“I married Knox and Sunshine. I still see them together that day. Knox was so happy, and Sunshine looked beautiful. A week later, I was telling Knox that she was gone.” A tear slid down his cheek. “I’ll never forget his face. Knox is as big as a mountain, and he fell to his knees, crying. After that, I couldn’t do it anymore.
“I took the Seal training, left being a pastor behind. I didn’t lose my faith in Him, though; I lost faith in myself. I had to learn differently—to take a life instead of saving them. I began to enjoy the adrenaline rush when we were in combat. This way, I was making a difference. I was saving the brothers I served with, giving them a chance to make it another day.
“I became tight with Bridge. We had gone through training together, spent vacations together. I got to know his family. Mine were all gone, but his took me in and made me one of their own. When his younger brother joined, Bridge called and asked me to watch out for him, and I swore I would. I made another promise I couldn’t keep. I promised he would make it home, but he died his second week there.”
“You can’t blame yourself.”
“Yes, I can. I left him behind.”
“You had to have a reason.”
“The reason doesn’t matter. He’s dead, and Bridge wants payback.”
“Payback?”
“He wants me to lose something I love, to feel what it’s like.”
“Is that why you bought Ria when we pretended to be engaged?”
“Yes. I wanted you to be protected when I couldn’t be with you. That’s why I only went out with women who would be able to move on when Bridge grew tired of me waiting to fall in love. He doesn’t know that I found what I was searching for. I found that out when you nearly died, when Ria gave her life for yours.”
“What did you find?”
“I found home. You were what I had been searching for all along. I didn’t want you hurt because of me, yet you almost died. None of us know how long we have on this earth.”
Lucky stood up, coming to sit down next to her with his back to the table. Reaching into the picnic basket, he took out a ring box.
“I love you, Willa. Will you marry me?”
“Am I dreaming? I’m afraid, if I say yes, I’ll wake up.”
Lucky opened the ring box, showing her the large, pink diamond in the rose gold setting that she had fallen in love with all those months ago. The tiny diamonds twinkled up at her in a starburst of color as he slid the ring onto her finger, closing his hand around hers.
“No. This is as real as it gets.” He kissed her with a passion that was able to convince her that her body wasn’t asleep.
“I guess this is my lucky day,” she teased.
He winced at her pun, looking up at the bright blue sky. “I have another question to ask God when you see Him.”
“What?”
“How many times I’ve heard that before.”
Chapter 22
“Bitch, you didn’t just carry those cupcakes in here?” Sex Piston paused while blow-drying a pretty blonde whom Willa once would have been envious of as she set a bright pink box on Sex Piston’s reception desk.
“Is it me or does this box get a brighter shade of pink every time I see one?” Killyama asked, opening the box to take out one of the cupcakes.
“I keep experimenting with the color. I thought you girls could use a treat while Sex Piston does my hair.” Willa smiled.
Killyama stared down at the box as she ate her cupcake. “You chose this shade of pink deliberately? Pink is pink, bitch.”
The comment didn’t hurt her feelings. She knew she was a little OCD over her boxes. She was in search of the perfect shade of pink; therefore, she ordered a different color each time she ordered boxes.
“Do you know how many shades of pink there are? It’s hard to pick just one.”
“My ass doesn’t need another cupcake!” Crazy Bitch wailed as she teased a woman’s hair.
Willa laughed. “I say that all the time.”
“Give me five, and I’ll be with you,” Sex Piston told her.
“Take your time.” Willa started to take a seat, nearly tripping when she saw Sissy sweeping the floor. The girl had stopped to glare at her.
“What are you doing here? I thought you left with Travis.” Willa started to give the girl a hug then stopped when she saw the reaction on her face.
Killyama took a chair that was near where Sissy was sweeping.
“I turned eighteen. I can do what the hell I want to now.”
“She showed up here last week, asking to work here, so I hired her to run errands.” Sex Piston frowned at the girl.
Willa had seen enough instances of kindness from Sex Piston to not be surprised. She watched over her biker bitches like a sister, and as a result, she would have recognized, like Willa, that Sissy was crying silently for help. Sissy wouldn’t take it from her, but maybe she would from Sex Piston.
“What about Leanne and your cousins; don’t you miss them?”
“Miss all the tantrums and snotty noses? No, I don’t.” Sissy started sweeping again.
Willa bit her lip. She should ignore the girl and go sit down, but Willa couldn’t stop the need within her to somehow reach the girl.
“I miss them all the time. Caroline and Chrissy are getting bigger every day. Leanne has a crush on one of the work hands—”
Sissy laughed at her, leaning on the broom. “Do you really think you’re going to fool me? You may fool all of them”—she waved her hand at the women in the shop—“but I know what kind of woman you really are. You’re a murderer and a slut!” the young woman spat at her.
As Willa gasped at the hatred on Sissy’s face, Killyama jumped up to stand in front of Willa, but she stepped around her.
“I wish every day I wasn’t responsible for taking your uncle’s life, but I’m not a slut,” Willa said firmly.
“I saw the text messages you sent. My uncle would get me to babysit when he went out to meet you at a hotel.”
Willa shook her head. “I never met your uncle at a hotel once.”
“You’re lying!”
“Why would I lie? If I were sleeping with someone, I wouldn’t care who knew. It’s not like a woman gets in trouble for that.”
“You want to keep your image up in town.”
“What image?” Willa gave a bark of sarcastic laughter. “I was made fun of in high school. I never had a date until Lucky asked me out a few months ago. I never had friends until Lily, Beth, and Rachel felt sorry enough to include me. People never even talked to me in church unless they wanted me to bake them something.”
“Lewis was in love with you!”
“Lewis wanted me to be his babysitter, and he wanted the money my business brought in.” Willa sighed. “You want the truth, Sissy, but the thing about the truth is it can be twisted to anyone’s advantage. I don’t know whose text messages you read, but they weren’t mine. I never texted Lewis.” Willa paused then admitted, “I hated him. I was so afraid of him I bought the gun to protect myself. He managed to almost rape me, and if a customer hadn’t shown up to pick up a cake, he would have.”
“No!”
Willa stared at her in sympathy. “If you don’t believe me, ask Angus Berry. I don’t know how he managed it, but he did. I was so embarrassed and afraid of Lewis that I asked him not to tell anyone. I bought a gun the next day.”
“Why would Lewis lie to me?” Doubt was beginning to show in Sissy’s eyes.
“I don’t know. Maybe he wanted to keep who he was really having an affair with secret. Only Lewis knows the answer to that question.”
“And he’s dead.”
“That, I accept responsibility for. I don’t know if I would have been able to pull the trigger to save myself, but I couldn’t let him kill Rachel.”
“My mom hated you.”
“Yes, she did, from the time we were in grade school.”
“Why?”
r /> Willa looked away from Sissy. She had never admitted to a living soul why Georgia hated her so much, but she remembered it as if it had happened yesterday.
“We were in second grade homeroom together, and it was Valentine’s Day. I had stayed up the night before to make a Valentine box. It was very pretty,” Willa said modestly. “The teacher placed mine next to Georgia’s, and the children in the class weren’t very nice. They made fun of hers.” Willa blinked back tears at the cruelty of the other children. “When we came back from lunch, my box was lying in pieces. The teacher tried to blame Georgia, but I told her I had done it, that I wanted to count my valentines.”
“Did my mom do it?”
“I don’t know,” Willa lied, crossing her fingers behind her back. “But I’m sure it was embarrassing for her, anyway.”
Georgia hadn’t been embarrassed; she had been furious. After school, Georgia had followed her home and had ripped out half of her hair before Drake had pulled her away.
“That’s not much of a reason,” Sissy scoffed.
“For Georgia, it was.” Willa had thought about it over the years. “She knew I was afraid of her, and it made her feel powerful. She liked the feeling it gave her. That’s why people bully others.” Willa stared at Sissy.
The young girl turned red, looking down at the floor.
“I’m ready for you,” Sex Piston said as the pretty blonde left the shop.
Once Willa crossed the floor and sat down in the chair, Sissy began sweeping again. Then Willa felt a tug on her hair. Thinking Sex Piston was being unusually rough, she glanced upward, and their eyes met in silence. With the flick of her wrist, Sex Piston flipped her top up, showing a scar on her abdomen. Then she felt Sex Piston’s finger touch the bald spot on her scalp which she always kept hidden.
Sex Piston was one of the strongest women Willa knew, and she was telling her she had also been a victim of bullying. Ever since the day Georgia had attacked her, she had felt like a scared child who was too afraid to strike back. However, right in that instant, a burgeoning of confidence began to grow inside of her.
“Damn, bitch, look at that rock on her finger!” Sex Piston grabbed her hand, lifting it so the other women in the shop could see.
“Lucky and I are engaged.” Willa smiled. She couldn’t contain all the joy she was feeling.
“I don’t talk to Lily and Beth one day, and I miss all the gossip,” Sex Piston fussed.
“I asked them not to. I wanted to tell you all today.”
“Does this mean we get to have another bachelorette party?” Crazy Bitch asked.
“Fuck no. The last one almost killed me,” Killyama complained.
“I’m with Killyama; one was more than enough.” Willa still had problems with recalling certain parts of that night.
“I heard one is never enough for Lucky.” Willa’s smile slipped at Sissy’s snide comment. “For none of The Last Riders, either. I don’t know why anyone would want to pick one when you can have them all. Viper promised, as soon as I turn nineteen, I can join the club. Don’t worry, Willa; I only need six of the eight votes.”
Willa gasped, not at what Sissy said, but at Killyama’s reaction.
The woman moved like a pouncing tigress, jerking the broom away from Sissy, and began hitting the girl with it.
“Shit!” Crazy Bitch ran toward Killyama, but she couldn’t get close because the broom was moving so fast.
Willa tried to get up to stop the crazed woman, but Sex Piston pushed her back down on the chair.
“Sit your ass down. Killyama won’t hurt her too bad. It’s a plastic broom.”
Willa could only sit and gawk as Killyama hit the girl several times across her butt and thighs. Sissy curled into a ball on the floor with her hands over her head.
“If I see your ass near The Last Riders, I’ll fucking rip those tits of yours off! You want a man, you find him in Texas, because that’s where I’m taking you when I get done. I see you back in Treepoint or Jamestown again, and I’ll make fucking sure the only man who wants to fuck you is a blind one!” Killyama threw the broom down on the floor then reached down and jerked Sissy to her feet by her hair.
Sissy screamed in pain, tears pouring down her face while Killyama threw her in Willa’s direction at the same time the shop door opened as T.A. came inside.
“Tell Willa you’re sorry,” Killyama ordered.
“I’m … I’m sorry.” Sissy was crying so hard she could barely talk.
“It’s all right—”
“Shut up,” snarled Killyama. “That bitch should be kissing your ass. Talking about babies’ snotty noses when she’s an ungrateful little snot. Quit crying! I took a worse beating when I was in fifth grade.” Killyama threw one of the shop towels at Sissy. “Get your ass in my car. I’ll be there in a minute.”
Sissy ran past T.A. and out the door.
“What did I miss?”
“Killyama beat the shit out of Sissy,” Crazy Bitch told her, reaching for a cupcake when her client practically ran outside after throwing some cash down on the reception desk.
“Oh.” T.A. went to the counter, taking a cupcake while Killyama went to the door.
“Is it just me or is this box—” T.A. began.
“Make up your fucking mind about what color pink to use,” Killyama said as she shot a glare at Willa.
Willa opened and closed her mouth. Killyama in a temper was scarier than Georgia ever had been.
“I guess that one then. Everyone noticed it.”
“What shade is it?” T.A. asked dubiously.
“That one is Pink Flamingo.”
“I’d pick another one,” Sex Piston offered her own business advice. “And she’s not the only one who needs to make up her mind.”
Killyama threw her friend a glare of rage before going out the door and slamming it shut behind her.
Willa turned back to face Sex Piston.
“Don’t worry about Sissy. Killyama’s calmed down. She just has STS.”
“STS?”
“Sudden Train Syndrome. She freaks the fuck out when she thinks about Train and a clubhouse of women.”
“She likes Train?” Willa asked, grateful for the change in topic.
After all, Lucky had told her he had given up his cut, which Willa took to mean that he was no longer a Last Rider. He had told her all her friends’ husbands remained faithful to their wives, and she was happy for them, but she was much more comfortable with the quiet life she envisioned for herself and Lucky.
“She hates Train, but that doesn’t stop her from wanting him.”
Killyama was the complete opposite of herself. She was filled with confidence. The clothes she wore clung to her body yet weren’t as suggestive as her friends. They fit along the lines of her body so that, when she walked, it was like a cat about to spring on you if you made the wrong movement.
Willa had talked briefly with Train at Winter’s wedding and Lily’s shower. His low voice had sent her scurrying to her friends. He had been polite, but in his dark eyes she had seen swirling emotions.
“She should go for Rider. He’s much friendlier.”
“Rider would piss himself. He’s afraid of Killyama.” Crazy Bitch threw herself down in the shop chair next to hers, eating a cupcake.
Sex Piston began pasting Willa’s hair with the hair color, lifting the sections as she worked.
“I noticed last time that you don’t have your ears pierced. How come?”
“I just haven’t ever done it.” Willa brought her hand to her ear, but it was slapped away by Sex Piston.
“Why not?” T.A. pressed.
Willa sighed. “I’m afraid of needles.”
All three women burst into laughter, and Crazy Bitch even had to wipe tears away.
“How do you feel about knives?”
* * *
Willa knocked on Lucky’s office door.
“Come in.”
She opened the door, seeing her fiancé sitting behind his desk, working, and he was wearing one of her favorite suits. The charcoal-grey color did things to his skin that made Willa get a warm feeling in her stomach.
His face broke into a welcoming smile when he saw her.
“I see your appointment went well. You look fantastic.”
Willa blushed at his compliment, coming to a stop on the other side of his desk. “Thanks. Are you busy?”
“For you? No.”
“I wanted to ask a quick question.”
“In a minute.” Lucky leaned back in his chair. “Come here.”
Willa tilted her head to the side. “Why?”
“Because my future wife needs to give me a hello kiss.”
“Oh.” Willa turned red as she moved around the desk to bend down and kiss Lucky briefly on the lips. When she would have risen up, his hand went to the nape of her neck, holding her in place.
“Like this.” His seductive voice had her stomach clenching tighter. Then his tongue thrust demandingly into her mouth until her hands plastered against the front of his shirt, and she kissed him back. “That’s the way I want you to tell me hello.”
“I can do that,” Willa whispered.
“Good. Now what was the question you wanted to ask?”
Willa stared helplessly in his eyes, unable to return to reason as quickly as him.
“You said you had a question to ask me.”
“Oh.” Willa straightened, reluctantly taking her hands away. “Did Viper promise Sissy that she could join The Last Riders?”
“Moon did, not Viper,” Lucky admitted.
“You’re joking, right? Moon promised an underage girl that she could join a sex club?”
“Relax, Willa. Moon told her she had to be nineteen.” Lucky held his hand up. “The promise is one that Viper has no intention of honoring, though. You have nothing to worry about,” Lucky assured her.
“I don’t?” Willa was having a hard time retaining her temper. “Did you know that Sissy ran away from Texas? Sex Piston gave her a job… well, she did. I think she’s been fired. Killyama is driving her back.”
“She is?”
Willa nodded.
Lucky laughed. “We won’t have to deal with her again.”