Shade's Fall (The Last Riders 4)

Pastor Dean gave Beth a warm smile. “Beth, you have plenty to keep you busy with our food outreach program. I think that’s enough of a contribution of your time.”

Beth laughed. “I do stay pretty busy. I’ve promised Razer I wouldn’t take on anything else until we get in our new house.”

“I have every confidence that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to, Beth.” Lily watched as Beth gave Pastor Dean a bright smile at his response. Her sister was so pretty standing in the sun with her flaxen hair shining and her light-colored, paisley dress. She looked like an angel. Lily turned away, her eyes darkening with torment. Not like me with my demons constantly chasing through my mind.

Attempting to shake herself from the feeling, Lily walked to the sidewalk and waited for Beth and Razer. Her eyes drifted across the street to the diner, seeing the motorcycles outside the restaurant.

“Ready?” Beth asked, coming to stand by her side.

“I’m not going to join you today. I thought I would go on home. I’m not very hungry.” She wasn’t in the mood to go to lunch and watch everyone monitoring their words around her.

“That’s fine. I’ll go with you and fix us something later,” Beth said.

“Don’t be silly. Go have lunch. I can manage an hour on my own, Beth.”

Beth hesitated. “All right. I’ll see you in a little while.”

Lily smiled, brushing a kiss on her sister’s concerned face. “You worry too much.”

Lily waved at the others as she left, walking down the sidewalk back to their home. It really was a lovely morning and Lily enjoyed the walk on the tree-lined road. They always walked to church and then would have lunch at the diner. The Last Rider members that didn’t make it to church would meet them at the diner afterward for lunch.

She had seen Shade’s bike outside and knew he would be waiting inside with Train and Rider. Those three needed to go to church more than anyone else. From the way her friends acted, they kept the women population busy.

Several of her girlfriends from high school, who still lived in Treepoint, were constantly talking about how good looking the men were. They had even tried to use Lily to gain an introduction to them. When they saw that Lily wasn’t going to perform the introductions, though, they had devised other means. A couple had even succeeded, unable to hide their glee at showing off in front of the others, yet when the others would ask what they were like, a secretive look would appear, and the girls would change the subject.

Lily wasn’t a fool. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the club had a policy about keeping quiet about what took place at the clubhouse. Again, Lily had to smother her hurt feelings. She felt as if each day she and Beth were drawing further apart.

Pushing away yet another bothersome thought, she turned the corner onto her street. It never failed to give her a sense of homecoming when she saw her house.

As she walked, Lily began to feel as if someone was watching her, though. She looked around, not seeing anyone, yet she unconsciously began to walk faster, not sure why. She felt chills crawl down her back and goose bumps rise on her arms.

Thankfully, she came to her house, rushing up the two steps to the door, and quickly slid the key into the keyhole. Once inside, she locked the door behind her, taking a step back to stare at the closed door.

It took several minutes for the quiet sound of the house to steady her nerves, feeling silly that she had overreacted.

Sitting her purse on the table by the door, she resolved to herself that maybe letting Shade teach her a few moves on defending herself might not be a bad idea after all.

Chapter 3

Lily pulled into the parking lot of The Last Riders. As she parked her car, she saw Train talking to Kaley. She was the sister of a friend of hers from high school, Miranda. Miranda had been worried about her sister since her divorce from her high school sweetheart. Kaley had caught her husband cheating, and ever since then, she had been trying to even the score.

Lily felt terrible for Kaley. She didn’t know her that well, but she still remembered the agony that Beth had gone through when she had caught Razer cheating.

Lily parked her car and stepped out. She had to walk by the two as she went to the door of the factory.

“Good morning, Kaley, Train.”

“Hi, Lily.” Kaley stared back at her with a frown.

“Morning, Lily.” Train nodded his head. Of all The Last Riders, Lily knew Train the least. She had been around him as much as the others; he was just the quietest of the group.

Lily continued on to the factory, hesitating briefly when she saw Shade standing in the doorway and holding the door open for her.

“Good morning, Shade.” Lily smiled.

“Lily.” His eyes went to Lily before moving over her shoulder to Kaley and Train.

Lily brushed by him without stopping, going inside to get busy. Orders were already waiting on the board. She took a minute to look over the orders waiting to be filled and then picked two of the larger ones.

“Going to save one for me?” Hardin asked from behind her back.

Lily laughed, stepping to the side. “I might if you weren’t so slow,” she joked back at the young man she had met since coming to work for The Last Riders.

Hardin took one of the orders off the board. “Why don’t you take one of the work stations next to mine and I’ll show you how it’s done.”

Lily’s reply was cut off by Shade’s irritated voice. “Lily’s work station is the one I put her at; yours is going to be at the unemployment office if you don’t get busy.”

Lily started to get angry at Shade’s rude remark, but she quickly smothered any comment she would have made when his gaze fell on her. She wouldn’t use her connection to Beth to say what she wanted to Shade. In reality, he was her boss and she should watch her words. That didn’t prevent her reproachful eyes from meeting his when Hardin hurried to his work station.

“Don’t look at me like that, Lily. He deserved it. Get to work.”

Lunchtime came much quicker than she wanted. Today, it was Bliss who delivered their lunch. Lily kept working, hoping that she wouldn’t hear her name. Bliss stayed inside his office several minutes before they both came out. The attractive girl with the short blonde hair was smiling seductively back at him and then waved at Lily as she left.

Lily waved back at her. Bliss was another member who Lily could never figure out which Last Rider she was involved with. At one time, Lily had suspected it was her who Razer had cheated with on Beth, but Beth had never confirmed or denied it. Lily guessed Beth didn’t want her to hold it against whichever woman it had been. Lily was glad she didn’t know, too. She wasn’t sure she wouldn’t have held a grudge after witnessing firsthand how badly her sister had been hurt.

“Lily.”

Lily set down the box she was working on, going to Shade’s office. Her hands clenched at her side, she was determined that today was the day she would put a stop to eating lunch in his office with him.

She didn’t miss the speculative look that Hardin an

d several of the other workers cast her way as she entered his office.

She took the seat next to his desk as he closed the door and resumed his seat, handing her one of the trays with a grilled chicken salad. Lily ate her lunch quickly, wanting to get it over with so she could get out of the office.

“What’s the rush?” Shade asked.

Lily finished chewing the bite in her mouth, perturbed. He never let anything slide by his notice.

She decided to quit beating around the bush, which hadn’t been working anyway. “I think it’s better if I eat lunch with everyone else,” Lily delicately began.

“No.” Shade took a bite of his own food while Lily sat stunned. She had just told him she didn’t want to eat with him. She was caught unaware by his blunt refusal, not knowing how to be blunter, other than becoming mean, and she didn’t want to take that route with him.

“But—”

“Did you bring a change of clothes?” he asked, looking at her pink dress.

Lily felt herself flush as his eyes lingered on the tiny buttons at the front of her dress. “Yes.”

Shade kept eating while Lily continued to eat more slowly, brainstorming a way out of this ridiculous situation.

“Why didn’t you eat lunch at the diner yesterday?”

“I wasn’t hungry,” Lily snapped.

Shade’s stern mouth twitched in amusement.

“If you didn’t eat lunch in here, what would you do for lunch, Lily?”

“I would eat lunch outside with the other workers,” Lily said honestly.

“You don’t need to eat lunch with them. You would become too friendly with them and they will start to take advantage.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Is it? They all are aware that your sister is married to one of the owners of the factory.”

Lily finished eating her salad in silence, coming to the conclusion she wasn’t going to win this argument with Shade.

“I would never use my connection to Razer.”

“I think it’s better to not put you in that position. Is it so hard to keep me company for lunch?”