by Jamie Begley
Willa spun around at the shout from behind her. Douglas and four other men Willa recognized from doing various jobs at her house during the remodeling ran from the cover of the trees and spread out, covering Bridge from different positions.
“Willa, come here,” Douglas ordered.
Willa took a step toward him.
“Take another step and I’ll blow her brains out.”
As Sissy began crying, Willa couldn’t leave the girl. She stopped moving, listening as the roar of motorcycles could be heard in the distance.
“Your husband is going to get to see if you can fly.”
Willa didn’t show any trace of her fear, unwilling for the last image Lucky had to be of her crying and begging. She wanted him to remember their last night together and how much she loved him.
The motorcycles came to a stop and Lucky got off his bike, his fury palpable. The other men got off their bikes, trailing behind him.
“Bridge, let Sissy go. This is between us. Neither Willa nor the girl has anything to do with us. You want me. I’m here.” Lucky spread his arms open. “Take your fucking shot.”
“I don’t want you. I want to see your face when she goes flying,” Bridge snarled then turned with the gun to Sissy’s head. “Jump, bitch!”
Willa watched as Sissy turned her head to the side, biting into Bridge’s shoulder. The man tossed her into the air at the same time a shot rang out.
“Sissy!” Willa barely managed to grab Sissy’s hand, losing her own balance on the edge of the cliff.
“No!” Lucky yelled as another shot rang out.
Willa felt herself tumbling over the edge, her body twisting sideways from the force of catching Sissy’s weight with her hand.
Willa screamed in agony at the pain radiating from her arm. Her free hand clawed to catch the edge of the cliff before grabbing onto the safety chain that Bridge had unhooked from the edge, holding on with what strength she could.
Sissy’s screams sounded from beside her as the girl held on.
“Hang on, Willa. Don’t you fucking let go!” Lucky’s hand grabbed her forearm as Viper fell down on the ground next to him, reaching for Sissy.
Willa was unaware of the whimpers of pain escaping her as Viper and Train lifted Sissy, taking her weight off Willa. As soon as they moved away, Cash bent to help Lucky pull her up.
“Don’t pull her up from her arm; it’s out of its socket!” Lucky ordered.
Cash reached down farther, taking the waistband of her jeans and lifting her straight up into Lucky’s arms. Then his hands went to her arm, holding it steady as Lucky carried her away from the edge of the cliff, sinking down on the ground with her on his lap.
“An ambulance is on the way,” Viper said from next to them.
Lucky held her arm still, telling her not to move, while Willa looked through blurry eyes at the man bleeding on the ground a few feet from where she was lying. Douglas was standing over Bridge with a gun pointed at his head.
When a truck came to a screeching stop, Willa watched as Shade jumped lithely from the bed with a rifle strapped to his back. His blue eyes ran detachedly over Willa and Lucky as he walked by Sissy sitting on the ground, crying helplessly, not stopping until he came to Bridge’s side. He crouched down next to Bridge, and his deadly, cold gaze had Willa shivering in the late summer heat.
“You missed.”
“I don’t miss. I hit where I was aiming.”
Bridge laughed, wincing in pain. “You should have killed me. I won’t stop coming after him.”
“Bridge, I’m done pussyfooting around with you. The only man responsible for Kale being dead is you.”
Bridge tried to rise up and go for Shade, but Shade reacted with lightning speed, grabbing the man’s shirt where blood was pouring out and pressing him back onto the ground.
“You were the one your brother followed into the service, not Lucky. You were the one who should have taught the dumbass to keep his safety on. You were the one who should have knocked some sense in him the first time he was reprimanded for not keeping his weapon close to his side. He was fucking careless with not only his life, but the other men on the mission. Kale was a goof-off, and everyone in the squad fucking knew it. That was why you asked Lucky to watch out for him.
“Lucky did everything he could do to save him, and I’m done watching you blame him for something he couldn’t prevent. If you go near him and Willa again, I’ll take out every family member you’ve got left breathing and those dogs of yours. When I’m done, there won’t be a person living to cry over the grave I bury you in. You got me?”
Bridge turned his face away, unable to meet Shade’s gaze. “I got you.”
“Good.” Shade released him, rising to his feet.
The ambulance pulled to a stop and the EMTs got out, grabbing their equipment. When they would have gone to Bridge, Shade snarled at them.
“You fucking treat her first. I didn’t shoot any vitals. He’ll wait.”
One EMT broke off, dropping to Willa’s side.
“Her shoulder’s dislocated.”
Lucky’s hoarse voice helped Willa bear the brief examination. Then she bit back her cries of pain as they immobilized her arm.
“Willa, stop.” Lucky buried his face in her hair. “Quit telling me you’re all right. I know it hurts like hell. I dislocated mine when I played high school football.”
“Oh.” Willa buried her face in his T-shirt. “Will you make sure Sissy’s okay?”
“I’ll take care of her,” Lucky promised.
Willa didn’t like the tone in his voice, but she was in too much pain to argue.
Knox and another ambulance arrived, quickly loading her onto the stretcher. Lucky held her hand as the stretcher rolled her toward the ambulance. As she passed Shade, she looked up at him.
“Don’t you dare thank him. He has a big enough head, anyway.”
Willa managed to laugh at her husband’s wry comment.
“You going to write me in your will?” Shade joked.
Willa stared up at him. “I already have. Didn’t Lucky tell you?”
Shade gave Lucky a mocking smile. “No, he must have forgotten.”
“I think I’ve finally figured you out,” Willa told him softly.
His smile disappeared, and an inscrutable look crossed his features.
“You told me each of The Last Riders has a code. Lucky’s is honor.” A lone tear slipped from the corner of her eye. “Yours is loyalty.”
Shade reached out a gentle hand, wiping her tear away. “Go get your arm taken care of. I’ll keep an eye on Lucky for you.”
“I know you will,” Willa softly replied. “I know you all will.”
Chapter 34
“Sit down and I’ll get you some juice to take your medication with before we go downstairs.”
Willa sat down at the kitchen table, feeling self-conscious with the other members standing around.
Lily and Beth both sat down at the table on opposite sides of her.
“Are you in any pain?” Lily asked with concern in her violet eyes.
“Surprisingly, no. They put me to sleep to put my shoulder back in socket and repair the torn ligaments. I’ll be good as new in about eight weeks.” Willa took the juice from her husband and the pain pill he held out.
“She has to have physical therapy. I’ve already called Donna.”
“The Last Riders keep her in business,” Beth joked.
“I have to admit, I did like Conner.” Winter sat down at the end of the table with a fond smile of remembrance.
“He’s not an option,” Lucky said.
“Why? Maybe I should meet him.”
“No, he had to leave town.” Lucky glared at Winter.
“I don’t know, Lucky. There were a lot of benefits to having him around,” Shade commented, taking a seat next to his wife and placing his arm over her shoulders.
“Don’t you all
have somewhere else to be, like taking care of your kids?” Lucky asked grumpily.
Beth laughed. “Evie and King have them for the day.”
Willa stood up, going into the fridge to refill her glass. When she came back to the table, Lucky had taken her chair, and the rest of the table was full. Lucky’s arm went around her waist, tugging her down onto his lap, his hand resting casually on her denim-covered thigh. Lucky grinned unrepentantly at her faint flush.
“Is this the same table and chairs?” Willa asked, studying the table.
“Yes,” Lucky answered, rubbing her thigh.
She could have sworn the table had been a darker shade of oak.
“Did Sissy get on the plane?” Winter asked as she stood up to let Viper sit down and then sat down on his lap, wrapping her arm around his shoulder.
“Yes, Knox drove her to Lexington. She didn’t argue, from what Knox said. She was ready to go live with her family,” Lucky said. “She finally realized being young doesn’t make you invincible.”
“She almost got herself and Willa killed. She’s fortunate her ass isn’t sitting in a jail cell. I bet she wouldn’t be throwing around how she’s fucking eighteen if she was in front of a judge.”
Willa sent Shade a reproachful look.
“She came by the hospital after I came out of surgery, and we had a long talk while Lucky was there with Knox. She finally believes I wasn’t having an affair with Lewis. I still can’t believe it was Brooke. She didn’t seem like the type.”
“Sluts never do.”
Shade jerked his leg back, giving Lucky a glare.
“Did you just kick Shade under the table?” Willa frowned at her husband.
“No.”
Rider came through the kitchen door. “Alec’s here to see you, Willa.”
Douglas came in the door, wearing an expensive suit. Willa still couldn’t grasp the fact that Angus’s handyman was a bodyguard, no matter how much Lucky had explained it to her. Apparently, Alec was usually on the road with Mouth2Mouth. He had rented out Evie’s house because he’d thought it would be a quiet place to relax. With Angus living next door, he would help him out occasionally, and Willa had simply assumed he was Angus’s handyman, which had provided Alec with the perfect cover.
“Hello, Doug—Alec.”
“Hi, Willa. I stopped by the hospital to see you, and they said you had been released early.”
“She wanted out before she was charged for another day,” Lucky griped. “If you had picked a better insurance policy, you wouldn’t have had to worry.”
“I’m young and healthy. I’ll buy a better plan when we’re ready to start a family.” Willa started to get up. “Let me get—”
“No!” Alec cleared his throat then lowered his voice. “I have something to confess now that I’m not working for Lucky. I hate coffee, and I don’t eat sweets. I’m kind of a health nut.”
Willa’s face dropped. “You should have told me. I could have made you some tea.”
“I didn’t want to hurt your feelings,” he said gently. “With Bridge in jail, I can lose the six pounds I’ve put on. My men will miss all the freebies, though.”
“I still think you should have told me you hired a bodyguard,” Willa chastised her husband.
“I should have,” Lucky agreed. “But like I told you, Alec only stays in Treepoint when he’s not on a security job. Besides, it worked. If Alec hadn’t followed you that day…” Lucky pulled her closer to him.
“It shouldn’t have gone down the way it did. I was watching for Bridge to take her, not for Willa to go to him. When I followed her, I thought at first she was rushing to make a delivery, but then she turned off at the lookout, and I knew something was wrong. Then she stopped at the side of the road, and I thought she was turning around, so I backed up to give her room, but when she didn’t come back down, I knew I had screwed up. Thank fuck I called you and my men when she made the turn.”
“At least we won’t have to worry about Bridge anymore,” Willa said, rubbing Lucky’s tense shoulders.
“At least until he gets out of prison,” Lucky agreed grimly.
“He won’t be giving you any more trouble, regardless,” Shade said.
Willa saw the silent battle between the men then found her attention diverted again.
“Is that my cookie jar?” Willa rose from Lucky’s lap, going to the counter to gently touch the glass cookie jar.
“Bliss found it on eBay and bought it for you.”
“I’ll have to thank her.” Willa blinked back tears of happiness. It wasn’t the same one, but it would bring back the same memories, and it was the memories she cherished, not the jar.
Willa noticed the sad looks on the women’s faces and the grim ones on the men.
“What’s wrong?” Willa looked around the crowded room. “Where is Bliss?”
“She’s out looking for an apartment,” Lucky finally answered when no one else spoke up.
“Why?”
“She was voted out of the club. Her behavior toward you was the last straw.”
Willa adjusted her sling carefully. “Then vote her back in. I don’t want to be the reason she has to leave.”
Viper shook his head. “It wasn’t because of you. It was because she showed disrespect to Lucky by hurting you. She’s also hurt several of the women who are members.”
“Was it the women members who voted her out?”
“No, it was the same men who voted her in.”
Willa blushed at his reminder of how the women were admitted to the club.
She could see why Viper had been made president. He showed no remorse for the decision the club had made. His stern expression also showed that the decision was written in stone and wouldn’t be changed.
“I was hoping she would decide to leave Treepoint and make a fresh start, but she wants to stay here.”
“Because all her friends are here,” Willa dared to take up for Bliss. The woman might have hurt her feelings, but she had ended up being the loser. Willa felt terrible for Bliss. “When Lucky left the club, you remained friends; he didn’t stop being your brother. Bliss deserves the same as a former member. She can still be your friend.” She looked at Jewell, Ember, Stori, and Raci.
“Maybe you’re right, Willa. We can keep an eye on her and still put enough distance between her and Shade so she can move on.” Viper brought out the elephant in the room—the real reason Bliss couldn’t remain.
Willa looked at Lily who was twisting her hands together until Shade took them in his. Lily looked up at her husband, but from his expression, he wasn’t going to give in to her silent pleas.
Willa sighed. Beth didn’t seem any happier with the decision. None of the women did. However, Willa could see in some ways that Viper was right. When Lucky had been seeing other women in town, she had been miserable, and she hadn’t even been with Lucky. He hadn’t even noticed her. As a result, Bliss must be in agony watching Shade and Lily together. Maybe she would stand a chance of finding what the other couples had when she moved into town.
“She’s going to be lonely living by herself after living with so many people…” Willa said, touching the cookie jar.
Bliss regretted her actions, or she wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of replacing the jar. Willa lifted the lid, deciding she would make—her eyes watered when she saw it was filled with oatmeal raisin cookies.
The baker in her had her lifting one out and taking a bite. Then Willa started laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Lucky came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist.
“Those are mine. She must have bought them from the church store.”
“Bliss is going to be fine,” Lucky assured her.
“I know she will.” Willa leaned back tiredly on her husband, and her eyes caught something else on the counter. “Is that a new crockpot?”
“No.”
* * *
Willa pulle
d her jeans up, snapping them closed. She looked across the room at Lucky, who was standing in the bathroom, drying his hair with a towel.
“What’s wrong?” He stopped his hand. “Did we hurt your arm in the shower? Maybe you should call Donna back and tell her it’s too soon to release you.”
“I’m wearing a size sixteen,” she said in awe. “I haven’t worn a sixteen since I was in high school and had a crush on Drake. I starved myself all summer—”
“You used to have a crush on Drake? He’s a lot older than you,” Lucky snapped.
“Calm down. He didn’t even know.” Willa giggled as she went to the dresser mirror, twirling around.
She’d had these jeans in the bottom of her drawer. They were the size she had aspired to get into every single time she had started a new diet. Her eighteens had been loose, so she had taken the chance to try them on.
“I can’t believe it. I haven’t even really changed my eating habits. I’m working out with you, but we both know I only last twenty minutes. I wonder how…” Willa turned to look at her husband who hadn’t bothered to wrap a towel around his hips, and his perfect body still had droplets of water clinging to his tanned skin.
“What?” Lucky asked warily.
“I think I’ve finally found a way to lose weight that I enjoy.” Willa smiled at her husband seductively.
“I thought you had to get to work. Isn’t Lily waiting to drive in with you?” Lucky narrowed his eyes on his wife as she slowly began to unbutton her pink blouse.
“She can drive in with Ginny.”
Ginny had been working for The Last Riders for three weeks, and it had worked out surprisingly well. The women didn’t fuss as much about the other chores, each picking the ones they could live with.
Willa let her blouse slip to the floor.
“I’m going to need a nap. You kept me awake most of the night.” Lucky tossed the towel toward the hamper.
Willa shivered when he walked toward her like a predator stalking his prey. She took a teasing step backward toward the doorway as she slid her bra straps down her arms. Her fingers found the doorknob and she twisted it, opening the door.
“Where are you going?” Lucky’s voice dropped.
