After Bishop rolled his shoulder, he winced in pain.
“Want me to do it?” I asked.
Bishop’s eyes flared at my suggestion. “Sure. If you don’t mind.”
“It’s the least I can do for the man of the hour,” I teased as I walked over to the massage table.
My fingers tingled when they connected with Bishop’s warm flesh. Working my hands, I kneaded his taut muscles. Bishop groaned and let his head fall back, which caused a tightening between my legs. Simply touching him and giving him relief from the pain was making me hot.
When I glanced at him, he was looking at me through hooded eyes. “That feels amazing.”
“I’m glad.”
He had started to say something when Boone came back into the room. He glanced at the two of us and grinned. “I see I’ve been replaced by a newer and more attractive model.”
Bishop snorted. “Whatever.”
“Listen, I gotta get home. Crisis with the plumbing. You okay?”
“Fine,” Bishop replied.
“See ya later, then. Bye, Samantha.”
“Bye, Boone.”
After he was gone, Bishop and I stood in an awkward silence. “Guess I better get going, too,” I said. The truth was I wanted to stay there with him in that room until we recaptured what we’d had when we were interrupted.
“Let me walk you out,” Bishop said as he hopped down off the table.
“The rough-and-tumble boxer is a gentleman at heart, huh?”
He winked at me before pulling a T-shirt over his head. “We all have our secrets.”
As we started out the door, Bishop nodded at the beefy bouncer.
“Listen, there’s something I wanted to ask you,” he said to me.
“What is it?”
“Next Saturday night we’re having a birthday party for my brother, Rev. Since he’s our president, it’s going to be a pretty big party—one that lasts all weekend. Members are coming in from all over the state. I wondered if you might like to come.”
I drew in a breath as I carefully weighed my next words. This was exactly what I had been hoping for—a chance to be with the full Raiders MC again to see what I could overhear. While I wanted to give a hurried response, I had to temper myself. I knew I couldn’t look overeager, which in turn could make me look suspicious.
Misreading my hesitation, Bishop said, “Fuck, I’m sorry. That was a real stupid thing of me to do.”
“Excuse me?”
“After what happened to Marley, I guess the last thing you want is to be around a group of bikers.”
Once again, I found myself speechless, but this time it was over Bishop’s thoughtfulness. Then I felt like a complete bitch by using it to my advantage. “I would be lying if I said your offer didn’t surprise me . . . and unnerve me a little. But at the same time, I think it might be good for me to be around the club again.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I mean, you say you guys are going legit, so I guess I can’t help giving you a second chance, right?”
Bishop grunted. “Yeah, just remember you don’t know shit about any of that. Got it?”
“I promise.”
“So can I pick you up at seven?”
Just as I was about to agree, an image of my house flashed before my eyes. I quickly clamped my mouth shut. There was no way in hell I could let Bishop see where I was living. None of it matched the Samantha Vargas he knew. “Why don’t I meet you there?”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, since I flaked out a few days after Marley’s death, I’ve been working late to make up the time and get the boss off my ass,” I replied. My mind felt as if it were treading water in the deep end to keep up with all the lies I was spewing.
“Oh, okay, then yeah, just come here.” Bishop cleared his throat. “Guess if I picked you up, it would seem like a date, huh?”
Shaking my head, I stared down at my shoes. I realized I didn’t have to worry about Bishop suspecting anything about me and the club. Instead, his worry came in the form of concern that we were overstepping some sacred bounds because of Gavin. He would have given any FBI profiler a run for the money with his being so honorable and considerate. The fact that he had a conscience wasn’t something I had ever bet on, and in turn, it made things even more difficult. I needed him to be a Neanderthal who didn’t give a shit about what Marley would have felt about him making a move on me.
“I guess it could be seen that way,” I said.
“I, uh, well, I just didn’t want you to think I was some bastard for hitting on you so soon after Marley died.”
I knew I had to choose my next words carefully—I could either drive him away or reel him in. “Regardless of what’s in your head, any woman would be flattered to be asked on a date by you.”
“Is that right?” he questioned.
“Yeah, it is.”
Bishop coughed. “That’s good to know.”
“I’m glad I could help,” I said. And it was the truth. I did want Bishop to see he was more than he thought he was.
“So I’ll see you Saturday night, then.”
“See you then.”
ELEVEN
BISHOP
I glanced down at my watch and grimaced. It was half past six, and I had only thirty minutes before Samantha was supposed to arrive for Rev’s party. At the moment, grease stains blackened my hands all the way up to my elbows, not to mention that I was wearing the rattiest pair of jeans I owned. All day, I had fought a fucking nervous energy at the thought of being close to Samantha. I didn’t know where the hell it was coming from. It wasn’t as if she and I hadn’t had dinner a couple of days ago or talked on the phone the night before. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I had invited her to Rev’s party. I had never invited a woman, even as just a friend, to the clubhouse, least of all to a family party. Although she had been around with Marley¸ she was still an outsider when it came to the club.
I felt like a fucking pussy for being nervous. I had never spent a day of my life worrying about women. Now Samantha had me spinning twenty-four/seven. Part of me was nervous about what my brothers were going to say when they saw me with her. Of course, I didn’t know why I gave two shits about what anyone in the club had to say about my inviting her. It wasn’t any of their damn business. But even though I tried telling myself that, I knew it was still going to be an issue.
Since I had needed an outlet for my restless energy, I thought it would be a good idea to put the finishing touches on the bike Deacon and I were giving Rev for his birthday. But my dumb-ass self didn’t keep a good eye on the time, and the last thing I wanted was for Samantha to see me looking like the grease monkey I was.
Although tonight wasn’t a date, I still wanted to look good. Sam was a real catch—the kind of woman a man went above and beyond to impress. Since we had reconnected after Marley’s death, I felt I had been busting my ass whenever it came to her. Every fucking day I thought about her, and I couldn’t wait to talk to her on the phone. She was the first woman I had really enjoyed spending time with outside the bedroom. She was so easy to talk to, and she seemed generally interested in me as a person, not as a Raider. Most of the women I came in contact with were all about the sex or being an old lady in the club.
Of course, the way I felt about Sam did little to ease the guilt that still resided within me about Marley. No matter how good things seemed between us, it was as if Marley were always a silent specter. I didn’t know how to get past the guilt. It wasn’t something I felt comfortable talking to Samantha about. I was afraid that if she felt the same way, I might scare her off, and that was the last thing I wanted to do. I wanted to be with her, even if it had to be just as friends.
After tossing my wrench into the toolbox, I wiped off my hands and then headed out of the garage. Instead of taking the time to go home, I hustled over to the clubhouse. I could take a quick shower and shave and then grab some clothes from my room.
The moment
I swept in the door, I was bombarded with party central. Streamers and balloons hung from the ceiling, while a giant happy birthday sign took up one of the walls. Out-of-town brothers called out my name and raised their beers. I threw up my hand as I headed to the bedrooms.
Just as I stripped off my jeans and shirt, a knock came at the door. “Yeah?” I questioned as I turned on the water in the shower.
Rev’s voice came from the other side. “Emergency club meeting in five.”
“Are you fucking with me?”
With a grunt of frustration, Rev replied, “No. I’m not fucking with you, although that seems to be everyone’s consensus about this meeting.”
I eyed the stream of water longingly before I reached over and turned off the shower. “Fine. I’ll be right there.”
“Good.”
Without time to shower, I cleaned off my greasy arms as best I could in the sink. I sure as hell hoped the meeting wouldn’t take long, and I could grab a shower just before Sam arrived. After drying off, I pulled on a fresh pair of jeans and a T-shirt. As I opened the door, I threw on my cut.
Out in the hallway, I ran into Willow taking an armload of towels into Deacon’s room. “Hey, rug rat,” I called.
She threw a look at me over her shoulder. “What, Uncle B?”
“I need you to do me a favor.”
“Will it get me out of helping Grandma get ready for the out-of-town visitors?” she asked with a hopeful gleam in her eyes.
“Not exactly.”
Her face fell. “Oh, well, what do you want me to do?”
“I’ve got a friend coming to the party tonight. I’m supposed to meet her at seven, but Uncle Rev’s called an emergency club meeting. Can you be on the lookout for her?”
“Her?” Willow asked suspiciously.
Jesus, I wasn’t going to be able to catch a fucking break with anyone. “Yes. It’s a girl. Her name is Samantha, and she has dark hair.”
“Okay. I’ll find her.”
I reached over to plant a kiss on her cheek. “Thanks, rug rat.”
She huffed out a frustrated breath at the nickname she hated before heading into the bedroom. I went down the hall and then to the meeting room. When I slid into my usual seat at the table, I knew it had to be something heavy or Rev wouldn’t have interrupted his birthday weekend with it.
Deacon echoed my thoughts when he said, “What is so fucking important that it called me away from a quickie with Alex?”
Boone snorted. “Yeah, this better be pretty important, Rev. You’re still a newlywed, so you don’t know what it’s like to be a married man and have sex be limited.”
“Amen to that,” Mac said as he lit a cigarette.
Rev stared gravely around the table. “I just got some information from Rambo that I thought you needed to know.”
At the mention of Rambo, we all sat a little straighter in our chairs. “After all this time, he’s heard from Eddy?” Mac questioned. Just the mention of Eddy’s name caused me to tense in my seat, my fists tightening in anger.
Rev nodded. “Rambo now has full confirmation that he was behind the shooting in Virginia.” We all leaned forward with heavy looks on our faces. “There’s this dude who owns a truck stop about five miles from headquarters. He’s on good terms with the Raiders. He said that two guys with devils on their cuts came in to pay for gas about thirty minutes before the shooting. Since he knew the guys were in Raiders territory, he eyeballed them and saw them get into a black-paneled van.”
“Holy shit,” Boone murmured.
“Did he have it on tape?” Deacon asked.
“He sure as hell did. Once Rambo looked at the tapes, he realized it was a Diablos cut.”
Deacon cocked his eyebrows at Rev. “But Eddy wasn’t on the tape, right?”
“No. He wasn’t,” Rev replied.
“Is he still gone underground?” I asked. After the suspicions about Eddy’s involvement grew, he had disappeared. No one could find him to question him about how it was possible the Diablos knew where we were. Club meetings were kept secret, so while they might have known where headquarters was, they had no idea when we would be there. Considering his friendship with them and his anger about what went down with us, it was the only likely answer for the shooting.
“He’s finally emerged from whatever hellhole he’s been hiding in,” Rev replied.
“And now the Raiders are going to formally deal with the fucker?” Deacon asked.
“That won’t be happening,” Rev replied.
“Why the fuck not?” Boone demanded.
“Because he’s now a patch-wearing member of the Diablos.”
The table erupted in angry shouts and strings of profanity. That was the evidence we needed to solidify Eddy’s guilt.
Rev held up his hand. “Truth be told, we should have seen this coming. He’s been in fucking bed with those bastards for far too long. It makes sense he would finally join up with them. After the shooting, there was no going back.”
Mac stubbed out his cigarette. “Yeah, but I can’t see it being so easy for an ego-tripper like Eddy to give up his president’s patch and be just another Diablo.”
Deacon nodded. “They must’ve made him a pretty good offer to patch over.”
“That’s what really concerns me.” Rev’s expression was grave. “Who knows what kind of inside information he gave them?”
“Damn. Shit could get ugly,” Boone remarked.
Silence fell around the table as the news sank in. I leaned forward in my chair. “So, what do we do? Just sit around until the Diablos make a move?”
Rev sighed. “Unfortunately, that’s exactly what we do. Rambo and the other chapters are sending out feelers to their contacts to see what they can find out. But you guys know as well as I do that contacts expect to be paid, and usually it’s in ways that we no longer deal with.”
“So we end up like lame fucking ducks,” Deacon muttered.
“Not entirely. We do have our protection from both the Raiders and the Rodriguez cartel. Eddy and the Diablos would have to be stupid to pull anything on us,” Rev said.
Deacon motioned for Mac to hand him a cigarette. “Yeah, but let’s not forget that Eddy is one stupid fuck who lives for revenge.” After lighting up, he smiled grimly. “Sure puts a hell of a downer on your birthday weekend, bro.”
Rev chuckled. “True. But it’s nothing we haven’t faced before. We just have to be diligent, like our other brothers. Hopefully, after what happened in Virginia, Eddy has gotten enough revenge. But if I get wind of the least bit of danger, I’ll put us on lockdown.”
I nodded along with the others. After I glanced down at my watch, I grimaced. As the conversation left the subject of Eddy and some of the others had risen out of their chairs, I asked, “So we’re done here?”
Rev grinned at me. “What’s your hurry? Don’t tell me that you also have a hot piece of ass waiting on you for a quickie?”
Before I could answer, Deacon leaned over and put me in a headlock. “What are you talking about? When it comes to Bishop, it’s always a quickie.”
“Fuck you,” I muttered as the others roared with laughter. After shoving Deacon off me, I rose out of my chair.
“Seriously, B. Where’s the fire?” Deacon asked.
“There’s no fire. I just wanted a chance to clean up before the party.”
Deacon and Rev exchanged a look. “Since when do you need to ‘clean up’?” Rev questioned.
I rolled my eyes. I knew once they got wind that I was meeting Samantha, I would never hear the end of it. “Fine. If you must know, I’ve asked Samantha to the party tonight.”
Deacon’s forehead furrowed with confusion. “Who the hell is Samantha?”
Before I could answer, Rev said, “You’re dating Marley’s girlfriend?”
Deacon chimed in with “The hang-around who got killed in Virginia?”
Making a time-out sign with my hands, I said, “Hold the fuck up. I’m not dating anyone. We
’ve gotten to be really good friends, so I thought I would ask her to the party.” Turning to Rev, I said, “Yeah, it’s Marley’s girlfriend. You got a problem with that?”
Rev’s eyes widened in surprise. “No. But from your tone, I gotta wonder if you do.”
Groaning, I rubbed my hand over my face. “I’m such a fucking bastard to be scamming on my dead friend’s woman.”
“If you’re not dating her, then you’re not scamming. There’s nothing wrong with being friends with her,” Rev said diplomatically.
Deacon snorted. “Sorry, man, but there’s no way in hell Bishop is just friends with this chick.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Is that so?”
Deacon nodded. “I might not be your blood brother, but we have one thing in common. We are incapable of being friends with a woman.”
“I’m friends with Annabel and Alexandra,” I countered.
He rolled his eyes. “That’s different. They’re both taken. This Sam chick doesn’t have a man anymore, does she?”
“No.”
“Then you do want more with her,” Deacon said.
Rev and the others leaned forward in anticipation of my response. I sighed. “Fine. I do want more with her. And by more, I mean more than just fucking her.”
You could have heard a pin drop in the room after my declaration. Glancing around at my brothers, I demanded, “Jesus Christ, would you stop staring at me and say something!”
A huge grin spread on Deacon’s face. “I’ll be damned. Our little brother is all grown up now.”
When Rev nodded in agreement, a growl erupted from me. “Seriously? I’m twenty-fucking-five.”
“Maybe you’re that old in years, but until you’re ready to open yourself up to another person, then you’re just a kid,” Rev said.
“You two are full of shit.” I looked to Boone and Mac. “What about you?”
Boone smacked me on the back. “I gotta agree with them. Being a man ain’t about fucking every piece of ass that moves. A real man has opened his heart up at least once to be shredded by some bitch. Some of us luck out more than others and have the first woman we open up to be the only one for us. But then others have to suffer through heartache.” He winked at me. “Now it’s your turn.”