Shade

by Jamie Begley

  “Aren’t you going to eat?” Rachel asked Cash.

  “Later.” Cash was staring at the Freedom Riders who had sat down a few tables away.

  “You don’t like them, do you?” Rachel questioned when she saw where Cash was staring.

  “No.”

  “Why? They seem friendly enough.”

  “So was Ted Bundy.”

  Shade agreed with Cash’s harsh comparison.

  “I can’t eat anymore.” Lily pushed her plate away, looking queasy.

  “You only ate a biscuit.” Rachel said.

  Shade frowned, bringing his attention back to Lily. Her plate was practically untouched.

  “I guess it’s not agreeing with the baby.” Lily turned green, getting up from the table with his help. Seconds later, she darted to the nearest restroom inside the church.

  Shade stood beside the table. Lily hadn’t had an upset stomach since the early stage of her pregnancy. If she didn’t come out soon, he would check on her.

  “No need wasting food.” Mag reached out, pulling the plate toward her.

  “I heard things didn’t go well last night,” Beth broached the subject tentatively of Rachel attending her first Friday night party.

  Rachel made a face. “That’s putting it mildly.”

  “I was shocked the first time I went, too. I ended up leaving.” Beth’s face was red from embarrassment. “Lily ran back to college.”

  “I tried to run, but Viper wouldn’t let me,” Winter gently butted into the conversation. “It was after my attack. Believe me, if I’d had use of my legs, he wouldn’t have been able to catch me, either.”

  “I would have caught you,” Viper stated.

  At that moment, Shade saw Mag pass out at the same time Beth screamed, her chair falling back.

  “No!” Rachel screamed at the same time Beth yelled for someone to call nine-one-one.

  Shade already had his phone out, dialing the number.

  Mag had turned deathly pale and had passed out, her head falling back over the wheelchair. The men quickly pushed it back from the table, laying her on the ground. Beth frantically took her pulse while Shade moved Lily back as she came out of the restroom, turning her so she couldn’t see what was going on. Cash knelt by his grandmother, holding her hand.

  “Her heart is racing,” Beth told Cash.

  Rachel was staring down at Mag, crying. Going to her knees beside Mag, she laid her hand on her heart.

  Shade could see she was going to try to help her the way she had helped Lily and Cash.

  They all watched in amazement as Rachel used her gift to save the old woman. Whimpering cries passed her pale lips as she focused on her.

  Shade moved Lily farther away as the ambulance arrived.

  “What happened to her? She was fine when I went to the restroom,” Lily asked.

  Shade looked down at her pale face. “Are you feeling better?”

  Lily nodded, wincing. “I threw up. Something I ate must not have agreed with me.”

  His eyes narrowed on her. “Stay here. Don’t move,” he ordered. Seeing Knox and Diamond on the edge of the group, he quickly walked toward the brother.

  “Knox.” Shade stopped a few feet away.

  Knox excused himself from his wife, coming toward him.

  Shade didn’t waste time. “Lily was sick right before Mag passed out after she ate off Lily’s plate. I want the food tested.”

  “You think it’s food poisoning?” Knox said, pulling out his cell phone.

  “No, I don’t. Lily and Mag got sick too fast. You see anyone else getting sick?”

  “No, I don’t. I’ll call my deputies in and get the food checked out.”

  “Make it fast. It could help save Mag’s life. I’m going to drive Lily to the hospital and get her checked out.”

  As Shade strode back to Lily, they were loading Mag into the ambulance. Lily was crying helplessly as another paramedic worked frantically on Rachel.

  “They called another ambulance. Rachel’s heart went out of rhythm.”

  Shade let her stay long enough for the other ambulance to arrive. Then they watched as a paramedic shocked Rachel’s heart. When they loaded her into the other waiting ambulance, Shade turned to Lily.

  “We’re leaving. I’m taking you to the hospital.”

  “I’m fine, Shade,” she protested.

  “I want to make sure.” Shade took her arm, leading her back to the truck and passing the booth Brooke was in.

  Once Brooke turned away, avoiding his gaze, he tore his eyes away, his hand tightening on Lily’s arm. He didn’t need Knox’s test results to know she was guilty. Her fucking face when the crowd had parted and he had glimpsed it had said it all. The malice emanating from her was dangerous, and Shade wasn’t going to put off the inevitable any longer. Brooke had sealed her own fate, and he was the executioner.

  * * *

  When Cash opened Rachel’s hospital door, stepping into the hallway, Shade was waiting on the other side.

  Beth had come to the emergency room when he had called Razer and told him he and Lily were there. Beth and Razer had taken Lily home for him because he wanted to talk to Cash before leaving.

  “You got my text?”

  Cash had sent him a text telling him Brooke had been in Mag’s house with her husband when a plant had gone missing. Rachel hadn’t thought anything of it at the time, but she and Cash had made the connection when the reports had come back on what had nearly killed Mag. Trace amounts had also been found in Lily.

  “Yes. You sure Brooke is the one responsible?” Shade asked menacingly.

  “We have no concrete proof of the poisoning other than she was there the day the plants disappeared from Mag’s house, but I found the motel she and Lewis were using. She was manipulating the stupid bastard.” Cash’s harsh voice stated his own hatred of the woman.

  “She’s an expert at that.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Nothing for now. I can’t take care of personal shit until the mess with Scorpion is cleared up. As soon as it is, I’ll deal with Brooke. I’ll keep Lily home for now. She’s far enough along that she shouldn’t put up too much of a fuss.”

  “Good luck; you’re going to need it.”

  “Lily won’t jeopardize our baby; she’ll listen.”

  “I’ll ask Rachel if she’ll take over the store,” Cash offered.

  “Thanks, brother.”

  Both men stared at each other, reading each other’s intentions before they shook hands and parted. Cash went back inside to Rachel, while Shade rode Razer’s bike back to the clubhouse since Razer had driven the truck to take their wives home.

  Cash hadn’t stated his intentions out loud, but it was going to be a race to see which one of them took Brooke out first, although both of them had a commitment to the club to deal with the Freedom Riders before they took care of their own personal grievances. He wasn’t going to have to dig out some of Cash’s IOUs, though. There was no way he was going to let him have the pleasure of killing Brooke. That pleasure was going to be all his.

  * * *

  “What’s wrong?” Lily asked, walking out of the kitchen.

  Shade was at the top of the steps, about to come downstairs for dinner, but paused when he heard Lily’s concerned voice.

  “Nothing,” Beth denied, taking a seat on the couch.

  Lily had told him Beth and Razer were coming to dinner. Evie and King were babysitting, so the sisters could spend the evening together alone with just their husbands.

  “Don’t lie to me, Beth. I can tell something’s wrong. Are you and Razer having problems? Where is he?”

  Beth was already shaking her head. “It’s not Razer. He’s coming. He’s in the shower. I wanted to see if you needed help with dinner.”

  “No, I made a roast, and everything’s done. So, if it’s not Razer, what’s wrong?”

  “It’s nothing important,” Beth prevaricated.

  “If it’s not i
mportant, then tell me. I’m getting tired of everyone treating me like a child.”

  “Okay, okay, you win,” Beth said, giving in to Lily’s demand. “I received a text message today, and I don’t know who it’s from.”

  “What did it say?”

  Beth took her cell phone out of her pocket, pulling the message up.

  “Oh, my God. They called you a slut,” Lily whispered.

  Beth nodded, taking the cell phone back. “If Georgia was still alive, I would think it was her. Could it possibly be one of her friends?”

  “Possibly. They were just as mean as she was, but why would they send that message to you?”

  “I don’t know. I showed Razer when I came home this afternoon, and he said he would check it out.”

  Shade was willing to bet that was what he was doing right then and why he had sent Beth over ahead of him.

  “Then I’m sure he’ll take care of it. If he doesn’t, I’ll tell Shade to,” Lily said reassuringly. Standing up with difficultly, she looked down at her sister. “Help me set the table?”

  Beth stood up, smiling wryly. “You think Shade can solve everything, including world hunger,” she teased.

  “He probably could if everyone would listen to him. He’s very smart,” Lily said, making her way into the kitchen.

  “Yes, he is,” Beth stated, looking up the staircase and meeting his eyes, only breaking contact when a knock sounded on the door.

  While Beth opened the door for Razer who came inside and hugged his wife, Shade came down the steps.

  “Dinner ready?”

  “Almost,” Beth answered her husband before going into the kitchen.

  “You hear?” Razer asked in a low voice.

  “Yes.”

  “When I find out who sent that message, I’m going to rip their throat out.” Razer kept his harsh threat subdued so the women couldn’t hear.

  “Any luck?”

  “Disposable phone,” Razer answered, watching the women chat as they set the tables. “We never did find out who fucked our bikes up, and now someone we don’t know is texting Beth. Someone tried to poison Lily. Could it be possible that someone is targeting us? The Freedom Riders?”

  “I don’t fucking know. I’m sure Brooke is the one who tried to poison Lily, but I can’t imagine the odds of them not being connected. It’s too much of a coincidence that this is happening at once.”

  “I agree.”

  “Dinner’s ready,” Lily said, trying to lift the heavy roast.

  “Don’t you dare,” Shade snapped.

  Lily hastily stepped away as Shade picked the heavy dish up.

  “I could have managed,” Lily said, rolling her eyes as she took her chair.

  “That’s a pretty dress you have on tonight, Beth,” Shade complimented, ignoring Lily’s crestfallen expression when he didn’t mention how pretty she looked in her new maternity dress.

  “Thank you, Shade.”

  “I love the pattern. It really suits you.” Shade took his seat, staring with determination at Lily. “I’ll have to remember it. It would look fantastic on Lily.”

  While his wife glared at him, Shade picked up a roll, biting into it. He was keeping count of his lovely wife’s punishments, and she was on number sixteen. When the baby came and she had regained her strength, his dear wife was going to be reminded of every time she had misbehaved. She wanted proof that she was special, so he was going to give it to her one stroke at a time.

  Chapter 89

  “We’re out of eggs. Do you want to eat breakfast at the clubhouse?” Lily asked when he came downstairs.

  “Sounds good.” Shade opened the door for her as they went outside.

  “Looks like there was a large crowd at the clubhouse last night.”

  The front porch had a view of the parking lot where there were row after row of motorcycles lined up, ready to ride when Viper gave the word.

  Viper had given his order, and the brothers from Ohio had arrived the day before after the Freedom Riders had beaten up Drake Hall when he had refused to sell a piece of property to them. Viper and Cash both shared the opinion that whatever attack the Freedom Riders had planned was imminent, and Shade agreed.

  When it went down, Viper wanted him with the women instead of the brothers, which chaffed at Shade, but he also had to agree he was right. If the Freedom Riders couldn’t be stopped in time, the lives of the women were going to be left in the hands of the man who stayed behind, and Shade didn’t want Lily’s life in anyone’s hands but his.

  Viper and Cash were in the kitchen when they opened the back door, but they quit talking when Shade and Lily entered.

  Lily went for the refrigerator to pour herself some orange juice while Shade drank his coffee, ignoring his wife’s baleful glances. The woman loved coffee yet hadn’t drunk any since she had found out she was pregnant.

  “What has you two looking so serious?” Shade asked.

  “We just got some information that Scorpion might have an interest in Molly’s Valley. It doesn’t make sense to buy property there. There’s no…” Cash broke off, watching his words so Lily wouldn’t become alarmed.

  “No one can buy property in Molly’s Valley,” Lily stated, sitting down at the table. All three pairs of eyes fixated on her. “Well, they can’t.” She shrugged. “Ask Rachel; she’s the one who wrote a huge paper on it in high school. She wanted to do her paper on the effects of mining on the water, but she was too afraid she would be run out of town.”

  “Why can’t anyone buy property in Molly’s Valley?” Cash asked, trying to keep her on track so they could get the information they needed.

  “Because it’s a depository for nuclear waste.” As the men at the table paled, Lily nodded. “I know. It’s frightening what happened. From what I remember from Rachel’s report, there was ground seepage. They have to monitor it forever.”

  “Why aren’t there any signs? How didn’t I know this?” Cash asked, sounding surprised.

  “I have no idea.” Lily shrugged. “Like I said, ask Rachel. She got an A on her paper. None of us could hardly understand a word of it, but she gave lists of the companies who stored their waste there. She’s writing her doctoral dissertation on it. She had to get special permission from the state and federal governments to take soil samples. She’s writing about some kind of isotopes.”

  “Transuranic?” Cash asked sharply.

  “That’s it!” Lily exclaimed. “I would call her and ask to make sure, but there’s no cell reception there. She went there today to get some samples; her paper is due next week.”

  “Holy fuck!” Cash yelled, getting out of his chair to run after Viper. “Shade, call Lucky. Tell him everything and to notify Homeland Security.”

  Inside the kitchen, Viper’s commands to the brothers could be heard with the sounds of the men hauling ass to leave.

  Shade called Lucky.

  “What in the fuck is going on?” Lucky asked. He had taken over the bedroom in the basement. “I’m getting dressed. Why’s Viper—”

  Shade cut him off. “You need to call Homeland Security now. Tell them to get to Molly’s Valley ASAP. The Freedom Riders are going there, and Rachel’s there, too.”

  “What’s wrong with that? There’s nothing there, and no one even lives there.”

  “No one fucking lives there because it’s a nuclear waste dump, and one of the things they dumped there was isotopes.”

  Lucky hung up on him before he could say another word.

  Lily was staring at him with her eyes wide until the basement door was flung open as Lucky came running through, wearing only his jeans and boots. In one hand, he had his cell phone, which he was yelling into, and in the other hand, he held a T-shirt. He ran through the kitchen, slamming through the door to the front room.

  “Is Rachel going to be okay?” Lily’s gaze was still on the door Lucky had gone out.

  “Yes, Cash will take care of her.”

  Lily nodded, turning back to him an
d looking stunned.

  “What?” Shade asked.

  “Pastor Dean has tattoos.”

  Shade’s eyes narrowed on her. “He has as many as I do.”

  “No, he doesn’t. He doesn’t have any on his neck and hands.”

  “He has as many tattoos as I do,” Shade repeated.

  “You mean…” Lily’s eyes dropped.

  “Exactly.”

  * * *

  Shade sat at the kitchen table while the brothers were being patched up by the women. Even his wife was helping out, cleaning a cut on Lucky’s forehead. They were all watching their words, but the atmosphere was gloomy as they talked about the three who had been killed.

  “Hound pulled him off me. When he did, the fucker stabbed him then Stache,” Train said, staring into the whiskey bottle in his hand.

  “It wasn’t your fault; Hound didn’t see the knife.”

  Train didn’t reply. Shade knew he would take the deaths hard. He was already living with the burden of feeling responsible for someone else’s death.

  “I’m going to miss Cruise. He was a crazy son of a bitch, but whenever anyone wanted to party, he was always up for it,” Rider stated morosely.

  “That wasn’t the only thing he was always up for,” Jewell wise-cracked in a tearful voice.

  That set the whole room off as they began talking about their memories of the men.

  Shade watched as Lily carefully applied the Band-Aid to Lucky’s scratch.

  “That’s enough, Lily. Come here. It’s just a fucking scratch.”

  Lily threw him an impatient look as she moved away from Lucky. “I think it might need stitches.” She turned her back to Lucky, facing Shade with her hands on her hips.

  “Which you can’t do, so there’s no need with you fussing over it.”

  Lucky flipped him off and Shade’s jaw tightened as he snaked a hand around her waist, pulling her down onto his lap. Shade flipped him back off with the hand behind Lily’s back.

  “Where’s Cash?” Shade asked, changing the subject.

  “He was going to make a stop in Jamestown then head back,” Viper answered, placing an arm around Winter’s shoulders. “I’ll ride back to Ohio with the brothers and handle the funeral arrangements, so I’ll be gone a few days. Lucky, you’ll be in charge while I’m gone. The rest of you can come the day of the funeral, and I’ll ride back with you.”