Jo took another drink of her water, watching them.
“Aren’t you going to stop him?” Winter asked, carrying her plate to the counter.
“No, I don’t see any blood yet. Hey!” Jo brightened. “I got a new car for my birthday. Do you girls want to go for a ride?”
Beth got up. “It’s better than watching them kill each other.”
“Let’s stop by and pick up Willa. You can ask her about Lucky.” Winter followed Beth out the door, giving Rider a swift kick in the rear before patting her hair down and going out after them.
Shade stood back, watching the fight, making no move to interfere. “Happy now?”
“Not yet,” Jo snapped, holding her hand out and wiggling her fingers. “My phone?”
Shade reached into his pocket, taking it out and giving it to her.
“I blame myself for telling you about those pictures. Next time, I won’t be so generous when you break into my house.”
“Rider tell you I had it?”
“No, Rider was too anxious to stop by to get an order out. When has he ever been worried about work?” Jo swung her foot out, kicking Lucky in the ass for hitting Rider so hard. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Go ahead. I don’t have anything better to do, other than keep Lily waiting.”
Jo ignored the jibe. She would call Lily when she left and offer her a ride.
“So, if by any chance I did manage to save those pictures you deleted to the cloud, would I have enough votes to become a Last Rider?”
Shade’s lips settled into a firm line. “More than enough.”
“Thanks, Shade. It’s always a pleasure doing business with you.”
Sidestepping Moon and Lucky’s feet, she went to the door. “Rider!” Jo yelled over the cursing men. “Rider! Shade said he’s in, too!”
She was satisfied when she saw Rider manage to wiggle out from under Viper.
Razer, seeing the savage visage on Rider’s face as he fought his way toward Shade, rolled his sleeves up, preparing for the coming battle between the two men.
“Shade, now I’m happy.”
“What made you come back and pick me up?”
Jo lay languorously on top of Rider. Tilting her head, she stared at his battered face.
“We never left. As soon we were in the car, Winter changed her mind about going. She said that fighting makes Viper horny and she wasn’t going to miss out on that to teach you a lesson. The rest of them… me included, followed her lead. I’m willing to admit, I may have hoped you got a big adrenaline rush as Viper does.”
She grinned when his hands went to her upper arms, dragging her breasts up his chest so his mouth could torment hers the way she had his.
“I always get a big adrenaline rush around you. I don’t need to get in a fight to make you see stars.”
“Rider your good, but not good enough to make me see stars. If you want me to see stars, let me drive your Ferrari.”
“No.”
“You’re seriously not going to let me drive it?”
“Bluebonnet, you want to drive my car, you’re going to have to make me see stars.”
Laughing at his lecherous smirk, she started tickling him until he had enough and rolled her over so she was pinned underneath his body.
Becoming serious, she stared up at him, a lump coming to her throat at the way he was looking down at her. It was a Rider, with his heart in his eyes, as if all his past heartbreaks were nonexistent.
“Do you believe in everlasting love?” Jo held her breath after asking her question.
Rider stopped trying to tickle her back when he saw she had turned serious.
“I would have to believe I’m going to heaven to believe in that. I plan to take my sins to hell with me.”
She whacked him on his shoulder. “You promised me forever and ever, and I’m going to hold you to it.” Her arms wound around his neck, clinging to him, her eyes staring up at him with all the love she felt for him shining through. “Don’t you want to go to heaven with me?”
“Jo, anytime you’re with me, I’m already there.”
Epilogue 2
“Shh … they’ll hear us,” Crux warned as they sneaked to the hidden spot where Noah and Chance had trailed their fathers earlier that day. Noah had bragged that it was the spot The Last Riders’ initiations took place.
“No one is going to hear. Everyone is sleeping. We shouldn’t have brought you anyway. You’re always trying to tag alone when you’re not wanted,” Noah griped.
“Shut up, Noah. Crux is right. You’re making enough noise for Viper to hear us, and he’s farther away.”
“I told him he could come. I had to,” John said, stepping over a dead tree. “He was spending the night with Clint, and he saw me slipping out of the house.”
“I don’t know why I even told you we’re coming tonight. Me and Noah should have come ourselves and told you tomorrow what it was like,” Noah complained.
Crux felt the chill on the back of his neck grow colder the deeper they went into the woods. He nearly fell trying to climb over the tree that John had easily stepped over.
“If you didn’t want me to come along, then why did you bug me all day? If our parents find out he snuck out, we’re going to be grounded for life.”
Crux quit listening to the older boys arguing. “I think I hear something.” He lowered his voice, trying to keep up with John. He didn’t want to get lost in the dark. He was the only one without a flashlight.
“Chickenshit. Keep up, or we’re going to leave you … Here it is.” Noah’s voice had gone from irritated to excited.
Crux hurried forward, slipping through the huge rocks to come out at a clearing on the other side.
“How do they get through there? I barely made it through.” John flashed his light, showing the clearing that was just dirt and mostly rock. “I wonder where that goes?” he asked, stopping the light on the dark woods that led from the other side of the clearing.
“How the hell would I know? Let’s go see—”
“Wait, Noah …” Chance stopped his twin brother. “Let’s go. It’s creepy here.”
“Not you, too! I just want … What’s that?” The flashlight wavered as a shadowy figure came out of the dark where Noah had been about to explore.
Noah and Chance dropped their lights to the ground as boyish screams filled the air. They took off at a run, slipping through the rocks to the other side.
Crux nearly wet himself when the shadow grew closer.
“Run, John!” Crux stood still as John’s light wavered within his frightened grasp.
Noah and Chance’s screams had him just as scared, but he couldn’t leave his best friend behind.
Crux didn’t know whether to run or cry in relief when he saw who bent down to pick up Noah and Chance’s flashlights.
“John, your father is waiting for you on the other side,” his father said, walking toward him to hand him one of the flashlights.
“Do I have to?”
Crux raised the flashlight to see John.
His father laughed. “It’ll be all right. He’s not mad.”
“He never gets mad. He’s going to be disappointed,” John said glumly, walking toward the rocks.
“It could be worse. You could be Noah and Chance. Razer and Knox will be lucky to catch them before they get home they were running so fast.”
Now Crux understood Noah and Chance’s heightened screams when they had come out the other side. If Knox had come out from the dark, he would be returning home with more than wet jeans.
Crux remained where he was as John slipped through the rocks.
“I’m sorry,” he said as he watched his father sit on a large rock.
Crux kept the flashlight pointed on him as his father took something from his pocket. When he saw a flame, Crux curiously stepped closer.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing.”
Crux sniffed the air. “That smells like a cigare
tte. You don’t smoke.”
“There’re a lot of things I do that you, your sister, and your mother don’t know about.”
“Like what?”
“Those secrets are for when you’re older and not in trouble for doing something you shouldn’t have been doing.”
Crux lowered the flashlight, not wanting to see the disappointment on his father’s face. “I didn’t want to be a tattletale.”
Crux saw the glow of the cigarette grow brighter before becoming a light red.
“I can understand not wanting to betray a friend.”
“They aren’t my friends. They don’t like me. John might a little, but he doesn’t tell me so,” he said dejectedly.
His father laughed. “I bet he doesn’t.”
“Aren’t you mad at me?”
“No, I’m not mad. I don’t get mad.”
“I’ve seen you mad.”
Crux saw the cigarette glow again.
“What you’ve seen is me letting people see what they want to see. If they want to see me angry, I show them anger. If they want to see me happy, I show them that, too.”
“I don’t understand …”
“You do. You pretend just as well as I do when you’re hurt because your mom shows your sister more attention than you, or when you’re angry when Noah doesn’t want you to hang out with them, or when you’re scared enough to wet yourself but you don’t run.”
“It was an accident,” he mumbled.
“Son, it won’t be the last time you wet yourself because you’ve been scared shitless. I’ve wet myself a couple times, and so have all The Last Riders. I’m not mad. I’m too proud that when Noah and Chance ran, you stayed.”
“I didn’t want to leave John.”
“I know that. That’s why I’m proud of you. You’re much younger than them, but where courage is concerned, you’re ahead of the curve.”
Crux frowned. “What does that mean?”
“That one day, Noah and Chance will be as brave as you are now, but it won’t come until they get older and their experiences shape them. Your courage is a part of you. It will just grow stronger as you get older.”
“How about John? He was brave, too. He didn’t run.”
“No, he didn’t. He’s like you, which I’m sure Shade is going to take into consideration for his punishment, just like I will.”
Crux nodded. He didn’t understand a lot of what his father had said, but he understood he was still going to be punished.
“Are you going to tell Mom?”
“No.” His dad gave a soft laugh. “Then I would have to pretend to be mad at you. I try not to pretend too much around her.”
“Do you pretend around me and Val?”
“No, that’s why I’m having this talk with you now, so when I act differently when others are around, you will know the difference.”
“I wish I had as many friends as you do.”
“You’ll be friends with Noah and Chance when you get older.”
“They make fun of my name.”
“They’re just jealous, which is a good thing. All their fathers are jealous of me,” his father bragged, standing as he threw his cigarette away. “Let’s go. I have to get back to work.”
Crux started toward where the others had gone through.
“This way, Crux. I’m too big to go that way.”
Crux held the flashlight as he walked next to his father, trying hard not to be afraid.
“Don’t let it bother you when they make fun of your name. By the way, blame your mother. I was going to name you Brandon.”
“Ewie. That’s even worse than Crux.”
“A name doesn’t wear the man. A man wears the name. I learned that in the service.”
“I want to go in the Navy like you when I grow up.”
“You can do anything you want to, just do it better than everyone else.”
“I will. Do you think Uncle Knox and Uncle Razer found Noah and Chance?”
“I’m sure they did. I don’t hear them screaming anymore.” He laughed. “By the way, the next time Chance calls you chickenshit, remind him he was the one who shit his pants and ran.”
“They’ll beat me up if I do that!”
“No, they won’t.”
“Yes, they will.”
“No, son, they won’t, because their father would have warned them.”
“What would their father warn them about?”
His father laid a strong hand on his shoulder, guiding him over the dead tree that he had almost fallen over on the way to the initiation spot. “That I will always have your back.”
Epilogue 3
Jo sat on the blanket that her grandson had laid down for her on the beach. Laughing, she hit the beach ball back to the children, who were playing nearby.
“You having a good time, Mom?”
Jo smiled up at her son as he threw himself down next to her on the blanket.
“The best time I’ve had in a long time.”
Crux picked up a towel he had laid down before going swimming, rubbing it over his legs and arms. “You still miss him, don’t you?”
Jo looked at her son, who looked so much like Rider it made her ache every time he smiled at her. “God, yes. Don’t you?”
Her son stared out over the ocean, his own sadness apparent as he twisted the towel to place it over his shoulders. “At first, I thought you were crazy for wanting to come back here, but I’m glad you talked me into it. I feel closer to him. I don’t know why.”
“Because of the vacations we shared here when you were younger, and … it was where we lost him.”
She unconsciously rubbed her thumb against the tattoo on her fourth forefinger. She and Rider had both gotten the tattoos the day Lucky had performed their wedding ceremony. She had felt like a princess that day, and Rider her prince.
Some years had been great; others had been hard. Through it all, their love had continued to grow and blossom, just like the bluebonnets he had nicknamed her after.
She had given Crux her and Rider’s wedding rings last year when she had become ill. He had wanted her to take them back when she had been released from the hospital, but she wanted him to keep them. Like Mag, she knew her time was nearing its end, and she wasn’t afraid. Her Winston Hero would be waiting for her. They had been separated for twenty-two years now.
Jo didn’t remember much about that first year. She had slept it away. Or when she had been awake, she had drifted through waves of despair and anguish. Crux had taken leave from the Navy. It was only when he’d been about to give up his commission that she had dragged herself out of the fog that had been blanketing her and began to live again. By the second year after she had lost him, Jo had moved to the state he had been born in and the one they had lost him in, too.
After his death, Rider had received the medals he had been denied in life, each placed in his casket by the remaining Last Riders, or by their descendants who had promised to fulfill their parents’ requests.
Even at the very end, he had sacrificed his life to try to save two boys who had swum out too far and couldn’t get back.
She remembered she had gone into the house for drinks, and when she had come out, he had disappeared. Frantic, she had finally spotted him helping one of the boys. Jo had managed to run out into the surf to help. Then he had taken off again before she could stop him.
Jo had made sure the boy was safe, then ran to her phone to dial for help. Racing back to the water, her prayers were answered when she saw him nearing the shore with the other boy. Crying, she saw another man running into the water to help, taking the boy from him.
Jo had taken her eyes off Rider for a second at the sound of the EMTs, and when she had turned back, he was gone.
She had run out into the water to search for him, but each time, the water had pushed her back. Sobbing, she had tried again when the stranger who had helped with the boy dragged her out of the water, then returned to search for Rider.
; She was in the same spot then as she was now, sitting on the sand with a blanket the EMT had put around her, when they had found Rider.
“Mom?”
“Yes, baby.” Jo blinked back the tears she was determined not to shed.
Crux gave a small laugh. “It’s been a long time since you called me that.”
“You’ll always be my baby, no matter how old you get.” She gave a trembling smile, turning to look at the son she was proud of.
Crux had earned Rider’s respect, assuming the same position he had held in the club.
“It’s getting late. Come on; I’ll help you inside.”
“I don’t need any help. I can do it on my own.”
“Then you can help me.” Crux rose, waiting patiently for her to do the same.
Using her cane, she managed to get to her feet. She didn’t want to show any weakness in front of Crux, or she would find herself leaving in the morning to go to Treepoint. She had to stay here. She was waiting for him.
As much as Rider loved The Last Riders and Treepoint, his heart had never strayed from Texas. Just like his heart had never strayed from her. It had been hers since the day he had promised her forever and ever, and he had stayed until his death had separated them.
“I wish you would come home with us, Mom. Val and Tom and their kids miss you. So do Keira and Ridge.”
Jo lightly took her son’s arm as they walked toward the beach house. “I miss all of you, too, but your sister and her husband don’t need me sitting around the house. She’s too busy taking care of the kids to be worrying about me. You and Keira have your own lives to lead, too. With Ridge going into the service, you can finally have time alone again. I’m content, Crux. I get plenty of company to keep from being lonely. Rachel was supposed to come with you all, but Greer wasn’t feeling well. Hopefully, they’ll be coming soon. I miss Rach.”
“They wanted to be here for your ninety-second birthday, but Greer was having trouble getting over the flu, and the doctor didn’t want him to travel. Rachel looks as young as you do. Probably because you keep each other young when she comes to stay the winters with you.”