Shade's Fall (The Last Riders 4)

“It’s locked,” she said, stating the obvious.

“I have some tools in my office. I’ll take care of it.”

“Okay.” Lily slid it across the counter toward him.

A customer came in and she moved toward the woman entering the store.

“I’ll see you later, Lily.”

She waved as Pastor Dean left, asking the woman what she needed.

Lily wondered what was in the box. She would have to remind herself to ask before she went home.

* * *

Shade was standing next to Razer in his office when his cell phone rang. The caller ID showed Dean was calling.

“Yeah?”

“Thought I’d let you know that your new wife found a lock box in the basement this morning. Want to take a wild guess what was inside?”

“Lily’s adoption papers?”

“Yes.”

“Fake?”

“Yes. I’ll take them by Knox’s office when I go to lunch.”

“Thanks. Want to hear something interesting?”

“Hit me.”

“Georgia quit this morning. Beat me to firing her ass. Thing is, Lily came up with this idea. She seemed like she wanted to be fired, so we checked it out. Seems the bitch had a chunk of money put in her checking account the day after Halloween.”

“How much?”

“Fifty thousand. Not only that, another deposit of thirty was put in first thing this morning. This is the first day the banks have been open since Christmas.”

“Someone paid her not only to start the fire, but to start an argument at the church,” Shade concluded.

“Why start an argument at the church?”

“I think to try to rattle Lily into running out of the church. A month ago… hell, two weeks ago, it would have worked. Whoever wants her dead is getting desperate to try to get to her. We don’t leave her alone, so someone was trying to make their own opportunity.”

“I’ll call Knox to come here and pick these papers up. I’m not going to leave the church from now on when Lily’s here,” Dean’s voice was grim over the phone line.

“I’ll call you if I find anything else out. Once Knox has the proof from the bank, he’s going to arrest Georgia. I took him her coffee cup, so if the DNA matches the evidence found from the fire, we have her ass, and we may be able to find out what the fuck is going on,” Shade’s anger carried through the phone line.

“All right, I’ll talk to you later, Shade.”

“Later, Dean.”

* * *

Lily locked the door to the church store, surprised to see Shade had picked her up from the store in Rider’s truck. He always picked her up on his bike unless the roads were slick with snow or it was pouring rain.

It had been a long week and she was looking forward to the weekend to get some chores finished. She and Beth needed to clean out their house so it could be put up for sale. Almost all of the furnishings were going to be donated to the church store. They were both going to keep the few items that held sentimental attachment to them, though.

“Why the truck?” Lily asked, climbing inside.

Her husband’s sunglasses stared back, hiding his expression. “I wanted to talk to you on the way home,” Shade said, making no effort to put the truck in gear.

“Is something wrong?” Lily questioned, becoming worried.

“Knox arrested Georgia this afternoon.”

“Why? What did she do?” Lily’s breath caught in surprise.

“She’s the one who set the basement on fire.”

“What? Why would she do something like that?” Lily asked. She knew the woman hated her, but she’d never dreamed it had been enough to kill her.

“Someone paid her fifty thousand dollars. The same person who probably tried to run you down on the street and attempted to break into your house.

“Who?” Lily tried to think of someone who could possibly want her dead.

“I don’t know. Knox is questioning her now. He’s going to be at the club tonight so we can find out more then.”

She sat in shock while Shade drove them home. She and Georgia had attended the same church for years. The whole community would know she had been arrested. That would be a hard bit of humiliation for Georgia to bear.

“You better tell Knox to keep an eye on her. When she was younger, she tried to kill herself twice. This is going to humiliate her, Shade,” Lily warned.

As soon as he parked the truck, Shade made the call to Knox. They went to their house to get changed before going over to eat dinner at the clubhouse. This was their first party since they had gotten married, and she wanted to look pretty for him.

Tonight she had dressed in one of her few short skirts. It came barely above her knees. Sex Piston had picked it out so it was tighter than she usually wore, as well. She had teamed it with a soft pink sweater that showed a faint hint of her breasts.

She had felt pretty and sexy until she walked into the clubhouse. Her sister was wearing a cute red skirt and a black vest.

“You look pretty tonight,” Lily complimented her.

“You do, too. I might have to borrow that sweater,” Beth said with envy.

“You can have it. It won’t quit sliding down my shoulders.” Lily pulled it back up in frustration.

“That’s what makes it so pretty,” Winter said, coming up behind her.

They ate dinner then decided to play cards, ignoring the men. Lily lost several games to Winter.

Sitting back in her chair, she watched as Winter picked up the huge pile of IOUs from the table. “I don’t understand it. When I first started to play, I was good. Now I can’t win a game.” Lily’s frustration with the cards had her throwing them down.

/> When the women burst out laughing, Lily looked at them suspiciously. “What’s so funny?”

“You played with Train,” Evie said. “He always cheats when he plays with women.”

Lily looked at Jewell. “I didn’t mind losing,” she said unrepentantly.

“So they set me up?”

“Like a duck during duck-hunting season,” Winter said shrewdly.

Lily looked at Winter at her comment. “You knew the guys set me up?” Lily’s eyes narrowed on Winter. She had been set up both times she’d played cards. She had SUCKER written all over her.

Lily watched Winter smooth out her slips of IOUs. “I couldn’t be sure.”

Lily was willing to bet Winter had known; she hadn’t played with anyone else since, and she was still gullible enough to believe she was good. The woman’s name was listed under devious in the dictionary—Winter and Shade’s.

She looked around the room to see the men were on a couch, talking quietly to themselves.

“I’m done for the night.” She stood up, ignoring their grins. She would deal with them later; she was going to give her husband heck first.

She went to the couch where Shade was sitting on the end with his feet on the coffee table while Viper sat at the other end. Razer was sprawled on the chair next to the couch.

She started to say something to Shade then noticed they were having a serious discussion. Having seen her approach, they had quit talking. She turned to leave, giving them the opportunity to finish their talk when Shade caught her hand, dragging her down to sit on his lap.

The men began talking about their clubhouse in Ohio and the new recruits they had.

“Got one wanting to go for the patch here,” Shade said, lacing his hand through hers. In that moment, she forgot she was mad over the cards, rubbing her thumb against his.

“Who?” Viper asked, his eyes going around the room.

“Dude against the left wall with the eight-ball tat,” Shade answered without turning his head. Lily started to turn her head, but Shade’s hand tightened on the hand he was holding so Lily remained still. This time it was his thumb rubbing hers.

“Name?” Viper didn’t take his eyes off the recruit.