Shade's Lady

by Joanna Wylde

“Things will look better in the morning,” I agreed. “In the meantime, we should probably do something with all this shit.”

  I gestured to the pile of drugs and paraphernalia, wondering how the hell we’d been so clueless.

  “We could flush it,” she said. “There may be more we haven’t found, but we can get rid of this, at least. So long as it’s here, we’re technically in possession.”

  “It’s as good a plan as any,” I said, sighing. “Tonight I’ll sleep in with the twins. That way if they wake up, I’ll be right there to keep an eye on them. I don’t feel like this trailer is safe anymore.”

  “Neither do I,” Hannah admitted. “Sucks. All of it. And of course it happens right when I’ve finally met someone I like. We had a good thing started.”

  “Look on the bright side,” I told her. “Maybe he’s a closet serial killer. For all we know, this is saving your life.”

  Hannah laughed and bumped me with her shoulder. I rolled my eyes, then pushed myself up from the floor, reaching down to give her a hand.

  We’d get through this.

  We had to.

  Chapter Sixteen

  That night I had a bizarre dream that a leprechaun came to the house and peed in our milk, turning it green. Hannah laid out sticky glue traps and caught him. Then the girls tickled him with feathers until he was screaming for mercy.

  He granted us three wishes.

  We wished that Randy and his druggy friends would disappear, that we’d get a new house, and that they’d put in a fountain full of green milk down at the city park, because dreams are weird.

  Sadly, when I woke up I was still living in a shithole that was probably drug contaminated. On the bright side, we were out of milk and had to drink hot chocolate for breakfast.

  I decided to count that as a win.

  After eating, Hannah and I sat on the porch and pretended nothing was wrong while we talked things over in hushed whispers. The girls played on the swing set, oblivious. When the little old lady who lived across the street came out to water her flowers, we gave her the usual smiles and waves—just like perfectly normal people living perfectly normal lives.

  Unfortunately, we weren’t perfectly normal people and the leprechaun’s wishes had only been a dream. No matter how we looked at the situation, there were no easy answers. I had to stay put for the next four weeks or risk violating my probation. I could apply for a move, of course, but that meant finding a new place to live and a job ahead of time—not to mention coming up with an explanation that the Department of Corrections wouldn’t find suspicious. That would take time, planning and money.

  Hannah and the girls would have to go without me.

  We had some friends up north who’d probably take them in, at least for a while. I could stay here and take my chances. Sara wouldn’t mind me crashing on her couch for a few days.

  “I’ll ride down to the bar,” I told Hannah. “Pick up that cash and talk to Bone. Ask him about an advance on my paycheck. He might be able to help.”

  “Okay,” she said, looking as defeated as I felt. “You know, I hate this trailer and I hate Randy, but I’m really going to miss Violetta. I liked my job.”

  “And Heath,” I added softly. “I know it’s a new thing with him, but he obviously makes you happy. What are you going to tell him?”

  She shrugged, her face sad. “I’ll think of something. It probably wouldn’t have worked out anyway. I have three kids—what man wants to take that on?”

  I squeezed her shoulder, wishing I could fix it. Then I fetched my little backpack purse, grabbed my bike and started pedaling toward the bar. Two minutes later I hit the railroad tracks wrong and nearly crashed, skidding across the gravel.

  Even the roads in this place sucked.

  Unlike Hannah, I couldn’t wait to put Violetta behind me. I wasn’t even sure where I wanted to go when I left. In some ways, I didn’t care. I just wanted to be free to enjoy life for a while, without constantly looking over my shoulder.

  I’d passed through town and was nearly to the Pit when I heard the sound of a motorcycle in the distance. Then it drew closer, turning around the corner toward me, and I realized there were actually two of them.

  Shade and his faithful companion, Dopey the Giant.

  Dopey fell back as Shade veered across the road, blocking me. For an instant I considered trying to go around him. Pointless. Instead, I cruised to a stop as he cut his engine, because a confrontation was the last thing I needed.

  “Where are you going? We need to finish our talk from last night.”

  “I needed to run by the bar,” I told him, focusing my gaze on the patches listing his name and office. All of the Reapers wore patches on their leather vests. According to Bone, they were part of the code the bikers used to communicate with each other. Some of them were simple—names and towns. Others held secret meanings I’d never been able to figure out.

  “Why?” he asked, and I could tell he was digging in for a fight. Crap. I didn’t have time for this.

  “Some dumbass left five hundred dollars there. Figured I might as well go pick it up.”

  Shade didn’t smile, cocking his head to look at me, his stare piercing.

  “What the fuck happened last night?” he demanded.

  “Nothing,” I told him, wishing it was the truth. “But I’m in a hurry. Get out of my way.”

  He shook his head slowly. “Leave the bicycle here. You’re coming with me so we can talk.”

  “Someone will steal it.”

  “Not in this town. Stop fucking around, Mandy.”

  “Shade, I’m not—” My phone rang, interrupting us. I glance down to see Hannah’s number. We usually texted each other, and she knew I was riding.

  Something must’ve happened.

  “I have to take this,” I said, putting down my kickstand as I swung off the bicycle. I swiped my finger across the phone, walking away from Shade so I could answer.

  “We have to leave now,” Hannah said, her voice frantic. “Like, right now. All of us.”

  “Calm down,” I told her in a low voice, glancing back toward Shade. He’d gotten off his own bike and was walking toward me. I turned and started walking faster. “Tell me what happened.”

  “Three guys showed up right after you left,” Hannah said. “I recognized one of them—he used to come around and talk to Randy sometimes. The other two were strangers. They said Randy owes them money. They… Mandy, they grabbed my arm and twisted it behind my back. Really hard. I thought it was going to break. Then the bastard told me that Randy needs to pay up or they’ll hurt the girls. One of the other guys was staring at Callie and it wasn’t right. Like, I think he’s into her. Wants to… Mandy, I think he wants to do things to her. I’m so scared. I don’t think I’ve ever been more scared in my life.”

  “Fuck,” I said, the words hitting me like a blow. I swayed, stunned. “You’re right. We have to get the hell away from this town. Now.”

  “I know,” she said. “Call Sara. Call her right now and see if we can get a ride or borrow her car or something. I can throw some things into a backpack and—”

  Abruptly, the phone was taken out of my hand. Shade caught my arm, spinning me to face him as he raised it to his ear.

  “She’ll call you later,” he said, then hung it up. Fucking bastard! I slapped at him, lunging for the phone. He grabbed me by the waist from the side, then lifted me, my back to his stomach. I kicked back, trying to get him, but nothing worked. “Settle the fuck down. No phone until you tell me what’s really going on.”

  Fury filled me. I wanted to kill him.

  No, Wonder Woman said. You have to calm down. Manage this. Work the situation and protect the girls. They’re all that matters.

  Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to settle. Shade held me, leaning forward to speak directly into my ear.

  “You ready to talk to me or what?”

  No, I was ready to kill him.

  “Yes,” I managed to say, grittin
g my teeth. “Let me go.”

  He lowered me but kept one wrist held tight. Then he twisted it around behind me, forcing me into his body. He’d caught me this way the first time we kissed, but this time his eyes weren’t full of heat. They were cold. Angry. I stared up at him, chest heaving, hating him and Randy and Trevor and every other man who’d ever fucked up my life.

  “Tell me what happened,” he said, his voice icy. It was an order, not a request. The phone buzzed and I knew Hannah had to be frantic. Shade’s face was grim—he wasn’t going to give up until he got what he wanted.

  “Hannah’s ex is causing trouble,” I said quickly. “We have to leave town. Today. I’m going to pick up my money so we can buy bus tickets. You need to let me go right now, okay? It’s none of your business.”

  His fingers tightened on me. “And were you planning to give me a heads-up about this?”

  “No,” I said. “I was too busy worrying about my sister and her kids. You’re just a fucking one-night stand, okay?”

  “Yeah, well, we never had breakfast,” he said. “That means the night isn’t over and you’re trying to sneak out before I wake up. That’s bullshit and you know it.”

  “It’s not about you,” I hissed. “It just isn’t. You don’t get a vote in this. I have to go and I have to go now.”

  Shade let the one hand go, keeping my other wrist captive. I jerked hard, trying to get away. Might as well have been cuffed to him. He gave me the phone.

  “Call your sister,” Shade said, his voice softening. “Tell her I’m bringing you back to the trailer. The two of you are going to tell me everything. Everything. Think it through, babe. If you really need to bug out, you’re not gonna get far without a car. We’ll talk it over and find a solution. You can bullshit all you want about sex and one-night stands, but I’m not done with you yet and you know it. I get what I want, and I want you. If I have to deal with some drama to make it happen, then I guess I’ll deal with some drama.”

  “This isn’t drama, Shade. This is serious shit.”

  He caught and held my gaze. “Serious shit is what I do, Mandy. We can handle it.”

  There was something in his face, something strong and dangerous that almost had me believing he meant it. God, if only… I dialed Hannah’s number and she picked up almost instantly.

  “What happened?” she asked. “Did they find you?”

  “No,” I told her. “But Shade’s here. He’s bringing me home and then we’re going to talk.”

  “You didn’t tell him, did you?”

  “Not all of it, but enough… He says we need to talk about it. Maybe he can help.”

  She fell silent for a moment. “He can’t help, can he?”

  “Honestly? I don’t know,” I whispered. “We’ll be there in a few minutes. Try not to freak out too much. Love you.”

  “Love you, too.”

  Hanging up, I turned to Shade. The sun was behind him, turning him into a dark, looming profile of a man. Threatening. Intimidating. Implacable. I should’ve stayed away from him. I thought I’d met fun, sexy Shade, but that’d only been a front. He’d been scary Shade all along. I’d just been in denial.

  “Leave the bicycle over there,” he said, nodding toward a fence. “We’ll come pick it up later. Then get your ass on the back of my bike.”

  Shade

  I listened as Mandy and Hannah told me the whole story, wishing I could feel surprised. I’d seen a lot of ugly in the world, though. Far too much ugly to doubt for a second that they were in real danger. The situation didn’t set right. Wasn’t a big fan of pedophiles. Also wasn’t a big fan of men who’d sell out their own kids for drugs.

  I’d have been willing to step in on this one even if I wasn’t fuckin’ Mandy, and that was the truth.

  As for her and her sister, they were like two kicked puppies. Mandy looked defeated. Hannah, too. All the while, her little girls were running around, playing some sort of elaborate game with sticks and leaves in the dust. I supposed they were cute enough. You know, if you liked children. I never had. Even so, the thought of some asshole touching them… Nope.

  Wasn’t gonna happen.

  Dopey stood at the far end of the yard, smoking and giving us privacy. I’d fill him in later.

  “Did he lay hands on you?” I asked Hannah, considering the situation. She looked away, one hand coming up to rub her arm self-consciously.

  “He grabbed me,” she admitted. “Twisted my arm. I’m more worried about Callie. The way he looked at her… This is bad. Really bad. We need to leave town right now.”

  “What about your boyfriend—the deputy?”

  “If I call him and they find the drugs, Mandy could go to jail,” she said. “It’s better to leave.”

  “I’d rather go to jail than let them get the girls,” Mandy chimed in.

  “If there are drugs in the house, you’re both in possession,” I said flatly. “Doesn’t matter who put them there. You both get arrested, those kids will go into foster care, and that sicko might come for them.”

  Hannah nodded, her face determined. “So we’ll leave.”

  “Do you want to leave Violetta?” I asked her, considering the situation. She shrugged.

  “Doesn’t matter. We can’t stay.”

  “And you?” I asked Mandy. “What about probation? You’re only four weeks out from total freedom. This could destroy that.”

  “Hannah and the girls are all I care about,” she told me, her voice resolute. “That’s what counts here. If they leave, I can go crash on Sara’s couch.”

  I nodded, already making my plans. We could handle this, of course. Randy and his little friends were like gnats to a guy in my position. I could run them off without hardly noticing. That would be too easy, though. If one of those bastards was into kids, he’d had other victims. Men like that needed to be put down. That part was straightforward enough.

  More complicated was doing it in a way that let Hannah stay in Violetta. That deputy of hers was the kind of man who married a woman, took care of her. For reasons I didn’t care to examine too closely, I liked the idea of Mandy’s sister being happy.

  That meant we had to solve the problem of the trailer—God only knew what other kinds of shit Randy had lying around.

  We’d need to interrogate him, I decided. Find out exactly what he’d left there, figure out if it could be cleaned up. If he got seriously hurt during the questioning, all the better. It’d still end the same, but I wouldn’t lose a wink of sleep if he bled a bit first.

  “You got a place the kids can go for the afternoon?” I asked.

  Mandy narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Why?”

  “Because later today we’re going to have Hannah call Randy and tell him to come over. Then we’re going to talk to him and you probably don’t want the kids around while we do it. Might be a little traumatic.”

  The sisters shared a look.

  “Are you serious?” Hannah asked. “Even if you dealt with Randy, his friends will still be after us. We can’t pay them off. We barely have enough money to buy bus tickets north.”

  “I’m the president of the Reapers Motorcycle Club,” I told her, my voice gentle. “Not the local chapter of the club—the whole damned thing. We got more than a hundred brothers in four states, plus all the support clubs under us. Altogether that’s maybe a thousand guys, and I’ll set every single one of them to hunting those fuckers down if I need to. Then I’ll make sure they never bother you again.”

  “But—”

  “They’ll never bother you again,” I repeated.

  Hannah’s eyes widened. “What will you do?”

  “What needs to be done.”

  Both women stared at me, understanding dawning.

  “Why?” Mandy finally asked, genuinely confused. I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose.

  “Because we haven’t had breakfast yet,” I told her.

  “What?” Hannah asked.

  Mandy just looked at me like she couldn�
��t quite believe I was real.

  “It means we’re not done yet,” I said to Mandy, catching her gaze and holding it. “And that means you’re mine, at least for now. Nobody fucks with what’s mine.”

  “We’re not in a relationship,” she whispered, and I couldn’t decide whether she was trying to convince me or herself.

  “Call it what you want. Just don’t fuck anyone else while you’re fuckin’ me. As long as whatever the hell this is that we don’t have lasts, you’re under my protection. Your sister doesn’t want to leave town. She’s in love with that bastard, Andrews. Suck it up, Mandy, and accept some help. These are not good guys. Let me handle them and worry about definitions later.”

  “Okay,” she whispered. “I’ll call Sara—maybe she can take the kids.”

  “You do that,” I told her. “I need to make some phone calls, too. Dopey is gonna make sure you get over there nice and safe. Then he’s gonna cruise by periodically to make sure everything stays safe. You can call him if you need to, but don’t unless you have to. The less of a trail we leave the better.”

  “We can do that,” Hannah said fervently.

  “Yup,” Mandy agreed.

  “Great. I’ll be back in a couple hours with some of the brothers. We won’t be riding bikes and we won’t be parking in front of your place. Give me your keys now, so we can let ourselves in quietly. You got any nosy neighbors?”

  “Mrs. Collins, across the street,” Mandy said. “She’s half blind. You won’t have to worry about her. The folks on the other side are new—I don’t know them very well.”

  “Then we have a plan. Mandy, I’ll text you when it’s time to come home. Just a quick message asking if you’re feeling okay. You tell me yes if you’re ready to go and no if you’re delayed. We’ll take it from there.”

  “What if someone sees you?” Hannah asked.

  I smiled at her.

  “Don’t worry about me. I’m real good at this shit. Why do you think they made me president?”

  Mandy

  Sara was available, thank God. We’d packed the girls into the stroller with their favorite blankies and stuffed animals, on the off chance she managed to get them to nap. Not that it seemed likely, but it was the decent thing to try. She had to suspect something was up, but she didn’t ask any questions and we didn’t offer any explanations. She just asked us to come and pick them up by three. That’s when she had to leave for work.