“Drake?”
“Morning, Rachel. I’m sorry to wake you up early on Christmas Eve, but I’d like to talk to Cash.”
Rachel held the door wider. “Come in. He’s eating breakfast.” Her face turned a sickly shade of green.
“Are you all right?”
“Just morning sickness. I thought I was over it, but certain smells set it off. Watching Cash eat bacon and biscuits and gravy is more than my stomach can handle right now.” She waved him toward the kitchen. “Go on in. I’m going back to bed.”
“Feel better,” Drake said as he went into the kitchen to find Cash with a huge plate of food in front of him.
“You eat like that every day?” Drake asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee without waiting for the offer.
Cash took another bite of his food. “It’s Christmas Eve. I’ll work it off this afternoon. What has you up so early? I thought you would still be in bed after last night.”
Drake sat down at the kitchen table across from him. “That looks good.”
“Help yourself. There’s more on the stove.”
Drake got up to make himself a plate, putting an extra spoonful of gravy on top of the biscuits. He then sat down, enjoying the taste of the carb-rich breakfast.
“Why were The Last Riders at the daycare center last night?” he asked after he was finished.
“How do you know we were?”
“I saw you when you left.”
Cash took a sip of his coffee. “Stark likes to strike when no one’s looking, so it was the only place the coward could attack.”
“That explains why Stark was there, not The Last Riders.”
“One of us was always keeping an eye on Bliss. Shade noticed several bikers join up with Stark the day before, so we increased the number of men watching her.”
“Why care? She’s not a Last Rider.”
“Bliss will always be a Last Rider. Have you seen that tattoo she has?”
“I’ve seen it.”
“You give her shit about it?”
“No, and I’m not going to. Bliss loves The Last Riders. They’re the only part of her past that doesn’t hurt her, other than the mistakes she made with the wives.”
“Those were pretty big mistakes. That’s why we had to cut her loose. She was fixated on Shade. He and Lily both tried to ignore it, but it only got worse.”
“Because she felt more and more alone with each one of you marrying.”
“We knew she was afraid of being alone. That’s why we didn’t want to have to cut her loose. But when she went after Willa, she had to be punished.”
“So, you threw her out?”
“It was the worst punishment for her. She was so afraid of losing us that she was pushing us away. We figured if she lost us and learned she would still be okay, she would see she didn’t have to be so afraid of being on her own anymore.”
“Then Stark came back.”
“Yes. We were going to take her back to the safety of the club, but Shade said you could handle it, and you did.”
Drake didn’t give a fuck if Shade had confidence in him or not. What he did care about was the woman sleeping in his bed.
“Bliss misses The Last Riders.”
“We’ve never taken someone back that’s been voted out. That means she would possibly have to earn the votes again, and our women are only allowed to be with The Last Riders.”
“Is there any other way for her to get the votes without fucking for them?”
“She told you that?” Cash’s glare showed Bliss had told him a club secret.
Drake hid the satisfaction that gave him. He didn’t think Cash or the other members would be as happy with that knowledge.
“Word gets around.”
“Mm-hmm,” Cash said doubtfully, picking up a piece of bacon to chew on thoughtfully.
“I’ll tell you this: markers can substitute for votes. No one will give Bliss markers, though. She’s burned too many bridges. The men won’t expect her to earn the votes again but she will have to have the votes of all the eight members and their wives. Like I said, she burned a lot of bridges.
“I could earn the markers,” Drake suggested.
“To do that, you would have to become a Last Rider.” Cash put the bacon down on his plate. “You want to be a Last Rider?”
“Do I have to fuck anyone but Bliss?”
“No, who you fuck is your choice.”
“Do I get to fight a lot?”
“Some.” Cash’s lips twisted into an anticipatory smile.
“Then I’m game. It’ll give me someone to ride with now that Jace is going into the service.”
“It’s not that easy. You haven’t been asked to join. You become a prospect first—we see how you do with the other members, how you carry yourself. We don’t need someone with the Porter temper running his mouth off. We keep our business to ourselves. In other words, we have to trust you and make sure you’re loyal to us before we let you through the last step of the initiation, which is taking on four of the original members. Then, if you get past them and are still alive, you become one of us.”
Drake stood up, carrying his dirty plate to the sink and washing it then picking up the coffee pot to refill his and Cash’s cups before sitting back down. However, his affable attitude disappeared in a flash.
“Viper told me the club owed me one when the Freedom Riders wanted that land I refused to sell them, and I sold back that family property I had bought off Rachel without a profit when you came asking. Is that what you mean about markers? I think that should be enough so I don’t have to do shit jobs to prove I can take you on.”
He took a sip of coffee before continuing. “I don’t gossip. If I did, everyone in the county would know what that back piece of land on the club’s property is used for. I know how to keep a secret. Always have.”
Drake stood up, staring down at Cash. “Tell Viper I want the initiation today. The land on the right of the factory is mine. When he asked to buy it, I told him no, but that I had no intention of doing anything with it other than using it for hunting. I’ll sign the deed over to him when I’m a Last Rider. That should be enough for Bliss’s markers. If not, I bulldoze it and put up a fucking shopping mall.”
“Viper doesn’t like ultimatums,” Cash warned.
“My woman misses her family, and I aim to see that she gets what she wants for Christmas.”
“I’ll talk to him. If he says yes, who do you want to go up against?”
“You pick.”
“Don’t think I’ll make it easy for you.”
“I didn’t think you would. Just don’t pick Shade.”
“Why? Afraid you won’t win?”
“No, I don’t think either of us would win, but we would both be too busted up to enjoy Christmas.” Drake’s lips quirked into a mocking smile.
“You’re underestimating what kind of beating you’re going to get. They won’t hold back.”
“I don’t need them to.” Drake slid the chair back under the table. “Don’t pick yourself, either. I don’t want Rachel upset, with her carrying.”
Cash’s lips twitched. “You think you would leave me busted up?”
“You know I love a fight just as much as you. I may have calmed down when I had Jace, but I still remember how to throw a punch.”
“I’ll take that into consideration when I pick who you go up against.” Cash rose from the table, going to the sink. “If Viper agrees.”
“He would be stupid not to, and Viper doesn’t strike me as being anyone’s fool.”
“He’s not. I’ll go to the clubhouse and talk to him now.”
Cash waited expectantly for him to leave, but Drake had one more piece of business to take care of before he left.
“Has Rachel told you what you’re having yet?”
“No, she’s keeping it a secret until the baby’s born. Why?”
“You’re having a girl. She thinks you want a boy and will be disappointed.”
r /> “She does? Rachel should know better—”
“She’s from the mountains, and she’s a Porter. They always want boys for firstborns.”
“How do you know all this?”
Drake gave him a wry smile. “I have Porter blood, remember? I need to go.” He started to walk out of the kitchen. “Call me and tell me when and where I need to be. I have a couple of things I need to take care of first. Tell Rachel Merry Christmas for me.” He paused at the doorway and turned back around. “You having Christmas dinner with her brothers tomorrow?”
“I can’t get out of it. If you could figure a way out of it for me, I would give both you and Bliss my votes,” Cash joked.
Drake gave him a saccharine smile that brought a worried frown to Cash’s face.
“I’ll take you up on that offer. I’ll keep them busy tomorrow.”
“How?”
“Leave that up to me. Enjoy your Porter-free Christmas.”
“Damn, this is going to be a good Christmas. I get to watch the brothers fight, and I don’t have to share my turkey. I’m going into town to buy myself a case of beer to celebrate.”
* * *
“Dammit.” Bliss set the hot cookie tray down on the counter, waving her fingers in the air to soothe the stinging pain. When it finally went away, she gingerly touched one of the cookies on the tray. It was burned to a crisp.
Dumping the entire thing into the trash, she took out another cookie tray.
“I am going to do this. I am not going to burn them this time.” She didn’t understand how they had burned.
After she had the dollops of dough on the cookie sheet, she went to the oven and looked at the temperature. It was what the recipe had called for. Next time, she wouldn’t answer her cell phone if anyone called.
Ginny had called to wish her a Merry Christmas, and Bliss grudgingly admitted to herself she might have talked too long. She had asked Ginny to drop off the envelope containing keys to a new car for Marcus’s mother. Bliss hadn’t wanted her to know who the car was from, so Ginny had told her it was from a Secret Santa. Sooner or later, Marcus would outgrow believing in Santa Clause, but it wasn’t going to be this year.
As she was closing the oven door with the cookie sheet inside, Bliss heard the front door slam shut.
“Drake?” she called out, not wanting to leave the cookies. It was the last of the dough. It was supposed to make over forty cookies, but twenty-nine were already in the trash.
“I’ll be down in a minute. I’m going to take a shower.” Drake’s voice sounded muffled.
Bliss frowned. Drake typically took his shower before bed. His bedroom was downstairs, so why had he gone upstairs to the boys’ bathroom? He had only gone out to get a last-minute present for Cal.
She turned on the light in the oven. Seeing the cookies were still in the little balls of uncooked dough, she figured she had enough time to go upstairs and check on him.
Bliss hurried up the steps. Maybe he had ripped open his stitches, or they were infected, and he didn’t want her to know.
She opened the bathroom door, screaming at the sight of him with his shirt off.
His hands and face were a bloody mess, and his ribs were black and blue. He was washing the blood off his hands, which were swollen and resembled raw hamburger.
“What happened?” she cried out as she hastily grabbed more towels from the towel rack.
“I got in a little fight.”
“On Christmas Eve? Who with? Did you call Knox? You need to go to the hospital.”
Drake didn’t have time to answer before Bliss heard the doorbell ring.
“Go answer the door. I’m all right,” he told her.
“I’ll be right back.”
Bliss ran down the steps. She looked out the peephole to see who it was and thought for a second she was imagining the face staring back at her.
“Open the door, Bliss.”
Shade’s voice had her shaking as she did so. The Last Riders brushed by her as they filed inside one by one. After the men came in, the women each stopped to give her a hug before moving forward to let someone else take a turn.
“Looking good. I like that red sweater. May I borrow it tomorrow?” Raci grinned, giving her a tight squeeze.
It was the first Christmas she would have spent without The Last Riders, so to see them coming through the door was filling the aching emptiness that had been present all day.
“I’ll think about it.” Bliss bemusedly hugged the woman back.
“Where’s Drake?” Rider slung an arm around her shoulder, giving her a sideways hug.
“Upstairs. He’s…” Her eyes narrowed on Rider then the other men standing near. “Are you the ones who hurt Drake? Why?” She pulled angrily away from Rider.
“Don’t blame us. He’s the one who wanted to be a pledge and a member on the same day.”
“What are you talking about, Rider?” Drake wanted to be a Last Rider?
“Train, go up and check on him,” Viper ordered.
Bliss gasped while Train took the steps upstairs with a medic bag slung over his shoulder. The president of The Last Riders looked as bad as Drake.
“Train will patch him up good as new.” Jewell gave her a warm hug. “What’s burning?”
“Oh, God.” Bliss ran into the kitchen, grabbing the mitt to open the oven, smoke coming from inside.
Bliss carried the cookies to the counter, practically in tears. Her Christmas Eve wasn’t turning out to be the romantic occasion she had planned.
“You burned the shit out of those.” Stori made a face at the charred dots that lined the black cookie sheet.
“That’s the last of the dough, too. I managed to burn all forty of them.” Bliss tried to shake the cookies off, but they didn’t budge. Frustrated, she dumped the whole sheet in the trash.
She couldn’t bring herself to move away from the trash can when she heard the doorbell again.
“I’ll go answer it.” Raci took off.
Bliss was willing to bet she wanted to escape the stench of the smoke still wafting around the room.
“I wanted to make cookies for Drake. I ordered dinner from King’s, but I didn’t want to fake baking the cookies.”
“Fake baking?” Willa asked as Beth, Evie, Lily, Diamond, and Winter all crowded into the kitchen. They were dressed in church clothes. Christmas service at the church must have just finished. Lucky took one step into the room, his nose wrinkling at the burned smell, before turning around and going back into the living room.
“I ordered dinner from King’s and pretended I cooked it,” Bliss explained.
“Drake knows you can’t cook.” Evie went to the kitchen counter and began making coffee. “Where are the cups?”
Bliss pointed to the cabinet over the microwave, asking, “How do you know?”
“He had lunch there a couple of weeks ago, and he told King the next time you called an order in, he likes his steak medium rare.”
“Why didn’t he say anything?” Drake hated being lied to, yet he had known she had lied to him about cooking.
Bliss flushed at the thought of how she had accepted his compliments on her fake cooking. She was tempted to give him a fake blow job.
“I guess he didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”
“It’s my fault for always getting someone else to take my kitchen chores. Payback is a bitch.”
“That’s for sure.” Evie grinned. “Next time, pick a restaurant he doesn’t eat at every day for lunch.”
“Do you have more of the ingredients? We could help you make a batch,” Willa offered, taking off her coat.
Bliss swallowed the lump in her throat. Willa wanted to help her out when, once upon a time, she wouldn’t have thought about helping the woman if the roles had been reversed.
Willa caught her ashamed look, placing her hands on her hips as she glared at Bliss. “Don’t you dare. This is Christmas Eve, and we’re going to have fun. Got it? Now, where are the extra ingredie
nts?”
Bliss smiled. She had definitely learned not to poke Willa’s temper.
“Here.” Bliss went to the cabinet to pull out more of the ingredients, and then the women went to work baking cookies.
The kitchen filled with laughter when Beth found the cookie sheet in the trash can.
“I can take care of that.” Lily took it away from her sister, going to the sink.
Bliss didn’t know what to say to the women as they made the cookies. It reminded her of the many Christmas Eves at the clubhouse when they would make them and spike the hot chocolate.
Lily opened the door to the oven when Bliss carried the sheet over.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Bliss slid the cookies into the oven then closed the door before turning to Lily. “Lily, I don’t know how to say how sorry I am.”
“You already did. I’m glad you’re back in the club. None of us wanted you gone.”
“You didn’t?” Bliss found that hard to believe. They might have forgiven her for being a bitch, but she was sure it was long after she had left the clubhouse. She looked around the room at the women skeptically. “Wait, The Last Riders are letting me back in?”
“Yes,” Winter answered. “Didn’t Drake tell you? He talked Viper into letting him in the club without prospecting, and he passed the initiation today. Then he used markers the club owed him to get you voted back into the club.”
“That’s why he was so busted up!” Bliss exclaimed, her mind going back to the men as they came through the door. He had fought Viper, Train, Rider, and Razer.
“Yes.” Beth scooped more dough onto the extra cookie sheet.
“Cash said welcome back, by the way. He couldn’t come tonight, since he’s drunk off his ass. We dropped him off on the way here, which is why Drake got here before us.” Stori turned on the light in the oven. “They’re almost done.”
“He was the drunkest I’ve ever seen him.” Raci giggled as she wiped the kitchen counters. “He kept repeating, ‘It’s the best Christmas ever.’”
“The cookies are done.” Willa handed Bliss the oven mitts, and she pulled out cookies that were the perfect color.
Setting them down on the counter, she stared at the chocolate-chip cookies that had defeated her numerous times before.