by Jamie Begley
“Yes, well, I went along because I thought it would give me time to come up with the money. I thought I would win the bid to garage the state’s vehicles. It’s the perfect location, only three miles away from the State Police headquarters and the government offices.”
“Except, you didn’t win the bid.”
“No, they decided it was cheaper to build their own, and they awarded the money to one of Curt’s cousins to build a new garage.”
“Tough luck. You shouldn’t have counted on it anyway.”
“I know that now.”
“Why did Aly want you to attract my attention?”
“She thinks Curt’s responsible for her parents’ deaths. When Knox couldn’t find any proof of wrongdoing, she wanted to get The Last Riders involved. They have a bad reputation around town, in case you didn’t know.”
“We know.”
“They do?” She shook her head. “Anyway, Aly said some of the people who had hurt women belonging to The Last Riders had disappeared or ended up dead. Aly wants Curt dead, and she wants you to do it.”
The stark truth coming out of her lips had the color leaving her face. She was so cold that she shivered underneath her robe.
She tearfully stared out the window, hearing Rider scoot his chair back as he got up. She couldn’t blame him for leaving. She hated herself for agreeing to go along with Aly’s plan for so long.
She was startled into tearing her gaze away from the window to look up at Rider when he placed a blanket around her shoulders.
“Why did Aly choose you? She could have tried to get my attention herself.”
“She did. She said that’s why she started hanging out at the club. But when she heard some of the women members joking that the men were trying to fix you up with me, she decided she would have more luck with them becoming involved if I were the one in a relationship with you.”
“Aly has a devious mind.” Rider’s face didn’t reveal what he was thinking.
“Yes, she does,” Jo agreed. “I tried to talk her out of it, but I felt bad for her, too. Both her parents are dead, and I can understand why she feels that Curt is responsible. Curt has a worse reputation than The Last Riders.”
“And how was Aly going to get me onboard with her plan?”
“Actually, she came up with the idea when Shade asked her to pretend to use her discount to pay for a nice dress, and he would pay the rest.”
“Really? I’ll have to thank him for that.”
Not missing the small tick of a muscle on the side of his forehead, she pulled the blanket tighter around her.
“Whose idea was it to use the perfume? Aly or Shade?”
“Perfume? I don’t …” The muscle ticked harder. “Aly.” Jo raised her blanket to cover her scarlet cheeks, mumbling through the thick material, “The women in the club told Aly that you … uh … uh … like it when they buy new perfumes.”
If she had been offered a million dollars, she wouldn’t have been able to look at Rider. It had been embarrassing enough when Aly had told her many of Rider’s secrets, much less confessing to his face what she had been told.
“Why are you so embarrassed?”
Despite herself, she looked toward Rider, curling her fingers into the thick blanket. Slumberous eyes watched her reaction with the intensity of a panther stalking its prey.
“I admit I have a thing for sexy perfume. Just like I think a woman wearing pink is sexy.”
Jo tucked her pink socks under the hem of her robe and surreptitiously tightened the knot at her waist, forgetting he had seen her in her pink Henley last night.
“Sex involves all the senses: touch, sight, smell, taste … even the way a woman says my name can be a turn-on.”
“I think we’re getting off track.” Jo cleared her throat before taking a sip of her juice.
“I think we’re just getting to the best part. Who picked the perfume?”
“I did. Aly said your favorite is Chanel. I googled the closest matches and came up with the one I chose.”
“Which woman told Aly my favorite perfume?”
“I don’t remember. Aly must not have told me.”
Rider’s lips quirked. “I’ll leave that alone for now. So, why did you scratch out the bills you were paying and move that amount under the amount you owe Aly?”
“After you won the auction, I tried to back out, but she wouldn’t let me. I met her about a month ago and told her I wouldn’t do it, that she would have to come up with another plan or get your help herself.”
“What did she say?”
Jo picked up the court letter and tossed it toward him. “That’s what happened. She’s suing me.”
“Why did you back out?”
This was the hardest to explain. Jo tried to come up with a different explanation, other than the truth, deciding at last to be completely honest and let the coin fall where it would land.
“I was afraid of you. I told Aly that I thought you were more dangerous than you pretend to be.”
“That was smart of you.”
“Not too smart or she wouldn’t have sued me. I should have played along with her until she realized you had no interest that way.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“You wouldn’t stop riding along with me. Then I worried you might actually hurt Curt after the night at the bar. It was easier to just tell Aly no and stop letting you ride with me.”
“Why did you tell me about the night you were raped?”
“I didn’t know what Aly would do. I already told her I wouldn’t help her, and I didn’t want her using Curt’s attack on me to ever factor in you hurting Curt. It happened to me, and I had finally let go of the fact that Curt got away with it, that it was left for God to deal with him.”
“I see. And you really feel that way?”
“Yes, I do. I never wanted Curt killed. I wanted him behind bars. It would kill his pride if everyone in town knew where he was, and his family wouldn’t be able to cover for him anymore.”
“What about Justin and Tanner?”
“I feel the same way toward them.” She gave a bitter laugh. “I imagined them sent to different prisons so they would be alone and couldn’t depend on each other. That would have been worse than hell to them. Justin and Tanner can’t tie their own shoes without Curt.”
Rider picked up the letter that had fallen onto his lap and set it on the pad of paper. “Are these the bills you owe?”
Jo shrugged out of the blanket, going to the coffee table and pulling out a thin drawer. Grasping the mound of bills that she had hidden from sight because she couldn’t pay them, she walked back to the table and set them on top of the stack Rider had created.
Sitting down in her chair, she waited expectantly for him to tell her that he couldn’t help her, when he arched a brow at her.
Confusion turned to understanding when he reached forward and lifted the blanket over her shoulders, folding it closed in the front.
“Are you ready to hear how we’re going to solve your problems?” He stared at her the way he had the night of the auction.
The last time she had listened to an offer of help, she had regretted it and ended up deeper in debt.
“Do I have to?”
“Yes. I think it will be better to get it over with now.”
“Then, can I have my cough medicine? I think I’m going to need it.”
25
“No, I’m going to make this painless.” Rider slid the bills to the side, then tore off the yellow paper until he came to a clean page. Picking up the bills, he folded the sheath of papers and bills together, placing them in his jacket pocket that was hanging off the back of his chair. “You now have a clean slate.”
Rider rose, getting Jo another glass of juice, then setting a prescription bottle down by it. “Take one. It’s an iron supplement.”
Jo took the pill, staring down at her juice. “I can’t accept your help. I called Drake after I received the letter. He’s having an a
ppraisal done on the garage and most of my land. I should be able to make enough to at least keep the house.”
“What the appraisal showed was that you would be lucky to pay off half of what you owe.”
“How would you …? Drake told you?”
“That would be unethical, wouldn’t it?”
He didn’t deny nor admit it, but she must have figured it out when her head fell to the table.
“Lord, kill me.”
Rider couldn’t help laughing. “You’ve been spending time with Mag.”
Jo lifted her head to glare at him, which had him laughing harder.
“You don’t like her, do you?” she accused.
Rider reached out to remove a stray noodle that was stamped to her forehead, using the opportunity to see if she was running a fever. He was barely able to snatch his hand back before she tried to swat it away.
“I can’t stand the bitch,” he admitted.
“That’s just mean.”
“I can be mean when I have to be.” He shrugged, picking up his coffee cup. “In this case, I think everyone in town would agree with me.”
“Everyone in town loves Mag.”
“Name one.” When he saw she was going to name several, he cut her off. “Name one who isn’t related to her.”
Her mouth snapped shut, then opened. “Me. I love Mag, and I’m not related to her.”
“Name one besides you.”
When she didn’t immediately, he couldn’t help but smirk at her.
“Cat got your tongue?”
“I’m thinking,” she bit out, then snapped her fingers under his nose. “Mick loves her.”
“You think so? Let’s ask him.” Rider took out his cell phone, pressing Mick’s number.
“You’re not seriously calling him.”
His answer was another smirk as Mick answered.
Rider put it on speaker phone. “Mick? I have a quick question. Do you love Mag?”
“You high, Rider?”
“No, I’m not high. I’m not drunk either. I’m with Jo. I told her that I don’t like Mag, and I told her that no one in town loves that old bitch, other than those related to her. Well, except Jo. She said you do. I disagree with her. So, do you love Mag?”
The static crackled across the line as Mick hesitated. “I like Mag, but I wouldn’t go so far as saying I love the woman.”
Rider jerked the phone out of Jo’s reach when she tried to take it from him.
“Calm down, Jo. Me and Mick are just kidding around. Mick, you want to help Jo out? Can you think of anyone in town who loves Mag?”
“Do they have to be breathing?”
“Mick!” Jo yelled over Rider and Mick’s laughter.
“Jo, are you really there with Rider?”
“Yes!”
Rider couldn’t resist grabbing the tail end of the blanket she had wrapped around her when she got up to go toward the coffee pot. Tugging it, he made her sit back down.
“I was just joking. Me and Rider cut up all the time,” Mick tried to explain through a coughing fit. “I need to go and take my medicine …”
“Traitor!” Jo then, as if unable to help herself, asked, “Are you doing okay?”
“I will be with Beth and Razer looking after me. Greer brought me some of his cough syrup, so I’ll be back at work tomorrow night.”
“You’re actually taking it?”
“It knocks that flu right out of you. He makes a batch every winter. He uses horehound candy, rock candy, and 100% Kentucky Bourbon. I don’t have much left, but I can call Greer and get him to bring you some.”
“When did Greer give it to you?”
Rider’s shoulders started shaking when he saw Jo looking at the large bottle he had sent her.
“About an hour ago …”
“Mick, you’re only supposed to take a sip every four hours.”
“You have some? If you have any left, can I have it? You know, just in case I’m not feeling better by tomorrow. The first bottle is free. The son of a bitch charges thirty dollars after that, and it’s half the size of the free one.”
Jo shrugged the blanket off her shoulders and started rubbing her face. She was getting upset, so Rider decided to put her out of her misery and end the call.
“Thanks for your help, Mick. I’ll have Train bring over what Jo has left.” He disconnected the call to see Jo staring at him angrily.
“That stuff is going down the drain.”
At first, Rider thought she was laughing. When he saw tears sliding out of the corners of her eyes, he realized she wasn’t. When she saw that he could see her tears, she couldn’t hold her sniffles back.
“I feel like crap!” she wailed, reaching for the discarded blanket to hide her face again. It was either that or she was trying to use it as a tissue.
Rider immediately stood. Bending down, he lifted her into his arms, and her head fell to his chest as she cried a storm of tears that he would never have imagined her capable of.
“I hate being sick.”
“I know, baby. It’s the flu, and you’re not going to bounce right back.”
Rider tucked her back into bed, giving her the medicine the doctor had given her to relieve her fever. Sitting on the side of the bed, he then handed her several tissues and waited until she had her tears back under control. He didn’t have to check to see if her fever was spiking again. Her flushed face showed that it was.
The blue smudges under her eyes told him how sick Jo was. She had been working herself to exhaustion for so long that the flu had been able to strike with a vengeance. It was going to take a good deal of care to see her restored to full health.
“Can I get you something, except for coffee?”
“Can I have another glass of juice?”
“I’ll be right back.”
At her nod, he left her to make a glass of cranberry juice. She had finished the last of the orange juice. He would text Train and have him run to the store before bringing the truck back.
When he returned to the bedroom, he found Jo sleeping. Setting the juice down on the bedside table, he left the bedroom, closing the door behind him.
He used the time she was sleeping to make a grocery and pharmacy list for Train. When he was done, he called Viper.
“How’s it going?” Rider asked without preamble as soon as his president answered.
“Moon and Diablo installed cameras on Aly’s property.”
“How is she?”
“Mad. She lied and said Jo made it all up when Shade and I confronted her. Then, when I told her Jo wasn’t the one to tell us, she blamed Ember and Stori. Said they were the ones who gave her the idea.”
“That bitch is a piece of work. I can see how she and Georgia were friends. She going to do what we tell her?”
“Yes. She may be a cold-hearted bitch, but she loved her parents and wants to find out the truth—if they were murdered or not.”
“Shade figure out why Curt wants that property?”
“Not yet. He gave that job to Greer. Shade has his hands full with the baby. John and Lily both have the flu.”
“Shade is taking care of the baby all by himself?”
“Yes. Most of the clubhouse is down with it, too. You, Moon, Train, Gavin, and I are the only ones who have escaped it so far.”
“Take plenty of videos of Shade waiting on everyone—”
“No, I like my new phone. Besides, Shade’s not letting anyone inside his house.”
“When did you get a new phone?”
“When Shade broke my last one after I videotaped him watching Dirty Harry with the baby while Lily was at church with John. I was stupid enough to say I was going to show her.”
“That wasn’t bright. Even I wouldn’t have been dumb enough to do that,” Rider gloated before realizing Viper had hung up.
He made sure to delete his own video of Shade mimicking Clint Eastwood with a cigar in his mouth. He had filmed it when Shade had come back to get Lily and the ba
by some clothes after Clint had been born. The brothers had all shared cigars together before Shade had gone back to the hospital. He hated to lose the video, but he loved his phone more.
Looking at his watch, he hurried back to Jo’s bedroom door, opening it slowly to make sure she was still sleeping. Then he closed it when he saw she was.
Going to the old refrigerator, he held his nose as he removed the only thing inside—the bottle of cranberry juice—setting it on the counter.
Heaving the refrigerator to the side, he then unplugged it before scooting it away from the wall. He had just finished when he heard a truck outside.
Opening the door before the delivery driver could knock, he signed his name on the electronic pad. Rider then stood on the porch as two men unloaded the new fridge he had ordered over the phone.
He had to go inside to grab his jacket when the wheel of the dolly went through one of the rotted boards of the steps. It took all three men to get it on the porch. Then Rider prayed the entire time they brought it inside that it wouldn’t sink through the sagging floors.
The delivery drivers were leaving with a generous tip when another truck pulled in next to the appliance truck.
The electrician got out of his van, going to the side to open the sliding door and coming out with a toolbox.
Rider took him inside to show him the fuse box.
“You don’t need an electrician. You need a match and a good insurance policy.”
“My old lady is attached to this house.”
“I’d get a new woman. You can have mine. My alimony payments are killing me.”
“Can you fix it or not?” Rider was getting worried that Jo would wake up and see what was going on behind her back.
The beady-eyed electrician looked like a shark that could smell blood in water. “How much are you willing to pay?”
“You related to Greer Porter?”
“No, but I know him. We share a beer every now and then.”
“We’re friends. He told me you’d give me a good deal.”
“You’re lying. Greer doesn’t have any friends.”
Rider could see the price going up every time he opened his mouth. Wisely, he knew when he was beaten. “Just fix it.”
“You got cash? I don’t take checks.”
