“I’m not… I’m not sure how to ask this.”
Lily smiled. “Just ask. If I can answer, I will.”
“Does…? How do you…?” Grace bit her lip. “Does Shade ever do anything he shouldn’t do? God, this is coming out all wrong. I don’t know what I’m trying to say. Just ignore me….”
Lily didn’t move away.
“Do you mean, does he cheat on me?” Her face went pale. “Has Penni told you something I don’t know?”
“God, no!” Grace frantically waved her hand. “That wasn’t what I was trying to ask. Oh my God! Never mind. That thought never occurred to me.”
“That’s a relief,” Lily said, giving a shaky laugh. “Then I don’t understand?”
“Can we just forget we had this conversation?” Grace was painfully aware she was making an idiot of herself. “I was just trying to ask how you deal with it when Shade does something you don’t like. It came out totally wrong.”
Understanding dawned on her face. “You’re asking me if Shade does something for The Last Riders that I don’t agree with?”
Grace started twisting her wedding ring again. “Basically. But it doesn’t have to be the club he’s doing things for. Just something you wished he wouldn’t do.”
Lily stayed silent. Grace could tell she was thinking over her reply.
“I shouldn’t have asked something so personal. I’m sorry. Ice and I had a terrible fight this morning, and I don’t want my dad and brother to know how bad things are getting between us. Instead, I’ve made a fool of myself in front of you.”
“You did not make a fool of yourself. Don’t say that.” Lily’s gentle smile relieved some of her tension. “I’ll try to answer your question as best I can with the details you’ve given me.
“I trust Shade. I love him based on how he treats me. I love him because I see what he does for not only me and our children but for others. The church store doesn’t make a dime. The Last Riders fund it. The majority of our clients would go to bed every night with an empty stomach if not for them. Shade is responsible for that. I’m not saying The Last Riders wouldn’t help without him talking them into it, but he’s gone beyond what I hoped to achieve.
“Every year, he picks out two students from the families and gives them a full-ride scholarship to the college of their choice. The only stipulation is that they have to come back here and work three years in their field of choice to give back to the community. He’s trying to save Treepoint from dying like the other towns surrounding us.
“Since the moment I met Shade, I realized he wasn’t a normal man. He has his own sense of right and wrong.
“One time, I was so angry that I accused him of thinking he was God. I was wrong. Shade doesn’t think he’s God, but he does believe that men and women are responsible for their own actions. If those actions lead them to hurting others, then he has no hesitation in using his abilities to even the playing field.
“He’s leveled the field not only for me but for some of the people in this room. My sister, Willa, Pastor Dean—” Lily broke herself off. “If I can trust that my husband did what he thought was best to save my life, then I have to trust that he does the same thing to save the lives of those I love, too. Sometimes those measures are extreme. Shade isn’t a gentleman. Sometimes those measures are harsh and have left marks on his soul. He doesn’t have my faith, yet a part of him believes that God will punish him for some of the things he’s done. That he’ll never be forgiven.”
Grace saw the heartbroken expression on Lily’s face as she exposed a part Shade’s character she never knew existed. If a man could be made of Kevlar, it was Shade.
“You don’t believe that, do you?”
Lily shook her head, her eyes still on Shade, almost as if she wasn’t standing beside her. “No, I don’t think he’ll be punished. I think Shade is one of the precious few that God chose to be one of His warriors.”
“I don’t think that Ice could be classified as one as God’s warriors.” Grace looked at her own husband, startled to see he was observing her the same way Shade was watching Lily. He must have noticed that she had been staring at Shade. His frown showed he wasn’t happy.
At her comment, Lily switched her attention back to her. “Ice was for me. He was responsible for me being able to restore a part of my life that I thought was gone forever. If he hadn’t, I wouldn’t have met you.”
Taken aback, her gaze returned Lily’s.
“It’s true, Grace. A true warrior doesn’t always walk the path of righteousness. They follow the path that their conscience leads them to take. I believe we will all end our journey at the same destination; we just have different ways to get there.”
A movement out of the corner of her eye had Grace nodding toward to Willa. “I think Willa needs you.”
“I better go see what she wants.” Lily gave her a quick squeeze of her hand before taking a step toward Willa.
“Thank you, Lily.”
“I didn’t do anything to deserve your thanks. I was returning a kindness that Ice gifted me with. He wouldn’t have been able to achieve it by following a straight and narrow path, but the one I will forever be grateful that he made his way through….”
A bundle of energy threw herself into Lily’s arms as she was talking. Laughing, she bent down, picking up the little girl into her arms. Her black hair fell to her shoulders. Grace was struck by how similar their features were.
“Mama won’t let me have another piece of cake.” The childish hand patted Lily’s hair.
“What am I supposed to do about that?”
“Make Daddy make her.” The child gazed up at Lily adorably.
Grace swallowed hard as Lily stared down at the little girl in her arms with just as much adoration.
“How about if I ask Evie if you can have another small piece?”
“Yes, please.”
The resemblance between Lily and the little girl was too close for them not to be relatives. They shared not only the same hair color, but the purple eyes that were unusual enough that she looked like a miniature version of Lily. She would have to ask Ice what the relationship was between them.
Thinking about Ice had her wanting to talk to him. Maneuvering around several of the guests, it took several minutes to realize that he wasn’t there. He had left.
CHAPTER 3
“Want another beer?”
“No.” Ice took another drink of his mostly full beer. The bar had only seven customers in it. Three men and a woman were sitting at the side of the bar, spaced out so they could enjoy their beers alone.
Celebrating Valentine’s Day had never been high on his list of priorities, even before he was married.
Thinking about the state of his marriage had him taking another drink. It was hot as piss. Beer had never been his favorite liquor to consume. He preferred his alcohol to have a bite. Like most of the women he fucked before he fell in love with Grace, once you had the real thing, nothing quenched the thirst for what you really wanted.
Reaching for his beer, he saw the screen on his cell phone light up on the bar top. Disregarding the message from Grace, he reached for his wallet, taking out a ten.
“Give me another beer.” He laid down the ten on the counter.
The bartender brought him a cold beer, setting it down in front of him then lifting a wondering brow when he took the still full one away.
Ice took a sip of the cold beer. It didn’t go down any easier than the hot one after he saw Grace texted him again.
The crack of shrill screech had the same effect as nails against a chalkboard. The woman sitting with the men shrieked when the one sitting closest to her must have done something that she hadn’t liked.
Beer bottles and glasses clanked together as the table was jostled underneath. Ice could see the glare from the woman’s eyes when she pulled a hand out from under the table, slamming it down on the table. “
Cut it out!”
The lone woman in the bar had all the men glancing toward the table, including him.
Ice could understand their interest. Amber-colored hair and finely arched eyebrows were her best features. Not that he could see distinguishing features from where he was sitting. She wasn’t too thin or too plump. She didn’t seem the type of woman who could garner the attention she was getting from the three men, yet she had all three regarding her closely. But then, she was the only woman in the bar.
The one who attempted to get a handful of her pussy had been rebuffed, and the other two men were giving warning signs that they weren’t going to tolerate the woman’s snatch being grabbed by the lone one who was roaring his head off in laughter, as if he expected the other two to egg him on.
Ice shook his head. The dimwitted one didn’t realize the other two were getting angry while the woman did her best to scoot her chair away from the table, but she was blocked in by the wall.
Taking another swig of his beer, he kept his eye on the building tension at the table.
He was setting his beer back down on the bar top when the phone rang behind the bar, and the bartender went to answer it not far from where he was sitting.
“Hello?”
Ice listened with only half an ear as his gaze remained on the four across the room.
“Hey, Lily. What can I do for you?”
Hearing Lily’s name coming out of the bartender’s mouth had Ice’s sharp gaze shooting to the man who was standing just a couple inches from him. Lily was the name of The Last Riders’ enforcer’s wife.
“It’s not really busy. It’s pretty slow right now. I don’t expect it to get busy until later tonight.”
The music played in the background as the bartender listened to whatever Lily was saying.
“No, I can’t do that.” He looked at the phone like it had turned into a snake while he was listening. “Wait. How much money we talking about?”
The phone had turned into a pot of gold from the expression on the bartender’s face.
“Give me an hour, and it’ll be yours.” He hung up then yelled out, “Last call!”