Shade's Fall (43 page)

Shade had to be at work two hours before she had to open the church store at nine. Curiously, she saw Shade, Razer, Rider and Train talking in the parking lot. It was unusual so early in the morning that all three were outside.

“What’s up?”

“Nothing. We came out here so we could talk without being overheard. Georgia has several friends in there.” Shade replied.

“What about Georgia?” Lily stiffened. Today was the first day back since the Christmas holidays. Both Shade and Razer had looked forward to firing the woman this morning, and she hadn’t argued this time. Georgia had gone too far. She felt bad for her kids, but ultimately Georgia had to face responsibility for her actions.

“She quit. When she didn’t come in this morning, I called her. She told me she wasn’t coming in to give us the satisfaction of firing her. Then she told me what to do with the job, so I hung up on her.” Shade’s face showed how much he’d wanted to give the woman her filth back. She was proud he had handled it in a professional manner, despite it probably sticking in his gut.

“It doesn’t make any sense to me,” Lily said, blowing on her coffee.

“What doesn’t? That she’s a fucking bitch or that she quit?” Rider asked grimly.

“Both. Not a month ago, she was giving me heck because she thought I took her brother’s job; now suddenly, she’s calling one of her bosses’ wives bad names in front of a large group who will spread it all over town so she wouldn’t be able to deny it. It’s almost like she wanted to get fired,” Lily answered, blowing on her coffee again.

She reached up, giving her husband a quick kiss on his lips. “Later.” She grinned, walking away, not paying attention to the stunned looks on the men’s faces as she pulled out of the parking lot.

*  *  *

Lily unlocked the church store, going inside and then closing the door behind her.

“Morning, Mrs. Hunter,” Pastor Dean said, coming in from the church entrance. “How are you this sunny morning?”

“Good. And you?”

“Can’t complain, other than I’ve gained ten pounds over the holidays. I think if one more parishioner gives me one more casserole or cookie, I’m going to vomit.”

“That bad?”

“The problem was that it was too good,” Pastor Dean laughed. “I’m bursting at the seams.”

Lily pulled two bags of clothes out from under the counter and another that had been shoved into a darkened corner. When she tugged the bag loose, it jarred a metal box. Lily dropped to her knees, reaching back, and with her fingertips managed to snag the box by the handle, sliding it free. She pulled it out from under the counter and then stood up, lifting the heavy box with difficulty onto the counter.

“What’s that?” Pastor Dean asked, looking at the box curiously.

“Your guess is as good as mine. It looks like it’s been shoved under there for a while.” Lily pulled the two metal rings open then tried to open it. It was locked.

“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.

“Eightball.”

“How original,” Viper said wryly.

“I thought so. He had to think a couple of seconds when I asked,” Shade said, his voice unemotional.

“Anything else?”

“He’s good. Knows how to handle himself and his bike.” Shade paused, looking at Lily. “Too good for someone not patched.”

“Stud?”

“No. Stud doesn’t play that game, but even if he did, he wouldn’t with us. He wouldn’t want to take a chance on Sex Piston finding out; she and Beth are too tight. He’s not going to get his old lady upset when she’s carrying his kid.”

“I agree, so who?” Viper asked in demand. Lily didn’t think Viper wanted to wait when he wanted answers.

“Don’t know, but I’ll find out,” Shade promised his president.

“Now,” Viper commanded.

Lily expected Shade to get up; instead, he remained sitting.

“I’m on it,” Shade replied, nodding his head toward Cash at the bar. Lily’s eyes went to the bar, seeing Cash had his eyes on Shade.

At Shade’s nod, he set his glass of whiskey down then said something to Nickel, who was standing next to him. When both men moved toward the left wall, Lily didn’t turn her head; Shade’s hand had tightened on hers once again. Lily started trembling and her bottom lip began quivering when she heard a scuffle going on behind her.

“Shade…” He leaned forward, brushing his lips against hers as his hand picked up his beer.

“Angel face, I like that sweater on you,” he murmured against her lips.

“Don’t hurt him,” she pleaded softly back.

“Have to find out if he’s here because of you.”

Lily could tell the conversation was over when he lifted his mouth away from hers, leaning back against the couch and taking a drink of his beer. Train drew her attention away from Shade when he stopped in front of the couch.

“Lily, a buddy of mine gave me two pieces-of-shit bikes he wanted to get rid of. I fixed them up. Don’t want them; none of the brothers want them. If you want them, you can have them to sell for your store, or maybe someone needs a ride for work.”

“Thank you, Train.” Lily jumped off Shade’s lap, intending to hug him. She took a step toward him with her arms out when he froze like she had pulled a gun on him. Before she could take another step, an arm around her waist swept her back down onto Shade’s lap and she was staring up at a furious Shade.

“Stop doing that shit. Do. Not. Touch,” he told her with his jaw clenched.

“What? But I was only going to thank him,” Lily protested.

“Then thank him, but Do. Not. Touch. And quit kissing,” he added as an afterthought.

“Quit kissing? But I like kissing you; I don’t want to stop that,” Lily protested, turning red when she heard Viper and Razer laughing. Train was still standing, unmoving.

“That’s not what I meant.” Shade’s face gradually regained control. “I meant when you kiss men on the cheek.”

“Who did I kiss on the cheek?”

“Viper.” Lily’s mind went back to when she had kissed Viper on the cheek outside the diner. She also remembered him being doubled over. Train was still frozen as she also remembered another incident.

“You scared Pastor Dean,” she said in reproach.

“You do not touch anyone, especially Pastor Dean.”

Lily looked at him. “Okay.”

She relaxed against him, rubbing his chest with her hand until his breathing returned to normal.

“Thank you,” he said, relaxing back against the couch.

“No problem.” Lily smiled gently up at him.

“Thank God. At least we finally got that shit straight. I didn’t think I’d have a brother left after Christmas.”