Lucky's Choice (34 page)

“Would you like some help?” Willa offered Ember who was flipping bacon.

“No, thanks. I have it under control.” The woman flinched when bacon grease popped up. It was the second pan she had watched the woman fry.

Keep your mouth shut, keep it shut
, Willa kept telling herself.

Ember flinched again when a bubble of hot grease landed on her hand.

“Damn.” Ember shook her hand in pain.

Willa couldn’t take it anymore. “It’s easier if you bake it in the oven. You can cook twice the amount and no popping grease.”

“You can bake it in the oven?” Ember looked at her questioningly.

“Yes. Do you need to make more, or is that the last of it?”

“With the way the men eat, I have two more packs to fry.”

“Where are the baking pans?” Willa turned the oven on to preheat then set her coffee cup down when Ember pointed to a lower cabinet.

Ember and Raci both watched as she pulled out two baking sheets then went to the refrigerator and pulled out the bacon. It took Willa no time to spread out the bacon on the baking sheets then slide them in the oven.

“Is it going to taste the same? The men can be picky.”

Willa stared down at the fatty mess that Ember had cooked. “The men won’t notice the difference,” she lied. Her own name wasn’t on the chore list for four weeks, and it was going to be hell for her. She had only been there three days, and each morning, she had watched instead of helping the way she wanted.

Winter stood up from the table to pour herself another cup of coffee.

“I’m on kitchen duty next week.”

Willa nodded her head absently, watching as Raci filled a kettle with boiling water.

Willa couldn’t help herself. “Are you going to boil eggs with that?”

“Yes. Why?”

“If you have a muffin tin, you can bake them in the oven, too.”

As Raci dumped the water back into the sink, going for the cabinet, Winter cleared her throat, drawing Willa’s attention back to her.

“Because I have to be at school so early, I have to get up at four-thirty to cook breakfast before I leave. I saw you down for laundry in three weeks. We can switch if you want. I can do that when I get home from work,” she said.

“Are we allowed to switch?”

Winter frowned. “Allowed?”

“We don’t get in trouble?”

Ember and Raci both stopped what they were doing to stare at her.

“We don’t get in trouble,” Winter explained. “We’re not children, and we’re not in boot camp. If you don’t do a chore, someone else usually steps up and takes care of it. The only time someone gets in trouble here is if you hurt someone within the club or show disrespect.”

“Disrespect?”

“Like, for example, you can’t tell Viper to go fuck himself. Only I can do that.” Winter smiled. “Seriously, Willa, we’re pretty laid-back. So, do you want to switch?”

“I would love to.”

“You just made my day. I get to keep my regular schedule next week.”

Willa didn’t notice Raci and Ember rolling their eyes behind her back.

“Is there any way to bake oatmeal in the oven?” Ember asked.

“Sorry, no, but you can do it in a crockpot. It’s too late to do it today, but you can start it tonight when you go to bed, and it will be ready in the morning.”

Ember’s disappointed expression brightened. “I’ll do that.”

The side door opened, and Lucky came into the kitchen at the same time several of the other members came to eat. The kitchen became crowded, so Willa moved out of the way, watching as her husband fixed his plate. When he sat down, she poured him a cup of coffee and placed it in front of him.

“Thank you.” Lucky tugged her down for his morning kiss.

Willa straightened when he was done, blushing at the show of affection in front of the other men and women.

“You have a busy schedule today?” he asked, beginning to eat.

“Yes,” Willa answered, moving to lean against the refrigerator as Winter, Viper, and Rider sat down to eat.

Shade and Lily came in the backdoor, and Willa melted when she saw Shade carrying his son. She and Lily had started driving in to the church together in the morning.

When Raci took the bacon out of the oven, Willa took two pieces for Lucky, setting them on his plate. Winter, who was chewing her own piece, lifted her brow as Jewell sat down at the table next to Winter.

“Aren’t you eating?” her husband asked, looking over his shoulder at her.

“I already ate.” She had eaten an apple while she had watched the women cook.

Willa poured Lucky a glass of orange juice, setting it down next to his plate.

“Do you always wait on Lucky?” Winter asked, her toast poised at her mouth.

Willa smiled down at her husband. “A wife serves her husband’s needs.”

The room went silent.

Jewell put her fork down on the table. “You’re kidding, right? Do you know what century this is?”

“I know it’s old-fashioned, but I like to make sure Lucky has a good breakfast. It’s the most important meal of the day. My mother would get up every morning and fix my father’s breakfast, and they were married thirty-seven years,” Willa boasted. “They never spent a night apart, and they were very much in love. They were so much so that they never planned on having children, content with each other.”

“That must have been very lonely for you.” Lucky reached out, taking her hand then pulling her closer to side, wrapping an arm around her waist. Willa leaned against him, placing her arm across his broad shoulders.

“Sometimes, but I would use the time to read my Bible or bake once I was old enough. I spent summers with my grandmother since she was a teacher and had summers off. She was the one who taught me to cook and bake.” Willa smiled, reminiscing.

“Your mother didn’t let you cook?” Winter asked sharply.

“Oh, no. My mother was the only one allowed to serve my father. She would feed me my food before he went to work and before he came home. Then she would wait at the door twenty minutes before he came home.”

“That must have been difficult for you,” Lily said.

“No, it was very structured. I would spend two hours with my father every evening doing my homework. My father was very intelligent.”

“Yes, he was.” Jewell’s sarcastic voice didn’t make it seem like a compliment, and Willa frowned.

“Don’t misunderstand. My father and mother were very much in love. They were enough for each other. I was the accident. I was the one in the way.”

“They actually told you this?” Lucky snarled, pulling her closer to him.

“My mother did when I misbehaved or didn’t do my Bible lessons.”

“Your Bible lessons?”

“Yes, every good, Christian girl should know her Bible. She used to say a quote, and I would tell her what scripture it was. Or she would reverse it and tell me the scripture, and I would tell her the quote. I would study my Bible every night after dinner while my mother and father watched television. She would sit on the floor and lay her head on his knee while he sat on the couch. It was beautiful watching them together.”

Willa’s attention was diverted when Winter made gagging noises, which she stopped when Viper sent her a stern look.

“My father would look at my mother like that all the time. I miss them when I think back on my childhood.” Willa glanced down at her watch. “Ready, Lily?”

“Yes.” Lily gave her husband a kiss before taking her son who had been sitting on Shade’s lap while Lily ate her breakfast.

“Have a good day, angel.”

Willa smiled, thinking her friend blushed as much as she did.

Willa started to leave, but Lucky kept her pinned to his side. “I don’t get a kiss?”

Willa bent, giving him his kiss.

“You going to be at the church all day?”

“Yes. I’m filling orders today, and Carl will be making the deliveries.”

“Call me when you’re on your way home.”

“All right,” Willa agreed, rushing after Lily out the backdoor.

Lily wouldn’t carry the baby down the front steps; she always used the side path to the parking lot.

Driving into work with Lily and John was one aspect of the club she was enjoying. Lily would let her pack the baby into the church store and hold him while she set up the register. She missed being around Lucky during the day and worried constantly about him being alone with the women members until Lily told her they worked in the factory until five. As a result, Willa always made sure she was home by four-thirty. She didn’t want anyone fulfilling any of her husband’s needs except her.

*
*
*

“That woman needs to grow a backbone,” Winter said, glaring accusingly at Lucky.

“I’ve told her not to wait on me. She’s getting better. When we first married, she wouldn’t let me get my own plate.” Whenever he had told her he could do something for himself, she would give him a wounded look that had him backing off. Therefore, Lucky had gone slowly, not wanting to hurt Willa’s feelings.

Shade stood, going to the kitchen counter to fix himself a plate of food. “Is it me or did her mom and dad’s relationship sound like a Dom/sub relationship?”

“It sounded fucked-up to me,” Jewel said, pushing her plate back angrily. “I wish that bitch was still alive so I could shove that book up her ass.”

“Me, too,” Lucky said. “Her father was wealthy as shit, but he only gave Willa’s mother a small allowance. Willa won’t buy dish soap unless it’s on sale. She works her ass off baking, gives most of it away, and still manages to live on the income she has left. Meanwhile, she has enough money that she wouldn’t have to work for six lifetimes. She’s already made her will, leaving almost everyone in town money, but she won’t buy herself a fucking pair of panties unless they’re on sale.”

Rider perked up. “She leave me anything?”

“I made her take you out. I told her you had a motorcycle collection that was worth a fourth of what she had.”

Rider’s face dropped. “A man never has enough pussy or bikes.”

“A fourth? How rich is she?” A glint of interest sparkled in Winter’s eyes.

“Don’t even think of asking her for donations for that school of yours. Who do you think paid for the new roof when the tornado hit?”

“An educational foundation I applied to that Willa told me about…”

Lucky nodded his head. “From what little Dustin told me, her great-grandfather invented a new method of treating rubber. He started a company in the 1800s that lasted until Willa sold controlling interest after her parents died.”

“What’s the company’s name? Maybe I should invest if it has that kind of longevity,” Viper questioned.

“I saw the paperwork. DB Rubber is the company. I’ve meant to Google and see what they do.”

Rider burst out laughing. “Don’t bother.” He rose up and took out his wallet, taking out a rubber and tossing it on the table. “Look at the back.”

Lucky reached for the condom like the one he had in his own back pocket, looking over the back of the small package. He couldn’t prevent his own laughter when he saw the company name at the bottom.

“She told me they made tires and toys.”

“I’m sure they do.” Jewell, usually the most serious of the women, was even laughing until tears came out of her eyes.

“We can’t tell her we know; it would embarrass her to death,” Winter warned, wiping her own tears away.

“Maybe she doesn’t know,” Viper said, trying to hold back his own laughter.

“She knows. She’s the reason I haven’t Googled it yet. Every time I start to, she distracts me.”

“What, with a rubber?” Jewell wisecracked, smacking the table with her hand when she couldn’t stop laughing.

“Viper, don’t worry about investing.” Lucky tried to choke back his laughter. “Looks like we all already own stock.”

Chapter 30

“Are they having a party tonight?” Willa watched Lily’s reaction as she filled the display with cupcakes.

Lily looked up from a notebook she was writing inside as she sat on a stool behind the counter. “Yes, The Last Riders have one every Friday night.”

“Are you going to be there?” Willa tried to pretend she only had a casual interest.

“No, I don’t have a sitter for John. Shade and I only go about once every month or two.” Lily looked back down at the notebook she was writing in, a blush stinging her cheeks.

“Oh.” Willa took her time putting the cupcakes in the display, trying to figure out a delicate way to phrase her question, but Lily saved her the trouble.

“When Shade and I go to the parties, we stay down in the basement, and only a few people come downstairs. They don’t …We mainly hang out and dance.”

“That sounds like fun.” Willa thought she could handle a night like Lily described. “Do you think Lucky would miss being upstairs during the parties?” Willa closed the display case, sick to her stomach as she waited for Lily’s answer.

“No, I don’t know of him ever attending the parties. Maybe he goes for a bike ride.”

“I would like that, too.” Willa gave a relieved laugh. “I was dreading tonight. I’m happy I was worried about nothing.”

Lily turned sideways on her stool to face her. “Willa, Shade’s always been sensitive to my feelings, and I can’t imagine Lucky doing any less as much as he loves you.”

“I know he loves me,” Willa said, meticulously cleaning the glass.

“I can hear you thinking from over here.”

Willa looked up. “Lily, I don’t feel comfortable talking about sex. My mother always told me good, Christian girls don’t.”

“Beth and I were raised the same way,” Lily acknowledged, looking down again. “Both of us are married with children, and we don’t discuss sex unless Sex Piston and her crew are around. Even then, it’s usually just making jokes.”

“I wish I were more like Killyama.”

Lily nodded her head. “I wish I were more like Sex Piston.”

“Maybe we could pay them to teach us,” Willa joked.

“They would do it for free,” Lily replied with a grin.

“I want to give Lucky what he needs, but I’m … worried that I can’t,” Willa said in all seriousness.

“You should talk to Lucky. He’s really easy to talk to. When I’m … worried, he always makes me feel better.”

“Me, too.”