by Jamie Begley
“Don’t take long,” Razer told her before she left, going inside the church.
As Winter talked to the couple, Lily took one of the twins and placed it on her hip.
Shade felt a lump in his throat at seeing true joy on her face for the first time. Lily being carefree and happy was a sight he didn’t want to end, but then her attitude changed when the man who considered her his approached, handing her a cup. Charles took the cup back when she finished, putting his arm around Lily possessively and giving the impression of a future Shade was determined wasn’t going to happen. It was going to be his and Lily’s.
Blind fury overtook Shade. Dropping his own cup to the ground, he moved to rip the fucker’s arm out of its socket.
Razer, who was standing next to him, saw his reaction. “Don’t do it, brother,” Razer warned.
Shade didn’t answer him, too fueled with possessive rage.
Razer placed a hand on his chest, trying to hold him back, but Shade raised his fist, smashing it into Razer’s face. Train and Rider butted in next, at first simply trying to break up the fight.
“Stop him,” Razer told them, putting a hand to his bloody lip.
Shade didn’t feel any remorse, wanting the others to feel the pain he was feeling at watching Lily and Charles together. He managed to break away from the brothers. Then Viper tried to stop him. Getting madder every second that Charles touched Lily, he swung his foot out and nailed Viper in the balls. As Viper hit the ground, Shade stepped around his prone body, and Rider and Train tried to interfere again. He just smashed them together.
Unfortunately, Razer had recovered and, with Knox’s help, managed to slow him down long enough for Rider and Train to get a good grip on him.
“Shade, calm down. He’s moved away from her,” Razer hissed close to his ear.
“Fucker touches her again, I’ll kill him,” Shade snarled, seeing Razer was telling the truth and Charles was going to a car in the parking lot.
“Let him go,” Razer said.
Shade felt the hands holding him back drop away.
“What in the fuck was that all about?” Viper asked, his face pale and his own anger evident.
Shade nodded toward Lily. “See her?”
The brothers all turned to look at Lily who was once again playing with the children, the twin child still on her hip.
“Beth’s sister?” Viper asked.
“She’s mine. I’ll kill anyone who touches her.”
“You have to be fucking kidding me, Shade. She can’t be yours. She’s messed-up, brother.” Razer took a hasty step backward, his hands raised in surrender at the look of murder in Shade’s eyes. “I didn’t mean it to be cruel, just stating a fact. You haven’t said more than three words to her, so how can you claim her before you’ve even had her?”
“I’m telling every brother here, she’s fucking mine, and I’ll kill anyone who tries to take what’s mine, brother or not.”
“He’s bat-shit crazy,” Knox stated.
“Shade…” Razer began.
“I told you I’d wait until she’s older before I make a move on her, and I will,” Shade grimly broke him off. “But I won’t stand around like a pussy while someone else does,” he warned.
Razer nodded, his eyes going toward Lily.
“Son of a bitch.”
Lily had been playing horseshoes with the children. However, instead of throwing the metal horseshoe toward the sandpit, she hurled it at a young man arguing with his girlfriend, striking him in the back before running toward the couple despite the anger she had incited in the man who had spun around when he was hit.
Shade took off running, Razer and the others following behind. He heard Lily’s words as he silently approached, coming to a stop behind her.
“Don’t touch her,” Lily hissed.
Shade hadn’t been aware Lily had a temper, much less the spunk to stand up to a man. She stood with the baby on her hip, her black hair disarrayed from playing and running around with the kids, and her breasts were heaving as she tried to catch her breath. Shade wanted to reach out and smooth her tangled hair, to find out if it was as soft as it appeared.
“What business is it of yours?” The punk was about to get his ass whipped if he kept trying to intimidate Lily.
“I am making it my business. You were hurting her,” Lily replied.
“Perhaps, Jake, you could take a breather until you calm down,” Viper’s supposed girlfriend, Winter, tried to divert the punk.
“You two cunts need to back off.”
Shade was going to kill him with his bare hands. He just didn’t want Lily to see how he was going to do it.
Viper, who was standing next to him, didn’t seem any happier.
“We can do that. Lily and I were just going to get the kids a drink, and we could use some help. Carmen, would you mind?”
“She isn’t going anywhere. We’re leaving.” The punkass pulled the young girl to his side, shoving Winter out of his way.
Viper almost knocked Shade over to catch Winter, his arm going around her waist, holding her steady until she was able to regain her balance.
Shade motioned The Last Riders into position to protect the women.
“That was a mistake,” Viper said as Winter quickly moved away from him, disappearing in the gathering crowd.
“You need to let the girl go and take a walk with me.” Shade gave the one and only warning he was going to give as he stepped in front of Lily.
“What’s going on?” Lucky hurried toward the group with Beth at his side.
Shade didn’t break eye contact with the punk, letting him see his imminent death. He heard Beth whispering to her sister as the parents came to claim the child Lily was holding.
Winter reappeared, taking the hand of the punk’s girlfriend in hers before tugging her away. Shade read the boy’s intention to stop her so he moved forward an inch, holding his gaze steady, and the little shit stood still, letting his girlfriend be led away.
“Razer, perhaps you should take Beth and Lily home,” Lucky suggested.
Razer led the girls away while Lucky dispersed the crowd, assuring them he had the situation under control.
The little shit tried to hide his fear, yet his eyes darted back and forth between the brothers.
“How old are you?” Shade asked him.
“Why, you want to fuck me?”
Shade gave him a sinister smile. “No, because I don’t kill kids.”
The next thing the punk knew, he was falling to his knees, holding his stomach. Shade reached down, taking a handful of hair in his hand and jerking his head back until he could stare into his face.
“Your dick isn’t old enough to be treating a woman the way you were. Does it get you hard when you mistreat that little girl? She’s too young to know how to deal with you and put up with your disrespect. And you don’t call my girl a cunt. Ever. I’m going to beat the shit out of you, but you’ll be able to crawl away when I’m done. If you go near her again or even look in her direction, you’ll be carried away in a body bag. You got me?”
“Yes…” Shade’s fist didn’t let another word pass his busted lips.
Lucky finally pulled him away when he was barely conscious. “He’s had enough unless you’ve changed your mind about the body bag.”
When Shade backed away, Lucky knelt down to help the kid to his feet until he stood, swaying, Viper knocked him back down on the ground.
“You don’t help that fucker,” Viper ordered when Lucky would have tried to help him again.
“Viper, he’s had enough! Someone is going to call the police,” Lucky warned.
Viper glared at Lucky before walking away. Shade followed, now that Lily was gone there was nothing left for him there.
Chapter 14
Shade carried his coffee to the front door of the clubhouse. He hated supervising the factory yet had drawn the punishment from the bag for beating the brothers at the picnic. He had another month to endure before Vip
er took it back over. Viper disliked the job as much as him, but Shade was a night owl and the job required early mornings, so it was his idea of Hell.
Opening the door, he stepped onto the front porch then closed the door behind him. He was about to go down the steps when his gaze skimmed across the parking lot. Shade’s foot hovered over the step before backing up onto the porch.
He held his coffee, drinking it as he rested his hip on the banister. Viper had a tire jack in his hand and was smashing his bike to pieces then throwing the separate parts across the parking lot. Shade knew from experience that whatever had caused that rage was bad, and Viper needed to release it.
He saw no need to interrupt Viper until the man went to his knees next to what was left of his bike. Leaving his coffee cup sitting on the banister, he went down the steps, coming to a stop next to his president.
“If you’re done, I’ll clean up the mess,” Shade offered, not asking him why he had trashed his bike.
Viper lifted his head, staring back at him with vacant tear filled eyes until Shade finally saw reason return. Then his president rose to his feet, looking around the parking lot.
“No, I’ll get Rider to do it. I want you to call Cash and meet up with him. He’s searching for whoever nearly beat Winter to death last night at her school. The bastard left her to fucking die.”
“How bad is she?”
“The sheriff doesn’t think she’s going to make it. I’m going to the hospital.” Viper turned toward his bike then stopped, realizing he had destroyed his means of transportation.
Shade pulled his bike keys out of his pocket, handing them to Viper. “Take mine. I’ll take one of Rider’s, and we can switch later. I’ll call Cash and find out where he is, but I want to stop at the high school first and see if I can find anything.”
“Okay.” Viper went to Shade’s bike, taking a seat before starting it up. Gunning the engine, he took off at a speed which made Shade think he would be lucky to get his bike back in one piece.
He went inside the factory’s office, taking a set of keys on a peg nailed to the wall, then headed back outside. Shade found the bike he was looking for at the end of the row. The club always kept several extras for the brothers to use—someone’s bike would break down or one would crash, but the extras kept everyone mobile.
Once Shade reached the high school, it was easy to see where Winter had been attacked since it was still taped off. The amount of blood on the pavement didn’t faze him, but it did give him an indication as to how severe her injuries were. Winter was lucky to still be alive.
Shade went over the school grounds thoroughly, finding an oil spot that was still fresh. It was away from the student and faculty parking and gave the best spot for watching Winter’s car unobtrusively. He also found several ashes on the ground before his keen gaze noticed something in the grass a few feet away near a large tree.
He walked closer, using the toe of his boot to move the grass. A cigar butt lay on the ground. Shade used a stick to pierce it, picking it up from the ground then packing it back to his bike where he took a napkin from the saddlebag. He wrapped the cigar butt and placed it in the saddlebag before taking out his cell phone to call Cash.
“Where are you? Viper thought you might need some help.”
“Nah, this fucker was easy to find. He left a trail my grandmother could have tracked.”
“Who was it?” Shade asked curiously.
“Jake. Remember the kid Lily hit with the horseshoe?”
“It was him?” He was surprised the kid had possessed the balls to touch another woman after the beating Shade had given him. He had thought the punk came off as a poser, pretending to be worse than he actually was.
“Yeah, he stopped at his girlfriend’s house first and set it on fire. Luckily, no one was home. The girl’s parents had taken her to stay with a relative. It’s what set him off and made him crazy enough to set the fire and attack Winter. Seems Winter was the one who gave the parents a heads-up to the kid mistreating their girl.”
“They sure it was him?” Shade asked sharply. Lily had also been involved in getting the girl away from the kid, and he didn’t want the punk getting out of jail and going to look for her.
“The sheriff has witnesses seeing him running from the house.”
Something didn’t feel right to Shade. He would drop the cigar butt off at the sheriff’s office then head back to the clubhouse. He didn’t see a kid Jake’s age smoking a cigar, so whoever had been smoking it might not have been the one who had beaten Winter, but he had been watching her.
Chapter 15
Two Months Later…
Shade stared out the factory window, watching Viper, Knox, and Razer as the car they had been waiting for pulled up and came to a stop. He went outside to see if they needed more help than they had anticipated.
Razer opened the car door, pulling Beth out of the driver’s seat. It had taken Razer and Viper weeks to convince her to what essentially was kidnapping. Although she had lived, Winter had been left with injuries severe enough to be unable to care for herself for some time. While still in the rehabilitation center, she had asked Beth to help once she got home. Viper had other plans, though.
He had finally invested in the gym the brothers had been asking for, building it in the basement. However, he hadn’t done it for them; it was to aide in Winter’s recovery. Viper was a tightwad when it came to hanging on to the profits of their company in order to reinvest and expand, but he had purchased the best equipment for her, even putting in a whirlpool when he had heard it would ease some of her pain.
Needless to say, Winter had no idea Beth would be bringing her to the clubhouse, expecting to return to her own home instead. Beth had called thirty minutes before to give them a heads-up they were near, which was why they had been waiting in the parking lot. Shade knew Winter’s reaction wasn’t going to go down well for the soft-hearted Beth.
Shade was proved right when Beth burst into tears. Razer put his arms around her before leading her away while Viper opened the back door.
“Hello, Winter,” Viper said.
“Take me home. This isn’t going to happen, Viper. I am not going to stay here.”
“I’m sorry, Winter, but I am not giving you a choice.” He carefully lifted her into his arms. When she would have struggled, he held her in a firm hold and talked to her in a voice which had her going still. “I know right now you’re mad as hell and I understand, but I am not going to let you hurt yourself. Stay still or else I will make you sorry.”
“You’re going to hurt me to keep me from hurting myself?”
Her attention turned to Knox who was opening the trunk, taking out her suitcases while Razer walked away from Beth to lift out the wheelchair.
When Beth would have gone to Winter, Shade stopped her with a hand on her arm.
“I wouldn’t lay a hand on you, but you would get my message.” Viper carried her up the long flight of steps without stopping, and the brothers packed Winter’s belongings while Shade followed along with Beth.
Evie opened the door as they approached. “Hi, do you remember me from church? Believe it or not, I’m a nurse. I also worked with Beth for a while, so you’ll be in good hands while you’re here.”
When Winter didn’t return her greeting, Viper continued through the entry, going to the stairs not far from the door and then carrying her up another flight of steps. Shade watched as Winter stared toward the club room until Viper turned down the long hallway.
Shade tried to keep Beth from following, but she gave him a look which dared him to stop her. Shade gave her a mocking smile in return, pulling back enough to let her go upstairs. He would keep an eye on her, though. If she tried to interfere between Viper and Winter, he would remove her. Shade let her get as far as the doorway before motioning for her to stop.
They watched as Viper gently lay Winter down on his king-sized bed. The room of the president of the Last Riders was the largest in the house, with a couch and
two chairs in a small sitting area. A desk and chair took up space along one wall with a dresser and chest on another.
“I am not staying here, Viper…”
Viper ignored her, walking out of the room and leaving her alone with Evie, who began opening Winter’s suitcases which Razer and Knox had set on the floor.
“Thanks, guys,” Evie thanked the men before both left without a word, closing the door behind them.
The group stood in the hallway, easily listening to what was going on behind the thin door, until the room went silent. Then Beth stared at the men surrounding her with anger.
“I’m not going to just leave her in your care. I’m going to check on her every day, and if I feel she really needs to leave, I’ll carry her out of here myself.”
“Beth, I only want to help her. She has to have constant care, and there’s no way you can provide it unless you let your other patients suffer,” Viper tried to sooth Beth’s fears.
Shade had seen a change in his president since Winter had been attacked. He had stayed at the hospital, sitting in the waiting room until she had awakened, and only leaving then because the sheriff had forced him to see reason. He had gone back, though, every day until she had been discharged to the rehabilitation center. He had gone missing several times after that, asking Shade to keep supervising the factory during his absences. The business credit card statement had showed he was buying gas on the road to and from where she was recovering.
Shade went downstairs with Knox and Rider, leaving Viper talking with Beth and Razer. One thing was for sure—with Winter in the house, things were going to change even more. The brothers were just getting used to having Beth around during the time Lily was in school, and from that point on Winter would be there, as well. It was going to be interesting to see how Winter adjusted. He was just happy he could hand the reins of the factory back over to Viper.
The next morning, Shade was enjoying his first breakfast in a long time, hanging out in the kitchen with the members, when Viper came in carrying Winter. She was tiny against Viper’s muscular body, her frailness evident in the fine lines of her face.
