by Jamie Begley
“Ridge is just like his dad. He always had to be a show-off,” Shade said wryly as they watched him performing wheelies in the parking lot.
His eyes were caught by a movement at one of the picnic tables. His face went ice cold, and he started to get up from the bench. However, Lily’s hand caught his, preventing him from going to the couple sitting at the picnic table.
“Shade, leave them alone.”
“Hell, no, that shit’s not going to happen!”
Lily shook her head at him. “She loves him. Don’t spoil it for them.”
Shade watched his granddaughter sitting with the president of The Last Riders. He wasn’t embarrassed to admit that Violet held a special place in his heart. She was almost an exact replica of Lily. If he had ever wondered what Lily would have been like nurtured in a healthy and loving environment, Violet had answered those questions. John and his wife had done an excellent job raising their daughter. No one could resist her loving and sweet personality. Evidently, not even the man who had taken over as president.
Looking at the succeeding president, Shade reminisced to that night, so many, many years ago, when Viper, Gavin, Razer, Rider, Knox, Cash, Levi, and himself had sat in that motorcycle bar, planning their own motorcycle club. It had been the birth of The Last Riders and the start of so many memories, both good and bad…
Shade wrapped his arm around the stripper’s shoulder, leading her off the dance floor to the table the others were sitting at.
Taking a chair next to Viper, he sat down and pulled the stripper onto his lap.
The men spread around the table stared at him balefully.
“You trying to get our asses maimed so we can’t go back on duty?” Levi shook his head at Shade.
“What?” Shade asked, lifting the beer the stripper handed him to his mouth.
“You know what,” Viper said sarcastically. “She belongs to those bikers over by the bar. We’re already on their shit list for being in here, anyway.”
Shade shrugged. “It’s a biker bar, and we’re bikers, aren’t we?”
“Occasionally, when we’re not getting munitions thrown at us.” Gavin grinned.
Viper shot his brother a glance. “In a few months, we’ll be riding all the time. I never want to ride in another DPV again. Every time I get out, I feel like my balls are going to fall off.”
“I kinda of like it,” Gavin said, hitting his brother on the back. “Calm down. If Shade starts a fight, we’ll deal. I’m bored, anyway, since he managed to grab the only woman in this dump with a decent pair of tits.
“We ever live to see the end of our tour, we’ll have our own bar and beat the shit out of assholes like us.” Gavin winked at Viper.
“You’re planning on starting a biker club?” Rider grinned, his hand going under the table to the thigh of the stripper.
Shade shifted her closer to Rider. He didn’t want to take the chance he would grab anything that was attached to him.
“Hell yes. Want to join when you get out?” Gavin asked.
Shade hid his smile when Viper rolled his eyes.
“Fuck yeah. Just let me know where, and I’ll be there as soon as I get out,” Rider told him.
The stripper’s head fell back on Shade’s shoulder.
“You in, Levi?” Gavin turned to him next.
Levi watched Rider and Shade with the stripper, shaking his head. “No, Evie and I are getting married when we get out. She’d kick my ass if I tried to join a biker club.”
Gavin frowned. “What about you, Cash?”
“Count me in. I have no place I want to go back to.”
“Train?” Gavin asked, motioning for the waitress to bring them another round.
“I’m with Cash. I haven’t got anything waiting for me, either. Sounds better than what I had planned.”
“What did you have planned?” Shade asked, his hand going to the stripper’s waist and sliding under her see-through top. The men could easily see him playing with her nipple.
“Re-enlisting.”
The men at the table laughed.
“Knox?”
“No thanks. Me and Sunshine are going to buy a house and start having kids when we get out.”
“Shit, you and Sunshine are getting married?” Rider asked.
The stripper was moaning loudly now. Several of the men at the table were forced to shift in their chairs to adjust themselves.
“Shit, quiet her down, Shade,” Viper hissed.
Shade saw the angry glares focused on their table.
Bending down, he whispered in her ear, “Make another sound, and Rider will stop.”
She immediately shut up.
“I wish I knew how you did that,” Levi said.
“What about you, Shade? You going to join us?” Gavin asked.
“I’ll think about it.”
“What’s to think about? Bikes, bitches, and fighting all the time.” Gavin leaned back in his chair. “Viper can be the president; I’ll be his vice; Cash can be his lieutenant; and you can be his enforcer.”
“That does sound tempting.” Shade gave Gavin a half smile. “What about you Reid? You in?”
“Yeah, he had me at the bitches,” Reid laughed.
“Well?” Gavin prodded.
“I’ll give it a try. If I like it, I’ll stay,” Shade told him.
“I’m glad you’re in, Shade,” Viper snapped. “Your first duty as our enforcer is to get us out of here alive.” He stood up as four of the bikers who had been glaring at them started coming at them as the stripper began shaking with her climax.
Shade sighed, standing up to set the woman on his chair.
“Sorry, that’s all you’ll be getting tonight,” Shade said regretfully. He had been looking forward to fucking her. It was his own fault. He should have taken her to the back ten minutes ago and fucked her in the bathroom.
He waited until the bikers were almost on top of them before picking up Viper’s empty chair. Spotting the biggest one, Shade left him to Knox. The one in front was the leader, so that was the one he needed to take out.
Before the biker could open his mouth, Shade crashed the chair down on his head.
“Fuck! Next time, give us some warning,” Viper snarled as the bar broke into a brawl that left the bikers with bloody injuries and the furniture broken. They didn’t stop until the cops arrived, pulling them off the unconscious bikers.
“They started it!” Levi yelled as he was getting cuffed. “You’re explaining this to Evie, Shade.”
Shade grunted as two officers threw him to the ground, handcuffing him before lifting him to his feet and dragging him outside.
“If anybody gets a phone call, call Lucky and tell him to come bail us out.” Viper groaned when the cop slammed him against the patrol car.
They were all driven to the local police station and placed in a holding cell.
“Damn, the bikers didn’t touch me. The cops did more damage with that fucking taser,” Knox groaned.
Gavin started chuckling.
“What the fuck is so funny?” Viper glared at him, pissed.
Gavin placed his arm around Viper’s shoulders. “We were the last ones standing. We were outnumbered three to one, and we still kicked their asses.”
“That’s what we should call our club,” Shade said, shifting to try to make himself more comfortable. They hadn’t taken his cuffs off.
“What?” Gavin asked.
“The Last Riders.”
“Remember when King had the same reaction to you?” Lily reminded him, bringing Shade back to the present.
“I don’t give a fuck. Brick makes me look like a saint,” Shade snarled.
“I wouldn’t go that far.” She laughed.
Shade gritted his teeth, staring at the man who had stolen his granddaughter while he had been recovering in the hospital.
“Where’s Lucky? I may not be able to kick Brick’s ass, but I can his grandfather.”
“The men would laugh at
two old men fighting in the backyard.” Lily shook her head at him.
“They won’t laugh long,” Shade threatened.
“Shade, look at her. She loves him.”
His lips tightened. Violet’s eyes gazed at him with tears in her eyes at knowing he was upset with the two of them together. She had been living in Tennessee until about a month ago and only came to Treepoint when she had found out he was being operated on.
Brick stared back, looking at him much the same way Shade had looked at King. Lily was right; it was too late. Brick wasn’t going to let anyone take Violet away from him.
“I’ll accept it on one condition.”
“What?” Lily asked.
“You have to give me another fifty years,” Shade bargained. Lily pressed her face into his shoulder.
“We only celebrated our fiftieth a few months ago, and you think we’ll make in another?” Lily’s face softened. “Haven’t you had enough of me yet?”
“No,” Shade scowled. “Brick put a ring on her yet?”
“No, he already talked to John, but he wanted to talk to you before he proposed.”
“Good, then I can tell him hell no to his face.”
“Shh … they’ll hear you, Shade. And you know you don’t mean it, anyway.”
Oh, yes, he fucking did, but he wanted Violet happy, and that bastard would make sure that none of life’s ugliness would touch his granddaughter. For that reason only, he nodded at the man staring back at him so resolutely.
“Dad, we’re going in. Mom, are you ready for me to carry you back inside?” Clint interrupted the staring contest.
“In a little while.” Lily pressed harder against Shade’s side.
“I have my cell phone. I’ll call when she’s ready,” Shade told his youngest son.
He nodded, giving his father a smile that reminded him of himself when he was young and full of shit. Shade watched him bend down and kiss his mother’s pale cheek.
“I love you, Mom.”
“I love you, too.”
After their son walked into the house, it gradually quieted, and the crickets began to chirp again.
“I’m sorry,” Lily whispered.
“What for?” Shade turned to look at her.
“I’m not going to be able to give you another fifty years.”
Shade stared down into her tired face. They were both aware they weren’t going to make it to their fifty-first, though neither one wanted to speak the thought out loud.
He knew the only reason she had held on as long as she had was because of him. He still remembered the day the previous year when her doctor had told him Lily was dying. The doctor had sat behind his desk, crying, while Shade had held his own tears back. He had called him to come into town without Lily in order to tell him what he hadn’t been able to tell her: she had only a few months to live. Neither of them had to tell her; she had known without being told.
When she had found out Shade’s own doctor had wanted to operate on his heart, and he had refused, she had cried. How did he expect her to fight when he wouldn’t fight for his own life? He hadn’t argued with her, not wanting her upset, so he had the surgery, recovering as he watched Lily slip farther away.
“You still going to marry Bliss?” Lily teased.
“No, her husband will beat me with his cane.” Shade swallowed the lump in his throat.
Lily laughed, the joyful sound still able to twist his stomach in knots.
“Shade … Thank you for a wonderful life. I love you. You’ve given me everything out of life I could ever want. Then, when I didn’t think there could possibly be more, you showed me there was. You gave me the faith to believe I was strong enough to handle anything, hope that somehow in this crazy universe we’ll never be apart, and you gave me your love.
“You once told me that nothing in here”—she tapped her forehead—“could hurt me.” She circled the air around them. “Then you told me that you had the rest, and you did. For all the years we spent together, you made sure me and our children were taken care of beyond my wildest expectations.” She tapped his heart with a gentle finger. “Don’t be worried about us ever being parted.” She looked up at the dark starry sky reverently. “I’ve got that.”
“Lily...”
“The mountains are beautiful tonight. I feel as if God can hear every word we’re saying,” she whispered, her hand tightening on his.
Shade wiped her tear away with his thumb.
“I do, too.”
Her violet eyes stared at him, the same ones she had passed on to their children and grandchildren. She was still staring at him when her eyes lost the special light they had always held.
“Where you go, I will go,” Shade said, holding his wife closer. “I love you, Lily. Always.”
Shade listened to the night, focusing on the sounds around him until he could separate each sound, searching for the one he wanted—the sound of his heartbeat.
He concentrated on the speed of his pumping heart then each single beat. Gradually, he slowed his heartbeat, one beat at a time, just how he had learned to do all those years ago as a sniper. It took time and concentration on each … single … beat … before there was nothing other than complete and utter silence.
“Life is eternal; and love is immortal; and death is only a horizon; and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight.”
― Rossiter Worthington Raymond
Enjoy an excerpt from Sarah Brianne’s book
Vincent (Made Men, #2)
Chapter One
Welcome to the Bowels of Hell
Lake closed her eyes at the sound of screeching metal hitting the pavement from the car’s muffler scraping the road. Her father’s car was an old Cadillac she was sure dated back to the eighties; it honestly needed work. Total junker.
Her father somehow managed to keep it working by doing his own repairs on it, using different parts from various cars and even making some himself. Lake liked to call it the Frankenlac.
She thought he would have bought a new car sometime between 1981 and 2014, but nope. He had better ways to spend his money. Yeah, like betting on a horse or for chips to throw in the middle of a poker table.
Even though Lake’s father was a level-twelve gambler on the Richter scale, she wouldn’t trade him for the world because Lake knew the other side of the coin all too well.
She shook her head, unwilling to think about the coming weekend. Most teenagers would be happy it was Friday, but not her. No, her weekends were nothing except torturous. Literally.
Her father finally reached the destination and put the car in park. “All right, kiddo. Have a good day. I’ll see you Monday.”
Lake looked away from all the stares outside of the car to meet her father’s smile. “You, too, Dad. See you Monday.” She had managed to force a smile of her own by the end of the sentence.
Lake opened the door and stepped out of the car, grabbing her bag.
“Love ya, kiddo.”
That time, Lake didn’t have to force a smile. “Love you, Dad.”
As she closed the door, another scraping sound occurred. After watching her father start to drive away, she was finally able to turn around and face the teenagers’ looks. It honestly wasn’t as bad as it seemed; they always had much better things to talk about. Not to mention a short attention span.
See, Lake wasn’t popular nor was she unpopular; she was just … well, Lake.
Boom!
After a moment of complete silence, loud laughter filled the air along with some serious black smoke from her father’s car blowing a gasket. Lake put her head down and pulled up the hood from her hoodie, trying to conceal her face.
Great. It can’t get any worse, can it? She started walking through the parking lot, weaving between the people and cars.
Beginning to hear loud music come closer, Lake turned her head to see a big, white Jeep heading her way. She had to jump back to dodge the corner of the vehicle as the brakes squealed into ‘park�
�.
Lake stood in shock from the close call as her heart began to pound. She knew exactly who was driving before the girl exited the Jeep along with three of her friends.
Ashley. It was hard for her to even say Ashley’s name in her head.
“Oh, my gosh. I didn’t even see you,” Ashley said sarcastically through her snickering.
Lake decided to take the golden opportunity of being able to talk back. She didn’t get many chances.
“Oh, my gosh. Really? Maybe you need to get glasses. Quick, how many fingers am I holding up?” Lake stuck up her middle finger then heard muffled laughs.
Ashley scowled and spoke as loudly as she could. “Sorry, I don’t speak trailer trash.”
That right there was how a lot of the world saw Lake—just a piece of trash. Trailer trash, to be exact.
Lake stood there and watched the girls giggle away in their high-pitched voices. It instantly brought her to the realization that it could, in fact, get worse.
Going against her better judgment, she decided to start walking again. She really hoped she wouldn’t end up regretting her little outburst to Ashley, but right then, she felt proud of herself and decided she would enjoy it. For now, anyway.
As she got closer to the front doors, Lake looked up at the yellow sign plastered to the brick exterior of the school which said, ‘Welcome,’ right above the words, ‘Eastern Hills High.’ She thought it should be something more along the lines of, ‘Welcome to the Bowels of Hell.’
She was finally a senior in that hellhole—thank God—and had just started her first week back after Christmas break.
Walking into the school, she was greeted by the warm heat. It was cold in Kansas City, Missouri, so the heat was welcome as it defrosted her nose and cheeks.
When she got to her first period Chemistry class, she went straight to her seat and as soon as her butt hit the chair, the bell rang for class to begin.
Lake stared at the empty seat next to her, shaking her head with a smile. Every single day.
