The Last Riders - First Four Votes (45 page)

“
C
ase dismissed
” Judge Creech slammed down the gavel and the crowded courtroom began to empty.

“Thanks, Ms. Richards.” Diamond turned to the spoiled man standing by her side.

“Don’t thank me. If you get caught driving drunk again, lose my number. My bill will be in the mail.” Diamond began putting her papers back into her briefcase, angry at herself for taking Luke Baxter’s case in the first place. Her brief foray into criminal justice was as bad as she had feared it would be. She hated defending clients that were guilty as hell but had the money to afford her fee.

Sighing, Diamond put her regrets behind her, knowing this case would take care of several outstanding bills and give her some breathing room for a couple of weeks. Treepoint might be small, however it had an abundance of lawyers, each competing for clients.

When her bills came due, she had a choice of either beginning to take cases like Luke’s or become an ambulance chaser. She had picked the lesser of two evils, but she was beginning to doubt herself when she saw Luke cockily leave the courtroom.
The dumbass is probably heading to the closest watering hole to celebrate.

“Want to grab some lunch?” Diamond smiled as Caleb Green came to stand next to her as she snapped her briefcase closed.

“Consorting with the enemy?” she asked the assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney.

“We could never be enemies, Di.” Although he had been flirting with her the last couple of months, she had yet to accept one of the many dinner invitations he had issued. Caleb was good looking, always impeccably dressed and he was a constant gentleman, opening and closing doors for her.

She didn’t know why she wasn’t attracted to him, but she wasn’t. He had the same attitude as several of the men she had dated in the past; perhaps she was simply saving herself the inevitable heartbreak in becoming involved in yet another relationship that had the same markings of failure.

“So, do you want to grab some lunch?” Caleb asked again, holding the door to the courtroom open as they walked through it into the busy hallway.

“Sounds good, I’m starved.” Diamond felt his eyes running over her body, but refused to let it bother her. She was tall at five-nine and wasn’t model thin. She had learned long ago that she was never going to be skinny with her love of cooking and food. Diamond liked to think of herself as curvy, not fat, and from the way Caleb was eyeing her breasts under the demur blouse she was wearing, she thought he would agree with that assessment.

Walking across the street once they were outside, they entered the diner to find it packed. It was the lunch hour and the diner had good food, therefore it took several minutes before Caleb managed to snag them a table.

Taking their seats, they sat down across from each other. Diamond picked up the menu to study it while Caleb ordered drinks for both of them.

Trying to decide between the fried chicken or a healthy salad, she wasn’t paying attention to the other customers in the restaurant when Caleb’s low voice drew her eyes away from the menu, “I see one of your former clients is here.”

“Who?” Diamond asked, looking up from the menu.

“Winter Simmons. She’s sitting over there in the corner with that biker gang she runs around with now.”

“It’s not a gang, it’s a motorcycle club,” Diamond corrected.

“There’s a difference?” Caleb asked snidely.

Diamond gave him a sharp look. “Yes, there a difference.” Diamond made herself take a deep breath, calming herself against Caleb’s prejudice.

It was exactly because of the same ill-informed prejudices that her childhood had been made miserable. As she had grown older, she had placed distance between herself and her parents’ club. Her parents had been together for almost thirty-five years, and while she did not agree with their lifestyle, neither did she call it something it wasn’t. She had been raised with the motorcycle club, learning the hard way of the contempt that people viewed them with.

When she had graduated college she had moved back home, but grew tired of the judgmental attitude of everyone who was aware of her parents’ connection to the Destructors. Especially since the club made regular use of her services without paying for them, and becoming a regular pain in her ass, Diamond had decided to move to Treepoint. She had wanted a fresh start, yet still be close enough to visit her mother.

Caleb gave her an inquiring look as the waitress arrived to take their order, diverting his attention from questioning her any further. Aware of Caleb’s judgmental personality, she ordered the chicken salad and sat back in her chair, unhappily staring at the nearby diner’s plates of fried chicken and biscuits, not surprised when he ordered a salad for himself.
She was a better judge of character than he was,
Diamond thought.

Her eyes surveyed the room, going to Winter Simmons’ table, who had been a client of Diamond’s only two months ago. Her fiancé, Viper, the president of The Last Riders, was sitting next to her at the largest table in the diner. Diamond also recognized Evie and Bliss, who had been at the school board meeting where she had represented Winter to regain her job as a high school principal.

Winter was very attractive and her face glowed with happiness. The two other women at the table were knockouts as well. Evie was a brunette who carried sexy easily while Bliss was neither too large nor too small. She was perfect from her sultry face to her short, spiked blond hair in a large over-sized t-shirt that said ‘bite me’. The t-shirt was low cut and displayed the curves of her firm breasts. Both women were sitting on each side of the huge, completely bald man sitting at the table. She had seen him the day she had met Winter at the clubhouse of The Last Riders for the first time.

He had come down the steps from the upper floor, entering the huge living room of the clubhouse with two women. He hadn’t been wearing a shirt, showing his huge, muscular chest. The two women he had entered the room with had been scantily clad, just wearing t-shirts. It had been obvious to her what the three had been doing upstairs. It had been like stepping back in time to her childhood, seeing the same crap that had been going on in her parents’ motorcycle club.

Diamond started to turn her eyes away when they were caught and held by the large man sandwiched between the two women. A spark of desire struck her; she had always been attracted to large men since she herself was so tall. Unfortunately, they always were drawn to the little delicate ones that were sitting next to him. Self-disgust with herself had her giving the staring man a look of contempt. A lot like the one she had worn when she had been angry with Caleb moments before.

Angry at her knee-jerk reaction to an unwanted attraction, she shifted her gaze back to Caleb, trying to divert herself from the scrutiny she still felt on her. She began discussing the case they had just fought over while putting the large group out of her mind. It wasn’t easy; they were a boisterous group and Diamond was relieved when they stood up to leave the restaurant.

Her relief was short lived as the group made their way to her table. She could tell from Caleb’s expression he wasn’t pleased when they stopped at their table.

“Hello, Ms. Richards. How are you doing?” Winter asked curiously, looking at Caleb.

Diamond gave Winter her patented, lukewarm smile. “I’m fine, and you?”

“I’m doing well. I’m enjoying my new school.” Winter gave her a smile in return, however Diamond could tell that the intelligent woman hadn’t missed the snub of not being introduced to Caleb. Hell, Diamond was doing her a favor, but Winter had probably taken it as an insult.

“I’m glad you were able to work things out with the school board.” Diamond had been relieved that both Winter and the school board managed to work out an agreement. Winter had fought the school system to keep her job, and while not retaining her position as the principal of the local high school, the school board had agreed she would be acceptable to replace the one that needed to retire at the alternative school.

“It’s good seeing you again.” Diamond gave her another cool smile. This time, The Last Riders got the message. They all stiffened while Viper gave her a hard look at her snub of his fiancée. Winter didn’t let it faze her, merely ignoring their angry glares.

“You’ll have to come to lunch with Sex Piston, Killyama and Crazy Bitch sometime. It was good to see you again, Diamond.” With that parting shot, Winter and The Last Riders moved to leave the restaurant. Barely managing to keep her face from showing her embarrassment, Diamond met the angry glare of the large man as he threw a contemptuous look at both her and Caleb.

“Who’s Sex Piston, Killyama and Crazy Bitch?”

Diamond skillfully evaded the question. “We better finish; we have to be back in court in thirty minutes.”

Caleb looked as if he was about to ask the question again, but she quickly took a bite of her salad and Caleb began eating his lunch while he threw her several inquiring looks. Afterwards, they each paid for their own lunch before returning to the courthouse.

Diamond’s next case was another DUI. This time her client received a stint with rehab and a device placed in his car that he would have to breathe into for the ignition to start. She wasn’t upset about getting those requirements; he hadn’t been given jail time and he would get some help with his drinking problem. That was what she called a win-win situation.

Diamond drove home afterwards, tired after the long day. Her mind kept wandering back to the episode in the diner. Winter had witnessed her rocky relationship with her sister, Sex Piston. Diamond was the first to admit she deserved the set down for her behavior, yet she had felt uncomfortable with the large group surrounding the table. She had been well aware that the judgmental townspeople as well as Caleb were eavesdropping on their conversation.

As she passed the local motel, she saw the local sheriff and the coroner’s car. Wondering what had happened, she almost pulled over, but didn’t. She was sure she would read about it in the local paper tomorrow.

K
nox woke
to someone shaking his shoulder hard. “Leave me alone.” He felt Evie raise up on an elbow next to him.

“Knox, wake up. Something’s going on downstairs. Viper just called and wants you to come down.”

Groggily sliding out of the bed, he stood up and grabbed his jeans from the floor before pulling them on. Turning back to the bed, he saw Evie going back to sleep. She always ended up sleeping in his bed with one or more of the other women members. His bed was the largest in the house and he liked waking up in the middle of the night with a woman available.

“Don’t get too comfortable. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Evie merely gave a mumbled reply to that.

Already wide-awake by the time he pulled on his boots and t-shirt, he left the room and headed towards the downstairs when he heard loud voices from the top of the stairs. Looking down, he saw Viper and Shade arguing with the Sheriff.

“This is bullshit. Knox didn’t touch that bitch!” Viper was yelling at the Sheriff.

“Calm down, Viper. Let’s hear him out,” Knox heard Shade’s calm voice.

Knox went down the steps and everyone turned to watch his approach. Knox began getting a bad feeling in his gut when he saw the grim looks on his friends’ faces.

“What’s up?” Knox asked the Sheriff.

“Samantha Bedford’s body was found this afternoon at the motel,” The sheriff replied while watching his reaction to the news.

Knox stiffened, already sensing where this was going.

“Knox has had nothing to do with that bitch since she attacked Beth; none of us have. She wasn’t allowed back here at the clubhouse, and after the stunt she pulled with Winter, Beth and Lily at the diner, we haven’t seen her.”

The sheriff didn’t say anything, just continued staring at Knox.

Knox could tell by the sheriff’s reaction that he already knew that Knox had spent some time with Samantha the day before.

“I saw her yesterday. She stopped her car after I crashed my bike.” The silence in the room became tangible.

“What happened then?” The sheriff probed.

Knox debated keeping his mouth shut, but by the look in the sheriff’s eyes, he already knew that Sam and Knox had been in the motel room.

“We went back to her hotel room and fucked. When Viper called, I left. She was breathing just fine when I walked out that door.” Knox stared back at the sheriff.

“Damn it, Knox,” Viper said angrily.

“You’re not going to say anything I didn’t say to myself.” Knox felt the anger of his brothers directed towards him.

“There are enough women here that you didn’t need that bitch. What were you thinking?” Viper asked the question on everyone’s mind.

“I wasn’t. She pulled out my dick and went down on me,” Knox said wryly.

“I have to take you in for questioning, Knox. There’s no way around it; the newspaper is involved. A witness saw you leaving her room and told the reporter.”
Of course someone saw him
, Knox thought wryly. Treepoint was full of busybodies.

Knox nodded, stepping forward. “Let’s go.”

Viper took his arm. “Don’t answer any more questions. I’ll get you a lawyer.” Knox nodded his head and went out the door with the sheriff following him closely.

As the approached the squad car, the sheriff held the passenger door to the front seat open for Knox. He ignored it, and instead he opened the door to the backseat, getting in. “No sense in giving anyone the chance to say that you didn’t do everything by the book.”

S
ighing
, the sheriff closed both doors before getting in the car. Knox stared out the car window as the sheriff pulled out of the club’s parking lot. As he leaned his head back against the seat, he had a sick feeling in his stomach that things were about to change, and not for the better.

D
iamond poured
herself a cup of coffee as she opened her newspaper, barely managing not to burn herself when she saw the headline.
Murdered woman found at the motel
. She read further on to discover that Samantha Bedford, a local woman that Diamond had never met, had been found by the maid sent in to clean the room.

Diamond moved to sit behind her desk as she read. It didn’t say how she had died, however it did mention that a local resident had seen a man leave the room hours before her body had been discovered. Although it didn’t state the man’s name, the article did say he had been brought in for questioning. Diamond was sure she wouldn’t know him anyway; she hadn’t lived in Treepoint long and hadn’t met many of the residents yet.

She heard the phone ring, but didn’t move to answer it. She had hired a secretary part-time to answer her phone and mail. She really couldn’t afford the added expense right now, yet with the new criminal cases she was taking, the secretary helped ease her workload.

“You’re due in court in twenty minutes,” a soft voice said from the doorway.

“Thanks, Holly. I’ll be leaving in a few minutes.” Diamond looked up at the young woman in the doorway. They had met when she had applied for the job she had posted in the want ads. They had liked each other on sight. Both were new to Treepoint and had become friends in the short time they had known each other.

They both were quiet and liked to keep to themselves. Holly was a dainty little brunette that had abundant curves. Whenever they had lunch together, Diamond felt men’s eyes going to the woman next to her, but she wasn’t jealous, she felt sympathy for her when she felt the woman’s embarrassment at the way men looked at her. She had even confided in Diamond she had once considered breast reduction surgery, however the expense was out of her financial means.

She waved to Holly as she left the office, heading to the courthouse. Diamond was only a block away from the courthouse, which made it an easy walk. The back of the Church was across the street from her office, a building over from the courthouse. She would often cut across the Church parking lot. Today she wanted the walk and went the longer route, cutting down another side street. She turned the corner of the street to the courthouse and saw several motorcycles parked in front of the sheriff’s office next door to the Courthouse.

“Hey Di.”

Caleb greeted her from the top of the steps.

“Hi Caleb. You ready for court?”

“Always.” He gave her his ‘game on’ smile, nodding towards the sheriff’s office. “Did you hear the news?”

“What news?” she asked as they walked through the large doorway.

“They arrested one of The Last Rider’s for the murder of Samantha Bedford,” he answered her question as they walked into the crowded courtroom, each going to their respective tables, bringing their short conversation to an end.

Diamond opened her briefcase as the deputy brought in her client. Greer Porter had been caught selling a small amount of pot. The cocky, young man sat down next to Diamond at the table.

“You going to get me out of here today?” he asked as soon as his butt hit the chair.

“I’m going to try,” was all Diamond could get out before the Judge entered the room.

“All Rise,” the bailiff called from the front of the courtroom.

The case didn’t last long with Greer being given a stern warning and a huge fine. He was lucky it had been such a small amount or it could have gone much harder on the young man.

“Thanks, Ms. Richards,” he said as soon as the judge left the courtroom.

“If you get caught again, Greer, you won’t get off so lightly.”

The young man smiled back. “I don’t intend on getting caught again. I should have known better than to sell to someone I didn’t know. How was I supposed to know the sheriff hired a new deputy from out of town? Tate is going to kick my ass for being such a dumbass, but at least I was smart enough to start him off with a small enough quantity that I wouldn’t get in too much trouble.” Diamond could only stare back at Greer who was obviously proud of himself.

Diamond wanted to kick his ass herself.

“You’re done here. I paid your fine.” Tate Porter walked up behind Greer. The tall, lean man was older than the one that she had represented. He was the opposite of his brother as Diamond had found out when he had hired her to represent Greer. Greer had told her Tate had raised his brothers and sister after his parents were killed in a boating accident the year after Tate had graduated high school.

Diamond stared as the youngest brother, Dustin, and the sister, Rachel, came to stand by their brother. Dustin had a head full of jet black hair unlike his brothers and sister who also had dark hair, but it wasn’t as curly nor did they have Dustin’s grey eyes. The effect was a handsome man that Diamond was sure kept the local girls busy.

“Thanks, Ms. Richard.” Rachel reached out to shake Diamond’s hand. Her hand was rough unlike most women. She had learned that Rachel was a popular herbalist in the area, actually around the country. People traveled from all over to purchase her homemade medicines and have her perform a healing touch on them. Diamond thought it was ridiculous herself, but had found that the people in Treepoint took it very seriously.

The work-roughened hand that touched hers inspired nothing except wanting to end the uncomfortable contact.

Rachel eyed her curiously as their hands separated. Diamond avoided her eyes as she picked up the papers on the desk, shoving them into her briefcase.

“I’ll send you my final bill in the mail,” Diamond stated, turning to face the family with her briefcase in hand.

“That will be fine. As soon as I get it, I’ll stop by your office and take care of it. You never know when we might need your services again,” Tate said, looking at his unconcerned brother with censure. Diamond didn’t envy him trying to take care of his strange family.

She walked outside with them, saying her goodbyes in front of the courthouse. She was turning to walk towards her office when The Last Riders walked outside the sheriff’s office with an angry Marc Harris, the town’s best criminal lawyer. The older lawyer looked ready to have a heart attack.

“I won’t be talked to that way by anyone! Did you hear what he told me to do?” Marc was practically screaming at Viper and Winter.

“Mr. Harris, Knox didn’t mean for you to take it so literally. He’s just—” Winter tried to placate the older man.

“I don’t care. You can find another lawyer, one that can deal with that asshole.” Diamond was shocked that the established attorney had lost his composure to the extent she was witnessing.

“But—” again Winter tried to intercede, yet before she could continue, Harris stormed across the lot to his car.

All of them were still staring when he pulled out with a screech of tires. Diamond closed her mouth when she realized The Last Riders were all staring at her. Seeing the speculation in Viper’s eyes, she could almost see the wheels turning in his mind.

Hell no
, Diamond thought to herself. Swiveling in her high heels, she took off down the street at a brisk walk, trying to avoid what she saw coming.

“Ms. Richard.” Diamond heard Winter’s voice, but kept booking it down the street.

Suddenly, a man stepped out in front of her, bringing her to a sudden stop. She hadn’t seen him before, but there was no doubt in her mind that he was a part of the motorcycle club. He was covered in tattoos, wearing dark jeans and a t-shirt. The sunglasses on his face hid his eyes, but he was good looking in a harsh kind of way. He gave Diamond the chills down her back. She didn’t even try to move past him as Winter, Viper and two other members surrounded her on the sidewalk.

“Ms. Richard, we need your help,” Winter began.

“I’m not taking on any new cases,” Diamond said, turning to look at Winter instead of the one that was giving her the willies.

“That isn’t what your sister said. She said you’re having a hard time finding clients, and that was why you moved to Treepoint from Jamestown. Please can we just go somewhere to talk for a few minutes?” Winter pleaded.

Diamond grudgingly gave in. “My office is just around the corner.” Her heart sank at Winter’s relieved smile. She had every intention of convincing her to accept her friend’s case, but Diamond had every intention of refusing. Nothing on earth could convince her to take the case. It would mean having more contact with the motorcycle club. She hadn’t managed to get away from her parents’ club to find herself entangled in another club’s problems. No way in hell.