riders.”
Willa’s heart sank in dismay.
“Why in the fuck did they want to break into the factory?” Drake was angrily unfazed.
“Jace said he had heard that one of the buildings held a motorcycle collection, and he and Cal wanted to see it. Sissy went along with them.”
“Who caught them?” Drake’s hands clenched on the arms of his chair.
“Shade. Their security system alerted them to the break-in.”
Willa was unable to raise her voice past a hoarse whisper. “How much trouble are they in?”
“Viper’s not pressing charges this time, but if he catches them trespassing again, he will. They busted the lock on the front door, and he wants it replaced.”
“I’ll take care of it. I’ll call Viper and thank him for not pressing charges.” Drake stood.
Willa, still following Drake’s lead, stood also, drawing Knox’s gaze.
“Unfortunately, Ms. Tackett was in the office, dropping off paperwork, when Shade brought them in.”
Willa paled. Flora Tackett was the worker supervising the case involving Georgia and Lewis’s children.
“I was able to keep the bitch from taking Sissy into state custody, but if she gets in trouble again, that’s where Sissy and the rest of the children will be placed.” Knox’s words stopped Willa in her tracks.
“I’ll keep a better eye on her,” Willa promised. “Thank you, Knox.”
“That girl has more problems than you can handle.” Knox’s stern voice sent warning signals through her brain. If he could see it, then everyone else did, too. It was only a matter of time before she lost all the children due to her inability to control them.
“I’ll talk to her and make her understand what’s at stake.”
A flicker of sympathy shone in his eyes. “Would you like me to talk to her?”
Willa shook her head. “I’ll handle it.”
Both men didn’t hide their skepticism. However, Rachel had already tried and had been met with resentment, and Knox didn’t seem the type to tolerate Sissy’s disrespect for authority.
Knox picked up a set of keys from his desk. Opening the door, he motioned them forward as he walked down a hallway, leaving them in a small room alone as he went to get Jace, Cal, and Sissy.
“I think’s it’s best if Sissy doesn’t see Jace again,” Willa broached the sensitive subject.
“You think you’re going to be able to keep two randy teenagers from seeing each other? It will make the situation worse,” Drake warned.
“I think it’s for the best,” Willa repeated firmly.
Drake shrugged. “It’s your call. I’ll have a talk with Jace.”
The metal door opened, and the three teenagers were led into the room with varying expressions. The boys were apprehensive, while Sissy was openly defiant.
“Let’s go home, Sissy.” Willa started to touch her arm, but she jerked away.
“I don’t have a home.”
Willa didn’t become angry at her reaction since it was her fault the girl’s world had been turned upside-down.
Sissy was smart enough to recognize the others weren’t as sympathetic to her treatment of Willa.
“I’ll drive you and Sissy home,” Drake offered.
As they left the office, Willa and the others were the center of attention. Lucky, Rider, and another biker Willa didn’t recognize were standing in the waiting area. The teenagers lost what bravado they had when they saw the bikers waiting for them.
Rider was the one who took a step forward, blocking Jace and Cal.
“All you had to do was ask me to see my bikes. You didn’t have to resort to breaking and entering.” Rider’s reaction wasn’t what Willa was expecting. The biker was almost affable to the teenagers.
Jace and Cal both looked shamefaced, while Sissy was too busy ogling the bikers.
“We’re sorry, Rider,” Jace apologized when his father gave him a nudge forward.
“Make it up to me. How did you find out about the bikes?” Rider’s voice was friendly, as if they were all good ol’ boys. Regardless, sudden comprehension filled Willa as she realized his true motive for coming across laid-back. He wanted to know who was talking about their club’s business. Willa had a horrible feeling she knew who had inadvertently supplied the information.
“I told them,” Willa spoke up, turning bright red.
With all the attention now focused on her, she felt the flood of red run up from her chest to her face.
“How did you find out about the bikes?” Rider asked quizzically.
She became nervous under his scrutiny. Unconsciously, she licked her bottom lip before tugging on it with her teeth. “I-I … must have heard it from somewhere. Drake was telling me he was going to buy Jace a motorcycle, and I told him maybe Rider would sell him one.”
“Is that so?” Rider turned to Drake.
Willa’s eyes wildly flew to Drake who was staring at her in bemusement at her flustered behavior.
“Uh … That’s right.” Jace and Cal’s faces had lit up with excitement before Drake crushed their burgeoning hopes. “Of course, now after this lame-ass stunt, I wouldn’t buy him a secondhand tricycle to ride.”
Their disappointment provided Drake with the opportunity to punish them more effectively than she would be able to Sissy. She never asked Willa for anything. The only thing Sissy would let Willa provide her with was food and a bed. Anything extra she needed was provided by an allowance from her mother’s insurance money, and Sissy kept track of every penny in the account.
From the men’s expressions, they knew she was lying. She had deliberately made a fool of herself to protect someone else, which Willa didn’t regret. Everyone thought she was useless unless she was baking, anyway. She was just proving them right.
Lucky’s eyes narrowed on her as she wiped her clammy hands on the side of her jeans. His gaze lowered to the tight jeans she had thrown on when Drake had told her about Sissy. The top she had on was an older, pink one that had faded from numerous washings. She always wore it when she was baking. The buttons were strained at the breasts, threatening to pop at any second.
Becoming even more embarrassed at her appearance, she focused on the stranger with them and almost lost what little composure she had left. The biker was tall and muscular through his chest, tapering down to a lean waist that Willa was sure had a six-pack of abs hidden behind his T-shirt. His wavy, brown hair and finely chiseled features would have made him too pretty
if not for the square jaw and the dangerous aura that clung to him.
Willa wasn’t the only one having a hard time keeping her eyes off him. Sissy’s gaze was glued to him, too.
“Ready, Drake? I need to get home.” She needed to get the hormone-riddled teenage girl away from the bikers. They were even affecting Willa, and she was older.
Wishing she had the courage to act like one of The Last Rider women, Willa did what any sane Christian woman would do—she fled.
“I’m ready.” Drake moved to the side, motioning for her to go in front of him.
Willa started for the door, somehow bumping into Lucky, though she could have sworn she had left more distance between them. Her nipples hardened behind the thin shirt.
When Rider nearly tripped over a chair rushing to open the door for her, she gave him a smile yet didn’t stop until she reached Drake’s car. The teenagers followed reluctantly, not wanting to leave the presence of the bikers.
Cal and Jace both admired the motorcycles sitting in the parking lot, while Sissy was in la-la-land. Willa could imagine the teenage fantasies going through her mind, picturing herself on the back of one of the motorcycles with her arms wrapped around one of the good-looking men. Willa knew because she’d had a few of those fantasies herself. For Sissy, though, those fantasies had a possibility of becoming a reality in the future. For Willa, not so much.
The most hurtful insult she had ever been given to her had been from Sissy’s mother when she had said her fat ass was too big for a motorcycle. She had wanted to burst into tears from the remark; instead, Willa had never allowed herself to fantasize again. She kept her feet and mind planted in reality. Fantasies were for women who didn’t wear a size eighteen on a good day and a twenty when it wasn’t.